SOME NEW ZEALAND VERSE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1665, 27 January 1904, Page 14

SOME NEW ZEALAND VERSE.

"Bill’s Philosophy!’ and Other Verses. By H B. Sing. Published by Alfred G. Betts, Hardy street, Nelson.

This slim, paper-covered volume of thirty odd pages does nob add much m bulk to the poetical literature of New Zealand', but it may be claimed to strike a new note in the anthology of the colony. Mr David McKee Wright, whp pens an appreciative introductory note to the book, expresses the opinion that the moralisings of the bush philosopher, "Bill,” Will prove the most attractive feature to the majority of readers. In [this we are disposed to agree, with the qualifying addition that if tils is the best recommendation Mr King’s verses have, they are not likely to make his fame. "Bill” is not altogether lovable or poetical. He is hard and cynical without being clever; shrewd, yet Without a particle of humour; broad-minded, and yet lacking in some sweet Jmman element- not easy to define. Let him speak for himself in a few extracts: "It seems a lot of rot to me, 'This talk about posterity, "For this old stager wont be there, "So why the dickens should he care ? “What matters it » single jot, "In after years who hails the pot ? "The present time is my look-out, "The future theirs, just- turn about.” This is p- true picture of a state of mind not uncommon: in this and so far Mr King shows himself a faithful artist; but it is the philosophy of blank selfishness and materialism, all the game, and is hardly redeemed by Bill’s reflection that he "can’t see any fommon sense in worry, when there’s Providence!” Again, Bill discovers that "there’s something wrong with churches,” and declaims against "Lady Haughty,” and " the party in the frock-coat who stalks into his pew and prays into his tall hat,” in the style of a _ "deadbeat” at enmity with the world. In the closing lines of this piece, however, a true note is struck, when Bill declares : "’Tie love-sparks from the anvil That Men and! Women need,. The teaching of the White Christ, Beyond all sect, and creed; ",A Church that’s truly human, Whose bells ring out to call One Brotherhood, whose creed is Humanity for All.” TOMBSTONES. It isn’t right to advert iso 'About a fellow when he dies, 'And write a lengthy supplement Open a corpse’s monument, Re virtues that were not possessed When in the flesh, or even guessed By him who plausibly would raise 1A marble slab of fulsome praise. ,Why chisel lies upon the stones, Erected o'er a sleeper’s bones? If he’s done right down here below, Don’t advertise —the Judge’ll know. If he’s done wrong, don’t praise the dead -—A lie is better left unsaid. < The monument’s all right, but oh ! Leave out the lies —the Judges’ll know. Ibis ’is not poetry, by any means, butit is sound common sense embodied in verse, and may have the highest educative quality. In "Tfre Mortgage ” our author depict®, in contrasted verse®, the lot of the "cockatoo” when "there’s a monkey on the, homestead,” and the lot of the same clan of farmer who is free of debt. We quote two verses Oh, Jit’s grand to be a farmer wheh the' market’s on the rise, |And you laud your occupation to the • *; summit of the skies, When you haven’t, got to borrow, and / the money isn’t spent, And you’ve got a little surplus for the . paying of the rent. But its hell to be a farmer when the market’s on the drop, Andean haven’t got "the ready” for the saving of the crop l , And you try to raise "the needful.” just to keep yourself afloat, Bub the super-added cargo means the sinking of the' boat. In "Sentimenar Bill” and "Hard-up,” Mr King strikes a note which, like that struck in “The Mortgage,” shows he

may yet do for New Zealan 3/av h at • Patenson, Lawson and' other versifiers, have done for Australia, in the way of depicting phases of country life and experience in these colonies. When he essays the more serious vein, he is not sa happy. "A Bush Fire-” and “Storm Echoes” are on the verge of bathos. Some of his erotic, sentimental verses are good. His best- efforts in this field are written iun "In Memoriam” stanzas. Mi* King’s little book of verses is, on the whjoTe, worthy of wide appreciation by the colonial public.