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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4020, 25 January 1892, Page 2

We have received from the publisher a little work entitled " Fairy Tales and Folk Lore of New Zealand and the South Seas," ably written by Mr E, Tregcar, a gentleman possessing a literary culture worthy almost of a wider field than the one offered by this infant colony. The work, too, is exceedingly well got up by Messrs Lyon and Blair, so that it would almost appear that a Wellington printing firm with the aid of Mr Tregear could supply the schools of New Zealand with necessary text books. The legends of the Maori whether sang in verse or told in prose possess a special interest to students, but are somewhat apt when colleclod together into a volume to be a trifle dull and monotonous. No doubt the native race possesses a sense of humour, but those who diligently strive to reproduce their ideas do not altogether succeed in vitalising their work with touches of genuine mirth. There is probably not a single man in the colony who could have written 'Maori fairy tales as well as Mr Tregear, and yet we doubt whether they will become popular and be widely read in schools. The colonial child is a new specimen of humanity. He has no reverence in his composition and very little imagination. The best and truest traditions placed at his disposal by Mr Tregear will be regarded as something soft and silly. With the average New Zealand child Hans Christian Andersen would be scorned as a wilful perverter of the truth, who wont go down wiih the keen-witted colonial boy looking at things with open eyes and barely stopping to think out their meaning, It would be nice if the school children of New Zealand could be brought to understand and appreciate the examples of folk lore which Mr Tregear has drawn for them, but the system of education pursued in this colony is essentially defective in developing certain superior mental qualities essential for the due appreciation of fairy tales.