BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 138, 6 March 1920, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

Tanks. In a liberally'illustrated and handsomely produced volume entitled "Tanks, 1914-1918, The Log Book of a Pioneer" (Hodder and Stoughton), LieutenantColonel Sir Albert Stem. K.8.E., C.M.G.. lias written what may.fairly be considered an exhaustive history of the now famous tank a 9 a fighting machine in tho Great War. The importance of-the part played by the tanks on the. Western front cannot well be over-estimated. Although there'have been those who have underrated 'thfe 'practical. value of , th> tank the weight of testimony oil'' th? other side is overwhelming.. It is trilf that once, recovered from their first shook of surprise tho Germans, liko-the practical men they always are,- pulled them-' solves together and adopted "countering tactics which may liavo lessened the mischief they at first suffered through-the tanks, iiut to the very end of the campaign these u'ncoptli-looldpg moving monEters continued to do splendid service for the British and- were undoubtedly a potent factor in bringing about the. final victory.. Sir Albert * Stern's took tells bow the first idea of the tanks'' was mooted, how. a' long serifs of tedious, costly and at times disheartening' experiments were made. Next follows' a description of how the tanks, came to be produced on a large scale," and then of the cold water which, for a time, was thrown upon .the new invention by certain War Office bigwigsr—for tile Tite Barnacle type : never seems'to die' out In.England. For'a time'the official obstruction was- triumphant'/- Says " the author: "We found that the three military member-? (of the, Tanks, Committee), who a month Tiefore had never- even seen r tank, laid down all Tidings even with regard to desigiv and production. They were in a majority and-we could do nothing-" Then the tanks enthusiasts and live -experts appealed directly to ' tho Prime Minister, and-finally General Focli came -over to England and personally inspected the latest type of heavy tank. Ke was quite satisfied. "You must make quantities and quantities. .: -We must fight mechanically - /Men can no.longer attack with.-chance, of success without armoured protection." " Later on came tho big fight a - Cambrai. .'The author., nays: . •"

There' for the first time-the' tanks fought, as we had always 'wished.' across . good ground' without- ac preliminary -bombard-, ment, and in largo, numbers-over, 100. With their help General liyng hod won what up to that; time was ithe- greatest victory ' of-the wnj. the --greatest m-tU\ territory gain and the prisoners captured, and t.he greatest- in its., economy both of. lives and ammunition. , They deployed-on a line abdut'l.ooo yards from .the enemy's outpost trenches; and'"at; tea minutes past Bix 'iii thfcli "ground mist-on the morning o£ November 20-ithey. began" to move forward;- General >Elle« : led the attack in the centre flying - -on his tank the Tank. Oorps .colours. - ■

Here it may be noted that it was in the little shop at Cassell the tank colours were chosen. The colour scheme was to symbolise three things—mud, fire or the fighting spirit, - and. green field, or "good going"; for the whole ambition of the Tank Corps was-to fight its way through the mud to the green fields beyond. -The tank flag, by the wajvvas' the. first, to- have the; honour of flying in the Hiridenburg'Line; . '■

Close behind .the tanks came the Infantry. Fori ten' minutes they advanced through the mist in complete, silence. Then a thousand suns behind the British lines simultaneously opened fire, and their barrage of shrapnel, high 'explosive, and smoke'nhcllß crashed down 200 yards before the advancing-tanks.- The success of-the. attack was ■ complete." ■ The enemy rail for it or surrendered ilittle fighting. Only at the tactical points did they -mak'i. any .serious;. resistance. In La'teau Wood there was a • duel. between a tank and a 5.9 howitzer.'. .The gun turned on the tank, and with its first- rhejl tore off most of the right-hand soonsoli, but nonq of the vitals were touched. Before the gunners could reload the' t<mk was on the top of them, : and had cni6h(S'd the gun down into the surrounding brushwood. , . .

■In spite of ' tjus splendid proof of-the value of the Tank, the War Office still maintained an attitude: of cold distrust. When the author was, in October, 1917, appointed . "Commissioner for' Mechanical Warfare," another gentleman was HDpointed "Controller of the Mechanical Warfare Department." This, gentleman, Admiral. Sir A. G. H. Moore, had "up to the date of his appointment never even seen a tank"! ''

Sir ■Albert Stern recounts in' detail the progress of. tank warfare -hftef the signing of the. Ahglo-Amqrican Treaty, I and tells, witli evident satisfaction and pardonable pride,- how eventually official obstruction was overcome, how,- as lie puts it, "the tanks got. their way;" and of the wonderful, iesults of a wholesale, employment of the. new war. The' chapters in which; lie describes the patient determined work of certain .Government engineering- firms, such sw.the.Fos-. ters of Lincoln, in oxperimenting'witV and building the tanks, are most interesting. They prove that, '.given fair; opportunity'; British inventive .genius and industrial skill luive nothing to fear by 'comparison with that of.the Americans; or any other: nation. A. special- word of , praise is 1 due to the illustrations, ■ of which there are an unusually large lnirubnr. They show the tanks in course of building, the experiments with vari-, ous types, and best of all, their wonderful achievements in battle. The .book 'is .one which should be found in every wellEelected collection of works on the groat war. . .

A Famous Melbourne Artist,- .. No one who is. interested in,art. and visits Melbourne will be long in' the Vic-, torian capital before lie hears art-lovirig friends and acquaintances discussing the influcnco of Max Meldrum' on Australian art. There is a strong anti-Meldruni section—not so numerically strong as it used to be—and efforts will bp made, to' enlist tho visitor's Sympathies .for both the old and the newer Meldrum school. Meldrum is a painter, still quite . a young man, who, of ■ Scots birth, -came out to .Victoria when he was a mere lad, and whilst still in hi? teens entered as "an art student at the' 'Melbourne National Gallery. In 1899 he gained the. travelling scholarship offered every three years by the trustees of the Gallery and sailed for Europe. He studied- art-in Paris for a time and then, scorning "the' academic conventions of the schools, went and lived in a little . Breton village, Pace, where lie studied in the bost- of, all art schools, the school of Nature. His work began to gain 'appreciation, and for thirteen years he lived in France, mainly in his beloved rural retreat in Brittany, contributing .regularly the Paris Salon and, other exhibitions. IK 1913 lie returned to Australia. In a lwuhomely produced volume, "Max Meldfnni: His Art and Views," edited byColin Colahan (Melbourne: Alexander M'C'r.bbin), art lovers will find a well--yritvn biographical and critical study of Meldrum and his work by Mr. Colahail, the remainder, the .major part of the book, being devoted to a lull report, of a lecture delivered by- the painter in Melbourne. Meldrum has a large and enthusiastic following of pupils, and undoubtedly exercises a widespread'influence over Australian art of the present day. Mr. Colahan tells ; iis lhat .

Iteldrum has always impressed upon his students that his object is not to teach them to paint, but to observe. Tho subject is ir front of the painter, and bin aim is plmn.'jr to transfer to his canvas aii f cxEi-:-t illusion of it. The method of doing this is immaterial; when a, student knows and can define what lie- sees he finds no difficulty in stating his: observation in paint; the difficulty lies in the definition of just what tone or colour his to bo applied, and at what particular spot on the canvas, in order to produce an illusion of the object observed. As Ifeldrura insists, the technique will always be-good, provided the observation is correct—the technique then becomes uncon-scious-it simply happens "in the heat of the desire to achieve"; it is when the observation becomes indefinite thnt tho method of painting becomes haphazard. I Jleldrum will have nothing to do with ■what Mr. G'olahan qsdte "the shallow pseudo-scientific theories, of the: modern so-called impressionists, coloiirists,

and technicians." He is all for the sane, unvarying doctrines of pure art. Rembrandt, Velasquez.. Corot—these are evidently his artistic gods. Judging by the many excellent reproductions of Meldrum's work given in this volume ho appears, to me at least, to shine specially as a figure and portrait'paiiiter.' His figure studies all possess. a fine suggestion of projection, and there is a fine breadth and simplicity of draughtsmanship, generally. Hero is no cleverly attained but tricky or meretri-cious-effect. The artist's utterance is direct and spontaneous. Tho landscape studies' here reproduced suggest memories of. Corot, Daubigny, and the Barbizon' school generally. It is perhaps a pity that some of them could not have been given in colour facsimile.' Mr. Meldrum's lecture, which covers the whole field of modern art, proves him to be the possessor of a fine power of literary expression. The leoture'is illustrated by reproductions' of paintings by famous artists of more than one period and school. The whole book should bd most valuable to art students, whilst to art lovers generally it will be attractive by reason ■of its sound and well reasoned exposition and. criticism of. the various schools.

"A Sea Lawyer's Lon." "A Sea Lawyer's Log," by William Lang (Methuen and Co.), consists of a series of vivid and picturesque descriptions set forth in the form of a continuous narrative, of lifa in the Royal Navy during the war period, as see's by a writer who belonged to the noncommissioned ranks. Mr. Lang is a facile "a'iid graceful writer, and his account of the varied experiences of those who joined-the Senior Service "for the period of .hostilities" is as agreeably informative ' and ' instructive as if. is decidedly entertaining. Every, phase of naval life, from the earliest experiences of the author on a training e*hip' to active -service in the light cruiser squadron of the Grand Fleet, and in the pursuit of the elusive Hun submarines', is described in detail, and Mr. Lang's nippy gift of a- racy humour is afforded 6cope in certain of the episodes and characters .lie; .describes. The'whole book is very readable.

A Yankee Humorist. Mr. Don Marquis, the author of "Prefaces" (D.. Appleton and Co., per' Whitcombe fiii(l Tombs), is the professional funny uian of the New York '"Sum" to which jourhal lie contributes a dailv instalment of iyit' and humour entitled ''The Deal." In American journalistic slang, what.is.called "the colyum" is a recognised institution, and often contains original or contributed paragraphs which go the rounds of the Press; from New York" tft'Sail Francisco and New Orleans. "Prefaces" consists of a scrips of clever essays on various social problems, fads,' fancies';' and frivolities. Mr. Marquis'can invest.what is seemingly the most prosaic subject with delightfully novel and humorous.-touch, and underlying his humour, which- is generally of the -approved dry and ironic style, is a vein of homely and wholesome, philosophy which is decidedly pleasant,' and his book ig hereby strongly commended to New- Zealand Tenders,., who' ivill pefecivo thereby that Yankee 'humour did not come to an end when one Samuel Langliorne Cbmens, otherwise known as Mark Twain, passed away. Mr. Tony Rarg, an American artist whose fine black and white work is as much esteemed iii Paris and London as in the Ifnited States, contributes a series of clever drawings as head pieces to the- various essays,

""The.-Struggle in the Air," . , In "The Struggle- in : trie Air" (London: Edward Arnold!, Major Charles C. Turner, • late R.A.F., records some of. tho ■wonderful achievements of the British Air Services during the Great War. It is more than'a mere'story of aerial'adventure;, it is, so the author claims, an endeavour to present, but without tcchnicaljtiesy.,the development stop by step of aircraft,- .of the art of flyine, and of the various functions of aircraft-in war.Major Turner' was' one of the earliest of the British aviators, ne had previously been'a -balloonist, and been associated with the aeronautical movement in England since 1907. He gives a detailed and most interesting description of the British Air Service, and of tho coming, the long struggle with, and final defeat of. the Zeppelins.. The author gives some curious and-sensational information as to tho perilslwliieh were encountered by aviators who. were from' time to time engaged in speci/il. experiments for the imnrnvenibrit and strengthening of the aviation arm,..-but. perhaps tho most interesting of ~his; . chapters !is that in which the achievements-of the sea aircraft are described. To the Him submarines' the British seaplanes must have been an everpresent .pightmnre. Major Turner tells 'lirtw, ,'_bh one - occasion, one Of our' seaplanes sighted two steamers arid the conning-towcr- of a O-boat which.'\yas;obviously getting into 'position t"- attack. The seaplane warned tho sh'ns. one. of which was a hospital ship. -a.»i4' drinned • three Mniha on the U-boat about two minutes after it had submerged./In iiTiout five minutes more there-wan a great unheaval of the sea, an.d the.submarine wns not seen, again, i-To-the splendid courage and fine spirit of-.resom'cefiilness of the British aviators the author pays'striking tribute. Hero is ono of ; 'niany, similar stories:—

.A British' seaplane -was Vln.macio.cl and forced to.land in Vlielnnd. In this fteht one of'our. observers was shot dead. His pilot continued to. fly the machine, and w,aa attacked from the rear and below "by 'four 'of the 'enemy on one fi<le and threo on, the, other., , He dived and put up/a Tunnihit' stern' fight with tho seven Huns, and eventually succeeded in breaking clear. 'Apilg climhintr arain to rejoin the other British maehines the netrol nine of •tne ; sea'plSne broke; necessitntinsr a landing ten mile,? off the Dutch coast. Thanks to the ouickncss with which the mechanic made the .damaee pood, the seaplane was able to resume in ten minutes, and joined two of the other British machines. The list of casualties in "the third ann'tells its own tale. For the wliolo period of tin? war the list reads:—'Killed: Officers, 1579; other ranks, 1587; Wounded: Officers, 5369: other ranks, 1876. Prisoners,: Officcs, 2791: ot'ner ranks, 334. Interned: Officers, |5; other ranks, 39. Major. Turner makes some Interesting remarks on the temperament of the airman. Where the British aviator iVas the superior of his German antagonist was in the promptness of his decision to attack. The German airman showed evidence, lie tells us. of "over-cramming and barrack-Ff|imre discipline, which, nsi" ful as they may be in some alfairs, are a detriment to' excellence in the air." Of. the French he says: "At their best, tMy .are'unsurpassed in daring and skill, but;they fire a little inclined to be careless,in their groundwork and apt to bo reckless in the air."

The .British; aviators were drawn from all parts'of the Empire, from the wealthy and from comparatively poor and struggling professional and commercial families. and from the middle-class. Says Major Turner:

A laree and most varied assortment piis=Ml through tlu> author's hands, inrinding Canadians. Australians, New 7,™landfers. Sonlli Africans, Scotsmen. Irishmen, Welshmen, and '''Englishmen, boys straight from our public schools, tea planters, coffee planter? rubber planters, lumberman,..ranchers. a pearl fisher, and several officers , from the mercantile marine. The ltoyal Air Force also numbered several actors, playwrights, and musicians.

New' Zealand readers of Major Turner's excellent book, will note with pride the several .very complimentary references made tb' tho exploits of the young Wollingtonian, Lieutenant A. do Bathe Brandon* who' was the first pilot to Hiccewl in dropping bombs on a Zeppelin at night. Several well-printed illustrations, reproduced from photographs of notable events in the air history of the war, are a. welcome feature of'a most interesting and valuable worlt.