NEW BOOKS AND SEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 24

NEW BOOKS AND SEW EDITIONS

‘‘Australian Busbrauging—lßo3-00.” By Ci.as. White. Angus ai.d Robertson. Sydney and Melbourne; Herbert Baiilie, Cuba Street. 'Wellington. Price.. Is. Tins volume is the tenth of w hat is known as the Commonwealth Series ex works published by Messrs Angus and Robertson. Mr White, the author of the “History of Bushranging in Australia/' is a writer with a facile pen. and a wonderful gift of presenting life-like snapshots of ti.e stirring times with which the volume before us deals. Some bushrangers wore not altogether bad fellows at ueart, though their deeds were desperately wicked. Mr White lets us know something of the true character of the bushranger, and he dees much to upset preconceived notions of Be:: Hah. Larry Cummins and lianiei Morgan. Ike portrait of tne first named i.s indicative of a man of fine character, and it is only when one learns how a wrong done him by Lis fellows and persisted in. induced him to rebel against society that one can understand how a gentle-manly-locking man of refinement could turn bushranger. Mr White's volumes w:h. we have no doubt. be widely read bv ail cla--cs of coioni-ts. “By Rock and Pool." by Louis Bccke. T. Fisner i':w . Lm.don: Whitcombe and Tomb-. Wellington. Contained in tms volt;..- are -erne inters--' mu etem-s oi jiie- on tn>- .seaboard of Au- T raiia and in the- South Seas. Ti.e difference between the author s descriptive writing and his storytelling can easily be noticed. Who can narrate an incident of love and bloodsi.ed in the islands with more directness tnan ne can." He does not allow anytnnig to interrupt ti.e flow of it- recounts:. li.e reader finds that everything i.s -et down in order, which is as it -neu.d be svj.eii people are being describeu wliO.se villainies as wc-ii as their virtues are of the transparent kind. It must be confessed that Mr Beeko's stories are frequently of the one type, nut they are told hi an engrossing style tnat, makes tiiem very acceptable to a.i wi.o nave a taste xor tne adventurous in history and fiction. Some excell mt elaborated writing is to be found in the Australian sketches. Appended to the volume is a chapter entit led. "A Cruise in the South Sea-. ’ giving practical first-nand hint- to intending travellers. In the Biood. by V . S. talker r'Coo-c-e i. John Long. London : Whitcombe and Tombs. \\ ehmigton. Larrik inism in Sydney is the background of this Australian story bv Mr "Walker. who is rapidly making for hii'n.selt a rare reputation, ihis store lias much that is extraneous woven into it and the author runs into hi- narrative much verse, which is original, but somehow seems out of place in a novel. What with descriptions of Sydney pushes and their doing-, mining-life scene-;, a bit of bushranging and lynching. “Cooee’’ presents' an acceptable and realistic picture of a dark side of Au-tralian life. The story H supposed to be founded on fact, but the imagination of a clever writer lias given life and colouring t-ven to tne most exciting incidents. ’ The book contains -omc good illustrations. •‘A Book of \ erses.’' by Mrs James Gleiiny Wilson. Elliot Stock. 02 Paternoster Row. London. 1901. In this somewhat slim volume of seventy-six pages the people of Ww Zealand have a reminder that they have long had in their midst a poetess of almost the first rank, whose work, if its quantity at all approximated its quality would command world-wide attention! It is now over ten years since Mrs Wiison a Victorian by birth, but a New Zealander by long residence and pathy, first challenged public criticism by the publication of a small volume of verse entitled “Themes and Variations.” Her work in that book betrayed the true poetic temperament and power of observation, as well as the art of the deft versifier, and the book received very laudatory notices from the British press throughout the world. In this later book there is much to confirm the judgment then passed upon the authoress. but hardly anything that surpasses her earlier performance in such poems as “Fairyland,” “The Forty-Mile Bush,” and “A Spring Afternoon in New Zealand. 5 'lhus, while this volume will be treasured by all lovers of genuine poesy for what it contains, the critic's pleasure is dashed with regret and disappointment as he reflects oil what

might have been if Mrs Wilson had chosen during these ten years to devote herself to the production of some metrical work of more ambitious scope than the delightful lyrical productions now presented. On nearly every page of this Tolume is to be found evidence of versatility Gf genius, of delicate fancy, of descriptive power, of psychological insight and of artistic perception. In ‘‘The Soul and Nature” we perhaps see Mrs Wilson in her most exalted mood. We ca nnot forbear quoting a few lines — ■‘Though dust we are, to dust is given Gems from a King, more prized than moon or star: Ho gave the eye, to hold the span of heaven. Thoughts to contain the rising worlds afar : And from our homely planet's school we rise. To read the shining letters cf the skies. These stars above that tread their ceaseless measure. The blossom at our feet that sucks the ground. The stream of life that runs through pain and pleasure. By one deep law of harmony arcbound.” In the few translations from theFrench and German which are included in this volume, the authoress shows the same felicity of diction as she does in her original work. For sustained quality. variety of theme and elevation of thought. Mrs Wilson is entitled to a place in the very front rank of New Zealand poets. ‘‘Whitaker's Almanac.” Joseph Whitaker. In’. Warwick Lane. Paternoster Row. London. 1.02. Me have received from the publisher a copy of this standard annual for the current year. Nothing is required to recommend this useful work to the commercial. political and journalistic world, beyond the statement that this year's i-'ue is fully up to those that have preceded i*. It may be remarked, however. that in addition to the genera! miormation more are given full particulars or ri.e Brit is!: Do mi nions beyond r n*- under the heading- of India. ( a .ana. the Australian C'ommonweaith. X- w Zealand, the M'e-t Indies, the African Coioiii.--. etc. Were is also a li-t cf casualties m the South African Mar. art:cm- on Submarine Boat-, the C'enLocal Taxation and Municipal Indob*, fciiic —. isc-ier,':nc and Engineering Sun mary. Dramatic Summary. Patents and Inventions. Old Ag- Pen-ions, tne Housing of the Poor. Foreign Weight? and Measures, and a large raric-tv cf other valuable matter.