THE REVIEWER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16307, 23 December 1920, Page 6

THE REVIEWER.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

‘ Diamonds,” by F. E. Penny (Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney branch). Tins is another of Mrs Penny’s entertaining stories of Anglo-Indian life. The scene is laid on the Coromandel coast and tho pfcriod the time when tho East India Company nourished, i hough tho title of tho book is diamonds, and while frequent reference is made to illicit trading in these precious stones, considerably more attention is given to the slave traffic, and to the operations of the traders who resent the attempt of tho company to control all trado with England. The head of FlL C °v 1 i any , at F ? rt St Georgo is Lhhn Uo| who subsequently founded the well-known University of Yal o in. America. Mrs Penny depicts him as an honest, straightforward and sympadc.ter f nn 'i od t0 Ins duty laithfullj ana fearlessly, and bitter opponent of what are termed “interlopers, and all others who attempt a trespass upon the company’s rights. & 1 ® of principal eharaoters is Mrs i im’ ni V Tld of president from childhood, whoso husband is one of tho company’s officers. The lady is interested in free trading and does not disguise the fact. She is suspected, also of having dealings with the diamond traders, and a most delightful account is given of how she outwitted the officers who sought to bring her to book. The traffic in slaves is given considerable prominence in the story, and the mystery surrounding the system is exposed at the close of the story, running through which is a love story of universal interest. Altogether “ Diamonds ” is a. book that will repay read-

‘ Tho Plunderer,” by Henry Oyon (Hodcler and StougliUni, Sydney brunch). A story in Mr Oyen's wellknown style, anti if not quite up to the standard of sonic of nis earlier stories, one that is brimful of action and incident. The scene is laid in Florida, and tho reader is given an insight into a portion of the United States that has not often been dealt with by the novelist. Huger Payne, an engineer, purchases land in Florida irom a, company which has no intention of fulfilling its obligations. But Roger declines to submit to a process of intimidation, and in spite of obstacles calculated to cause the boldest to hesitate ho goes ahead, meeeting in the course of his adventures tho head of the gang of swindlers. This man is known as the Plunderer, and not only does lie command a small army of cut-throats in the Florida swamps, but ho has a strong political pull, so strong that ho defies tho law, and governs tho unknown lands under his own laws. Roger also meets a young lady whom the Plunderer desires for his wile, and witn whom Roger falls in love, and m loved in return. Given these expedients, it is easy to imagine that Mr Oven has no difficulty in producing a story in which adventure follows adventure in quick succession, and escapes from tic cident and death ' ,, ' v ’''st daily experiences. Tho story of tho fight between Roger and the Plunderer is a battle between two supermen.

“In Chancery.” by John Galsworthy(Londonf Win. Heinemann). Mo matter whether you have or have no I. a very intimate acquaintance with the law of England or with boxing, tho appropriateness of the title will bo appreciated when you get a grip of ilia life-drama of certain members of the Forsyte family, especially of the misfortunes of Soames Forsyte, the “ Man of Property.” You may remember ? tha Forsytes, Conservatives of the Conservatives, wealthy illustrators of the working of the possessive instinct, clannish to tho last degree, men and women of ability and breeding, respectable, but not destitute of all human weaknesses. It was old Jolyon Forsyte who passed through that Indian summer so wonderfully described in “The Indian Summer of a Forsyte,” and then ended all summers and winters. The fascinating woman whose beauty stirred old Jolyon’s pulse had become the wife of his nephew Soames, but Soames, with all his possessive faculty and all his wealth was not able to retain her love The Besinney affair occurred Bcsinney died aiid Soames and his wife were separated; there was, however, no divorce, such matters being repugnant to fcftb Forystcs. Some twelve years aftei the separation Soames began to worry about being childless; he had no one to whom ho could hand on his»inoney and his art collection. Into the line of his vision comes Annette, a pretty and attractive French girl, daughter of a widow, the keeper of a restaurant. The flies in the ointment are the facts, first, Soames has not divorced Irene, and. second, he does not desire to do so if he can persuade her to return to him. How Soames deals with the situation, and how ho is assisted by his cousin Jolyon, must be discovered from -Mr Galsworthy’s poignant drama. A piece of merciless but not heartless vivisection; tho old story freshly told with tho old moral, “It is only love that matters.” Mr Galsworthy's place in the ranks of living English novelists was won years ago; he still holds it, and this book will win bim many new admirers. It is careful, polished, and very human work.

” Torquay and tho Country Round,” by ’John Prcsiand. (London: Chatto and Windus.) Though “ it is part of the heritage of man—and who would bo without it?— to attach himself passionately to tho land where he was born and where his mind in childhood received its unconscious yet most indelible impressions ’’ that does not prevent the average man iroin some degree of devotion to other lands, the beauty or tho story of which wins his admiration. Many who havo not seen and may newer sec Devon have a corner of the heart for the land of tho tors, the land that produced so many famous seamen, where the drum awaits the call to action that; will rouse Drake from his slumbers to ‘'drum them ip) tho Channel as we drummed them long ago,” and where a naval college is y-lili turning out masters of tlie sea. Mr John Prcsiand is a love* 1 of Devon, who tells of the natural and the artificial beauties bn secs as be wanders up and down the quiet country where 11 tne records of the human race go back beyond the earliest confines of history dim, yet perceptible to the cyo of science, and unbroken through tho slow progress of centuries or by the waves of migration or conquest which have swept over. The Gilberts and the (.brews and the Cluimpernewnes, though they carry Norman names with them, carry also the blood of the Saxon Drilltinars and Aethelreds whom tho Normans subjected but were powerless to destroy. And they again were akiip to the Devonshire men with their admixture of Roman. Gaulish and Bclgie strains, whom the armies of Hengist and Hcrsa slaughtered and oppressed and intermarried with after the Roman rule was withdrawn in the fourth century. _ Nor wero the wild men clad in skins and stained with woad whom tear., found on his first landing the beginning of the human genealogical tree .. , but they wore probably tho poor remnants of an already decayed civilisation. . . . There was trade between Gaul and Britain before the Romans came.” In this country, mellowed by the passing of ages, are truces of the time when the Thames was a tributary of tho Rhine—tho Honenzollerns hoped to see it that again—when the monoliths on Dartmoor were the scene of religions observances the secret of which is Ibst. As ho proceeds Mr Prcsiand tells of some of .tho great men of Devon. Raleigh. Hawkins, P™be, the Gilberts, Davis, Hooker, of xteclosiastical Polity ” fame, the balilegcudary lknnufyldo Carew. who “begged and jested through half tho epuntries of Europe.” Miles Coverdale, tho

° f th « Bible, Will Adams, Dm :3^P' l ’m'^ G r c - onnn ’ inventor of Trl nl mgm \ Vnm’s Castle is William ° f °/l e sot - ‘ invaders, and rietl a -i, O ’® ran 8° umded—was oarH-“ • , Piggy-bnck-at Brixfe U 0 wl , uch Port, by tlie way, mVj brought the first captured Arl madj, galleon; ho was aided b v the Iho'flp 1 ) „ tr!nr^ rs J “ tbe terriers of n\ s , imich as.tho Grand Fleet ™‘l d - L ‘ d b;tt yesterday. Walking, as Mr Presland says, is the real method of seeing the lovely conn-rj-sidc. -Tho walker enjoys an’inumato communion with the scones that are leisurely unrolled, and even his difnemnes have their reward. The Canteroury visitor who, leaving Torquay, follows the Ashburton road, will pernaps wonder.whether the man responsible tor the naming of tho town in tlio centre of tho Canterbury Plains nad any acquaintance with tho huttorcup and daisy sown pastures and tho (lower-filled hedges round about Babbacombo and the old slamiarv town • possible lie thought of Dartmoor, with its bleak and barren landscape for many miles. That great tableland of granite presents many features that are practically unique; in parts it is “like tho cold and lorgotten remnant of an ancient world/’ and there is strong evidence for tho existence of a comparatively largo population on the moor m tho period known as the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Ago. Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, contains a reconi of men at different stages of civilisation; above the stalagmite floor, Uic growth of centuries, are instances of Neolithic culture, below arc evidences of Paleolithic man. Mr Prcsland gives au interesting account of tho remains of primitive habitation “ by a people whom wc usually call the Early Br Rains;’ (sic); he tells of the Gubbins, a tribe of outlaws referred contemporarily as “ one of the wonders of the County of Devon,”’ and devotes a short but interesting chapter to tho history of tin-mining in Devonshire. The information imparted in this chapter is of value in any consideration of the present industrial outlook in England: it can be seen how, from the earliest times the miners have stood ns a race apart, with a separate attitude towards national problems; the miner’s law “ was not tho law of the realm but of bis mine.” _ That attitude is persistent. A brightly written wayfarei book to which the” excellently reproduced paintings of scenery by F. J. Widgcry, of which there are sixteen, are an added pleasure.