SOME CHRISTMAS NUMBERS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 15 (Supplement)

SOME CHRISTMAS NUMBERS

NEW ZEALAND PUBLICATIONS. This is the season when certain Naw Zealand firms produce their Christmas numbers, or annuals, so that they may •be in good time for the mails conveying greetings from residents in the Dominion to overseas friends. Copies of four of these annuals, three of which are well known and one a new venture, have reached the Daily News. The newcomer is “Rata,” described as a New Zealand Annual edited by C. A. Marris and published by Harry H. Tombs, Ltd., Wellington. The fact that it is produced by the publishers of that fine periodical “Art in New Zealand” sug : gests something of -quality in this maga-zine-size booklet, and investigation does not disappoint. Letterpress and illustrations are. well balanced, and both are very distinctively representative of the Dominion. There are eight illustrations in full colour, six being reproductions oT paintings, and all are most creditable specimens of the printer’s art. The 16 full-page illustrations in half tone are reproductions of well chosen - photographic studies, and as a whole they make a vivid picture of New Zealand life and beauty. The letterpress comprises short stories, essays, descriptive articles and verse, all by writers whose reputations have been made, and whose work breathes the true New Zealand spirit. Altogether “Rata” is a most welcome addition to the list of annuals. Its producers have shown originality and enterprise in their conception and craftsmanship in its execution. “New Zealand Illustrated,” the Christmas number of the Christchurch Press, is in the usual form and consists entirely of illustrations of the Dominion’s beauties, urban as well as rural, and photographic studies which depict features of daily activity in the way. of work and sport. ’1 he aim evidently has been to survey the whole Dominion in the series of' full page and half page pictures, and every province will find itself represented. Taranaki, for instance, will enjoy a full page picture of

tree ferns on the Whangamomona Saddle,’. , and another of Mount Egmpnt, though what is called “Dawson Falls Hostel” is_ ._? the old house, and the figures in the foreground have so obviously been there.” The frontispiece is a remarkable pen drawing of the launching of the ,<j canoe Tainui' and the coloured supplefhent a very beautiful reproduction of “Reflections of the South Alps in Lake..;?: Pukakij” a painting by Miss D. K. Richmond. . J ’ ’ijf The Christmas number of the Auckland Weekly .News has a very striking cover, a fine study of a tui in colour. Here.ijj again every nook and corner of . the' Dominion seems to have contributed pic* ;21 tunes particularly well calculated to vey overseas an adequate idea of, the. $ conditions of life in New Zealand. Travel, J > : farm life, spori and other interests tell v their own tale in a great variety 'of.photographs, the paramount idea ly being to illustrate the grandeur and the variety of the Dominion’s wonderfulscenic endowment and to feature charm of holiday pursuits. The pictures are all shapes and sizes, artistically ar- . ; ranged, and the frontispiece, “Christmas.,.-; Day by a New Zealand lakeside” is a fine child study. Two coloured supplements .. are given, both finely printed pictures of typical New Zealand scenes, f ; ; “The New Zealand Exporter Annual, popularly known as ‘‘Tui’s Annual, claims to be “essentially the individual and distinctive production of rural tai-■ < ent.” It is a magazine that has become quite a big book, filling tho best part, of its 160 pages with pictures and let- 4 terpress. In it, an editorial foreword. '? states, are collected the choicest efforts ,of over 600 individual contributors;- T I stories, verse, anecdotes, character '; sketches, descriptions of hobbies, recipes, -;, photographs and black and white draw- ; ings. Tho picture section is notable for ■ its many fine studies of beautiful childhood. while scarcely less attractive are . views of rural life and representations of some very charming homes. The let-< terpress is as varied as it is representative of New Zealand, and since it is/, all chosen on the competitive system its j quality is high. A more vivid presenta- , tion of the life and thought of th® rurai. ■- population could not be imagined. '