THE PRICE OF BOOKS,

Otago Witness, Issue 2510, 23 April 1902, Page 73

THE PRICE OF BOOKS,

Vancouver possesses a good many book .shops, but they are even more under the domination of the yellow-back' and the lighter magazines than our own. I had entertained the notion that books were ch«ap in the .State-, and probably cheap al«o in Canada But they are anything but cheap vi cither country; indued, they arc far dearer than in Dunedin. The only thing you can purchase* at les S oo»t than in these colonies is magazine-, of the fype of " PearbO!i"-," "The Windsor," and '"Ihe Strand." For these- in Dunedin you pjy 9d : in Van couver and San Franci-eo 10c, or 5d of our money. The difference is very much in favour of the States at this point But =o far n* 1 could learn nil other kinds of literature aie u'uch dearer. Take, for exan,ple the books published in England for une in British India and the colomed Here t;.< se tost half a c rov. n in pape. covers, 3s 6d in cloth. In San Francisco the same books in cloth coi-t a dollar and a-half, or (something over 6=. This particular line may bo rhenpe-r in Canada than in the States, but books, generally speaking, are dear. The mention of the dollar leminclp me that the currency of Canada, like that of the State?, w cent= and dollar.:. Prrhap, iC is unnccc-'arv to s-ay this, ami yet I met some highly intelligent and well informed folk in Vancouver v. ho exprcs*ed prrcat surpri=e ra learning that in Australasia we .■till keep to that wretched old sy-tein o f phillnißS and poundt-. I lutsU lied to i-siire tin m that there was nothing v rone; with "-bilbnc; 11 and pcui'd-. rv^-it il,at th< \ » < :<■ uther (liffic ult to i oine by It added greatly to the pip-i^ure and profit ol ivy biifci s,u.v in Vancouver liar. I made

the ac~ua' ..ance Jf Aj Rev. Dr M'Larctf, the minister of the Presbyterian Churth there. I had been tole that th< doctor was not o ly a v*rj successful uini=rter of his congregation, few.* he exerted a stro^ influence; on the col- mu: .. f/ of Yan^ c.uvcr, and, deed, the ro«. viat-e of Brittf* ColunrbiH. i can well be« Hive it. He is i. very .nt« resting personality,' Clever, quaint, with a g «at eUs of rerJj mother wi f and not less Lndnnes^ of disposition, he is jus" the man so g«".p oth the minds nd hearts of the people. Id d not heav him preach, but X understand his church is full on Sundays, and I hud a» sample of his quality at a week-night ser-* vi--e which he ccsiducted in part. By thef way, week-night services held in connectiopj with prosperous efcrjehes in Canada seen: tD be no better attencied than similar services in this part of the world. Ard there-, as here, men at prayer meetings are 'ike the? plums in a pauper's pudding — few and far between. But the service was highly enjcyable and profitable for all that. Dr M'Laren is undoubtedly a decided acquisition to Vancouver. Of him and thj friends to whom ho introduced me I carried away th.> most kindly aud pleasant recollections.

It is reported that a Slataura resident who went out shooting early last week has not been seen since, and that search parties hare failed to find any trace of him.— Ensign.