A VALUABLE WORK

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 438, 18 January 1890, Page 5

A VALUABLE WORK

MOSS’S SCHOOL HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND. The following appears in a recent issue of the Napier “ Evening New-s ’’ :— ‘ Mr F. J. Moss, the member for Parnell, undeito k a serious task, accompanied by many difficulties, when he determined bo write a ‘ School History of New’ Zealand,’ but we must admit that he has done his work remarkably well. The volume which we lately perused with great peasuie, and, we trust, with no small profit, is a neatly-bound book of 27(i pages, printed and published by Mr Henry Brett, Auckland. Its preface is modest and bo the point, and being of a most commendable brevity, we quote it in full as follows : ‘Though New Zealand is but young, her history is so full of stirring incidents and contains so many points of exceptional interest in politics and war that condensation into the limits of an ordinary school book calls for the greatest care. The aim of the author has been to preserve the sequence of the story and to make it sufficiently full and life like to interest and please the reader-. H> hopes he has succetded and that the youth of New Zealand, having a clear idea ot tue course of events in the past, may be the better enabled hereafter to take part in the government of the noble country that will be th-.-ir heritage.' Mr Moss wields a practised pen, his connection with the Auckland press at various time' and with general literature having been more extensive than is generally known, and his hi-tory has the great merit of not being dry. The reader is carried pleasantly along from one event to another, and as the style is fluent and racy, what might be a task becomes a distinct pleasure. The first two chapters deal with Te Ao-tea-r> a (Old New Zealand) and bring the hi-tory of the country up to 1314. Then comes a carefully compiled account of the events following the establishment of the Church Mission to the Tr- aty of Waibangi, 1840. To our mind these earlier chapters are the most interesting portions of the book, doubtless because they deal with a period, the events during which are but little known to the majority of the present generation of colonists. Mr Moss has evidently been careful to go to responsible and reliable sou ces for his information, and his narrative through out shows great tact and discretion. Chapters V., VI., VII., and VIII. bring the reader to the cessation of New Z aland’s existence as a Crown colony, and to the opening of the first General Assembly. In chapters IX., X., and XI. we have told to us calmly and clearly the stirring stories of the Taranaki and Waikato wars. Chapter XII. discusses the Hauhau war of 1865-1869. whilst the concluding chapter deals wiih the end of the war, the Public Works poiicy, and the abolition of the provinces. Here and there, but at very rare intervals, there may be found truces of the author’s own political opinions cropping out, but as a whole the work is vviitten in a most impartial manner. Mr Moss ends his work by rtilating upon the evils which were pa'tially engendered by the public works policy of 1870, evils fr> m which'we are still suffering, but he is very hopeful for the future. His concluding paragraph expresses a prophecy which all will wish may be verified. The trouble has left its lesson behind. . New Zealand, emerging from its trials, will march, with proud step and new vigour, on the only path to true national greatness and to a healthy mitional life—the path which leads to the diliusion of wealth and comfort among a free, educated, and industrious people. We co dially re commend this ‘ School History of New Zea land ’ to the attention of the Hawke’s Bay Education Board, with a view to its adop tion for use in the schools of this province.”