NEW BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 832, 30 July 1910, Page 9

NEW BOOKS.

"Hawaiki: The Original Home, of tho Maori." By S. Percy Smith, F.11.G.5. Wellington: Wbitcombo and Tombs. os.

.This is an attractively-bound third' edition of Mr. Smith's book, which, as he states in bis preface,, was first published in the 'seventh ' and eighth volumes of the "Journal of the Polynesian Society." To those who aro specially interested in Maori origins theauthor's. valuable researches have, of course, long b<!en familiar; but '"Hawaiki" deserves a very much wider public. Even those who have no special interest either in Mr. Smith's theory of the Indian origiii of the Polynesian race or in «nv other theory upon tho point will find this little volume absorbingly interesting, the very opposito of "dry." There is a' fascination in the tracking of fact through the mists of curious traditions, and Mr. Smith has a- clear and straightforward style which sWes a special attraction to a .subject" attractive in itself. This edition has a map of Oceania, showing Uib routes of • migrations, and is liberally illustrated with photographs.

"The Geology, of Now Zealand." By .lames .Park. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs. 10s! Gd. .

' This large and handsome volume has been- prepared, its author says, for tho use of teachers and mining students, but wo venture to say that it has features , which will make it a valuable addition to any geological library. In any country geology -is tho science most easy to" pursue, since the materials are everywhere a't hand; yet in New Zealand it. a a not, a specialty populai subject of study, .and this although the Government has spent a groat deal of money in maintaining a Geological Branch of the Mines Department. Yet, as Professor Park points out, the value of extracted metals and minerals had in New Zealand amounted to about £100,000,000 in 1909, and the development of the known mineral resources is capable of enormous'' expansion. There is, thciofore, the strongest >A material reasons why ouch books ,as Professor Park's should be written for the furtherance of our geological knowledge. The present volume covers the whole subject in fifteen chapters, with a score- of full-page illustrations and 140 : smaller ones from drawings and photographs. The last eighty pages are given up to a bibliography of enormous dimensions, a long list of authors, and 1 a satisfyingly voluminous general index. The amount of labour that has gone to the compiling of the bibliography may be imagined from the fact tiiat.it contains about 1500 references. A word of praise- is due to the excellence of the printing, which is unusually good and attractive, and of 'the illustrations, which are admirably sharp and clear.

"An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales." By David Collins, sometime Judge-Advocato and Secretary of the colony. Edit-' cd by James Collier. Wellington : Whitcombe and Tombs. 7s. 6d.

• It was an excellent idea to reprint Collins's well-known work and to entrust its editing to Mi. Collier, who has given a very great amount of enthusiastic laho'JV to the editing and to the writing of a long and admirable introduction. Collins, who was born in 1756, went to Australia in 1787 as the Judge-Advocate of' tho projected convict colony at Botany Bay, and hero lie 1 , remained for nine interesting years., lie published the first volume of his work in 1798 and tho second in 1802, • and the two volumes were later recast and abridged in a second edition by his wife. It is of this abridgment that the present volume is a reprint. The story of the convict settlement is not very cheerful rending, although there are the happier circumstances of to-day to take the edge off the wretchedness of tho task of building a stable society on a foundation of convicts. There is no better history of the infant colony than Collins's simple and unpretentious record of all the big and little happenings during hi's term of office. 7.0 keeps very strictly to the point, yet, as Mr. Collier observes, "we witness the rudiments of a new commonwealth, a living social organism, grow into fair proportions, show increased adaptation to'its environment, develop new organs, incorporate new elements, exhibit fresh complications, strike deeper root in the soil, and expand in h-.'ight and bulk." The book is one that nobody should miss who is interested in the early history of British settlement in Australasia. "Canadian Rom." By Mrs. Humphrey Wa'd. London: MucMillan and 'Co. 2s. Gd. The f:\sciiialioii.of Canada,-its boundless spaces, immense potentialities, and virility of its people, have made a strong appeal to Mrs. Ilumnbrey Ward, and she has v.t herself strenuously to the task of interpreting to the British mind the ideals and tho aims that animate the minds of these younm Britons. Uer impressions of

Canada arc vividly set down, out the magnificence of the' country, its savage strength ami splendour, its boundlessness, almost ovenvhelm her, and there is a strained, almost hysterical nolo in her description at times.' In the course of a very interesting love story she brings liefoie her readers this magnificent young country with its tantalising glimpses of a colossal future towards which its people are steadily pressing. Lady Merlon,, a young English widow, brings her delicate young brother to Canada in search of health, and together they are swept across the plains, beside the lakes, and over mountain ridges on the CanadianPacific Itailwav. She sees a new nation being born, primeval wilds becoming the home of a vigorous, independent people, cities springing up, and she becomes almost obsessed by the greatness of the country, the freedom of it, aiid the. splendour of its promises. Lady .Morton is a true child of the world: from her childhood she has been steeped in its exclusiveness, its culture, its aristocracy, and yel tin. fascination of this land and its people causes her to throw it aside in the end, for a man who is tho embodiment of his country. This is not done without, a struggle between the English traditions in which she has been brought up and the spell which Anderson and his land have- cast upon her, as well as tho throwing over of a man of her own world with whom she had almost unconsciously been drifting into marriage. She decides to throw in her lot with Anderson, and the two go off together into the Canadian backwoods life, which she enters into with the greatest delight, full' of faith in the future of the country she is making her own.

"The Undesirable Governess." By Marion Crawford. London: Macriiillan ind Co. 2s. tid.

"Tho Undesirable Governess" is in all probability I lie last boo!; that will appear bearing the name of the late Marion Crawford, and a strong feeling of regret cannot but be experienced at the realisation that such is the case, [t will not hn easy, nor would one wish, to forget the delightful "Sarhiesea" series with their colour, their warmth, their intimate knowledge of the life of which ho wrol.fi: the Lauderdale series so instinct with individuality and life: ■ "'Piotro Ghislori,"~ "Grifcnstein," and the-other Italian novels. .Few. authors have- been so faithful to tho characters they have created as he has been, and perhaps • few could bring them into different books as successful-, ly as he did; one was always pleased to meet them again and to follow them in their different stages in life's journey. It seems a "pity that such a book as "The Undesirable Governess" should be the, last of his works', as the etory is very slight, merely tho amusement of a few spare moments. In order to be near her lover a girl disguises herself, padding one shoulder so that she will have a.hump, colours her nose so that it always has a brilliantly red appearance, and goes to his people as a governess to his two young sisters. All sorts of strange happenings take -place, including a balloon ascent and an arrival by accident in an asylum. The setting of the story is very unreal, although the characters have much of the attractiveness that Marion Crawford could so well create. "The Sub-Antarctic Islands of Now Zealand." Edited by Dr. Charles Chilton. The Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. Two volumes. These two massive volumes are the outcome of the scientific expedition that visited the Auckland and Campbell Islands in 1007. The expedition was arranged by the New Zealand lnstituto and carried' out with the co-operation of the Government. Mr. M'Nab writes a paper on the discovery of tho islands, and Dr. Chilton, a general article on tho investigations made. Mr. Skey, Mr. D. C. H. Florence, and I)rs. Farr and P. Marshall contribute three' articles on the gco-physics of the islands; the three geological articles are by Dr. Marshall and Messrs. R. Speight and B. C. Aston. The papers on zoology are by Messrs., Waite, Sutfer, G. V. Hudson, Meyrick, Cnmeron, Broun,' Lamb, Carpenter, Hogg, Darbishirc, Kirk, and Chapman, and Drs. Dendy, Chilton, and Benltani. Messrs. Gheescman, L. Cockayne, Laing, • and Petrio have dealt with tho botanical side of tho expedition. The two volumes aro finely printed, and illustrated with excellent photographs and some beautiful entomological . drawings (coloured). Thoro is a .voluminous bibliography, an extensive index, and a' good map by Mr. E. N. d'Oyly.

The cover design of the. August number of the "Lone Hand" directs attention to the inclusion of an articlo by Mr. 'J. Barr, an ex-Wellington journalist, on "The Liquor Question in Australasia." Mr. Barr, whose articlo is profusely illustrated by diagrams, has evidently thought a good deal on the subject, and the kernel of his belief is in his assertion, made after a refusal to accept either the, liquor trade's or tho temperance party's statements as iu the effects of No-License, that "the full strength or weakness of No-License will never bo truly gauged as a solution of tho liquor problem until it has stood the test in at least one of the big cities of Australasia." Amongst Hie other articles worth notice are "The Youth of Adam Lindsay Gordon," and "The Most Active Volcano in the World," illustrated with some remarkably fine photographs of a torrent of lava rushing into the sea. Rodcric Quinn and H. C. M'Kay have readable stories. Tho verses are poor' stuff, and the advertisements "kill" thn "World's Doings" section.