PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15748, 13 February 1922, Page 5

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

•‘The Legends of Smokeovcr, ” by Professor I. P. Jacks, of Manchester University, published by Messrs. Hodder and Houghton, and sent us through Mr. C. W. Muir, is a remarkable book dealing with the problem of putting the world right. The author has always had a conviction that, if there is a good deal wrong with the world, there is. also a good deal wrong with the philosophers, religions, philanthropies, theologies, and schemes for putting it right. In his work, an allegory of reconstruction, ho chooses as his chief reconstructors a bookmaker, a millionaire, a school teacher, and au ex-airman V.G., who is also a Regius Professor of Virtue at the University of Oxford. Smokeovcr is a typical modern city where most of us live. Hooker, the millionaire, is a most successful character; Euinbilov, the bookmaker, is capriciously amusing; and Miss Wolfstove, the teacher, thoroughly academic. Professor .Tacks seeks to analyse the spiritual problem of a rich man with conscience and ideals. He sees how responsibility weighs on such a man, and gives quite an enthralling picture of Hooker’s determined struggle not to be absorbed by cranks or rogues, or to give his' money to the State, the most wasteful spendthrift of all. The problems which confront the reeoustructors are many and difficult. Hooker states the chief when he declares that “the man who could, show us how the economic and spiritual interests of mankind may be freed from their present entanglement with the political system would bo tho greatest benefactor the ivorld has seen for many ages.’’ And there is something .more ..than fantasy in Ripplomark’s suggestion that “the r ideal board of directors for moral enterpriso in a world such as ours should be composed of six persons: (1) A business expert, with all the sciences at his elbow; (2) an artist, preferably in the realms of literature; (3) a moralist of the old school; (4) an enthusiast for education; (5) a seer; and (7) a gentleman of sporting instincts. Tho writer sets great store by sportsmanlike qualities: the readiness to take chances seems to him one of tho fundamental things of life. He sees modern life made too comfortable, and man too dependant. It is the best men, who in order to get back the sense of risk, will take to gambling. And the sportsman is a man -who will stick (irmly to his bet when the- odds are hopelessly against him. There is not only much social and philosophical talk in theso legends; there is also good humor and satire. It is a book that everybody cannot digest, but which some will read with delight. “The Lobstick Trail,” by Douglas Durkin, from the same publishers, is another delightful tale of tho frozen north by the author of “The Heart of Cherry Mcßain.” It is an cxcitiug story of a struggle for mining options in which a woman’s wit and a man’s great endurance defeated tho schemes of a rascal. A description of a race between dog teams is a very fine piece of work; indeed, the whole work is one of exciting incident well told and strongly sustained. “More Tish,” by Mary Roberts Rhinclieart, from the same publishers, gives us three more amusing anecdotes of that quaint but valorous woman, Tish, and her three doughty companions. The stories are, ‘ ‘ The Cave in Thunder Cloud,” “Tish Does Her Bit,” and “Salvage.” Tho last-nam-ed tells how tho trio of spinsters got over to France and achieved a victory over the German armies which brought a hasty termination to the war.