"RECOLLECTIONS" BY MR ALFRED COX.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1194, 21 June 1884, Page 2

"RECOLLECTIONS" BY MR ALFRED COX.

We have received Mr Cox’s book, of which we gave a notice some time ago. It is a nicely got-up octavo volume of 272 pages, bound in a stiff cloth cover, and printed on toned paper. This is the first book, we understand, that has been wholly printed, bound, and engraved in the colony, and it certainly reflects credit on the printers, Messrs Whitcombe and Tombs, of Christchurch. It is very creditably got up, and very well, though unpretentiously, printed. We have not time just yet to fully review this book, but we give the following as a sample of. its contents. Speaking of the late Mr W. S. Mooihouse, M!r Cox says ; “At a public meeting at Temuka called by him, he entered at considerable length into his proposals as to the extension of the southern railway. He spoke ably and fully, and was listened to attentively. There was, however, in his aud'ence, a man well known throughout the Temuka district, the late Mr Mendeison, who held strong opposition views on the question of borrowing largo sums of money for the construction t f railways, which he maintained could not possibly pay interest on the cost of construction for very many years. This opponent of the railway policy dwelt forcibly upon the financial aspect of the question, pressing Moorhou'e pretty closely in dealing with figures—so closely, at last, that the proposer of railways turned sharply upon his questioner and said, * May I ask, sir, by whom I have the honor of being addressed ? You seem to me to know that twice two make four, and you have in your time, I should guess, added up many a long column of figures. Are you the village schoolmaster ?’ There was an end that day to all attempts to corner him.”

Again he says :

“As he [Mr Moorehouse] never allowed politics to harden him into indifference to the claims that society had upon him, he willingly accepted my invitation to visit me on his way back to Christchurch, for the nonce hiding away the hatchet that he had so mercilessly used when dealing with me. On entering the house, however, he told my wife that he considered me a bad lot ; that I was a man wholly destitute of faith ; that I did not even believe in a Superintendaat.”

Withoutexaggeration,tliis is oneofthe pleasantest and most* interesting books we have come across for a long time. Apart from it possessing local interest, it is well worth perusal. If Mr Cox were a man of whom one had never heard, the book could not fail to find readers, for it is written in a clear, taking, racy style that will render it popular wherever it goes. We should not be surprised to hear, before long, that a second edition was looked fer. Mr C. J. Rayner is the agent for tbs «»Ic of it in Terauka.