The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1926. THE DEMAND FOR LITERARY SENSATIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18012, 24 November 1926, Page 8

The Star. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1926. THE DEMAND FOR LITERARY SENSATIONS.

Famous literary hoaxes are recalled by the publication of “ Tlie Whispering Gallery ” and its sudden withdrawal liy the publisher, John Lane. The published extracts from the hook a few days ago certainly had a ring of sincerity about them, but the unequivocal admission of the publishers that they have been the victims of an ingenious hoax, and the disclaimer of the ollegf'Yl author, will set at rest any conjectures regarding the authenticity of the volume, and there the matter will rest unless it should find its way into the law courts in some form or other. Public interest in such a book, no doubt, would be whetted by its similarity in some points to the Gentleman With a Duster, Who lias not hesitated to deal crisply with living personages, and vet the publishers should not have been easily hoaxed. If they had gone no further hack than the beginning of the year, they had before them the hoax of the Diary of a \oung Lady of Fashion, hut the list stretches back almost to mediaeval times. Thomas Ghatterton, in 1777, published certain poems which he affirmed were written in the fifteenth century by Thomas Rowley, a monk, but Gray exposed the forgery. The Count of Cagliostro (1745-1796) stole the novels of John Potocki, a Polish count, and published them as his own. S. W. H. Ireland, in 1796, published several Shakespearian MSS, including the Tragedy of King Lear, and a fragment of Hamlet, which were proved to lie forgeries, but not before he had “taken in” such literary celebrities as Boswell, Dr Parr, and the Poet-laureate, Pye Smith, all of whom certified that they were genuine. He even wrote a play, “ Vortigern and Rowena,” and alleged it was from Shakespeare’s pen. Ireland subsequently publicly admitted his forgeries. In 1852 Letters of Shelley were published, hut were proved by the “ Athenaeum ” to be forgeries.. The letters were professed to have been written by Shelley to his friends, Byron and Keats. Robert Surtees, in 1806, palmed off on Sir Walter Scott certain ballads of his own composition, which he alleged were ancient ballads discovered hv him, and Scott inserted them as genuine in his “ Border Minstrelsy.” James McPherson published in 1760 the “ Ossian’s Poems,” professed to be translations from Erse manuscripts collected in the Highlands, but they were subsequently proved to be his own compositions. The list is a lengthening one, which is hardly likely to end with “ The Whispering Gallery.” The public taste has been whetted for reminiscences with a barb to them, and even if books of that description are under suspicion, there can he no doubt of the avidity with-which they arc received. The latest exposure, however, should make publishers more wary, and will certainly put a discount on similar anonymous offerings.

It will always be a matter for regret that the Motor Bus Regulations have been designed rather to prevent an extension of bus transportation than to consciwe the interests of the travelling public. It should be obvious to anyone that where buses can establish themselves in competition with older systems like the tramways of Christchurch, which have the advantage of ridiculously low power costs and also of unusually low running costs, thanks to the flatness of the city, a new era of transport has arrived. The public have shown qitite clearly that they prefer to ride on rubber tyres, and in other parts of the world the older transportation systems have been heeding this demand, and have been adopting buses in conjunction with both electric and steam railroads. This development is seen in New Zealand to-day in the determination of the Railway Department to link up the two services in the case of holiday resorts like Akaroa, Hamner, Blenheim, Picton, and other places. This is a development that has been most marked in the United States, but even ihere few persons have visualised the magnitude of the development of motor bus transportation, so rapid has its progress been in the last five years. Already in America the scheduled mileage of com-mon-carrier buses exceeds that of the railways. Between six and seven thousand bus companies are in operation, and the demand on manufacturers for buses in 1926 has been unprecedented. It is estimated, indeed, that at the end of 1950 there may he over 272,000 buses in operation. One of the important uses of the motor bus, which might very well be adopted in Christchurch, is as a .feeder for heavy urban traffic of the rush-hour variety, hut in the development of suburban or outlying territory the bus is a peculiarly effective agent, arid, of course, the sight-seeing bus is a great boon'to the city dweller who cannot own his own car. Bus transportation has come to stay, and it would be much better to deal with it sympathetically than restrictivelv.