LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19958, 27 November 1926, Page 4

LITERATURE.

OF NEW ZEALAND AUTHORSHIP.* SOME SIGNIFICANT VOLUMES. I. —JOHANNES ANDERSEN ON THE BIRDS. . Mr Johannes C. Anderson is a man of many parts. He is a poet and musician, as witness his “Songs Unsung” and “Mho I.amp o£ Psyche.” He is a historian and author of the “Jubilee History of South Canterbury.” Moreover, he is an authority on the abstruse subject of Maori lore, the proof of which is seen in “Maori Life in Aotea.” Whatever ho undertakes, whether the charge of the magnificent Turnbull Library in Wellington or the publication of a book, all his work is marked by thoroughness, a quality manifest upon every page of his latest volume. “Bird-Song and New Zealand Song Birds.” It needs little reflection to imagine the close study and patient observation which have gone to the' making of a book unique of its kind. Not ,only arc the song birds of New Zea-land-native and introduced—accurately described and their habits noted, but their eongs aro phrased and set down in musical notation so that they may bo easily ropro duced and readily recognised. The labour mingled with enjoyment which the writing of this book has entailed is apparent in the following paragraph : Most of the songs recorded in the following chapters have been heard many times. There was never any doubt about the simpler phrases. Those with enharmonic intervals' have been tjiken down, put by, taken down again at intervals of weeks or seasons, and compared until there is no doubt whatever that they are songs the birds know well or that they are conscious of the intervals. I have heard a warbler deliberately sing a phrase first with an interval of a semi-tone, then a quarter-tone : the bird sings with discrimination. The songs recorded aro but a very small proportion of those that have been heard; many that have charmed mo have been utterly beyond me; —a practised musician could catch many that

have eluded me. A great many I have not even attempted to record, so intent have I been in the enjoyment of mere

listening. To the majority it will come ns a surprise to learn that the song birds of New Zealand are so numerous a family. The songs of the tui, the bell bird, the thrush, the blackbird, the warbler, and the lark are familiar enough, but Mr Andersen goes on to describe and set down the song of the fantail, the robin, the finch, the starling, the crow, the cuckoo, the parrot, the parrakcet. the morepork, tire weka, the Paradise duck, and even the cicada. . . A word should be said in praise ot the sumptuous fashion in which this handsome volume is produced. Not only are the printing, the paper, and the binding the very best, but the illustrations are finely reproduced from a series of attractive photographs. The musical phrases of the bird songs are very clearly printed, enabling them to be reproduced on any suitable instrument. Mr Andersen contributes a scholarly introduction to his study of the birds and their songs in which he discusses the question upon which the thesis he expounds depends—viz., whether any similarity exists between the song of birds and the eong of human beings—a discussion which, it may be remembered, is somewhat fantastically enlarged upon by Mr Algernon Blackwood in “The Promise of Air.” Mr Andersen holds that it is possible for birds to modulate their voices in intervals agreeing with those that*build up the scale of the octave. He supports his theory, which is based upon actual observation, by a formidable list of authorities, the mere titles of whose hooks fill a couple of pages—a further evidence of the authors painstaking endeavour. The trend of the argument is seen in the following passage from the introduction:— Surely the most casual listener knows that birds do dwell on single notes, and repeat single notes of different pitch clearly and in succession. And in human singing is it not the finished singer who, besides singing single notes of even pitch, clear and true, also blends notes and slurs and trills, until we say she sings “like a bird”—implying a decided compliment? When a singer is out ot tune, there is a failure to pay regard to exact intervals; how often is a bird heard singing out of tune, despite its raising and lowering of pitch, its chuckles and its trills, and its sliding insensibly from one note into another. Moreover, standards of taste in human song differ; to most European cars the song of the Maori is monotonous and unmusical in the extreme. Yet the Maori thoroughly appreciates his own music, and appreciates in addition the music of the European, singing it, as well as his own, with facility, fidelity, and Undoubted art. Birds, too, are able to learn human tunes; and the powers ot natural mocking birds are too well known to need remark. Do not such powers prove the receptivity of birds to be akin to that of man, and their diecrimination to be as keen as Ins for do not human beings, too, first learn by imitation?

There are points about Mr Andersen’s theory which invite criticism, and are likely to provoke controversy. But there can be no two opinions as to the value of his contribution to New Zealand natural history, and especially to ornithology. In Great Britain there is a movement on foot to provide sanctuaries for birds, in support of which that ardent Naturelover, Mr H. J. Massingham, writes:— “Birds and beasts and flowers and landscapes arc a national possession and heritage . . • the vast majority of birds are of service to us Loth in spiritual and practical ways; that appeals to our common sense. They are pleasant to hear and fair to look upon; that relieves the ugliness, squalor, and dirt of so much of om proud civilisation.” Mr Andersen s hook should do much to foster the idea of the value of bird life as one of the principal attractions of the Dominion. It should aid in the establishment and maintenance of the sanctuaries devoted to the preservation of bird life. The book is one which brings the birds nearer to men ami women and children, because it tells of their ways and their songs, and reveals them as m the highest order of creation. lI—REV. J. GIBSON SMITH ON THE CREATION. “I believe that Mr Gibson Smith has a real message for our day, and belongs to the select band who have something fresh and geminativc to contribute to the common store-house of_ Christian thought. This tribute is paid in a prefatory note which Professor Dickie contributes to the Rev. J. Gibson Smith’s newly-published book, “Eden and After. This takes the form of a lengthy poem preceded by a lengthy prose introduction in which the argument of the poem is set forth. The burden of this argument is a protest against what Mr Gibson Smith sees as a theological error and a scientific mistake —namely, a belief ln ,!) u • “ ,c brutal origin of man. ’Thei Christian can accept,” says Mr Smith, all the evidence that geology, biology, embryology, and the kindred sciences offer in support of tins hypothesis. But vyhat he cannot accept ■without compromising Gods character is that any mere prolongation or sublimation of the purely animal development could ever result 'in the constitution of real man ” Mr Smith complains that the evolutionary theory in regard to man leaves no room for his soul or spirit as distinguished from mere intelligence and that the abearance on the scene of the true man meant an entirely new beginning. He declares that science has been in fai too great haste to give the name of man to man-like creatures who were yet totally devoid of man's unique endowment ot a spiritual nature He quotes from Mr H G. Wells’s “Outline of History the mention made of pre-men, sub-men, quasimen, and finally true men. He entertains a hope that the solution propounded in his poem will heal the theological breach

between the Modernists and the Fundamentalists. “The main aim of the whole poem, says Mr Smith, “is to set forth an outline of human history accordant with all that science can legitimately claim to have proved and at the same time representing God as acting throughout in ;i fashion worthy of a God of Holy Love.” In the first part of the poem the question is asked and answered, “How did man originate?’’ Mr Smith puts forward the thcorv that life evolved into higher and higher forms until in the very highest tribe of the lower race —a type as yet unrecognised by science—a truly man-like form appeared. ’Then, through two virgin births "in this tribe, the first true man and the first true woman were created, ami they were the first beings on earth to possess a spiritual nature. In a postscript to Part I the author says: —

If the reader feels that ho is being invited to* throw himself into an attitude of opposition to ideas which have been saturating the thinking of educated men for the last fifty years, it is here suggested to him that by yielding to this invitation he will bo re-establishing harmony with ideas which have haunted the minds of men from time immemorial. After all, half a century is but as half au hour on the great horologe of the race. Also, can the generation which found itself, to its own intense amazement, plunged suddenly into the agonies of tho Great War, rightfully claim for itself any great pre-eminence in clear sightedness ? To the Christian reader who asks: “Have we not recently had trouble enough over tho question of tho virginbirth of Christ, and would you add to that trouble by introducing two moro virgin births?’ this answer may be given: “Is not the chief difficulty, in accepting the virgin-birth of Christ just tho fact that it soems to stand alone, isolated, quite outside the region of law ? But if tho virgin-birth of both the first and the second Adams bo accepted, do we not come in sight of this law: ‘lt is by virgin-births that God makes His now beginnings in the realm of life?’” In the second*part of Mr Smith’s poem the argument is continued : “If God created man a savage brute manifestly no one would ever dream of comparing Christ with primitive man. But if science has gone astray in this matter, if tho first man did really appear on earth as a great new creation of God, then may it not be possible legitimately to argue back from the second Adam to the first?” On this method tho life of the first Adam in tho earthly paradise is reconstructed; all the marvellous powers ascribed to the first Adam being taken from tho experience of Christ or from that of the great Christlike men of the Bible.”

Part four of the poem is headed “The Unseen Foe,’’ and here, while the entrance of evil into tho world is treated as an insoluble problem, the war with oyil is represented as having been waged prior to tho creation of man. Satan is pictured, not in medieval guise, but as the Tempter known to Christ and Paul. Tho story of the first temptation and its disastrous consequences is put into the mouth of the Mother of Mankind. In a- postscript to this part of tho poem, Mr Smith says: ‘The days are coming when all theories of (ho Trinity and of the Person of Christ will bo consigned to the flames. The cany Church needed them not and neither do wo. They have wrought no good. They have done great barm.” Tho fifth and final part of the poem entitled “The Triumph of Grace,” and in it tiie Mother of Mankind continues the story of the human race. “Her main aim is to show that whatever Man has made has been achieved not, as Naturalism fondly supposes, by virtue of some purely fanciful ‘Law of Progress,’ but through a grim life and death struggle in which Man has prevailed only in so far as he has been aided by God, his Unseen Friend, to overcome the wiles of the Tempter his Unseen Foe.” A picture is painted of the glorious world that might have been had Man never sinned. A brief account is given of the coming of Christ, the true climax of whoso work is assigned not at the Cross nor the Ressurrection nor the Ascension, but at Pentecost. In a last postscript Mr Smith follows Mr Benjamin Kidd in hailing woman as tho hope of the future. He writes; It is the Christian Church that holds the secret of power. But before that power can become hers in strength proportionate to her mighty task, she must have infused into her, to a far greater degree than at present is the case the qualities by which true and noble womanhood is distinguished. When the Christian Church is purged at last of that masculine overconfidence in mere intellect, with its concomitant irreverence, which has been her bane in by-gone centuries, when she is brought at last to trust, as true woman has all along been inviting ber to trust, in tho truth-perceptive powers of tho soul .... then reborn, transformed, and glorified, the Christian Church will prove herself tho Bride of Christ indeed. . . . Whether this thesis will prove, as the author fondly hopes, a means of harmonising science and religion and of reconciling fundamentalism and modernism remains to be seen. At least, it may be as a sincere endeavour on the part of o New Zealand theologian to deal with a pressing problem which puzzles many thoughtful people. Mr Smith is under no delusion as to the quality of his verse. He regards it simply as a suitable medium tor the expression of his theological views. At least it is limpid and simple, pleasant to road and easy to understand. The book is likely to excite widespread interest. lII.—DR A. J. HARROP ON EARLY HISTORY. As senior scholar in history at the New Zealand University, Dr A. J. Harrop laid the foundation of what gives every promise of being a distinguished career. Throe years ago he made his first essay in literature with a book called ‘The Romance of Westland.” He has now published a much more ambitious work in “England and New Zealand: From Tasman to the Taranaki War,” which carries an introduction by Earl Jeilicoc. That introduction consists in the main of a record of the impressions which New Zealand and its people left upon Lord Jellicoe’s mind “as the result ot over four years’ recent and hapnv residence in the Dominion as Governor-General.” That record is eulogistic enough to constitute a magnificent advertisement of New Zealand as a desirable country for settlement and residence. Lord Jellicoo refers also to tho fact that New Zealand became a portion of the British Empire, in spite of. rather than with, the assistance of the Home Government. . Tho basis of Dr Harrop s book is the conviction that the time is ripe for a more detailed examination of the history of New Zealand in the light of modern knowledge. It has been felt,” lie writes, “that the story of how New Zealand obtained responsible government ami the share of statesmen like Sir Robert Peel, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lord John Russell, Lord Stanley, and Earl Grey in the development of the Constitution would prove of interest and value, especially at a time when New Zealand has herself assumed, under mandates of the League of Nations, the responsibilities for the happiness of other peoples besides ber own.” That interest and value have been greatly intensified, since the book was published, by the decision of the Imperial Conference which confers upon New Zealand, in common wijjh other units of the Empire, an equal status in the Imperial partnership. The books dealing with New Zealand history prior to the publication o? bis thesis, are roughly divided by Dr Harrop into two classes —(1) contemporary accounts of events, mostly of ,> partisan nature, and necessarily written without access to original documents now available; and (2) general accounts of the whole course of events. Acknowledgment is made of the labours,of tho late Dr M'Nab in his close examination of the sources of New Zealand history—labours which, covering the years 1042-1840, left Dr Harrop free to devote more attention to the momentous events of the years from 1840 to 1800. As far ns possible, Dr Harrop has made use of sources of information not available in the Dominion, and accordingly a great part of this history will bo new to the average reader and student. The documents in the Public Records Office in London have been carefully studied, these including, besides the original Government despatches, all the hundreds of volumes of papers of tho New Zealand Company, and the interleaved rare pamphlets relating to the controversies of the time. These have been supplemented by a survey of parliamentary papers and Hansard reports of debates on New Zealand affairs. The examination of these sources must have

entailed a great deal of patient work. Dr Harrop remarks: — The chief parts of the work for which the writer claims originality are the chapters on the rise, decline, and fall of the New f'caland Company, the German project of colonisation, France and New Zealand, and the growth of the Constitution. While it may seem strange that the history of the New Zealand Company should • never Lave been written, such is undoubtedly the case, and this fact has, it is felt, justified the detailed treatment of the company’s career given in the present work. The German project of colonisation in New Zealand is an interesting study which has been completely neglected; while the story of the growth of French interests in New Zealand, culminating in the establishment of a colony at Akaroa, lias never been told, though the “race for Akaroa” lias often been described. All this sufficiently attests to the value of this history as a work of reference, but the hook is much more than this. Dr Harrop has an attractive stylo, and the story he has to toll reads like a romance. He also occupies the difficult position of an impartial historian in respect of which he explains: In dealing with the history of New Zealand, almost every aspect of which has been the theme of bitter controversies, it has been felt that the only way to represent fairly the view of the contending parties was to use as far as possible their exact words. To make a final judgment of the motives which actuated the missionaries and the settlers, the Home Government and the local Government, the New Zealand Company and the Maoris themselves, is a task made almost impossible by the vast mass of conflicting documents printed and imprinted which refer to the subject. The writer, therefore, can claim no finality for the conclusions reached. He merely advances them as opinions formed after closely examining the original documents.and excluding as far as possible any preconceived views of the relative merits of the contending parties in the many struggles which make the history of New Zealand a fascinating study. IV—T. J. PEMBERTON ON GALLIPOLI. A melancholy interest attaches itself to “Gallipoli To-day,” a handsomely produced volume with many well-produced illustrations, which Mr T. J. Pemberton has written as “a national act of service,” as his opening chapter is headed. Mr Pemberton is a New Zealander, who has lived for the last 12 years in London,'and ho has paid a visit to Gallinoli. He is therefore fully equipped for tho writing of a volume which will ho treasured by all who have a tragic interest in the graves on Gallipoli. The introduction to Mr Pemberton's book is from tho pen of Sir lan Hamilton, and. despite a spirit of controversy which marks some of his statements, it sounds a grateful note. “Out of every hundred people,” ho writes, “of Great Britain, Australia, or New Zealand, who can find time and cash to visit Franco or Flanders, tjierc is not moro than one who is likely to be able to make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli. But all can read this book and absorb into their imaginations something of the loveliness of that land where so many of their sons lie sleeping. Rather, they seem to sleep, for in that vast sub-conscious region of hopes, fears, traditions, and intentions, which is. the heritage of our race, tho ghosts of these dead soldiers have an abiding place which will endure at least as long as the world." Mr Pemberton refer? to Iho “Mission of Commemmoration” which has been going on for the past five or six years at Gallipoli, and which has now reached completion. Mr Pemberton’s words in this connection will be fondly treasured by mu) iitudes of the bereaved in all parte of the Dominion —“more perhaps than in other lands the work here is an act of faith. Few indeed of this generation will ever see tho beautiful but unobtrusive monuments erected in this sparsely-populated country to the memory of 48,000 British soldiers and sailors. The sacred plots have not been planned for the curious gaze of man. That they lie in silent, untrodden valleys and on the hills where few men pass by, makes them all the moro an act of faith and sacrament. They express an idea, and as is the case with tho flower of tho forest or the gem of the ocean cave, man's appreciation is not a necessary factor in the fulfilment of that idea.” What follows will convey an idea of the author's style and spirit:

Eleven years have passed since all those stirring deeds recorded in other volumes dealing with the Gallipoli campaign. It is a period long enough for some of the pain of memory to have vanished. Grief and despair are emotions that cannot live forever in the human heart. The loss so many thousands suffered is bereft of its sting. The saddest memory in the end retains some measure of beauty. Now, therefore, at the close of a decade, one may speak of the dead and the land wherein they rest without the certainty of reviving again the bitterness of despair, the poignant grief in the hearts of those who suffered loss. Yet the thoughts of many thousands in Britain, in Australia, in New Zealand, often turn to this ancient land, and it may be they picture for themselves the far-distant peninsula where their loved ones were given sepulture. Were it possible to reproduce these mental pictures how diverse in character they would bo! How few would have any semblance to the country as it is. And how few people in the years to come will have an opportunity of seeing the land for themselves and correcting those mental pictures. It may bo asked: Does it matter whether or not they are corrected? One may answer, yes. Beautiful and kindly memories focus upon this almost un-

known land. It is only human to picture that portion of the physical world wherein one’s nearest and dearest last moved in the full slide of manhood. It is only human for one’s thoughts to be drawn to the earth that has been made more sacred by reason of what it holds. There must bo some measure of comfort in learning of the faithful work that has been done to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of Gallipoli. There must be some satisfaction in knowing that over the plots of earth whore the mortal remains of those heroes lie the art and hand of man have fashioned that which is different from the surrounding wilderness, that which embodies to some extent the beautiful and kindly thoughts which focus hero from a hundred thousand minds.

This extract sufficiently explains the motive and purpose of the book. Mr Pemberton was one of the party which in May of last year visited Gallipoli and witnessed the unveiling of the New Zealand memorial on C'hunuk Bair. Full advantage w; t < token of the opportunity of exploring the Peninsula, with the result of the full anti ample description set down in these pages. The country is pictured in all its aspects including the birds, beasts, flowers, and men who inhabit that region. The hallowed ground of the Mizac and Suvla cemeteries and the unremitting labour that has beautified the last resting place ot so many young New Zealanders receive reverent attention. The value of the letterpress is greatly enhanced by a fine series of photographs. Mr Pemberton acknowledges hie indebtedness to Sir John Burnett, R.A., the chief architect for the Gallipoli war graves, for the beautiful sketch depicting Shrapnel Valley Cemetery as it will appear in about 30 years’ time which forms the frontispiece to the volume. “Gallipoli To-Day,” is a book which will find its way into hundreds of New Zealand homes this Christmastide, bringing with it such consolation as the knowledge that the honoured dead are tended and revered is able to convey. As Mr Pemberton says: “Christian peoplo have always taken a joy in a reverent attention to the graves of their dead. . . . It is a simple act of service.”