CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17483, 29 May 1920, Page 1 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

■■— — ." ♦. .. .7 .. '■■•'■ .. NOTES ON NEW BOOKS, • BY ■■came. Many things are urging the world to j consider the- adjustment of economic ( affairs, and . one of the solutions frequently urged is that of State ownership ' or control of much that is now in the t hands of monopolistic trusts and of private t individuals. In. an age; when efficiency \ and the elimination of waste count for j so much, it. is well to Wholly put aside any prejudices and impartially consider ' any scheme that claims to remove . any , ' wastage of man power and the lessened < products of the world. A man who i writes with knowledge being selected, and i i.ot one who has merely a private end to ■. serve, weigh his statements and dissect his logic; and above all, study his facts. ( THE CASE FOE NATIONALISATION. ' "The Case For Nationalisation " is a. ( recently published book by A. Emil | Davies" (Bell, London), and being written by a member of the London County | Council, and by ■ the author of another : work "containing particulars of the successful operations of State and municipal undertakings throughout the world, right lip to the outbreak of war" it has the merit of containing some very solid figures to grasp one's close attention. He informs his reader that wherever industries have been decontrolled, prices have risen. ''Margarine, under control was'ls to Is 2d per pound; it afterwards rose to.ls ■fid. Bacon gave ten times greater wholesale profit than under control; since decontrol of raw wool, prices have risen by 80; to 200. per cent.'' He quotes these figures for January 1920. He adds that copra which is supposed to be the base of most of the butter substitutes, when controlled, sold about ' £45 per ton; ''decontrolled it now costs £74 per ton." Labour and , Class. The writer's contention is that the richer classes are observing a _ wrong attitude towards Labour, that it is from there that the suggestion of hostility , comes, " When a million mine workers, representing, with their families, a tenth i of the nation, endeavour to get their , working hours reduced to eight per day, and it takes a strike to make Parliament [ attend to their claims. can one wonder that the working class draws the moral i that its interests are . opposed by a class, ) which will yield only* to force? .•: . k We frequently hear of class hatred . . , . but is it realiser that this is b more acute on the part of many ' of the ' haves.' ;. Interested' parties • talk as though better conditions for i.the workers means national • ruin; it is , if Labour loses, the nation loses." ■ The Wastefulness of Competition. '~ Private enterprise is wasteful. The ' author points to the three or more milk ' carts delivering in one . street, to over- • lapping in bread coal, practically all the ' necessities" of life, ; In Carlisle "one ' brewery in the hands of the Control ': Board does the work previously done by 1 four. One spirit bond employing four- ' teen persons'and a motor lorry does the 'work, less -efficiently performed under ! private enterprise by 70 men and 17 1 lorries. Directly we look at things from • the point of view of public utility and ' convenience, private enterprise has failed '■ lamentably in many ■directions, on ac- ' count of the fatal defect that each under--3 taking finds it . necessary to make a profit 3 On its own, without thought of,, the general advantage—in Tnort, to look ■ after the interests of its partners and '•, shareholders." ' The writer deplores the e ; fact that in the United Kingdom are: 600 '.'• different concerns for generating r ' electricity without■" counting' the manu- i

eiecincuy, wimouv cuunimg ino.- m»nu- ( factories which generate their own power, j He compares this with conditions in ( Germany, quoting an officer's letter from t Cologne' which indicates that commercial ] enterprise cheapens power for the city, t and runs the hotels, ,' so -that these latter t have good accommodation, good music, j and no inducement to make a visit a ] succession of quick drinks. .He instances i the success of the State Insurance of i New Zealand, and quotes pages of i Australia's successful undertakings. Government as film Producer. , Mr. Davies quotes an interesting extract j from a Canadian journal, which describes : | the series of cinema pictures made by the ; Dominion Government photographer under the direction of Mr. Bradshaw, chief game guardian for Saskatchewan. They visited a bird sanctuary, Lake Johnstone, where pelicans, gulls, terns, cormorants, and the beautiful great blue herons are seen in thousands. The half grown pelicans' were marshalled and driven past the camera, like a flock of sheep. Many successful pictures were secured of pelicans from a leathery angular lump the size of the doubled fist to the size of,a goose; of cormorants in their rookeries; of nests and eggs.; and most wonderful of all were pictures showing the beautifully graceful flight of:the tern, which from its swoop and gyrations has been called the sea swallow. It is intended to reduce and adapt the films to use in the Pathescope machine, now in the possession of the Department of Agriculture., so that these pictures will doubtless in the future give pleasure, -to thousands. ' The telephone system of Britain is com"pared, to its disadvantage, with that of Sweden, which is described as an ideal owned system. , ■v-. It will thus bo seen that the writer has ; taken much trouble to present facts, and: to make comparisons which result : in/favour of State and municipal.enter- :; :prisc. -as. being ! le£s. ..wasteful, and /.more; , i beneficial to: the ■ community. ~. His book ■. is -worth very /earnest, consideration. FICTION. '! The Guardian"—by Isabel ■>, Maud; T'eacorke (Ward Lock, Melbourne),—Miss Peacocke has written an interesting novel,; '■ using as her setting the West Coast . country immediately behind Auckland. . Some of her descriptive work in this is particularly fine; and she is to be much commended for her choice of -such ■material.. Her characterisation is good; the. contrasts .; drawn between' the owner of Wharenioane and his man Daunt, and -between! young Nick and Wcstaway tare- sharp;, well : defined : studies. ,'-\-. Her. ' i,heroine,', (iabrielle is an. undeveloped .girl, ■verv representative .but not .of ..as vivid, a. ■type as are The men She has put' re: ■•mark-ably good work into "The Guardian,' which is essentially an Auckland book:, 'j. " Prestige"—by - ! j! ■'.". A:.;-iT; Lloyd , (Stanley,, Paul, London) —Full of interest I i. to;those who are interested in .journalism, '■this 'novel of -London contains, some, '-new I 'I characteristics.--:; But its,hero is "still';a I man who expects the. .world to .keep.him . '-' on the strength; of what;he -believes To be V his talent for writing plays— type that , one, must object to: in these days * He never " sticks- to his .job," but" vet-.returns -i again. and again'"'?until/.the; war, decides his career! Even :theri. he- seems toac ; I; ; quire .merit"by . marrying/ the wealthy -widow .of. a man who.-bepan -his journal; ■i?ti' career on the.same dav, and by f" stability of purpose, made good, When; '■■ the .-author, escapes .from' these old types.; r ' such as. .Vincent-and/Lady GoldiiYgV. he. , is'.very successful.-. '■'.'■ His, actress girls, j.'-' Marcelle .-.and,:.. Doris, ' are : real ...enough,;. i; .while 'Sandra,.: his-heroine,- is- shadowy.'i Golding "is a. finer .man than, Vincent-,. and :■■ since he. works. Dr. Winthrop is a. better ]. example! than drunken' Logan... : But„Mr. :.1,,10yd has very scathing ..words, for.'= em- : p'..plovers .who prefer steady mediocrity to iv irregular genius.'. He. forgets, that newsjs paper proprietors rati scarcely afford to L be' benevolent uncles to these intermittent .-; people who leave for a tour on the Con' tirient whenever they feel inclined. He . rea'lv does ask too much of his Gollingß e and Holde.ns and his much-abused mechan' s ica) editors. Winthrop and Creswell. i, Nevertheless, he has produced a striking and interesting novel.