Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 927, 21 March 1930, Page 16

Books Reviewed

MAORI FISHING. r pHE WANT of a thoroughly 6>*stematic ethnological survey of the Maori of New Zealand is exemplified in the paucity and scrappiness of the recorded information about Maori methods of fishing, though that was an industry which hek. a very important place in the life of the Maori. A few years ago Mr Elsdon Best, in his two-volume work on the Maori, expressed great regret at the fact that so little was known about Maori ways of fishing, and at the neglect of this subject by the early writers. “The voluminous ritual and innumerable beliefs and superstitions pertaining to fish and fishing are practically unknown to us,” lie wrote. “A few fragments have been collected; the greater part of such lore has been lost. . . . The salved fragments must suffice.” Indicative of the difficulty which confronts th e inquirer in this field is the fact that when Bulletin No. 2 of the Dominion Museum, on “Fishing and Sea Foods of the Ancient Maori,” was published 22 years ago, its compiler, Mr A. Hamilton, then Director of the Museum, had to shape its literary contents into what were practically notes on a series of photographs ob objects that were illustrative, in varying degree, of old ways of fishing in this country. It was a slim quarto volume. Now Mr Elsdon Best, who is doing his utmost for the preservation of surviving data on Maori culture, has gathered together in one volume such data'as he has collected on the subject, with contributed notes and extracts from other writers. This volume, containing 230 royal octavo pages, is issued as Bulletin No. 12 of the Dominion Museum. It is explained that future numbers of these bulletins are to be issued in the more convenient royal octavo size, instead of quarto.

Mr Best’s personal experience of the sea-fishing of the Maori is small, as he has never resided among coast-dwell-ing natives, but his careful collection of data and his wide knowledge of general Maori culture have enabled him to present a very interesting book, though it is admittedly deficient on certain points. There is a good variety of illustrations in it. The index, so essential in a hook of this kind, is comprehensive enough except that it does not include references, under the authors* names, to extracts from other writers which are included in the volume. “Fishing Methods and Devices of th« Maori.” Elsdon Best. Dominion Museum, Wellington (Bulletin No. 12). Our copy from the publisher. Go To It!

For sheer, diabolical cleverness few thrillers have ever reached the excellence of “The Case of Robert Robertsem,” by the Scandinavian author Sven Elvested. No doubt the authors of Scandinavia produce just as many bad thrillers as we do, but fortunately the translations are fewer and only the best are put into English. Mr. Elvested is considered to be the Edgar Wallace of his territory—personally we think he has produced, in this instance, a far better thriller than Wallace ever wrote. The murder of Dr. Gravenhab and then the discovery of his body, murdered again a second time, is a gruesome enough beginning, but when Robert Robertson personally tells the story of this extraordinary mystery, one’s blood begins to curdle at its devilish cleverness. In the background is the cold, mysterious figure of the doctor’s wife, always longing for some new diversion and excitement. She is one of the most fascinatiug women in the realm of murder mysteries and thrillers. Agnes Platt, the translator, has done her work excellently. It. is rarely that one can say of a thriller, “Go to it!” but “The Case of Robert Robertson” is worthy of that recommendation. “The Case of Robert Robertson.” John Lane, the Bodley Head, London. Our copy comes direct from the publishers.

A Flower of Saxon History j From the shadows of history there ! occasionally emerges the vital, living figure, not of a statesman or ruler who nominally ruled his country’s destinies, but of some woman who, behind the scenes Yvielded a greater power. In the Saxony of the late 17th century, there was such a woman who, with magnetic beauty, held a prince ! under her spell, restored her ancient . House to its former glory, and then ! sunk again in the blackness of degradation. She was Magdalena Sybilla | de Neischutz, now brilliantly restored i to life in the pages of Mr. George Preedy’s novel. “The Rocklitz.” Reared ! almost from birth to be a prince’s

j bride, the Rocklitz, as the lovely girl became known when she was at the | zenith of her power, became an equally j influential but not quite so honour- ; able figure in his household—his mis- ! tress. Watching her with a secret i sorrow was the brilliant soldier, Del- ! phicus, Baron de Haverbeck. Their j romance withers from the moment ! that Madelon, under the influence of ! her scheming family, accepts the I equivocal favours of the prince. It j perishes altogether, and rather | sadly, when de Haverbeck is killed | in prison after a series of horrible misunderstandings. Mr. Preedy has made Madelon, the Rocklitz, a wonderfully alluring yet pathetic figure. His de Haverbeck is perhaps too much a model of conscious rectitude. Yet the lovers live as they move toward j the inexorable doom that fate has shaped for them. Through it all there* move crafty and sinister figures. The Saxony of this time was a green and pleasant land, yet the black dread of witchcraft hung over its people. While eminently readable, “The Rocklitz” is yet an excellent sample of the carefully studied and authenticated historical novel. Mr. Preedy has written a work that should be one of the books of the year. ‘The Rocklitz.” by George Preedv. Published by John Lane, the Bodley Head, London. Our copy from the pub- “ Decorous Immorality” A marriage immediately after the war between a Canadian officer and an Englishwoman of good, but foolish, family, whom he had met while in hospital, is rather callously wrecked to provide the plot of “The Broken Magnet,” by Brenda Muir Mackenzie. The Canadian takes his -wife with him when he returns to his work on the silver mines of Northern Ontario and she leaves England with fine hopes for the future. But the pull of the “magnet” of her love for him weakens, the discomforts of the new surroundings discourage her, she finds her husband less remarkable than before marriage, he is attracted by another woman. In fine, her home begins to break up and, to crown the collapse, she falls in love with another man. In the final chapter she refuses to receive back her penitent husband and is left alone to be won, presumably, by the other man. One feels that the author is imbued with the desire to be shockingly modern, but really she is merely reannouncing a few sociological axioms that had ceased to be startling before the Yellow Book. Later, when the scene changes to Canada, it is more realistic, and becomes a good tale even if the author is still occasionally preoccupied with decorous immorality.

“The Broken Magnet,” by Brenda Muir Mackenzie. Published by John Lane, The Bodley Head, Limited. Our copy direct from the publishers. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED “The Month.” —March Number: Articles by Ernest Jenner (Church Music), Rev. E. C. McHardy, S.M. (“In the Solomons”), Mona Tracy (“As a New Zealander Thinks”) and Charles Cunningham, who writes of Sheila Kaye-Smith. Also a report of the tribute of the parish of St. Benedict to Bishop Liston.