NEW BOOKS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16418, 11 January 1919, Page 7

NEW BOOKS.

THE NAVY'S WORK IN THE WAR. Under the title of "The Secret of the Navy," Mr Bennet Copp'ostone has written a very interesting book, giving a clear insight intb the , work of the Navy during the war. Dealing with the Battle of Jutland, Mr Copplestone . points out that. befQre the war ifc had become the habit of many critics, both' naval and civilian, to exalt the striking power of the torpedo craft—both destroyers and submarines —and to talk of the great battleship as an obsolete monster, as some vast Mammoth at the mercy of a wasp with a poison sting. But the war has shown that the Navy was right to. hold the deep belief, the outcome of all past experiences, that supremacy in the battle line means supremacy in sea control. He further points out: — "In quality of ships and especially of men, in speed and in striking \ power, pur twenty-seven ships had fully double the strength of the eighteen Germans who might have been opposed to them in battle. None of our vessels carried anything smaller—for-battle—than. 12in guns, and fifteen of them bore within their turrets the new,l3.sin guns, .of which the weight of shell and destructive power were more than fifty per cent, greater than that of the earlier 12in weapons. On*the other hand, four of the German battleships (the Nassau class) carried ll.lin gun 3 and were fully two knots slower than any of the British first line. Three of-their battle-cruisers also had llin guns. While therefore we had guns of 12in . and 13.5 in, the Germans had nothing more powerful to oppose us than guns of lliri arid 12inv Ship for ship the; Germans'were'about two knots slower than ourselves-so that we always had the> advantage of manoeuvre, the choosing the most effective range, - *and tho power of preventing, by our higher speed the escape of a defeated foe. Had the Germans oome North into the open sea, we could have chosen absolutely, by. virtue of our greater speed, prun-power,i and-numbers, the conditions under which an action should have been fought, and; how it would have been brought to a finish." tHe~goeg on to • 0,-—- *- , "The Germans were very slow to learn tho naval lesson of the superiority of the;', bigger gun and . the heavier shell.:, .It was,not until ,after the . Dogger • Bank ' actiori, * when Beatty's monstrous. 13-5 inch broke in a terrible storm upon their, lightel 1 - " armed battle-cruisers, that the .truth : fully came h'ofrie 1 to- them.Had' r Jellicoe and Beatty fought the German Fleet in the wide spaces of the Upper North Sea in August, 1914, we should have opposed) a fighting efficiency in power ana weight of guns of more than two to one. Rarely have tho precious qualities. of insight and foresight been more strikingly shown forth than- in the superiority of ships, in guns, and in men, that the Royal, able to range against their German antagonists m those early days of August, when the fortunes of the Einpire would have turned upon the chances of a naval battle; In the long contest waged between 1900 and 1914, in the bloodless war of peace, the spiritual force of the Navy had trained the victory ; the enemy had beaten, and knew it, and thenceforward . for many months until the spring of 1916,. he abode in his tents. Whenever he did venture forth, it was not to give- battle, but to ~ kill some women, some and. then to scuttle home to "proclaim the dazzling triumph which "Gott" had granted to his arms." A thrilling account of some : of the incidents in the great battle is given in the shape of narratives by those who took-part in the fight. Mr Copplestone also devotes some very interesting chapters to such subjects as the disaster off Coronel, the Battle of the Falklqnds, how tho Sydney met the Emden, etc., etc. It is an excellent book to put into | the hands of boys in the fifth and sixth forms, so as to enable them to understand what we owe to the British Navy, ijxradon: John Murray, Albemarle street, W.) y SOME RECENT FICTION. | "The. Lay c of the Land," by Robert A. Hamblin, is a diverting story, of country life in England, the main characters being Mr Bellingrass, a plumber who, having a legacy left him, blossoms out into a '-'sanitary engineer"; Mr Frostmeal, a carpenter; Mr Annisced, a swindling builder, alias "The Snatcher," together with a solicitor, his articled cle/k, son of Mr Bellingrass, a garrulous grandmother, and, of course, a village maiden to supply the necessary touch of romance. The plot is interesting, arid the character-drawing is excellent. (Ldndon: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.). "Isaacs," by Joseph Gee, is described in the sub-title as "Some Chapiters in the Life of David Isaacs, General Merchant"; said Isaacs being a very astute member of the Hebrew race, the story.of whose escapades and sharp practices makes very entertaining reading, The narrator is his Gentile solicitor. -who naturally is in an excellent position tc> know the facts, especially as regards the escapades from which it is his business to extricate his client. A fine vein of humour runs through the book,, which we fancy • will be enjoyed; by those belonging to the same race as the hero quite, as much as by those of a different nationality and slower ■wit. (London: Herbert Jenkins, Ltd., 3 York street, St. James's, London). "THE B:E.F. TIMES." the least remarkable feature about the most remarkable, as well as the greatest, of all wars, is'the quantity of literature actually produced on the battlofield by the combatants. In the intervals of fighting numbers of men with a gift of expressing themselves, seem to (have been seized with a merry conceit to put pen to paper" and crack

I jokes, while the artists with equal resourcefulness furnished the illustrations, i And the most delightful thing of all • is that these productions are redolent ; with good humour. The Trench journals will surely bo amongst the most ! interesting souvenirs of the war. | have rereived the bound volume °f | B.E.F. Times," with which, we observe, I are incorporated "The ' "The 'New Church' Timra. The Kemmel Times," and -The Somme Tuiies. The Editor in the "foreword with some prophetic instinct announced «. this, the second volume, would also be the last. In apologising for the fact that there are only six nul ? volume, he quaintly remarks: Jn - not our fault, but must l>e attributed to a craze for fighting whicli se (> have seized the "Red Hats in 1911. This battle business m large dose, is not conducive to the steady prod of a trench journal, and often it oecame a question of giving up the paper or the war for a spell. We chose to give up the paper, . m ° r ® P, haps because we had no choice matter. War nowadays seems , up so much more of ones formerly. We used to think in 1910-16 that we had reached its limit in frightfnlness, but war up to mid-16 Sunday school picnic compared with vhat it is to-day. Also much more rapid nowadays (both_ways) that it was becoming a seno ■ to transport a 3-ton press and type about,, as so much lorry room is needed now for well, other « ; the introductory article, Historians of the War," sting account is given of the histo w hich paper, and the difficulties under which it was -produced." *Tn J hotter stacles the second volume is even better than the first, in the matter of pnnting, as well as in the quality _ of_the letter press. (London: Herbert Jenkins, Ltd.) LECTURES AND LETTERS. The children of the late Mrs E. W. Cunnington have esteemed it apioua duty on their part to issue m pri:nted form the Letters and Lectures of this ardent reformer, and there must be many admirers of this woman who will be glad of such a memorial of her good works. Mrs Cunnington was an idealist, bi}t she did a great deal of good practical work. She had a gift of attractive "writing, had read a great deaLand her lectures to girls were veiy valuable, as leading them to think of the more serious duties of life. She was untiring in her efforts on behalf of the social misfits and outcasts of the community- She was a student of eugenics, and in thorough sympathy with advanced methods of doalmg with criminals. Several of thfc lectures and letters deal with these questions (Christnhureh: Printed by the Lyttelton limes 00., Ltd.)

BRIEF NOTICES,

j and Other Fairy Stories" is a dainty little illustrated booklet for the bairns. The three fairy stories by Miss Edith Howes are characterised by imagination and a refined feeling, and the little volume is made all tho more atflttlctive by the colour pictures designed by Alice Poison. (Christehurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.) Two admirably-written illustrated booklets, dealing with. New Zealand scenery, are "Akaroa, by Miss B. E. Baughan, and Marlborough Sounds, by Miss Edith. Howes. Tho former, ye need hardly say, is especially interesting just now,"and the latter deals with the most picturesque part of the Dominion,' which deserves to be much bet-ter-'known'".to South Island holidayseekers. Both districts are full of hifetoricat association —Akaroa on account of the FYench settloment, about which Mies Baughan writes very discreetly, and Marlborough _ Sounds from their memories of Captain Cook and the Wairau massacre. (Christchur'ch: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.) , Mrs Royd Garlick has done a public service by publishing a third of "A Short Complete Course of Breathing ''jß&arcifies v and''True MovlrtoSts For dliildren Under Twelve Years," arranged by the Into Mr Garlick to assist in—(a) The prevention Fof • adehoid growths, and (b) the -better development and control of. nouro-muscular -activity. After reading this little handbook one is led to regret ihore than ever that Mr Royd Garlick was not spared to carry but the system of physical culture in our schools, the foundation of which he "well and truly laid." (Wellington: Lankshears, Ltd.) The "Daily Mail Yearboo'k for 1919" is ns usual a marvellous compendium of information. Messrs Simpson and Williams, ' and Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, both forward copieis. From Messrs Raphael Tuck we have received a beautifully-executed facsimile of the letter which, on April 26th, tho Oueen wrote on behalf of the women of England to the men of the Navy, Army, and Air Force. The entire nrocoeds are being devoted to the Red.Cro6s.