BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 56, 29 November 1919, Page 15

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

BOOKS OF THE DAY John Hugh Allen, . . In an interesting "Foreword" to her book. "John Hugh Allen, of the Gallant Company: A Memoir" (Lonaon, Edward Arnold; per Whitcombe and Tombs), by his sister, Ina Montgomery, the wish is expressed that "not a few New Kenlanderc should be stimulated to the service of their country by the story of one. wlio turned, as a nower to the sun, to all that wae bright and beautiful, yet feared not to tread the dark and terribie nath of duty." This rough outline of ,lohn Hugh Allen's character ie h'llwy in. in the course of Mrs. Montcomerv's affectionately sympathetic and well-written memoir, with a wealth of most interesting, and for all young New Zealanders. most suggestive and instructive detail. ,Toh;a Allen was a young New Zealunder of whom not only his parents and relatives, but all .those of his.fellow-countrymen who respect high ideals, wholesome thought and purpose, and strenuous search after all that is trulv '.'ood and noble in life, may well be nroud. No one who reads his sister'a rflcoro of John Allen's school and universitv career, who peruses the numerous letters fluoted in the book, eon fail to ba struck by the blazing earnestness with which the subject of this memoir regarded life, his never-failing sense of what is due to personal honour, genuine patriotism, and honest regard for the welfare of his fellow-men.

'The second eon of Mr., now Sir James Allen. John Hugh Allen was born in Diinedin in 1885, and educated at the Wancanui Collesiate School. He afterwards studied at the Otas?o University, and in 1!K)7 entered at Jesus College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he rapidly mado his mark in more than one branch of universitv life. "Rowing blues" and thoughtful fihidenh? were alike his friends. As a 'Varsitv journal of tho period, the "Chanticlere," put it: "He knows half of the 'Varsity, and tho other half knows him." His groat ambition was to shine as a debater, and one'of the proudest of those ioyous days of.mingled hard work ano' equally hard plav was possibly that when ho was ■ elected president of the famous society, the Cambridge Union. His nerennal qualities, "his genius for friendship, his sympathy, his geniality, his generosity, all unite," said the "Granta." "to make him the object of affectionate regard to a very wide constituency. .. ." "In politics'ho is a ConBervative. and aspiring freshmen are divided as to whether they worship him morfl than Jfr. Balfour." As a matter of fact, as ie made quite clear in several of his letters, John Allen's Conservatism was of a decidedly broad find enltehtened type. As his sister eavs in her Foreword, he "combined very TOrfeotlv the outlook of the 'New Zealander and tho Englishman. , " Many nassajres in this book conld' be quoted to prove that although a staunch Imperialist, he was completely untainted l)v any savour of flamboyant Jinijoism. His letters home during tlie Cambridge neriod throw many interesting sidelights upon the young' New Zealander's personal tastes, and his active participation in various 'varsity movements. They tes■■tify alGo to his special good fortune in gaining as friends many youn? Englishmen' of exceptional intellectual gifts and fine promise. 'Hi 3 presidency of the Cambridge Union and his chairmanship of the new Carlton Club brought him into contact with many distinffuished men, such as W. H. Mullock Hewins fwho was chairman of Chamberlain's Tariff Commission), Hilaire Belloc, and others. x

It was a red letter day for the union •when L. J. Masse, an ex-president, having moved "the imtnediate adoption of some system of universal military service," 'he was opposed by Belloc, who held —it is curioii3 to read this in the light cf what has happened since 1014—that "no form of conscript army would meet the situation in a European war, and that such an army would lie impossible in England without revolutionising the philosophy of society." It fell to Join Allen to follow Mr. Belloe. The New Zealander, who held that "compulsory military service would destroy''Jingoism, and take the place of agriculture in improving the national health," had a difficult task to- perform, but, says the "Grant*," he "rose to the occasion, ■ and made fha bnst speech that we have heard from him."

Vacation jaunts to the Channel Islands. Switzerland, and Germany are described in bright and cheery letters. Prom Nice ho writes, in .January, 1911, that he is "feeling a, little restless,"

I often think of going out to New Zealand, making a way at the Bar, and going, as soon as I can propel myself, into tho New Zealand House. I am afraid lam rather ambitious, and I want my life to make a- bit of a, splash, even, if as ie proba,blo, it ia of the wry smallest description. . . .

In the following year John Alien became secretary to Mr. Lionel Curtis, then very busy with the "Bound Table." Curtis undoubtedly influenced, his assistant not a little in more than one direction of political thought. He determined upon returning to New Zealand, and Septomber, 1912, found him bacjc in Dunerlin "polishing un" his law, writing a memorandum on proportional representation, and "mugging up questions of policy." In a letter to Lionel Curtis (in February, 1913) he tells hie "Boh;i.I Table" friend that lie has been "collecting material for a social and political history of New Zealand." In another letter to the same gentleman there are signs that his point of view on more than one Imperial question had undergone n change, by further acquaintance with and recognition of the average New Zcalandor'e strong regard for nationality and political independence. _ "A Parliament in London for Imperial purposes,' , would, he.thought, "unduly postpone the development of New Zealand nationality." On the other hand,

it will be valuable as a force of consolidation. ... So long as the Parliament sits in London the people of New Zealand will not bo fully identified with their Government. In other words a real Imperial Parliament is neco?sary, but it Is equally .necessary that it should not, sit altogether in London. ■

To Dean Fitchett, apropos to some political ideas expreserl in a sermon, he wrote:

I was a Unionist in British polities, partly because Liberal Imperial policy w. as obnoxious to me, but, partly leuauto tno Unionists seemed to havo a sense of national consciousness based upon cltizenBhip and discipline-two of the national virtues you described this moraine. I couW not help thinking that if a, high ideal o{ its citizenship, and a sense of diecipline are neceusary in Urent Britain, they are doubly necessary here. Ono notices that fewer people here than in England an> conscioTin ef the co-ordinating thread that binds a nation together and mukC3 it one whcl'j.

After some months of uncertainty John Allen determined to live in New Zealand believing, writes his .sister ."that in his native, land were more opportunities of service to the Empire and for a successful career. He decided, however to re. turn temporarily lo England, and bo called to the Bar. .Mr. Ainery, the wcllinorn British publicist, now a member of the Lloyd George Government, and his wife were fellow-jins.sengers, and with these two clever people the New Zealander formed a fast friendship. Arriving in England in December, 11118, he wag soon busy, rending law—five bourn a day—but found time to interest himself in various political and sodnl activities. In August came the war, and for a man of the typo of John JJugli Allen thero could be only one answer to his country's call, lie at once joinwd Hie Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps, and a .few weeks later was given a commission in tho 13th Worcestershire Kegiment. The letters in which he describee bin military training, his duties ;i.= mi officer, and camp life generally, are full of happily humorous touches. They show us the young New Zealander at hie best,

(BX LlBBB.) Give a man a pipe he can smoke, Give a man a hook he can read; And his home it bright with a calm dtlight Though the roam be poor indeed. —James Thomqob.

strenuous in his work, gonial and sympathetic with those under him, tremendously impressed with the sense of duty. Writing from Plymouth lie alludes to a long-cherished ambition:

But it is something to know Uiat you are regarded as behijt fit to eo to the front. That little political career of which I have dreamed almost since I was in pinafores—rising from the front bench in an excited House, winning the applause of a massed and militant meeting—veil, I rinppotu, it is more out of reach than ever; but I still dream of it. Gladstone's grundBon,,pre3ident of the Oxford Union, wrote from the trenches to his mother juit before he wae killed:—"lt. is not the length of one's existence but what one puts into it that counts." A. splendid platitude that would have fallen ao easily from the U.O.J!.'* pen.

On May 10, 1915, John Allen sailed for the Dardanelles, landing at Cape Helles, where \te ivas attached to the Essex Regiment in the 2!) th Division, on May 25. Twelve days-later ho was killed. From the trenches ho wrote (May 27): Father's forces have a great name here; the enemy call them the white Ghurkat. Do what to get Vnore r.nd more sent—l hope :people realise the reccssity. I conld make some great recruiting speeches. . . .

Touches of humour often add a pleasant colour to these simply unaffected letters. He euggoetti the letters being kept, hoping to be able, to "write something up from them'after." "Material," he adds, "is plentiful. This is a richer field thfln No* Zealand Parliamentary Hansards." In the last of the letters (written just three days prior to the end) he Bivys:

War is much more like, the vulgar nooms that describe it than I\ thought. A rich cretim of sentiment rests upon its grim urgencies. I wish I had been old enough and wiee enough to take part 'n that pionic in South Africa in 1900. 1 withdraw the word "picnic." but everybody Bpcuke of it as such now. Pro!/ably they have forgollon. And I hope this will never be referred- to as a. "picnic."

The end tamo on June*, 1915. The following brief account of how John Hugh Allen met his death was written to the bereaved father by General Richardson, who had been asked by Gcueral Johnston to make inquiries:—

At 4 a.m. on Juno 6 our troopa ivoro bombed out of the eastern end of H. 12 trench (these men consisted ol at least tln'ct) battalions and all units were mixed). The retirement of the men was naturally d'ffcult to control, and they were falling back over .H. 11 trench to H. 10. i'our son with another officer aoted inoet gallantly in trying to stop this backward movement. He got out into the Open, and endeavoured "by his example to stop the nien going back, and succeeded eventually In doing so; but his exposure and gallant act cost him ii» life—he irae shot dead in the open in the rear of H. 11 trench. . . .

I am very sorry to have to write this letter, but I am pleased to be able to tell you that he died doing a, very gallant aot, which under the circumstaVices required conoiderable courage, as it is almost certain death to put one's head above the parapet, therefore to get right out as ho did and endeavour to get men forwnjd required a cool head and a, brave heart.

As one, reads the above, and then re- ' calls all those pleasant dreams of political sucrawe which are, hinted at in so many of Allen's letters from Cambridge, one is irresistibly reminded of somo noble lines in Rupert Brooke's beautiful sonnet "The Dead": These laid the world away; poured out tho red Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years

to be Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene, That men call age; and those who would

have been Their eons, they gave thoir immortality.

I have only to add that Mrs. Montgomery's share in this deeply interesting book has been performed with conspicuous good tasto and marked literary ability. The connecting links bc-tween Hw letters are admirably succinct, and any purely personal and family references, as in the admirablo chapter entitled "Vignettes," nro strictly confined to a necessary annotation and proper enlargement of tho main' facts. This .Memoir of & gallant and exceptionally brilliant young Now Zenlander will, it is to be hoped, find many readers throughout that land which John Allen loved so well, and i:i the service of which he would very probably, had he been spared to live, achieved no inconsiderable success. A copy of this 'book should certainly find a place in every secondary school library in the Dominion.

A portrait of Mr. Allen is given as a frontispiece, and the volume, which, is well printed and tastefully bound, is sold at the very reasonable prico of aix shillings.