BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13673, 12 January 1915, Page 4

BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

"Letters from New Zealand," by Archdeacon Henry W. Harper. London : Hugh Rees, Ltd. __ "" The writer of this book is well known in Canterbury and Westland. The volume is dedicated to Francis St. John Thackeray to whom the letters were addressed.' As the letters cover the period from 1857 to 1911, they testify to a lifelong friendship. They give an account of the writer's life and work in New Zealand. In the form la which they are presented to the public iney are illustrated by portraits of the writer and Bishop Harper, by photographs of river and mountain scenery, and by three views of St. Mary's Church Timaru, towards the building of which. Archdeacon Henry Harper did so mucl* and did it no well. The descriptions ot travelling in the early days, of life on the goldfields, and of Church work m more settled times are all extremely readable. Visits paid to Italy and Sicily are described in a sympathetic manner that gives the reader decided pleasure. The book is one that can be recommended to all who are interested in the progress of New Zealand, j>nd of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, but it is something more than a record, for every letter bears evidence of keen observation, sound scholarship, high ideals^ and withal a reasonable view of things.

"The Demi-Gods," by James Stephens London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.

Mr. Stephens has a pretty turn of humour combined with a gift of poetical expression which finds full scope in the treatment of the subject of his new book. The story is concerned with Patsy McCann, a travelling tinker o£ vagrant and predatory habits, Ms daughter Mary, and some of their friends. To this group suddenly appear three angels, who divest themselves of their magnificent robes and; crowns and wings, and join the travelling party under Patsy MacCann's leadership. The joint adventures of. the humans and the angels form a theme after the author's own heart.