BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16021, 6 January 1923, Page 11

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN.

"Auction. Simplifiied" is a little work published by. Messrs. Angus and Robert. son, which will find, much favor with bridge players. The author, H. B. Bignoldj deals extensively with auction terms and tactics, and*players will find it/iiseiui to' have his book near them.

• An English paper has begun a controversy on the "ten novels everyone should read," and one "of the writers gives, arlist which he regards as "essential to every educated person.','.;-,It 'Contains "Vanity Fair," 'Esmond," "David Copperfield," "The OKI Curiosity Shop," "Jane- Eyre," ','Wuthering Heights," "The Mill on the Floss,"' "The New : comes," '-'Tess. of the D'Urbervillcs," and .'.'Don Quixote." This choice, the mid-Victorian proclivities -.of which arc obvious, is. of course, only a personal one, and everyone has the right to differ'.

Although American books are rarely big sellers, in England, English novels in America have a great sale. A novel by W. J. Locke, for exarhplej has a first printing over there of 50,000 copies, while Mr. Joseph Conrad's publishers claim that at least 40,000 people, will buy any new book from his hand. Galsworthy, Bennett, .Swinnerton, and Merrick are read largely, and a book by H. G. Wells is considered an event in the lives American reading public.

' According to reports of the American Library Association, the FienehCanudiun idyll, “Maria Chapdclainc,” by Louis Hcuioii, has a place among the ton best selling novels in the United States. Mr. H.,-G. Weils' “Outline i>f History ’’ holds first place among ..Looks of general interest. • .%A • » MIL CONE AD’S PLAY. There is general regret that The Secret, Agent, Mr. Joseph Conrad’s first 1 effort as a dramatist, has had, through lack of public 'support, to be ’withdrawn from the Ambassadors Theatre. Only eleven performances! It is to be hoped that this unlucky experience will not discourage Mr. Conrad from thinking further of the stage. Other famous novelists have met with rebuffs when they took to playwriting, but those people who have a regard for the English theatre trust that Mr. Coimid will try again. m « <. * THE TANGLED EAST. WHAT A WOMAN” SAW IN 50,000MILES’ JAUNT. ALLIES DRIFTING TO DISASTER. “Will you jshint along some 50,000 miles with me, mainly East, and into war'‘zbrieS” ’ is the ’ invitation with which Mrs. Alee Tweedic prefaces her book, “Mainly East.” Muddle and trouble and loss of Allied prestige is the 'impresSiop Mrs. Tweedic brings back from the Near and Middle East. 1 She waS at'Symrna on September 8, when the Greek Army was “already busily 'retiring,” and saw the end next day when the “victorious Turks entered at a gallop. ’ ’ At this juncture, fortunately, a British officer “stepped forward and asked what he could do for me”’ Another general impression is:— The half-educated and totally uneducated people of the Near aiul Middle East, with their religions and castes, superstitions/ and dishonesty, and disloyalty to one another, have been roused, and it will take a century; before they settle down again. “UNPOPULAR FREEDOM.”Having got “independence,” Mdny Egyptians arc themselves already beginning’ to regret it, for they have discovered: that the Government yoke of their own fellow-countrymen is less just and more severe than the British reign. " In. India “kincmas are everywhere. ” ...... ..j,:. t Too little discretion is'used in the selection of films, and white people are often shown .at 1 their very worst to native audiences. Most of the liorliblc films in''tho East should be relegated to the paper basket. They arc a sink of imtjuityl Another impression: 1 * Tlie Ikdian cannot rule or civiliso himself anymore than the' Egyptian. Hc js‘a £ood follower but a bad leader. Gasriiig at “this prbdigioua muddle” in mid' lirouhd Constantinople, Mrs. Tweddlc Says: If only the’ whole, of our members of. the two Houses, of Parliament could traVel about" i bit' and see these various' places- in their own countries, their simplicity, tbeip religious fanaticisirf, and'tKefr ephstput hungering for new sensations and hew leaders, they would realise what a hopeless tangle Great Britain and Franco arc making bf tlie whole East and Middle 1 East affairs. . V ! ' ■ :

"Why politicians,, at home not listen to the rumblings in the East that followed the Great War?" Mrs. Tweedie asks. "

Front the first the wrangles of the Allies' since the Gr"cat War have, slowly J ahd' surely destroyed th,e"prcstigo of one and all of them. The foreigner was' "respected and revered in Constantinople.' To-day he 1 is'laughed at. ALIENATING ISLAM. •'. '

Lord Balfour's “National Homo” Declaration has’“‘played much mischief," is Mrs.' Twcedic's conclusion. “If we go on alienating tho Arabs of Palestine we shall end. by alienating tho Mahommedans of tho world, and Isljim will be against us." Once Islam is solidly against us, Holy War ensues, which may go on for ever. . . . The Arabs want Great Britain, but do not want Zionism. The total of impressions which Mrs. Twbedie gathered on her ‘ ‘ jaunt ’ ’ is: - ■ « We soiuld never havo given up Egypt 01* India, w r hich British blood .and brains and gold have made, and we should never have taken on Mesopotamia or Palestine, the first because it was too expensive, and the second because tho Arabs must bo left to work out their own salvation. •■« • • GERMAN MUSICIAN SPIES. SIR-BASIL THOMSON'S “QUEER PEOPLE.” - SECRET SERVICE STORIES. "Queen People” (Hodder lihd Stoughton) records Sir Basil Thomson's discreet 'reminiscences of the Criminal Investigation Department and.the “Special Branch" at Scotland Yard, of which he was’in charge during the war: 1 ! ■ ’ ; - One after another the German spies found themselves seated in tho famous armchair and confronting tho “chief." The first serious spy to be arrested i was Lody. Carl Lody was, a g6od example of the' patriotic spy. He wrote all his letters both in English and German in ordinary ink, without any disguise. ... The oiily report that was allowed to go through was the famous story of tho Russian troops passing through Eng- ■ land. ~ ; -.' ■■ : He met. his - death unflinchingly. Qh tho morning of his death it is related he said to the asasistant provost marshal,' “I suppose you : will not. shake hands with a spy?" and tbgi' 'tho 'officer replied, •* ‘ No, blit I will shake hands with a brave man.” Breeckow, who was associated rvith

Mr. Wertheim in “picking up gossip ‘ about the Grand Fleet,''’ was a very different tytpe. He was a pianist, and Sir Basil observes: “It is curious to reflect that professional musicians should have formed‘a. respectable proportion of the dc-

On the morning of his execution he was almost in ri state of collapse. He .was shivering with agitation, and'just'bofp're.the shots were fired there was'a sudden spasm. It was believed afterwards that he had actually died of heart failure before the bullets reached him.

, | Of all the spies that were convicted and executed, Sir Basil says that the man for whom he felt most sorry was Fernando Buschman. "He was a gentleman by birth; he had no need of money, for he was married to the daughter of a rich soap manufacturer in Dresden, who had kept him liberally supplied with funds for his studies in aviation."

It speaks volumes for the stupidity of the directors of the German Espionage School in Antwerp that they should have selected as a disguise for such a man as Buschman the role of commercial .traveller. . . .

Ho knew nothing whatever about trade. KISSED HIS VIOLIN. He, too, was a musician. After his sentence he was not separated from his violin. He asked for it again on his removal to the Tower on the night before' his'execution and played till a late liour. When they came for him in the morning he picked it up and kissed it, saying, “Good-bye, I shall hot want you any more.” He refused to have his eyes bandaged and faced the rifles with a courageous smile. Sir Basil tells a story which indicates tin' curious ideas they have abroad about the way in which the British conduct a war: A Bulgarian who was taking leave of an English official when returning to Bulgaria said, “Remeinberj 1 have nothing to say about this plan of assassinating Ferdinand.” “What plan?” asked the astonished Englishman. “ Your plan. You arc clearly within your rights, but 1 think as time goes on ypu will find out that Herdincjiicl”will be more useful to you alive than dead.” How the Russians themselves regard their Jewish masters, Sir Basil shows by a popular story now,current in Russia. At a Soviet meeting the list of elected delegates was read over. The secretary came to the name ‘ ‘ Ivan Ivanowitch Pctroff. ” “But what's his real name?” asked a delegate. ‘ 1 Ivan Ivaiiowitch Pctroff. He has ;no other name.” “Bah!” said the Jewish delegate; “these Russians will push in everywhere.” .. , **, * a THE BOILING BALKANS. ’ The troubled "story ,of man on tho south-eastern projection of Europe” up to the present day is related historically by Mr. Ferdinakl Schcvill in “The Balkan Peninsula and the Near East.”'

In view of recciit events this passago is interesting: — No one can look at the misery daily increasing throughout the Near East without agreeing that unless the programme signified by the League of Nations makes headway, and that swiftly, we may live to see the time when the vanished Ottoman Empire, which at least maintained a certain semblance of peace within its'boundarie's, will be mourned like a lost Eden.' For the Balkans Mr. Schevill advocates a Balkan Federation as the local complement to the League of Nations, and as the “only feasible.device” for securing peace. J U GO-SL A VIA. UNITY. The throes undergone by the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in their achievement of unity aro described and discussed very discursively by Mr. Henry Baerlcin in . “The. Birth of Jugoslavia. ’ ’ Another “consummation,” he anticipates—while acknowledging that it will find strong opposition in Serbia —is “the adhesion, after certain years, of Bulgaria, to the ' Jugo-Slav State. ” The tim© has Vanished when Ser- . bia and' Bulgaria, as it were' in a 1 ring face to face with one another. . . . Kow Serbia is a part ■'of i Jugo-Slavia which has to deal with' a greater Italy,' a greater Rumania, and others. . And the question as to 1 whether a ( certain town or distinct "■ is to be Serbian or Bulgarian sinks. '• into the background. ✓ •' * * ,A BRIDE'S ORDEAL. ■ A .cheerful record of her “wanderings” among the hill tribes of Northern Albania; has l}eeh made by Roso 'Wilder Lane in “Tho Peaks of Shala.” . The mystciy of landownership and rent has not'.yet revealed itself to the simplo mutuality of these, mountain folk.— 1 “We do not understand. ' In your country do men of the same tribe pay each other money for houses? ' ... How can a man 61171 land?.said one, more in amazement than in question. And, “But how can a man pay anothor for holping him to build a house, except helping him as much in building anothor house?” Tho bride carries with her from her home “one invariable gift —a pair of fire-tongs.” When she arrives at her husband 's house she takes a Humble place in the corner, standing, her hands folded on her breast, her eyes downcast,' and for three days 'she is required to remain in that position, without lifting her eyes, without moving, and without.cating or drink-, ing. • * * ■ AMERICAN HONOR FOR CAM- V BRIDGE PROFESSOR. BEST BOOK OF LAW PUBLISHED IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS. NEW YORK, . Nov. 14.— For his “Text Book on Roman Law,” published last year, a silver medal and £IOO havo been awarded by the Harvard Law School' 0 Mr. William Warwick Buckland, 'cgius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, University. This distinction, known as the Ames Prize, is conferred every four years for the most meritorious' law book or legal essay written in the English language and published not less than a year or more than. fiye years prior to the awjtrd. J ■;. , 5