BOOKS AND WRITERS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20890, 23 August 1939, Page 10

BOOKS AND WRITERS

EMPLOYEE-PARTNERSHIP ARTICLE BY HAMILTON RESIDENT EXAMINATION OF PRINCIPLES In the July issue of the New Zealand Economist and Taxpayer Mr H. Yalder, of Hamilton, who for 20 years has worked for the cause of employeepartnership in industry, provides an examination of the principles of the system which he advocates, and an outline of the manner in which the scheme may be given practical expression in New Zealand industry. KILLER OF HITLER . KIDNAPPING OF PUBLISHER . FOUND BOUND AND HELPLESS When Mr George Palmer Putnam, American publisher, first issued this year in the United States of America “The Man Who Killed Hitler,“ by an anonymous writer, he was kidnapped from his Hollywood home and later was found bound and helpless in an empty house at Bakersfield, California. That the book should not be palatable to a German audience is obvious, long before the last page is reached. It is a grimly told story of incidents in Germany with a fiction character whose aim and ambition is to kill the Fuehrer. A quotation is: “Nein! Nein!” she sobbed. “ Ich hab nichis getan . . .” The troopers laughed. “ You have done nothing? Y’ou laughed when the Fuehrer spoke on your radio.” “ But I didn't laugh . . she cried. “ And only my daughter was there. She knew I meant no harm.” The trooper grinned again and the whip swung out. “ Ja, your daughter, a loyal Arbeitsmaedchen . . . she puts her Fuehrer ahead of you.”

LONDON’S BOOK FAIR TO BE HELD IN OCTOBER GREAT PREPARATIONS MADE Preparations for the seventh “Sunday Times” National Book Fair, which will he held in the Empire Hall, Olympia, from Friday, October 6, untia Monday, October 23, have been going forward very quietly but very efficiently. Ever since an annual book exhibition first became an event in the book-trade calendar, each successive Book Fair has contributed a fresh record to trade annals. Already the 1939 Book Fair has established its own important record—in the 'accommodation booked by publishers. Last year they engaged 105 stands; this year they have booked 122 stands. Roughly speaking, the general distribution of the Fair will be as follows : The ground iloor will be taken up with publishers’ exhibits, games and competitions, etc.; the first floor will house “working models,” Classified Books Section, N.B.G. cinema and other special features; on the second floor will be the lecture hall. Lectures by Eminent People There are to be forty-eight lectures. The lists of eligible speakers supplied by publishers are being steadily dealt with; more invitations have yet to be sent out, but already some very satisfactory acceptances have been received. Among these are the following: Ann Bridge, Hilaire Belloc, Gerald Bullett, Richard Church, Lord Elton, J. B. S. Haldane, Arnold L. Haskell, George A. Hill, John Hilton, James Laver, Liddell Hart, R. H. Bruce Lockhart, A G. Macdonell, Compton Mackenzie, Beverley Nichols, Harold Nicholson, Nancy Price, Douglas Reed, Cecil Roberts, R. C. Sherriff, Helen Simpson, A. G. Street, L. A. G. Strong. “CASTLES IN THE SOIL ” ON NEW ZEALAND FARM “ Castles in the Soil” by Beryl McCarthy, has the growth and struggle of a New Zealand family for its theme. Many early farmer settlers must have had similar experiences—the fear and blood of Tc Kooti’s raids, the struggle with soil and transport, with crops and animals and prices and taxes. It is a story of Ned Cederholm and his gentle wife, who laid the foundations of their home and their family in the wilderness of bush somewhere in Hawke's Bay; of their children, and specially Mary, who carried on the struggle of running house and farm, and who, when she married a scholarly liusand, had to “ wear the pants ” (and did so literally, too, which was something sensational for those days). The place was an obsession with Mary, in whose charge Ned had left it. Of Mary's children the story mainly concerns Fred, who reunites the family by a union with a part-Maori descendant of a scallywag great-uncle. The Maoris naturally play a large part in the story, and toward the latter part intrigue with an embittered chieftain forms an exciting episode. Mrs McCarthy wastes nothing in idle descriptions or useless words; her narratve hurries along, taking the interested reader with it.

COMMENTS AND EXTRACTS

NEW ZEALAND CENTENARY “ BUSBY OF WAITANGI ” BOOK BY ERIC RAMS DEN A book of deep significance for New Zealand’s centenary will be published by Angus and Robertson before the end of the year. “ Busby of Waitangi,” for which Viscount Bledisloe, former GovernorGeneral of the Dominion, has written an introduction, is the first study of the life of the first British official in New Zealand. Eric Ramsden, the author, has made use of a wealth of material hitherto unavailable to students, including Busby’s original text for the Treaty of Waitangi.” “HOW THEY DID IT" LIVES OF NATION'S LEADERS INFORMATIVE SERIES ISSUED In these days when the world hangs upon the sayings and doings of the leaders of men as never before in history, it is interesting and useful to know something of the private lives, the accomplishments and failings of those great men. Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain. Roosevelt, Eden and others—the whole galaxy of them come under review iu an excellent series of biographies published by the Pallas Publishing Company, and" nowavailable in New Zealand. Very reasonably priced and very readable, these handsome little books give the life stories of the great men of to-day, giving praise where praise is due and criticism where it is warranted, hut always faithfully en- ; deavouring to paint a true picture of the subject. All those interested in foreign affairs —and who iu these days is not?—will find the series, under the title of “How They Did It,” exceedingly interesting and informative, giving a background against which to follow the great political drama of the modem world.

LITERARY HERESIES SOME INTERESTING CONFESSIONS ADVICE TO “ TRY AGAIN ” Lady Violet Bonham-Carter, daughter of Herbert Henry Asquith, in an article in John o’ London, recalls a dinner she gave years ago when, “ driven by some morbid impulse,” her guests confessed their literary heresies. Augustus Birrell began by admitting that he hated Plato and all his works. Then others declared that they had never enjoyed Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, “ The Faerie Queen,” " Paradise Lost ” and “ Don Quixote.” Sir Edward Grey made a clean breast of the awful fact that he had never been in the least amused by “ Alice iu Wonderland.” Eady Violet mentions that her father, the most omnivorous reader she has ever known, could not swallow George Meredith. The complexities and obscurities of Meredith's style stuck in his throat. The article, though it will hearten readers who have found this or that great hook or great writer outside their taste, leaves them with the hard but salutary advice to “ try again,” because dislikes pass and appreciation grows. The example is quoted of Matfrice Barling. “ that most catholic and discriminating of book-tasters,” who at first disliked Dickens but almost accidentally re-discovered him 20 years ago. Since then he has given Dickens first place among the giants, and rejoices in his narrow escape from missing one of his greatest literary experiences. BANNED IN DUBLIN SEAN O’CASEY’S BOOK Sean O’Casey’s autobiographical record of his youth, “I Knock at the Door,” has been banned in Dublin, the city which provides the background for the narrative.