NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, 29 January 1902, Page 23

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

“The Lords of Life/’ by Bessie Dill. John Long and Co., London ; Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

Miss Bessie Dill has succeeded in presenting under a somewhat stately title a plain and interesting story of life. in India and London. The narrative is agreeably told. Tho authoress’s style is°at once* pleasing and effective. The heroine, Evangeline Oswald, is a true woman, and is tempted and honoured in all things as most women are, but she is a great character nevertheless. Life is not to “Van” what it seems, or she imagined it to be. As far as India is concerned, we learn that a butterfly life there for human beings is not unattended with bad after effects; but there, too, Van Oswald learns to eschew the evil and cleave to that which is good. Through trials and temptations she comes, if not to perfection, to great worth. In her latter frame of mind she realises that she loves the man she formerly was inclined to despise. As a character sketch, the book is worth reading.

‘‘An 111 Wind,” by Mrs Lovett Cameron. Messrs John Long and Co., London; Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

If the reader is merely seeking for something to pass the fleeting hour, Mrs Lovett’s latest will suit him; and if we may he pardoned for the employment of an old adage to pay a punaing compliment to this novel we might sa it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good. A loose plot, sketchy characters, undesigning women and affectionate lovers constitute the weft and warp of an entertaining enough narrative.

“Blue Bonnets "Up,” by Thos. Pinkerton. John Long and Co., London; Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

This is a capital story of the times of the Pretender. Villainy and virtue are of course set in opposition. The latter triumphs, the villain is discomfited and all is well. Yet there is a good deal of entertaining and romantic history in the novel, which opens with an elopement, a shipwreck, and the beginning of the life-story of Lil Lindsay, a Scotch lassie alike ignorant of her parentage and her fortune. She contracts a strong passion for the “Prince over the water/’ and. /’hen the Prince reaches Scotland in 1(45 a certain Count Malzberg, who precedes him, discovers Miss Lindsay to be the long lost heiress, and he contrives to marry her to his stepson. How he is frustrated and what the end of this villainous man is will be learned by all readers of this well-told story.

“Canadian Trade Index: A Classified Membership Directory of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association. ’’ This work, which is issued in English, {™ b and Spanish by the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association of Toronto, extends to over three hundred pages, ana is a kind of publication that might well be imitated by the Industrial Corporation of New Zealand. The Association comprises over eight hundred or the manufacturers of the Dominion, recognises no political party, but seeks y every means to advance the manuracturuig and commercial interests of Canada. It has branches in each of the n, a °, ri e Cl f’ ■ ocal organisations in thomanufacturing towns, and sectional asinrWf°' 1S °^ T tilose engaged in particular dlnnlT% P ? laces ite services at the tinso t c* r . ei g n buyers for the pur?Deei f n r u Shmg , full information rerenlv' Ug a i J . nes °f Canadian industry— S" g -, to inquiries free of charge. tmbliraf- tS e ® orts i ll this direction, the common 01 ! • under notice deserves high the S P 0 Published It plfed W°n t T 1 ° dollars > will be supforeirm 9 by , tbe secretary, Toronto, to dian e trade erCh T antS i inte J es ted in Canafor re-estahv vv Ve V of tbe movement connectS?w ing dlr , Gct lnail steamer New ztaland e +T? en dominion and ly ?i? rk sho ® ld be lar SO- - UT h , J th . e merchants of this , ry * fts value is undoubted. “Batddng: Notes on the Origin and De - - S b P e n D e raw of ? a » d Lessons A _rt U £ awn from its History ” bv London 190? yal Exchail g<b ®-0., in^oncS'Torm^ s^^ 11 h ¥* Presented tllar y, all the facts hf 7 7?’ biabl ® sum " ■ays, been earofnlL W^ lcb bare, he •ources of his bff/S, T. Grlflod > and the °ase stated . At th?2 U ° n ar ® «*** be present time, when ‘

there is much discussion on the subject in New Zealand, a work of this kind ought to be studied, so that people may be impressed with -the delicacy as well as the importance of banking as a commercial system and as “the mainspring of civilisation.” The work is divided into eleven chapters, which separately deal with such aspects of the general question as “The Origin of Banking,” “Political Influences,” “Causes of failures,” “American Banking, ” “The Growth of Joint Stock Banks,” “Banking Customs,” “Gold Reserves,” and _ Savings Banks.” Although of special interest to people in the Mother Country, the work is of value to people everywhere who are interested in Ibis branch of political ecomomy. The published price is lialf-a-crown.