BOOKS AND WRITERS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20501, 18 May 1938, Page 10

BOOKS AND WRITERS

COMMENTS AND EXTRACTS “It Js a task almost beyond human powers to make the modern Englishman want freedom again.’ - —Hilaire Belloc.

“ NEWS OF ENGLAND ” BEVERLEY NICHOLS RECANTS ALLEGED NATIONAL DECADENCE In his latest tract for the times, ‘News of England" 'Cape), Beverley Nichols handsomely recants the extreme pacifist views which he ventilated live years ago in "Cry Havoc!’’ and has reiterated often enough sinceTo "the lunacy of a pro-League policy long alter the League has ceased to exist" he attributes half the troubles of modern Europe; and some of the rest to the apathy and "spiritual degeneration" of his fellow-country-men. “Shoddiest Capital” To -support his thesis of national decadence, Mr Nichols musters passion, sincerity, common-sense and sentimentality—and an arbitrary selection of Look at London, transformed with scarcely a protest into "the shoddiest capital in the world." Consider the desecration of the countryside; our antiquated rood system; the slums. Consider what a part the goddess of chance plays in the lives of millions. Bets on horses, bets on dogs, the huge tribute to football pools and gambling machines. Drunkenness, too. Mr Nichols has some hair-raising tales. Why, at Oxford parties in recent years he has seen more drink consumed in a few evenings than during his whole period as an undergraduate. Bad Language and Manners Manners, too, are deplorably worse. What can you expect, asks Mr Nichols, when to be "hard-boiled" is a fashionable pose? "If you want to hear very bad language, in modern England, you must go to the class described as the "younger married set.” Here, particularly among the women, you will be regaled by words and phrases which are traditionally associated with the more alcoholic moments of the Thames bargee. "These words and phrases are delivered with perfect nonchalance, and are no longer even considered daring." We smoke at meals like the Americans; we are casual, unenthusiastic . . . and so on. Mr Nichols thinks it all a great pity.

DEATH OF AN AUTHOR SERIOUS NOVELS BROUGHT £5 A JOY TO CARICATURISTS Edgar Jepson, author of 75 novels, died at his home in Hampstead, London, recently, aged 73. Finding that serious but ironical fiction was not successful and brought him in on the average £3 Gs id a novel, Mr Jepson changed his style to humour and became a "best seller." Early in this century he invented what he termed a utility suit—a coat, waistcoat and trousers all in one—and walked about London in them, much to the joy of caricaturists. “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” £6OO PAID FOR FIRST EDITION DICKENS’ PRESENT TO CARLYLE The record price of £OOO was paid by Messrs Quaritch at Sotheby's, London, for a first edition of "A Christmas Carol." This little book, originally published at ss, was presented by Dickens to Thomas Carlyle, and afterwards given by Carlyle to his wife's "Uncle John" Welsh. It bears autograph inscriptions by both writers.

DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE j THE INSIDE STORY TOLD i MAJOR-GENERAL TEMPERLEY S BOOK Major-General A. C. Temperley, ! British Military Adviser for 10 years ' at Geneva under four successive For- ; eign Secretaires, tells in his book, i "The Whispering Gallery of Europe" | (published by Collins) the inside story ' of the Disarmament Conference ;(1932-35). - In his opinion it was doomed to : failure from the outset. "One knows ; almost a sense of shame," he writes, j "that one was taking part in a colos- ' sal make-belief. It was international i relations that needed disarming first: j the rest might have followed.” j Throughout the Conference Brit- - ain's disarmed state was a grave stumbling block. I "It has crippled our diplomacy: it j has involved enormous risks, and it ; hopelessly compromised our position |at the Conference. Other Powers I were frankly bored when we talked | about the amount of disarmament we had carried out and were quite unable ; to understand how we could have j placed ourselves in such a weak teclij nical position." France to Blame Nevertheless, General Temperley J lays the chief blame for failure on I France. He writes bitterly: "I cannot ! see why France ever entered the j Disarmament Conference at all. The J French conception of a Disarmament i Conference was to remain secure with her 5G1,000 effectives and her ample j material—the status quo for her and ' her friends was to be preserved and i Germany was to remain disarmed.” S Twice agreement might have been (reached. In 1932, when Dr. Bruning, ; the German Chancellor, would have ! been content with a German army of j 150,000 men and "sample" armaments; and again in 1934, when Herr Hitler proposed an army of 300,000 men and international inspection — | terms which General Temperley describes as "moderate and even geni erous," since they would have placed | Germany in a position of permanent inferiority. I These opportunities were lost by (French recalcitrance and British irre- ; solution, and when Germany began to jrearm in earnest, M. Barthou, the I French Foreign Minister, committed the "fatal blunder" of the FrancoSoviet pact. General Temperley has no faith in the ability of the League to preserve peace.

STUDENTS’ SONGBOOK HELD UP BY CENSORS Publication of the Sydney University students’ song book, which this year is called "Dirt Cheap," has been delayed by a last-minute decision of the Students’ Representative Council to appoint three censors to read all the copy, said the book’s editor, Mr I. Bevan. "Most of the copy was in the hands of the printers,” he said, "when, last Tuesday night, the council appointed the censors who started making cuts on Wednesday, just one week before we had hoped to have copies ready for sale. "However, the printers are making every effort to have the book out on time. “I think it is more witty this year than usual," he added. The Star Item The star item in the book is a twoact "operetta” entitled "The Road to Rome." It opens with Mussolini singing to Eden:— I will offer you peace and friendship, I will offer you peace and friendship; Tony, will you walk? Tony, will you walk? Tony, will you walk and talk with me. Tony, however, refuses to walk and talk, and has a party with "Stalin Blum and Co.” Their happy chorus iuns:— The voice that breathed o’er Eden That sad and sinful day, It never came from Sweden, Not yet from Paraguay, The voice was none so sweet-o Of our eternal foe, That voice of black Benito— Ah, woe 1 and woe! and woe I Song on Judge Rutherford Judge Rutherford has a song and an article to himself. The article has him co-operating with the Anglican Synod to end the controversy over the cathedral. A decision is made to build.the extensions "in the form of a conventional watclitower." MILITARY PRECEPT PICTURE BOOK FOR SOLDIERS ONE HUNDRED BREEZY DRAWINGS A picture book in which point is given to military precept by bright and sometimes humorous sketches, is being printed and issued by the Defence Department to the Australian Army. It will be a reprint of one issued to the British Army, under the title "Right or Wrong," and facetiously described in England as a gift from Uncle Leslie- -Mr Le.-lie Horc-Bciisha, Minister for War. An :id\ anre copy h;is been received 1, v the lif fence Department. It con- • | ls mi . drawings in its 5$ s< "...u- and -iften grim.