"THE COLLECTION TO-DAY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20235, 20 April 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

"THE COLLECTION TO-DAY."

A NEW BE:N TRAVERS. " Newman only cried out for light in a sad world; Dickens gave it so Stephen Lcacock once wrote, comparing the achievements oi tho author of Lead, Kindly Light " with thos.o of tho creator of Pickwick. Yet the idea that there is something vulgar, undignified, e\en silly, about humour in art or literature dies hard in the English breast. The French understand tlieso things better. In France, as someone recently pointed out, W. \V. Jacobs, P. G. Wodehouse, and Ben Travel's would take their place beside other masters in their own specialised form. . c In English-speaking countries many ot their readers feel it necessary to apologise fur revelling in their delightful absurdities. Of the three, Ben Travel's is the most audaciously funny, and the contriver of uproariously outrageous situations. " The Collection To-day—", tho first book ho has published for three years, is a miscellaneous gathering, ono imagines, o contributions to various is pure joy to meet once more, in the Temptation of Admiral Juddy," that fierce autocrat of Chumpton-on-Sea. Do not imagine from its name that Chumpton-on-Sea was a sleepy place. " Sleenv! You wait till you meet Admiral Juddy and Colonel Rust all square at tho turn and rounding the bend for homo in tho teeth of a nor-westerly hailstorm, and ask either of their caddies whether Chumpton is sleepy. You hang about in tho ladies' club-house when Miss Kdyth Creepe is playing a hand, with Mrs Mantle Ham's cards on the table, and wait until tho last trick is turned and Dummy is allowed to speak. My, Chumpton sleeps not." m Even better is " r lhe Nutcracker, a iovous rag in which Mr. Panting, housemaster, his wife, known to tho boys as " Flannel," his daughter Diana—alias Flimsy—a squirrel, Notcutt Minor, luigg s doc and Mr. Martin Dickseo become involved in a truly Traversian inbroglio. " Tho Collection To-day— , though it contains somo rather small change at the bottom of the bag will materially aid that very worthy object, the General Sunshino Fund. " Tho Collection To-day—" by Ben Travels (The Bodley Head).