“Old Manawatu.”

Manawatu Herald, 10 September 1903, Page 3

“Old Manawatu.”

Our readers will be pleased to hear that Mr T. Lindsay Buick has at last got his history of the Manawatu out of th 6 press, and that copies are now available to the public. The book is a very handsome volume, nicely printed and richly bound, while from a literary point or view it has received nothing but enconiums from all who have read it. The following extract from the “ Wairarapa Daily Times," written by a very old Manawatu resident, will serve to give our readers an idea of what those competent to judge think of it, “We have glanced through Mr Buick’s carefully-compiled and most interesting book with genuine pleasure, for it is a faithful portrayal of things asf they were in those early days, when population was small—when European colonisation was only beginning in ' many now busy, populous and thriving industrial and commercial centres. The chapters relating to the Native history of Manawatu will prove a valuable record of many almost-for-gotten incidents of the early days of the colony; while the chapters dealing with the jjtangitikei-Manawatu Block, now mcltraiug the most progressive communities of the North Island, can be read with engrossing interest from beginning to end. It was scarcely necessary for the author to offer apologies for any shortcomings that may be detected, and of which there are but few—and those very insignificant. He explains in the preface, that the book ‘ has been, written during the few and intermittent moments I have been able to snatch from my ordinary work. I say few and intermittent advisedly, because the constant grind af a daily newspaper is perhaps the nearest approach to perpetual motion that has yet been discovered.’ As we have said, this apology was scarcely necessary, as the author has really done his work exceedingly well in collecting some of the fast-receding history connected with the rising towns for which that portion of the colony is now proverbial, and placing On record some of the earlier events of those rapidly-extending districts." The delivery of copies is now being made.