NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 26

NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

SOME NOTABLE BOOKS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By the Rev. H. J. Fletcher. “ Sir George Grey, Governor, High Commissioner, and Premier,” by James Collier. This is an Bvo volume of 233 pages, with a number of illustrations of prominent public men of New Zealand during the period, of Sir-George’s public life. It is a critical narrative of the actions of Sir George, right through his career in his various capacities. The writer pays a fine tribute to his ability as a ruler and statesman, but he also points out, what he considers, some of the grievous defects in his character. Published by Whitcombe and Tombs, 1909. “The Geology of New Zealand,” by P. Marshall, ALA., D.Sc., P.G.S., is a text book of geology written for the mining schools of New Zealand while the author was lecturer on general geology. School of Mines, University of Otago. Published by authority, John Mackay, Government Printer, Wellington, 1909. It i s a small Bvo volume of 300 pages with many illustrations and rock sections. It is chiefly economic and physiographic, with a full list of minerals. There is an introduction by James Macintosh Bell, who was then Director of the New Zealand Geological Survey. "Bishop Harper and the Canterbury Settlement,” by H. T. Purehas, M.A. This is a memoir of the life of the bishop who controlled the destinies of the Christchurch Bishopric for a number of years. It is the second edition of the book published in 1903, slightly enlarged. It was compiled largely from the bishop's journals, with a preliminary account of the Canterbury settlement. Published by Whitcombe and Tombs, 1909. “A New Zealand Naturalist’s Calendar and Notes by the Wayside,” by G. M. Thomson, F.L.S., F.G.S., is a small Svo volume of 224 pages with 27 illustrations. Published by R. J. Stark and Co., Dunedin, in 1909. This, is a reprint of a number of articles on natural history first published in the Otago Daily Times, with extensive additions. “ The Life and Adventures of Kimble Bent, the Pakeha-Maori,” by James Cowan, This is the story of the life ot an ex-soldier among the Taranaki Maoris, from 18G5 on to the time of his reappearance among Europeans in 1878. It is not a work of fiction. Kimble Bent, after a merciless flogging at the triangles, because of some slight breach of military discipline, deserted to the Hauhaus, and lived with them through the stormy time of the last portion of the Taranaki War. The book tells many of the incidents of tlie war from the Maori side, and, incidentally, corrects many wrong impressions that were current about the war • and some of the characters in it. For one thing, it was said that Bent fired the shot that killed his old commanding officer. The story shows that he was not allowed to handle a musket during the duration of .the war, for the Maoris thought he might be tempted to shootsome of their chiefs. This has been corroborated by the Maoris themselves. Published by Whitcombe and Tombs in 1911. "With the Lost Legion in New Zealand, ’ by Colonel G. Hamilton-Browne, is a peculiar book, inasmuch as the book was written by a man who took no part in the Maori War. It is known that Hamilton-Browne did not join the Armed Constabulary until sofiie months after the last shot in the war was fired. 1 And yet the book is written as if the writer went through all the engagements he mentions. If the hook is compared with Colonel Gudgeon s book, “ Reminiscences of the Y a Fj a *L ew Zealand,” it will be seen that Hamilton-Browne must have compiled ms book with Gudgeon’s' in front of him, for chapter for chapter they are the same. Bu j Tf mi ! ton ’® rowile,s 1)0011 * 3 far more readable than the other. He has a large number of what may be called “ Camp lire yarns incorporated in th e book, and many incidents of camp life arc given which are quite foreign to Gudgeon. Published by T. Werner Laurie, London, but not dated. Who Are the Maoris? ” by Alfred Newman, isi a book that has a number of home h nf fh* at M men . tS 8116114 4i ® ori S inal ° f the , Maori people- Mr Newman Icd r y 1 earS £ ,lo " in « clues which ed him to India. He shows that many InZ ergmg J ,neS . ° f evidence Point to India as the original Hawaiki. There are ai number .illustrations in the book! carvln thej ? facing page, 128 is a Maori seeinir g thfi n r/ et im P° Bsibl e to avoid i 61 , ng likeness .to an elephant. The book contains a vast amount of material as , ev ! dencG °f the author’s contention, and it must be taken to account in Tombs, but not dated be and „ and Traditions of the TaraSter C °? bo by k S f ’ Per <* Smith; is the nesian Journal. When £ armies for the Journal a sufficient nuS ber of copies were struck off of each °K torm - So the book is not a reprint the lL BeCOn ? edi t ion - 14 is Practically nl W ° rd °“ the Ma6vi hi «tory of the Dlffid Si °T L J hG Maori * "ho sup- £ ft 1,, fl rmahon are now no more * so « "OuJd be impossible now to write on the i f “T has been thrown on the early inhabitants by Whatahoro; that * thG book is aut horitative aon P«»«> d from the earliest Taranakf 16 Settleln<mt of the Pakcha in Lands, New Zealand,” A ; Valle » ls one of a set of volumes ntended, as the name implies, to give a g impse of some of the characteristics of the land in which we live. . It is the attempt of a New Zealander to give English people some idea of how the average person lives in work and play, with brief reference to some of the beauty spots of the country. It i s illustrated with 12 tull-page illustrations in colour from the large volume on New Zealand, published b y . • and C- Black, who are also the publishers of this little volume of 88 pages. “Sixty years in New Zealand,” by A. Hope Blake, is a series of incidents stretching back from about 1908 to 1850. Most of them have to do with the Hawke's Bay coast, and the Maori troubles ot the late sixties, the fighting about Poverty Bay, and the chase after Te Kooti. The second chapter, “ Nipped' in the Bud/’ is an account of how Sir Donald M’Lean anticipated and prevented an attack pn Napier by a band of Hauhaus, who fortified an old Maori pa at Oniarunui, about 10 miles from Napier. (A monument to commemorate the fights stands in the Esk A alley near the site of the engagement,) The writer was a groat admirer of Sir Donald, whose portrait is given. \ olume XVI of the Polynesian Journal has the opening chapters of the “ History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast,” by S. Percy Smith. (The full volume is mentioned above). An article on Maori Wars by Gudgeon, “An Ancient Maori Poem, by Tnhoto-Arkii; translated and paraphrased by G. H. Davies and- J. EL Pope, is one of the finest poems in Maori, full of ancient mythology. It was composed soon after .the arrival of the fleet in 1350, and contains (like all Maori poetry) fragments of much older date. Exception has been taken by competent scholars to the rendering of lines 120-124; they are not in the original, nor are the ideas therein known to the older Maori. Volume XVII of the Polynesian Journal is mostly taken up with the history and traditions of the Taranaki coast, but there are some fine papers on other subjects. " Samoan Phonetics in the Broader Relation.” by William Churchill, is a fine philological study in one of tl;e main Polynesian dialects. The continuation of the “ Story of the Takitimu Canoe," with

a translation by Hare Hongi and some smaller notes. Volume XVIII has a paper on “Ariki and incidentally, Tohunga,” in which the noted Maori scholar Hare Hongi, explains the old Maori usage of these terms. Whatahoro, in a criticism of the same, gives the Ngatiporou interpretation of the words. The Samoan story of the story of Apakura, by Dr E. Schultz, of Samoa, shows how many of the Polynesian stories have been localised, A paper on “Matakite,” by Colonel Gudgeon, is an able contribution to the literature of this obscure subject. One of the “Taniwha Stories,” “ The Story- of Kataore,” is told with a great wealth of detail, and yet we know the story must refer to some event long prior to the arrival of the Maori in New Zealand. Volume XIX of the Polynesian Journal has the final chapters of “ The History of the Taranaki Coast.” A paper on “Ari’is in Tahiti,” by Tati Salmon, confirming some of the statements made by other writers on the theory that Tahiti was the last Hawaiki of the Maori, shows how the names of some of the canoes of the great “ Heke ” were remembered by the Tahitians. A paper by Mr S. P. Smith, on “Aryan and Polynesian points of Contact” shows the possibilty of some of the conjectures of students along that line. The Rarotongan story of Rata, and other items make up a well-filled volume.