ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1934, Page 12 (Supplement)

ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

DELIGHTFUL FOOLERY VICTIMS OF HIGH FINANCE. WANDERER RETURNS TO BRITAIN. The chief librarian of the New Plymouth Public Library reports the following books in popular demand:— General Literature. “Destination Unknown,” by Fred Walker. ~ “Merchants of Death,” by H. C. Englebrecht and F. C. Hanighen. “Famous Plays of 1934,” Collected Authors. “Beyond the Mexique Bay,” by Aldous Huxley. “The Submarine Peril,” by Earl Jellicoe. “A Time to Keep,” by Halliday Sutherland. Fiction. “Skylighters,” by J. B. Morton. “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.” “Dew on the Grass,” by Eiluned Lewis. . “Private Worlds,” by Phyllis Bottome. “Tassell Gentle,” by Pamela Frankau. “Captain Nicholas,” by Hugh Walpole. The following books have been added to the library recently:— "High Dudgeon,” by A. C. Frost. (Chatto and Windus.) This is not a story. It is an interlude in the visit to England of Hymer Doggett, Mayor of an American small town, and his daughter Mary, to “call upon his ancestors”. He claimed descent from one “John William Doggett, cerca 1804, Parish of Tulton, near Nuich Wedlock, Yoicks, England.” Hymer learned a good deal about his ancestors from the vicar of Tulton, and before the day was ove.- a good many people knew of the Doggetts. One absurd situation after another arises, but the wit is nimble and the fared never gets out of hand. There isn’t a plot, there isn’t a moral in this volume, but it will be a dull reader who does not find a smile or a laugh in every page of it. There are some shrewd hits at English superiority and American “push”, and the day closes with Hymer looking for more trouble unless one of his previous victims has misjudged the claims of relationship. “They Knew Mr.. Knight,” by Dorothy Whipple. (Murray). There was a time when it was hard to find a post-war novel about England that did not discuss or theorise about the effect of the war on the morals and characters of the young people of Britain. That phase has passed and appears to have been submerged by books about the'effect of the post-war economic ddpression . upon middle-class England. t “They Knew Mr. Knight” is such a story. “Mr. Knight” is the local wizard of finance at “Trentham” a Midland industrial centre where the depression was later ,in arrival than in other parts of England. . , Acquaintance with Mr. Knight brought prosperity to Thomas Blake and his family. It enabled Thomas to buy back the family business almost thrown away by his father. He made money by speculation—as advised by Mr. Knight—and he made many enemies and many troubles for his wife and daughter Freda in the change from manager to owner of the works, and from residence in a quiet street to a beautiful country home. The depression comes, and Thomas finds himself in difficulties. He discovers also that Knight can be as effective an enemy as a friend and Blake goes under. The story of his fall is not all gloom, however, and the book ends with gleams' of hope that he may win contentment if nothing more. The story is ably ' written and the circumstances in no instance strain credulity. The pity of it all is emphasised, but so. is the courage of a family when the dark days come. The book is wholesome and readable, though in places the. interest drags. “Creation’s Cry,” by Humfrey Jordan. (Hodder & Stoughton.) The “cry” is for men who will see a job through. Tony Cotie, and his wife Gillian are, when the book begins, about to leave the tropica:! settlement at Tha-Chauhg,. where Cotie, under the leadership of “Damn-you” Corton, had made British settlement a success. They aimed to make the settlement one that would satisfy British men and women as a home, not as a mere place of exile between visits, to England on leave. The straggle to do this, to convince investors that it was a sound policy to make employees and their wives comfortable, to insist upon recognition of artistic as well as material requirements in the design of houses and factories, to see that the native population had a fair deal and, in addition, to see that the settlement paid good dividends is shown by suggestion rather than by wearisome detail. Cotie and Corton had succeeded, but the fight had left Cotie far spent. He has an uncanny faculty for judging the productive capabilities of land and he buys wherever an area appeals. The description of his visit to an Australian holding, his refusal to sell it at a good profit, and various other happenings on the journey to England give glimpses of the real Anthony Cotie. His mission is, he feels, to see that “land has a fair deal too.” He comes Home, finds the type of house he has often longed for when at Tha-Chaung, but' finds he cannot settle down to the quiet existence of a retired worker “pottering around”. Hunting, fishing, and the development of his own land give him some relief, but underlying it all is a sense that he is giving no return for the success that has attended him.

He finds there are some land-owners in the neighbourhood as dissatisfied as he with the unfair deal the land is getting. Some have not the means to do what they would wish, others have not the knowledge. Tony Cotie tries to weave them into a movement that shall revolutionise rural England. At first it looked as though the movement would succeed. But the inate conservatism of the English farmer was a terrible obstacle. When Corton visited Tony he found his host loath to believe the English crusade a failure, but really convinced that it was. v It was Corton who brought conviction to Tony, but with the conviction tire certainty that if a new rural settlement of England could not be brought about there were other* lands awaiting a “fair deal”. The book closes with a description of life in the Rhodesia settlement founded for that purpose.. This an entirely new presentation of a wanderer s impressions of the England he has come back to and that he has idealised in all . his years of overseas work. The descriptions of tropical and English country life have the stamp of . reality and there is sufficient human interest all through the book to prevent it being propagandist. "A Man’s Life,” by Viscount Elibank. (Hutchinson.) ” This also is the story of a man who has done his share in Empire building. Viscount Elibank came of the “ruling caste”, but as a younger son had to make shift for himself. At the age

of 21 he "became private secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of British New Guinea, and for the next 20 years he served the Colonial Office as Governor or high administrative officer. He was in South Africa when the troubles left by the Boer war needed straightening. He was a West Indian Governor when war broke out, and he did good service there and in Great Britain when the conflict was at its height. Although he entered Parliament in 1918 as a supporter of the Coalition headed by Mr. Lloyd George, he was one of those who assisted to end the Coalition, and five years later he entered the House of Lords on the death of his father. In such a career Viscount Elibank met many interesting people . and experiences. He writes of both in a very informal manner, and though his politics may provoke argument they are by no means the main portion of this chatty and complacent autobiography. '■The Order of Release and other poems.” by Arnold Wall. Whiteombe & Tombs Ltd., Christchurch. A. J Fyfe Ltd., New Plymouth. The great attraction about this little book is the youthfulness of spirit there is in every poem included therein. This does not mean that ugly facts are ignored or harsh circumstances wrapped around with blandness, but there is, underlying them all, the feeling that if man will but keep master of his sbul he can and will find this struggle we call living is worth while. Mr. Wall can use a pretty wit and is not ashamed of his faculty,. He can moralise too, but does it without the pontifical touch that makes the student wrathful, and above all he can see the loveliness of nature whether in mountain scene or the sweetness of a bush bird singing in a city garden. The author is a lover of freedom. He craves for the big spaces in thought and study as well as in more material affairs. Here are two stanzas that express that desire: — "When we strive after Truth With toil of the brain, And reason and argue and climb upward slowly building, The word is a chain.” “When a gleam is caught, Or a voice heard, From beyond the black wall of matter and sense as we know it, The window’s a word.”

“Youth, Manhood, Age” is a protest against smugness, a sin Mri Wall abhors, though he cherishes wise content, even though in such fragments as “The Whole Soul” he may show the difficulty of attaining it. In “The Daily Round” and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” there is brightness and wit that is not caustic,*; and the last verse in the book is exceedingly well chosen. The volume is a distinct addition to New Zealand verse, and its formal adds to its charm end to the reputation of the publishers. "Building in New Zealand,” by Alan . Mulgan. Issued by the New Zealand In- ' gtitute of Architects. This well-written and sensibly illustrated booklet is issued chiefly to show the New Zealand citizen the advantage of obtaining architectural advice and assistance in home-buildihg. Mr. Mulgan has marshalled his facts and arguments well, and the illustrations ayi the reader to see the wisdom of seeking expert advice in what ought to be regarded as one of the most important duties of citizenship, namely to build houses that are not only well designed for service but that add by their design to the dignity and. attractiveness of the districts in which they are erected. ■ "Art in New Zealand.” December, 1834. Harry H. Tombs Ltd., Wellington. The latest of the quarterly editions of “Art in New Zealand” well maintains the standard of this “expert”' magazine. There is an excellent reproduction, in colours, of Linley Richardson’s “The Ruwahine”. an interesting discussion of the annual exhibition of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, illustrated, and a discussion by Mr. C. A. Morris on the one-ac play competition entries, of which the winning play "The Hiding of the Maa" is published. Reviews of three New Zealand books, “Captain William Hobson” (Dr. Guy Scholefield); “Spur of Morning” (Alan-. Mulgan); “Katherine Mansfield’’- ..(Ruth Mantz) and a report on the Otago Art Society’s exhibition are other items in this excellent number.