THE READER'S COLUMN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 192, 22 January 1915, Page 6

THE READER'S COLUMN.

(By James Wortley.)

PERIODICAL WAR LITERATURE. |

Never was a war so productive of the printed word as this, and yet, if we are to believe the newspapers, it lias barely started. How big it will be, how long it will last and how much it will affect what is being written now and will be written ill the future, is hidden from us. (After a lapse of one hundred years, additions are still being made to Napoleonic literature. And yet the wars of tl»" conquering Corsican involved but a tithe of the people this war does.

Before me is a table full of penny, twopenny, fourpennv and other cheap illustrateds which give more or less garbled accounts of various happenings on tile Continent. Some, like the War Budget, issued from the Daily Chronicle« Office, is purely a photographic record oi tbe war, and some hundred or so pic- j tures serve to portray a little of the ; ghastliness of battle. Interesting pictures show travelling-kitchens being j used in the trenches, a party of motor cycle dispatch-riders, repairing the tele-! graph lines in the battle area. Others, | and more useful papers are like Life's War Guides. This paper answered categorically some lve hundred suppositions and questions on the state of the war, the countries involved, the aircraft, the guns, and men "used, the rifles, horses, ships, etc., and makes altogether a very attractive and useful reading for the busy man who wants to get a workable understanding of the position as quickly as possible.

The War Illustrated, from the Amalgamated Press, is another publication born of the times. At the high price of 2d", it gives many pages of real and imaginative pictures of the war.

Familiar weeklies like The Daily Mirror and Punch arc entirely given over to war subjects. The former, poorly printed throughout, is 011 cheap paper. It contains a lot of very fine matter, which utterly belies the get-up.

Punch, now well on in its second decade, betrays 110 staling of its liumeur. Raw recruits of our rillc clubs wii\ be particularly tickled at the various rallies at amateur drill. Experiences are much the same on both sides of the world.

-MR WATTS BUXTON'S WILL. Mr Theodore Watts-Dunton, the lifelong friend and biographer of Swinburne, and himself a distinguished poet and author, lias" left an estate valued at £22,934. He directed all autograph presentation books given to Swinburne and himself, such mss. in the handwriting of Swinburne as his executors select, and the quarto edition of old dramatists be sold by public auction. To his sister Theresa, he bequeathed all unsold mss. papers, letters, and correspondence with Swinburne, and family papers, she to destroy all that are not worth keeping. The copyright of his works and those of Swinburne are to go to his residuary estate. He bequeathed £SO to Hetty Priest as a small acknowledgment of her services as a domestic servant since the time "when my dear friend Swinburne came to live with me, much out of health, nearly thirty years ago." His trustees were enjoined on his death to cause his jugular vein to be excised by some medical man.—Christian World"

THE CHRISTMAS BOOKMAN. This number is a most princely production. Like every other magazine, the war is the dominating feature. The cover is adorned with a fine colored plate of Louvain Cathedral, taken from a fine art color book, "The Glorv of Belgiiun," which Messrs Hodder and Stoughton have just published.Two pages of titles only of books on the war, which have been sent in for review during the last month, show the vast extent to which our publications are piling up. The Bookman Gallery is of more than ordinary note to New Zealanders this month, as it contains a glowing tribute to Miss Edith Howes, by A. 11. Grimling. Jiiiis Howes has her own wide-world fame by her fairy-stories of Maoriland, and we predict that in the near future ! ■ r books will be as well-known to cliili . en as are Hans Anderson's or Grimm's stories. It is interesting to note that Miss Howes still follows her avocation of school-teacher in this Dominion. As usual, tho Bookman is very profusely illustrated with plates from the various books under review. Some of the reviews, by the way, are very belated. NOTES. Murray's have just published a biography of great interest to New Zealanders—that of Sir Frederick Welt. Sir Frederick spent twenty-six years of his early life in this country, eventually becoming Premier in November, 1864, This position lie only held for loss than a year, going out of office again in October, 1865. His was a vigorous personality, and he played an important role in tho public life of the early colonial days, being afterwards governor of Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Straits Settlements in succession. If the thousands who are leaving to-day the counter, the factory, and the office for the profession of arms are as enamoured of the our-door life as we are told they are. there should be great demand for the excellent books of travel which are now appearing. Bolivia, Argentine California, Australia. Bengal. Last Africa, all receive attention at Unhands of capable writers. Scott's dramatic and tragic expedition is responsible for two very attractive additions to the bookshelf—"Antarctic Adventure, and "Scott's Northern Partv." The Daily Telegraph war hooks hav been considerably added to during the past month, no less than twelve having been added to the four first which be>YwC Ho "' thc War Began." No t . iceable titles are "Tho Russian Advance," bv T lYii ' '} ;?. cra P of Ripw.'' bv E. J. Dillon; and 'Air Craft in War." bv tfruce. • 1

"Received for review from Mr A S K er ' ° f 4,10 BK ' Bookd,, °l'- '>"'von