BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

"New Zealand at tho Front." Of the many books dealing with special phases and fea hires bf the war tho handsomely .printed and lavishly illustrated quarto, "New Zealand at tho Front," . written and illustrated in France bj men of the New Zealand Division (Cassell and Co.), must coine easily first in interest and importance so far as New Zealand readers are concerned. In its 180 pages have been gathered togethei an. almost bowildering . variety of ar- ■ tioles and pictures, all having special reference to tho experiences of. our soldiers in and close to the lighting line or on leave in tho Motherland. It is easy tq sea by this really admirable publication that the ranks of the New Zealand Division include a large number of. men -who possess literary ami artistic gifts of no mean order. AI 1 sides of war are represented—the dramatic,. tho tragic, and the humorous, Tho; latter elenient .perhaps dominates and | the gaiety and sparkle, ofi the stories and articles whion are in lightej vein como in'agreeable contrast to tin graver, sterner tone of the others. Ir order that the book might'be producec ill timo for' the Christmas mail, the | material, had to bo obtained, states.tin ( anonymous editor, at short notice, "ll was , found impossible to includo contributions from that section ,of ou: Forces that is still fighting the 'Purlin .the desert beyond the Suez Canal.' It is to be hoped that later on a supple mentary. publication' may utilise till literary and artistio" abilities • of tin , men who are now doing such splendic work in Palestine. Meanwhile the highest credit is due to all who have been responsible for _ the present .volume'. Many of the literary contributors have .preferred to give their initial! instead of their full names. The illusinclude three wtell-known Weilingtonians—Mr.. Nugent Welch,' vh< contributes a pathetic but beautifu water-colour sketch of a ruined Frenci farm house and aii excellent hlack anc white drawing, "Somewhere', ir France"; Mr. G. P. Hanna, whose numerous drawings will bear compari sqn for' their effective humour witl those of the famous- Bairnsfather; anc Mr.E.F. Hiscocks, who is representee by a largo number of very amusing sketches. An'artist who signs himsel "Finey" contributes • a well-drawi coloured illustration and some excel lent black and white work, and Mr . Thompson's frontispiece, "Privati Puripeet," is a vigorously drawn am effective bit of colour work The illustrations, which' include a number of cleverly drawn head ane tail-pieces for,the .various articles are a most successful feature of a .bool every page of which contains some gooe thing, either literary or artistic, j) happy idea lias been the inclusion of; glossary of slang expressions great! j in favour at the front, and of certaii technical military terms. The verse ii mostly of a humorous character, reflecting the high spirits of' tho writers anc their determination to express the cheeriest possible view of' the discomforts and dangers which are their daily let, but there are several poems in; which .the. tragic-and : pathetic side of war ie dealt with. The, editor's name is Hot .given in the) title page, but I-believe that most of the work of selection-Jias been done by Captain Malcolm Boss, whose son, the late Mr. Noel Boss, iE represented by a short humorous .-ketch Painting the Bath," Copies of "New Zealand at the Front" will.soon be on sale in the? Dominion. As the sni-plj will be limited, it is most advisable that orders should be given at ovte, or disappointment may occur, for the elemand is sure to be very large. Tht' English price—astonishingly moderate in viow of the rich store of entertainment the publication provides—is 2s. 6d. net.

Serbia. A recent addition to that i.xcellent series, "The Home University .libran" (Williams and iVorgate) is a \okirne entitled "Serbia." The author, L. I<V - Waring,- JJ-,A., has made a special study of the Balkan problem, inoro particularly as it ttlfecw Serbia, and so eminent an authority as M. Jovan, M. Jovanovitch, the Serbian Minister in London, speaks highly of the manuer in 'which she deals with the ancient and , modern history of his country! Miss Waring gives an interesting account of tho coming of tlio Slavs to the Bal- : kans in tho sixth and seventh centuries, and of'their struggle for -independence. How the Serbs, endeavoured -to establish a Slav Empire, how they failed to withstand the northward and westward How of tho all-conquering Moslems, is set forth very clearly, and an intnrostiiig description is given of the'few Wan etrugglo for emancipation under Kara Georgo, tlie founder of the dynasty of which' tho unfortunate King Peter is the prosent representative, and lu.rierMilosii Obrenoviteh, the founder of the dynasty whose rule was ended by tho murder of .that foolish and vicious young monarch, King Alexander. Miss Waring deals in successive chapters with" Serbia's groping, s after democracy with the conditions Tinder which she became, as it were, a : pawn in European politics, and the results upon Serbia and tho other Balkan States of the Treaty of Berlin. The intrigues of Austria to gain political control of the Balkans and tho offorts made by tho Jugo Slavs to form a Balkan Union are next dealt with, and wo then conie to the famous Balkan Alliance, tho first and. second Balkan wars, and tho events which led to tho outbreak of tho Groat War, in which Serbia has suffered such cruol wrongs; Serbia's participation in tho war, her gallant strugglo against overwhelming Austro-Gorman forcos, is tho subject of a final and most illumining chapter. An admirable bibliography and a full index are most useful features of an excellent littlo book in which a vast amount of usefijl and interesting, historical information is presented in a compact and handy form. Tho author's indictment of German and Austrian treachery in to Serbia is positively crushing. Miss Waring makes a strong plea for a careful and sympathetic study of Balkan and especially Serbian affairs by tho pooplo of Englaud. Sho lias implicit conlidonco in the power of tho Southern Slavs to withstand even long years of oppression and loss of freedom without tnero being'the slightest weakening of that national and individual love of liberty whioh has made tho Sorbs accomplish such grjOat things in the past. In this connection sho quotes same memorable words written by Sir Arthur Evans at tho time of the outbreaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina in tho seventies of tlio last century:—

Pooplo do not understand how intense aro (ho passions which llio -wrongs beyond the border raise among tho Jieiglibon riii<r Slavonic populations, 'how- mighty arc ihe silent forces af: work in favour of South Slavonic unity and liberation; how vain is Win legerdemain of diplomacy and the snnd ropes of statesmen, who seo Governments and nothing but Governments. ... It is Iho Serbs and the Serbs alone who arc inspired by those motives and passions which aro capable of deciding tho destinies of nations. Call

it patriotism, call it Pan-Slavism, call it faith, or call it fanaticism, the motive forco is there, and it is irresistible. After reading such a book as that of Miss Waring's it is impossiblo not to rejoice that first Mr. Lloyd George and next, a few days later, President Wilson, have been so outspoken as to tlio determination of the .Allies that Serbia shall regain her full independence, and that when the enemy is finally defeated and the Allies come to decide upon the best way of securing future peaco in the Balkans, Serbia's wrongs will be righted and a gallant littlo nation bo freed from all fear of tyrannous interference in its affairs by the Central Powers. "Nolson's History of the War." In the sevonteenfii volume of "kelson's History of the Wai'"/'(Nelson and Soils; por and Tombs), Mr. John Buclian deals with Rumania's campaign, and with Brusiloff's check before Halicz. Next comes a. vigorous-ly-written description of Von Falkenhavii's crossing of tho Carpathians and' 1 with tho gradual forcing back of the outnumbered and out-genoralled ' Rumanians. The French' advaiico at Verdun in October, 1916, when Mangin proved himself so able a commander, is then dealt with in a chapter, froni the perusal of which the reader must rise with a feeling of profoundest admiration for the gallant l^rcnchmen.. Tho position at sea and the campaign in the air, lip to the close of the year, are described with as much detail as official secrecy will allow, •and tlio concluding chapter is devoted to a record of the various political transformations which culminated first in the resignation by Mr, Lloyd. George of his seat in the'Asquitli Cabinet; the second on the resignation by Mr.. Asquith, the then Prime Minister; and, finally, the formation of a new War Cabinet by Mr. Lloyd George. ' In an appendix is given General Milne's dispatch, dated December, 6, 1916,. with regard to the position ni; Salonika. As in earlier volumes of this invaluable work, there are a large number of maps'and sketch plans. (N.Z. price, Is. 9d.)'