BOOKS REVIEWED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 710, 8 January 1910, Page 9

BOOKS REVIEWED.

Sixty Tears in 'New Zealand. By k. ■ Hope Blake.'. (Gordon and Gotch.) The pioneers of New Zealand wcro, for tho most, part, makers of ' history, but not of books. Tho second generation does not know; Old Wellington,. or Old Christchurch,' as Hawthorne's generation, for example, .was taught to know Old Salem. It knows how: far the-tide came up Lambton Quay,' and how To Aro: Swamp was ' providentially, raised,, but of the thought' and 'conversation •■ and daily; goings to and fro of the. men of that heroic, -simple timp,/it knows too little. .- They are- shadows',':, with \ great names, who pass as in a 'moving film, and. do. not speak..-: The distinctive, at.mqsphere and lifo .of. the Httlo port,' the hopes . and ■ struggles, ■ tho aloofness, only broken..when: tho ..blessed English mail was/welcomed'.once .a ■ quarter, ' havo grown dim in;men's memories, and. await still .their novelist ..or .-. historian.' bably he will , , appear, liko Hawthorne, and. from his rekindle-./the nncient .'life,• when all "those who re-; member, it; havo passed'away. Already few remain who' remember it so clearly as-Mr. A. Hope" Blake, and he is to be thankedfor.putting his reminiscences,'on paper.' ..They, tare-"; .but fragmentary sketches, ;'■ broken ■ lights.„ from a..' long, experience, but. provocativo as is their slightness, making one,wish a wider vista had been, opened, one feels that they :.ira unadorned:and'rhonest—peeps at the real past. Jfr, Blake recalls when tho- British regimental band ■ played of an afternoon on Thornd<m. v ',"flal," hurdle."'and flat races at Tβ Aro.w.ere/a chief.fete of the year, and meiwif-war's boats and Native canoes, filled with, their brown, vociferous crews, raced: on the. harbour on Anniversary Day.- .Hβ took-part; in weary bush and: hill, pursuits of- the: cruel and wily: Te :Kooti, • and "'has; stories' of Rewi Haniapoto; and the Gate" pa. •/: Hβ: drank' bad ■■; beer,, also," .in up-country "pubs" and:. "shanties,": , declining■■.. invitations, .which , , were-.frequent .vat': that; time, to take- part an pugilistic- "set-tos"—confes-. sipn that 'confirms the'''gene'ral'.;imp/res-. sion: which ,r ;his'f book; giyes.;:of /.veracity; Mr. Blake:'writes'simply.'andv.effeotivelyv with an eye 'to'i Humorous. incident .-and contrast.^'His'storieS:coyer a wide'.range of characters; and:episodes,' and j should 1 be-read 'with' interest by all New Zealanders., . The book' is. "dedicated;■> with tributes, of admiration, to thejlate Sir IDonald..'M'Lean. ! ; i, ■''~'■ ■;-.■•"■','!' :i . i ■:'-•>." .-'• ." v;

"Justified."/",By:'Mrs;'■.C:;E; ;'P6nlton.' Greening's; ColqriiaV' Library.''-. 2s. '6d.' ~... '(Whitcombe .and Tombs.) .' ;■;■■ ■'"•/.,■ 'A topsy-turvy s'tory.twritten," in slipshod English, ."Justified" ..-is'p a'. :rechauffo.-'■ of little bits from'ma'ny; "'wcll-worn; .plots," which has'for hero a proud, : cold-riatured nobloman, and for;heroine a,woman who is divinely bnautiful,. and'puro, , but who falls under the darkest .'suspicion. '■. The story': of /-la. Somnambula". has been-laid under contribution ifor; the'-. : account..- of; tho - manner .Hn which, she compromises herself, and from the /'Moonstone" the' author takes nothing but thoridea,that, on- ■.the';" anniversary .;pf Uhb; "eVoat,'-,the heroinei'may; .once ' 'more,:" , porfo'r.m ..{tHa actions 1 ,that':brought'her; under .suspicion; 1 It;is";'charactenstic of-thec'careless way in which\.thb Jbook' is .written;- that'nonoof the /details;. which made Wilkio Cpllins's scene.convincing are thought ricebssary .hero;';''■■'.. ■::'<?■'■:",■'■■ ■.^ i V'-'."'.' > !" ; ;;;, '■ ''■■", ""' "The.Death'-Gambie.",.- By. Q._ R.. -Sims.. ; /Stanley Paul. and Co. ) \liOridon....' Is:The middle.:o'f, the ..night, when'/a.Wei-, lingtpn northerly is- almdst;;.blow.ing..tho, house down, and 'this book ■ by■'■ G.:' B. Sims to read,'.;and there. oiuK-'lutS. the tiine, ;tho ingredients'-.for a night of ,-horror.-The, .book, will- not take long 'to' read, but .after 'it is: closed sleep.,will'\bo. almost impossible,; and it 'vriU bp^brokenmth' , : dreadful- /.dreams," accompanied' : fittingly;.by ;: tho howling, of the 'wind;' One reader nas'^tried:it, anfl knows. , . "The •:-, Death , - Gamblo" , . is','the criminal exploiting, of "lifo ■ insurance companies by means of murder accomplished in fiendish ways, and the-horror of • the stories-'.lies;".in■■'• the.'fact that the j criminals are "men;;and women.;of: education and., refinement,■ who .were delicately: nurtured; and reared ,in gentle hoiries, and .that most -of'the; villainies have.been carried out.-in- peaceful .domestic i.atnios? pher.es,' -whilo : . the murderer has;; almost invariably been .conspicuously ■ .sympa.thetic, "and watched by the'-'deathbed.of tho.'j victim--, with ..tlibi.tenderest.'carei:-and the most, loving -'solicitude."-; The book is interesting iii; its.wny;.:it.is .ghastly to. a. degree, 'arid;probably 'its, .''jpublicatibn' has served a good end : by drawing attention- to the "carelessness with which some medical, men grant death', certificates. Mr. Sims, points but'that, in the majority .of cases-.men .who.;hava,,been., convicted of /poisoning, for.,tho sake, of ,'gain have been-previously;,.associated;with/cases of sudden .and .mysterious'death; and', in most 'ca'sfls when.-'• tho; bodies' hnyo.been. exhuriied it has 'been found, that tho. readiness-liith which'tho.'death certificate had been granted had set; a 'Criminal free, to -continue. his> fatal/course.:, Mr. Sims seoms to. believe that ; murder. : for. tho: sake of insurance is a -crime that very-easily becomes a;hab.it,-and'!he. insists, that greater .care:/should,.bo taken by doctors who have,!to grant certificates for deaths not.'easily,-explained. ~'.;■ ,--: : :,

■/Tho /early publication of Mr. 'Thomas Hardy's , new book of jpbems is announced by Messrs. Macmillaii.*; 1 "Timo's Laughing Stocks," the titleiof the ,book, .forms the descriptive heading to the first group of poems;: This is' followed by a .series of lovo;lyric's;."A;.Sct;:of Country SoSgs," and, finally, "Pieces occasionalv'and .various," which is;the. largest of the four sections into, which .-'the volume is di-, ■vided.—"Daily News."/ ~:. :■:.'■■,'.:■. ■■■■'