A TALE OF DUNEDIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22830, 14 March 1936, Page 4

A TALE OF DUNEDIN

C. R. ALLEN'S NEW BOOK "A Poor Scholar: A Talc of Progress." By C. R. Allen, Dunedin. A. H. and A. W. Reed. 7s. A picture of early Dunedin would be incomplete without the detail of Mr B. L. Farjeon posting his early novel to Dickens, and on receipt of acknowledgment returning to London to begin his career as a novelist, which proved to be more than a career, as it led to the founding of a literary family. His lead has been followed up to the present time; at least, in its initial stages. But there were other writers who stuck to the Otago Witness, or issued their stories in pamphlet, or even more ambitious form, through local printers, notably Dugald Ferguson and Vincent Pyke, and Thomas Bracken, the poet, must be included. In those faroff days there was a public ready at hand and the writers endeavoured to celebrate the life of the comparatively new settlement and town for the benefit of that handy public. Indeed, so early in its career Dunedin had set up to be its own London. But local writers were largely followers and not leaders, they could not make enough of their city, and in 1900 or thereabouts Dunedin was swept by the advent of the Kailyard School and J. M. Barrie, lan Maclaren, and S. R. Crockette (both now dead), were read to a word. Thomas Hardy and George Meredith had their highbrow following and the turmoil of the South African or Boer War discovered Rudyard Kipling at his most popular. In short, the great outside world had ousted the local laureate. Those were boom times, the dredging boom being at its height, and unemployment was never even dreamed of. Colonel Robin was hero, and Dr Hocken and «Dr Rutherford Waddell were familiar features of the personal landscape. It was the day of horsecars and drags, of cabs and saddlehorses. It was also the day, or rather, the night, of gaslight, and was probably one of the most characteristic periods in the whole history of the city. It was a city of contrasts, the comparatively poverty-touched quarters of Great King street and its vicinity and the other more aristocratic suburban areas where there was a sign of wealth; the large public schools with their multitudes and. on the other hand, the Boys' High School, the Girls' High School, and their order marked a fairly firm line. It is into this city that Mr C. R. Allen brings the hero of his new

novel, " A Poor Scholar," the baby member of a struggling family living in the Great King street locality and shortly to commence in business there. But fie brings to his story, as compared to the older local novelists, an entirely new equipment. Where to Mr Farjeon London wag the goal, and while to Mr Pyke Otago was all, Mr Allen ha s been more of a townsman. He has not only lived through the whole period and watched the city and its populace evolve, but in order to gain completion he has lived in London and he became a novelist there by way of graduation. It is a good example of the return of the native, and a native who has dropped all the glamour of a distant London, where fantasy was as important as life, to accept in its Place realism and the Dunedin of his youth, which he knows so well and loves so deeply, but sees, in such true perspective, and accordingly presents without false values.

The Lawrence family, with the youngest member "Ponto" as the novelists hero, is a typical New Zealand family, but in no other city in the Dominion *« we have exactly the same environment, tor in Dimedin every influence seems to touch all the population more or less, whereas in other centres size causes a limited isolation. Every citizen of Dunedin shares in its University and its football sue cesses, and this is brought out in MiAllen's novel conspicuously. Mrs Lawrence sets out to bring up her family, which consists of Herbert, Myrtle, and Ponto, with the aid of a stationer s . shop in Great King street, and the vicissitudes of the group up to the time ot Ponto's leaving the Otago Boys liign School take up the greater part of the book The final section, which touches on Ponto's University career, and his residence in England as a Rhodes scholar, is a matter of pages only. The epilogue deals with his return to Dunedin his home town, a married man and a knight, Mr Frederick Lawrence. He comes home a success, a man who has gathered fame and fortune from the Great War while others in the story have given all. It is in presenting the story that Mr Allen has shown a singleness of purpose, and a loviii"- rare of detail which must appeal and strike home to a large public to whom both place and personalities are familiar: as well as to another public which will find a Dunedin of yesterday new to it in the book. Here is a lively presentation of a youthful life in the city, with Ihe varied contacts of such a versatile youth as Ponto Lawrence, who is not onlv a poor scholar but an athlete as well and a personality. Thomas Bracken viewed Dunedin from the bay. and the public of his day applauded his enthusiasm. Mr C. P. Allen has viewed Dunedin from various vantage PO'"ts. in eluding Great King street,. H'lrzcl. fh Bovs' High Schol. the University. All Saints' choir and Oxford University, and his picture is heightened by the great historic events which have rendered tlio neriod so conspicuous and picturesque. Tt presents not onlv Ihe evolution of a person and a family, hut also of the citv of Dunedin. Outstanding characters arc numerous and as the pageant of the city passes, whether it be in a football match or a capping carnival, crowded days in Princes street or windv days in King street, we lire given both the pa the* and the humour of its multifarious life, ft would be difficult to place, for instance, the Kev. An drew Barrio, but one is sure he is a composite, and could name several who have part in its making. Then there is Gerard Burnabv, who is not without a notable prototype. - Tndoed, the whole gallery has the familiarity of a discussion of old davs with old cronies. Both publishers and printers are to be commended for their workmanlike presen tat ion of the book. S. G. A.

An Encouraging Sale ' Mr E. Maxwell's " Recollections and Reflections of An Old New Zealander,' which appeared shoftly before Christmas has met with an encouraging reception, and the first edition is now exhausted. The publishers, Messrs A. H. and A. W. Reed, announce that a eecond edition is in the press.