TWO AUSTRALIANS.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19462, 29 December 1934, Page 14 (Supplement)

TWO AUSTRALIANS.

A Gossip and a Galsworthy.

“ OLD DAYS, OLD WAYS,” by Mary Gilmore (Angus and Roberson). if THE SWAYNE FAMILY," by Vance Palmer (Angus and Robertson). -Mrs- Gilmore thinks that those Colonials who 'still -survive from the brave pioneer -days should -set down their memories for the sake of posterity. That is why she 'has written 'this hook, In the preface she regret? that she has not been able to remember everything. The vendor is, one. fears, more likely to feel that she has 'remembered too much. For, anxious that no detail of that vanished time should he lost, she has written down, without order or method, every stray memory that came into her head. There -are pages arid pages about the minutlal of women's costume; arid most of hep other recollections are -equally trivial apt} and equally tedious. The historian •may find them of some value; but the general reader can hardly keep wishing that Mrs Gilmore had had the assistance of a capable editor. Mr Palmer, on the -other hand, knows all about artistic selection ant} restraint. Into the framework of a short novel he has woven acute (character sketches of 'the half dozen members of an Aqstra'ljan family. "Jflmy are all -shown, _ with -sympathy and penetration, from the inside; and the book is held together by -the suggestion that all aie rebelling, in one wqy in cirjqthcfl', from the restraints imposeu (more pr less unconsciously) by the head of tup family. It is all very reminiscent qf Galsworthy: even to an insistence on class •distinctions that is, one suspects, false to Australia. Mr Palmer’s hand falters in other places, tq-o: dntrospep'Uye writing is trick work and, unless it Is exceptionally well done, easily degenerates into gentlmcnta'l slush- th°FP are one or two lapses °£ tijat son! here, hut 'they do not occur"veiy often; and on the whole this novel, though ■it .shows its origins a little too plainly, is well written arid! .significant. / —D H.M. THE RACONTEUR TURNS. Gothic Arches for the Years. HA TIME TO KEEP," by Holliday Sutherland (Geoffrey Bles). A very entertaining and informative collection of reminiscence's toy a Scottish doctor, which gradually develops iti'to a Roman •GathoJlp convert’s propaganda treatise. The -first half of the book is devoted! to anecdotes and reminiscences of Sutherland’s boyhood, -school -days, university life -and •early practice. Outstanding chapters ore those describing the medical student revelry at a notable rectorial election, the author’s experiences as director of a Scottish tuberculosis sanatorium and an account.-of the once famous “Oscar- Slater Murder Case,” in which 'the doctor makes totting -commentaries op t,fle case for .the prosecution apd flfle judge’s summinS-UP-

“ The Lord Advocate, with his handkerchief clutched like a snowball In his right hand, spoke for an hour and firty minutes without notes, an amazing feat or memory. In the aftermath it would havo been better Tor the history of justice lii Scotland If’ lie had’ spoken from notes. . Twenty years after the Slater trial a Court or Appeal was created in Scotland . i . and from Pe|erheafl convict prison they released ah old and broken man.”

“The propagandist treatise -opens with -an examination of till e Roman Catholic practice pif confession and gives, incidentally, an excellent simple lecture on the ’yirork and -theories of Freud. The .confessional is compared and contrasted with psycho-analysis and no doubt is left In Dr. Sutherland’s mind ■as to the superiority of the former. 0-f course, he Is careful to paint in attractive colours -only his side of the picture. Other hits of propaganda are mad? from his audience with (he Pope and 'from his apparently celebrated case in which he was sued by Marie S topes for -libel in connection with birth control controversy. In connection with the account' of his Vatican audiep'ce Qr* Sutherland makes, in al-1 seriousness, the suggestion that the Pope could very well take 'the place of the League of Nations and by reason of his profound scholarship, his linguistic accomplishments, his deep human sympathy, his non-national spirit and, of course, his expounding of the Rhilor s-ophy -of Chris-t, which, as the descendant of St. Peter, he is the best qualified to interpret, could Ipad the Workl -to the miUenium. Tire book concludes with an historical sketch ol the be-gipping pf the fame of Lourdes, the French fftHhhealing resort, an account of the pres-ent-day healing procedure there' and accounts of several allegedly -miraculous cures which have occurred there. Tills is naturally the least convincing part of the book for the nominal Protestant, agnostic -or aihie-st reader, especially as the chapter is followed by a sarscastio burlesque, in somewhat •bad taste, of healing at a fashionable mineral hath health spa ip another part of France. However, 'most people like an argument and in ‘‘A Time to 'Keep,” there is much material 'for wygumcht while, 'throughout, the hook is packed, with humorous, incident's, interesting information and shrewd -observation of human nature and its frailty. —8.t1.8.

THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL. REVIEW OF JANUARY ISSUE. Mulching Esther Paterson’s cover in brightness are Hie stories in the January issue of “The Australian Journal. Well-known Australian writers in William Hatfield, Catherine Shepherd, Kenneth T. Henderson, Noel Crane, Bernard Cronin, Vance Palmer, Rex Grayson, MlHicent Rowntroe, Arthur W. Upheld, S. 11. Courtier, lan Miller and several others have -made this issue one of the best to date- Another notable feature is the commencement of a thrilling three-part mystery serial by Richard Koverne. -In addition .to Notion there are pages of features including fashions, radio notes, cookery hints and recipes, knitting and needlework designs, paragraphs, puzzles and a section for the children. Who could -want more for sixpence?