NEW BOOKS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1390, 16 March 1912, Page 9

NEW BOOKS.

Now Zealand: The Countrv and the People. By Max Herz, "M.D. With eighty-one illustrations and a map. T. Werner Laurie, London. Dr. Herz who has visited Ken , Zealand more than once, and lias looked at it more closely than the usual intelligent foreigner, has made a very readable book. His plau is comprehensive. Beginning with the geology and natural history of the country, ho passes on to describe its inhabitants, t Maori and pakeha, to relate its history from the dawn of colonisation to the present time, to review its modern legislation, and to traverse the wonders and beauties of the (hernial and alpine districts, Westland and the Sounds. Ho is a candid and on occasions a severe critic, but his readers will feel tho sincerity of his assurance that he loves and admires the countrv and the people. His strictures on the backwardness of New Zealanders in matters of art and taste have already been made the subject of editorial comment in this journal. Dr. Herz states in his preface that "the translation of this book from the Gorman original was made by the author, filed by his wife and Miss liita Harris, and polished by several gentlemen friends, of mine in Auckland." It is regrettable, that the "fining" and "polishing" was not done a little more thoroughly, ami that the doctor's Auckland friends did not save him from making «nne of the mistakes which detract from the value of his work. The worst of these is, perhaps, • the strange assumption that our public hospitals are run by the honorary medical staffs without any resident medical superintendents or surgeons. The book is not one for the serious student, and it can never be quoted as,an authority, but it is a very bright and racy description of the country, and .the jcpple, and it will no doubt, ,cause 'Sew' Zealand to be better known and better understood. The Adventures of Kimblo Bent: A Story of Wild Life in the New Zealand Bush. By .Tames Cowan. With illustrations. ' Whilcombe and Tombs; ss. Mr. Cowan is careful to explain at the outset that this book is not a work of fiction. It is, however, a narrative of such a romantic strangeness as neither history nor fiction very often reaches. Kimble Bent, the son of a New England shipbuilder, and his half-caste Eed Indian wife, led a roving life as sailor and soldier, and eventually found himself in Taranaki as a private in Her Majesty's 57th Regiment in tho Maori war of tho 'sixties. ' His imnatience o£ regimental discipline had unpleasant consequences* and at length he decided to leave civilisation behind him and go to live with the Maoris. The wild Hanlians of Taranaki wero not slow to perceive the advantages of having a Pakeha-Maori in their midst, and he received the special protection" of tho chief Titokowa.ru. Hβ had to work hard, but on tho whole was well treated. For thirteen years ho ivas completely estranged from white men, and even now he is still living with his Maori friends, and is known by his Maori name, Tu-nui-a-moa. Mr. Cowan first met him in 1903, and has since had many interviews with him, and received numerous letters from him. One result is this book, which tells the story of Kimblo Bent's lifo in New , Zealand, and with that tho history of the last war in Taranaki. Mr. Cowan has obtained confirmation of Bent's narrative from independent Maori sources, and tho outcome is a valuable contribution to New Zealand history. It is also a very interesting story, for the self-outlawed soldier saw many "strange things, and had many narrow escapes from violent death. He is the only living white man who saw tho war from''the Maori side and witnessed the secret Hauhau rites. Mr. Cowan, whose previous books had proved him a competent writer on Maori subjects, has produced in "Kimble Bent" a work which will add to his reputation. As for Bent •himself. Mr. Cowan thinks he will die as he has lived, a Pakeha-Maori. but he says tho old man—h* is now 73—sometimes says he would liko a chance to work his passage on eome sailing ship to New York or Boston, so that ho might die in his mother's land.