A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11686, 26 November 1923, Page 4

A LITERARY CORNER

(R.A.L.) : “WITH THE MACHINE-GUNNERS” j (In Franco and Palestine.) Major Luxford. (AVhitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.) This is the official history of our ! machine-gunners in France and Palestine. Why the history is confined to ■ these countries it is difficult to under- | stand, seeing that our machine-gunners I did good service on Gallipoli. The hisi tory of these gunners in the countries ; named, Major Luxford has told com- ; prehensively, his main success being ! that he has made ns realise ivhat a 1 “corps d’elite” the machine-gunners ; were, and how tremendous was the support they, always gave the infantry. . Readers of hie detailed accounts of i their work on the great occasions of j gioat battle will see that this arm of ; the service is indispensable, and must I have an honoured and increasing jilace in our army organisation, whatever it may be. Moreover, everyone will be proud to read of the achievements of this brave, enterprising, and skilful corps in the war. “THE 12TH (EASTERN) DIVISION” (In the Great War.) Major-General Sir A. B. Scott, K.C.8., • D 5.0.,' and F. M. Brumwell, M.C. (Nisbet and Co., London.) This is the story of one of the divisions of the kitchener Army. The authors tell, modestly and accurately, just what these fine soldiers did after their sudden conversion from civilian status; how well they fought and endured ; what losses they sustained; and how they kept up as good soldiers the best traditions of the British Army, and the honour of their country. One of the most wonderful things in military history is the work of the great civilian army suddenly raised, without which we should have lost the war, and this book is part of the history of it. To read every book of this kind is a great national duty. “THE ROMANCE OF EXCAVATION” David Masters'. (The Bodloy Head, London.) Assyria, Troy, Crete, Egypt, Mitylene—these are the great names » in the story of excavation, which began soon after the discovery and deciphering of the Damiettay stone and is now proceeding so sensationally about the very famous tomib of Tutankhamen. The history is fascinatingly told by Mr Misters, from Sbhliem&nn’s Trojan and Cretan discoveries to the present time. His study of Schliemann's personality and achievements is particularly good. The appearance of the book is opportune, and its value ie in the fact that it is, so far as we know, the only comprehensive history of excavation in small compass. “THE HOPE OF THE WORKERS” Austen Hopkinson. (M. Hopikinson and 00., 14, Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London.) The economic discussion dividing the world goes on without sign of abating. A contaibution to it i 6 made by this book. It is anti-Socialistac, and belabdurs the Marx fetish with heavy blows. It discusses values and profit from a different standpoint; declares and proves that Socialism is ruining Trades Unionism, and it advocates Capital and Labour in double harness running amicably together and profitably—a dear cut, sane book. i “VISUAL INSTRUCTION” W. T. G. Airey. (Royal Institute, Northumberland Avenue, London). Hints these for lectures to he delivered giving detailed sketches, historic, scenic, urban, economic, social of the overseas dominions, in pamphlets —one for each, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, and there is one for the United Kingdom. Mr Airey is the oonpiler fojr New Zealand. The others are by “eminent hands” as somebody once called the great authors he parodied. The work is exceedingly well done, and for ordinary readers means a great in- ; create of useful knowledge. “FORD’' ! “The Book of the Ford Oar.”) E. T. Nicholson. (Temple Frees, London.) This is the.eighth edition. It eontains everything a Ford user Should know to get the beet results at the smallest expense. For the student of affairs generally it is interesting as showing the painstaking methods of great manufacturers, which are a new feature of modem commencial enterprise. “PLUMMETS” (“Selected Poems.”) H. AUsopp. (Nisbet and Co., 22, Berners street, London.) Poets of to-day who are masters of English are many and varied as the moods of the sea and wind. This one, keeping to the classical traditions, has no eccentricities of verse or rhyme or of the poetry that masquerades as prose. He is, as A. St. John Adcock says in his introduction of the volume, the poet of everyday men and women, singing with unaffected self-expression of things that interest them. The anthology has been well compiled, and will compel all readers who have the insight which makes them cleave to poetry. “SHETLAND PIRATES” (And Other Wild Life Stories.) Frances Pitt. (G. Allen andl Unwin, London.) Another this of this writer’s very fascinating studies of wild creatures, sea birds, land birds, martens, stoats, weasels, pole cate—these and many more she has studied with patient care, and made friends in her wonderful way with many. The book is full of the wealth of her close observation, every page has fascinations of study and of story that gives it definition and body, and the volume is admirably illustrated. It is a literary gem of natural history. “FANNY HERSELF” Edna Forbes. (Methuen and Co., Essex street, W.C., London.) The business woman of America has been long waiting to liave her portrait painted by a first-class novelist. That is done in this book, and so well done that the “business woman” of America ought to be a proud woman today. The love story'tn reading between the business lines is charming enough to keep the readers’ attention eager, even if ho does not care to know what shin-

ing, methodical ,observant, audacious, and altogether nice creatures these most successful “business women” of America really are. “A SON AT THE FRONT” Edith Wharton. (Macmillan, London.) , “My dear friend, can anything justify such horrors? Isn’t it abominable that boys like that should he murdered ? That some senile beast of a diplomat should decree, after a good dinner, that boys like that aliould bo murdered?” These words of one of his characters give you the key to this remarkably well-written book. As a story it is good. As an appeal to humanity to break through the senseless rules of conventional statesmanship which have enslaved the world for centuries it is magnificent. “UNDER LONDON” Stephen Graham. (Macmillan, London.) How slums are made in natural beauty spots after the builder’s juiggerI naut has devastated them, we remise easily as we read. Also by what agencies the work of this juggernaut is helped, working in a people poor, poorly educated, thinking of nothing but sport, chiefly of its ignoble side. So well done is it that one regrets that the author has not thought it necessary to suggest a remedy. However, his work is a good accounting for how “things just happen.” “THE END OF THE HOUSE OF ALARD” Sheila Kaye-Smith. (Cassel, London.) “lehabod.” It is the story of many a noble house brought low by the decadence of British agriculture, by the bad land laws, by the extravagance of the reigning heads, by the terrible taxation which is the aftermath of war. The author’s remedy is to let the land get back into the hands of the yeomen and the peasants, and he has enforced it with one of the greatest stories of the last three decades. “SOMETIMES” Olive Wadsey. (Cassell, London.) A clever love story, rather of the kind that makes one ask why a novelist nail create characters mean and cruel, for the harassing of innocent and beautiful young women. The story is, however, well constructed, and very interesting. But the weirdness of unredeemed, unnecessary, and unerring wickedness is its fault. “FROM THE BCDLEY HEAD” (London.) Ru-be, by G. Borgese. The “Revue dee Deux Mondes” calls the appearance of the book “the most important literary event that has occurred in Italy for fifteen or twenty years.” It certainly is a very fine psychological study. There are several well-drawn characters, and of these the hero is prominent, and is a profound human study. He has talents and ambition, but lack of moral courage brings him to disaster. Whether the author’s intention is to portray Italian character.as embodied m the statesmen and a large section of that great squadron known as “the man-in-the-street,” it is difficult to say. But if sqch is the intention the intention has been both brilliantly andl profoundly achieved. The hero often talks morbidly when he is morbid, but when he talks of the war and the futility of tho ideas that caused many to wave the patriotic flag, he is iliuminatingly suggestive.