PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19969, 10 December 1926, Page 19

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

The students of economics will find absorbing interest in an inquiry into the amount oi the national dividend of Australia and the manner of its distribution, published in booklet form by James T. Sutcliffe through the Melbourne University Press, as the first of a projected economic series. For his research along those lines, the author was awarded the “Harbison Higginbotham Scholarship” for 1926, and his “inquiry” is now published in accordance with tiio conditions of the scholarship. From available statistics Mr Sutcliffe has computed national dividend of Australia, over a period from 1910 to 1924, in two separate ways, and as tljo totals arrived at differ to the extent of only 2 per cent., the estimate should be fairly reliable. The total “national dividend” increased from 259.5 million pounds in 1910-11 to 552 million pounds in 1924-25. Much of the increase was due to increases in price levels. Leaving outside the distinction between wage and salary earners and others, says the author, the distribution of national income, according to income groups, shows that for 1920-21, 58.7 per cent of the breadwinners received less than £2OO per year, and that 95.64 received less than £SOO per year. The remaining 4.36 per cent, of income receivers, however, received 21.76 per cent, of the total income. The Rationalist Annual for 1927 lops lustily at the tree of Christianity. In an article discussing “The Historical Reality of Jesus,” Edward Greenly, D.Sc., F. G.S., would rob the average man of all his orthodox Christian beliefs, while under the title “The Religion of a Rationalist,” Dr Stanton Coit would help him to find some substitute religion in which “reason” would be the supremacy. To qualify as a “rationalist” it seems necessary to believe that the twelve apostles were mythical; that the “Sermon on the Mount” is a compilation. and was never delivered as an address; that it is questionable whether there ever was “any gospel at all by Jesus and His disciples”; that the formulas m the Gospels of “the Lord’s Supper” are “essentially identical in idea, partly even in wording, with totemistic and cannibal sacraments all the world over” ; that “every salient episode, miraculous or otherwise, in the career of Jesus corresponds to some episode in the myth of a god or semi-divine hero already current in the Mediterranean world.” A trio of bright folders to hand from the New Zealand Government Publicity Office represents the latest tourist propaganda under effort. ‘Something of everything” is a phrase which may be aptly applied to New Zealand scenery. These fresh folders concentrate on sport, the fiords, and deer shooting, and scenic charms and attractions. Liberally and judiciously illustrated, and not burdened with long, discursive letterpress, they should prove excellent publicity agents. In “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier” in the Strand for November, Sir A. Conan Doyle has got back to the standard of some of hi? best Sherlock Holmes mysteries. On this occasion the detective is without the services of his biographer. Dr Watson, and tells the story himself, revealing the process of deduction by which, without visiting the scene of action, ho is able to solve the engrossing mystery. P. G. Wodehouso’s “Mulimer’s Buck-U-Uppo, is in that humorist’s drollest style. .His pen portrait of an emasculated curate is a gem;—“He had flaxen hair, weak blue eyes, and the general demeanour of a saintly but timid codfish.” _ Hugh Walpole has an article on “Reading for Love.’ Cosmo Hamilton adds a few more leaves “From the Diary of a Dramatist,” and there is, as usual, a good choice of fiction. The Strand illustrators maintain a high standard of work. The discussion of “High Wages and Prosperity” is continued in the November number of the New Zealand National Review. The idea that labour saving machinery means less employment for the worker is combatted, figures being quoted to show that in America in 1925 employment in the manufacturing industries increased by 6.4 per cent., the wages in the same period by 12.6 per cent., and the output by 24.6 per cent., so that just over half of the increased output went to the workers in the form of increased wages. Music, plays, and pictures, golf, motoring, and wit and lutmoLif are features of this well-printed journal. The Auckland City Council is severely criticised in the magazine “N. Z.” for November for “having made a muddle of it stransportation problems,” the burden of the complaint being that the council has crushed out the buses and failed to provide adequate substitute transportion. More tariff protection against foreign goods is strongly urged in the magazine, which, apart from its critical side, has_ special articles of diverse character, a ladies section, a children’s corner, and some fiction, including a story by A. H. Bremner, of Waikouaiti, “The Hiding of Henderson all its details the Otago Boys’ High School magazine reflects credit upon the boys who edit it. A bright chronicle of events and doings, wonderfully complete in its range, it must bo exceptionally interesting to alj who have passed through the school, as well as to those at present in it. A contemporary magazine, The Scindian, issued at the Napier Boys’ High School, is another interesting historical, athletic, and social record. An impressive panoramic view of the new school buildings accompanies this journal. A perusal of the “Welcome ’ Photographic Exposure Calculator Handbook and Diary for the coming year reveals the same care and attention to accuracy and detail which have characterised previous editions. The general information relating to exposure, development, toning, printing, etc., together with the complete list of plates and films and their respective factors, makes this handbook a very complete manual in respect to the photographic art. Other publications to hand arc; —The Economic Record for November; the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture for November; the New Zealand Draper, Clothier, and Boot Retailor for December; the Journal of the Now Zealand Institute of Architects.