NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3959, 28 January 1930, Page 21

NEW ZEALAND LITERATURE.

SOME NOTABLE BOOKS.

By

the Rev. H. J. Flecther,

v. One of the very fine books on the geology of New Zealand is a partial translation of a work by Dr F. von Hochstetter, a member of the Austrian Novara expedition. The Novara visited New Zealand in 1859, and Dr Hochstetler obtained leave of absence from his duties for nine months, at the request of the New Zealand Government, in order that he might study the geology of New Zealand as far as time permitted. His researches were mainly limited to the southern portions of the Auckland province and Nelson. He travelled over a large portion of what is still known as the King Country, Lake Taupo, and the Hot Lakes district. The result of his observations is furnished in this large quarto volume of 515 pages, containing information from a trained observer of many things in addition to geology. There uro two very fine maps, seven tinted plates, and over 100 engravings. There is a passage in the preface that throws a flood of light on how things were done in those days. The General Assembly of New Zealand passed a vote of thanks to the learned author, and voted a sum of money to pay for the production of a version in English. A large number of these volumes were annexed by the various members of the Government 'as their perquisites, and other volumes were handed on to various societies, to be usetLas they thought fit, for the purpose of encouraging a taste for literature. The first copy I ever saw belonged to the first list. The se and was a magnificently bound copy in the house of a stock breeder in Canterbury. It contained an inscription showing tha*" it had been awarded to the owner as a first class prize for an entire horse exhibited at one of the Canterbury shows. The leaves were uncut. “ Christianity Among the New Zealanders.” by the Right Rev. William Wil lianis, D.C.L., first Bishop of IVaiapu, is a careful statement of the result of the efforts of Christian mission work among the Maoris. The writer Igiided in New Zealand in 1826 as a missionary under the Church Mission Society, so that the hook is mainly the result of his own observations and experience as well as matter derived from the society’s publications. It was printed in London by Seolev, Jackson, and Halliday in 1867.

The first volume of “ The Transactions and Proceedings of the New2 Zealand Institute” was issued in 1868, under the editorship of James Hector. M.D., F.R.S. The Transactions have been published annually ever since. The volumes form a library in themselves on all the scientific questions relating to New Zealand. Many of the separate works on various sections of knowledge had their beginning in the pages of this annual. To do justice to them would require a separate series of articles for them alone. I pro pose to mention a few of the outstanding articles as they occur, especially in the earlier numbers of the series. The first volume contains the special essays written for the New Zealand Exhibition of 1865:—(1) On the Geographical Botany of New Zealand, by Dr Hector, M.D., F.R.S. (2) On the Ornithology of New Zealand, by Walter Buller, F.L.S. (3) On the Botany of the North Island of New Zealand, by William Colenso, F.L.S. (4) On the Cultivation ami Acclimatisation of Trees and Plants, by A. Ludlam. (5) On the Geology of the North Island of New Zealand, by J. Coutts Crawford, F.G.S. (6) Short Sketch of the Maori Races of New Zealand. by Dr Edward Shortland. (7) On the Maori Races of New Zealand, by William Colenso. F.L.S. The printers have varied slightly, but have mostly l»een the New Zealand Government printers. A centenary memorial of Captain Cook's Description of New Zealand 100 years ago was issued by G. T. Chapman, of Auckland, in 1876. It is a reprint of all the matter contained in the whole set of Cook's Voyages relating to New Zealand. There are reprints of Cook's New Zealand charts, with 27 illustrations and a facsimile of Cook's handwriting.

“ A Ride Through the Disturbed Districts of New Zealand.” by Lieutenant 11. Meade, is an account of an adventurous ride through a portion of the North Island of New Zealand soon after the close of the Maori war. The book is compiled from letters and journals written by the lieutenant to his brother. It was printed in London by John Murray in 1870. The writer travelled from the Bay of Plenty through Rotorua to Taupo, and spent some time on the edge of the lake. He made an expedition to Wailiaha, in the western bay of the lake, and was captured by a travelling party of Hauhaus near Oruanui. about 10 miles from Taupo, when trying to ride through to the British outposts in the Waikato. His life was saved by the famous Ahuinai. the woman who made the famous defiance to Major Mair nt Orakau a few years previous. One half of the book is devoted to an account of some of the other South Sea Islands. The second volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute was issued in April, 1870. The most noticeable article is “ On the Changes Effected in the Natural Features of a New Country bv the Introduction of Civilised Races,” by IV. T. L. Travers. F.L.S. The third volume, issued in May, 1871. has, among many other items, some fine notes by Mr T. H. Potts on New Zealand Birds. Volume 4 has several items of special interest to students of New Zealand mat-

ters. Among the miscellaneous items we have a fine article by J. T. Thomson, F.R.G.S., on “ The Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori.” This article may be reckoned as the beginning of the long stream of discussion on this fascinating subject. Another on “ Moa and Moa Hunters,” by Julius Haast, Ph.D., F.R.S., opened up the long controversy on the time of the extinction of this* giant bird. In later volumes the scientists took definite sides. One section stoutly maintained that the extinction of the moa was away back prior to the coming of the Maori. The other contended that the ancestors of the present Maori saw the last of the moa. It is now known that the honours were with both parties. The gigantic 14-foot moa was never seen alive by the Maoris, but the smaller specimens, alxnit six feet high, were exterminated betw -u 400 and 600 years ago by the ancestors of the present Maoris. The greatest New Zealand poem is that called “ Ranolf and Amohia,” by A. Domett. It is also called “ A South-Sea Day-Dream.” The first edition was in one volume, octavo, of 511 pages, published in London by Smith. Elder, and Co. in 1872. The second edition was in two volumes, published by Kegan, Paul, Trench, and Co., London, in 1883. This is one of those strange cases where the second edition is of much more value than the first. A fire took place in the publishing office and most of the edition was destroyed. Hence, copies of the second edition are much more rare than the first. It is a most charming love story illustrated throughout by references, interwoven in the story itself, to Maori mythology and ancient lore. Domett was a close friend of Browning. He was one of the early colonists of Nelson, an editor and a large contributor to the Nelson Examiner. For a short time he was Premier of New Zealand.

A little known work, hut one that cannot be passed over by the student, is called “ Life Among the Maoris of New Zealand,” by the Rev. R. Ward. Air Ward, a Primitive Methodist minister, came out to New Zealand in the early ’forties, and spent the best part of 25 years among the Maoris. The book was compiled from his own journals and letters by two ministerial friends in England. The value of the book is in the fact that it was not written specially for publication by Mr Ward himself,* but was compiled from his journals by others. It was printed in London in 1872.

The first edition of that notable book, “A History of the Birds of New Zealand,” by Walter Buller, was printed in London in 1873. It is in royal quarto, pages xxiii, 384. There arc 3.5 coloured plates, most of them having two or more specimens of New Zealand birds in natural colours, varying from life size, in the small specimens, to half or a-third in the larger ones. There is a large and full letterpress. Native and scientific names are given and scientific descriptions in Latin and English. There is a full list of subscribers. A second edition appeared in 1888 in two volumes, imp. quarto, containing much added matter, and a supplement in 1905. Sir Walter Buller was an eminent New Zealand barrister, a son of the Rev. James Buller, a Wesleyan minister, who worked for many years among the Maoris. A curious book in a light vein is celled “ Erewhon,” or “ Over the Range.” by Samuel Butler. The writer is supposed to start exploring the Southern Alps and follows a pass into some new country where the people have some strange ideas. They punish crime with careful treatment in hospital and bodilv disease with jieriods in gaol. Butler was a noted writer and essayist in England, and he spent some time in Canterbury, New Zealand.