REVIEW.

Evening Star, Issue 3724, 29 January 1875, Page 3

REVIEW.

“ Colonial Experiences by Alexander Bathgate. Glasgow James Maclebose; Dunedin—Keith and Wilkie, 1874 Mr Bathgate is to be congratulated on this, we believe, his first contribution to the literature of New Zealand. The work, which treats of a number of subjects inter- » esting to the intending colonist and familiar to those already settled on our shores, is written in a pleasant, chatty, and discursive style, is. happily free from the taint of American slang unfbrtunat-ly so observable in the productions of many of our CVloni d write s, and shows that the author has been more than usually observant of the “men and manners” of his adopted country, and has contrived to string together, under their several heads, a goodly number of stories and anecdotes all more or less illustrative of the habits and customs of the go d folks of Otago. These are interspersed with descriptions of scenery and statistical information and together combine to rendfer the book a very readable one. &ome of the “yarns,’'for instance that of the sanctimonious Dared in grocer, who. proposed to open bis insolvent proceedings with prayer, have their foundation in fact, and will be rbmembered with a smile by many of bis r’eknertf, Othws on the c'butrary »rd—-

well, traveller’s tales. Now and then, as in the story of “ Bob, the Flatter,” with its incident of the Shotover flood, the writer gives evidence! of the possession of no mean de scriptive powers, whilst the picture of Lake Wakatipu is truthful in the extreme. Mr Bathgate, under the head of “The Heathen Chinese.” says he Has often wondered at the apparent apathy exhibited by the different Christian churches in regard to the Chinese ; he would have thought that when hundreds of intelligent heathens came to their very doors they would have aroused themselves to a vigorous effort to evangelise every man of them. We should have thought so too, but, alas the “differiut Christian Churches. ’’ differ ing probably as to the most efficacious mode by which the “intelligent heathen” might be brought out from his unlighteued condition. have allowed him to take, as it were, the ball from their feet; in short, the wily Mongolian, if we may p'ace any reliance on the announcement that lately appeared in our advertising columns, is already on the warpath of proselytisra, ffhd we sadly fear, unless the “Christians of Otago” bestir themselves at once, that we shall find pur evlves converted to the faith of Confnctu’, and then we would like to known where shall we be Verb. sap. Wont of space precludes our making any further extracts in extenso from Mr Bathgate’s work. It contains much that will phase, and, without doubt, he will have numerous readers. We would suggest, however, to him the advisability of correcting by an inserted slip a number of errors, the presence of which are doubtless owing to the waut of “Colonial experience” on the part of those under whose charge the work wen through the press. In co. clusi .n, we cordially wish Mr Bathgate success in h-s literary venture.