BOOKS AND WRITERS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20986, 13 December 1939, Page 7

BOOKS AND WRITERS

EAST AFRICA’S HISTORY TRUE BUT DEPRESSING TALE GENERAL SMUTS’ PROBLEMS Jan Smuts has more than a handful of trouble to juggle with in South Africa, says a writer in Sydney Sun in reviewing “ The Exploitation of East Africa,” written by R. Coupland. Fortunately he is an optimistic and wishful man, otherwise the Nazis might have savaged the Empire. Essentially a builder, he believes in looking on the cheeriest side of national problems. At the World Economic Conference in London in 1933, when others prophesied woeful failure, he maintained that concrete good would flow even from its eclipse. His Premier, ■Hertzog, thought otherwise, but then he was almost fanatically Africander And Hertzog’s impress on the rising generation of Boers was j n evidence in Sydney during the Empire Games, for when South African wrestlers were in the ring with Englishmen at the Stadium, their colleagues grew excited in their native Africander dialect, and prayed for the defeat of the Mother Country representatives. Great Magnetising Force Louis Botha was the great magnetising force which persuaded the Boers, at the beginning of this cen-

tury, to forget their dislike of the British, and when he passed, his mantle fell upon the shoulders of Smuts, who has an even more urgent Empire spirit. Both, however, had their objectives made more difficult by the complete failure of English statesmen of earlier generations to foresee what world-wide clash of interests would spring from the partition of Africa. Seer-like qualities have indeed been denied many statesmen. Inability to predicate the illogical evolution of the world blinded Gladstone and his contemporaries to the absolutist and destructive qualities which are inbred in the German race. The G.O.M. of England not only handed over part of New Guinea to Berlin, but also paved the way for German penetration of South Africa. And the diplomacy employed by Bismarck in no way differed from that of Hitler. The German race has not altered for hundreds of years. Fifty years ago the international situation was extremely tense. The Mahdi had Egypt in eruption. Russia was growling and threatening war. Bismarck sent a squadron to Zanzibar and German claims in East Africa were tacitly conceded. A Great Misconception Only three days after poor Gordon had perished in Khartoum, Gladstone wrote to Granville, apropos of New Guinea: “I see my way clearly to this, that German colonisation will strengthen and not weaken our hold upon our colonies.” What a great misconceptionl -*

Herbert Bismarck, who was in London feeling the pulse, of political opinion, told his father that England would accept his scheme for overseasexpansion if he allowed the greatest possible freedom of trade, and the Foreign Office commenced to dismantle the obstacles which it had carefully built to baulk Berlin ambii tions. Having got his own way, Bismarck, who did not wish to alienate England, changed from the Iron Chancellor to a cheery confederate almost overnight and Gladstone again wrote: “If Germany becomes a colonising Power, all I can say is ‘God speed her’.” Germans’ Brutal Methods By sham treaties (startlingly parallel to Hitler), forged contracts, lying, brutality, daylight robbery, the Germans dug in, and when explorers of the stamp of Kirk protested, Salisbury minuted his letter in red ink (how strangely apposite was the colour?): “Keeping every other nation out, on the bare chance that some day or other our traders will pluck up heart to go in, is a poor policy.” Gladstone blundered and Salisbury blunderbussed. Mr Coupland has a depressing tale to tell.

THE NEW BOOKS SOME PITHY EXTRACTS I prefer to kiss in twilight wood at eventime.—“The Happy Harvest.” No one can measure the length of his own days.—“ Mozart.” The actor’s body is like a harp.— “The Dark Star.” It man can win once, he can win again.—“One Way of Living.” The big thing in a man's life is his work.—“lf We Only Had Money.” It’s little things that provide jobs for the hangman.—“ Arising From an Accident.”

“RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS” ABSORBING STORY OF THE LAW BARRISTER AUTHOR’S BOOK In the legal history of any country there is a rich store of material from which to construct a story of absorbing interest, of tragedy, of humour and of moral value, if the man can be found to render that story in acceptable form. New Zealand’s legal history, short though it may be, is no less interesting than that of any other country. Indeed, the quality and standing of both Bench and Bar in the Dominion are exceedingly high, even when measured against the corresponding institutions An older countries. And New Zealand has produced the man to interpret the law’s absorbing story in a remarkably convincing and entertaining fashion.

| In his “Random Recollections” of 50 years at the Bar in New Zealand, 1 Mr A. C. Hanlon, K.C., of Dunedin, has made a notable contribution to I New Zealand literature. The book, j published by the Otago Daily Times j Company and now available to the | public, will be relished by members j of the legal profession and thoroughI ly enjoyed by everyone who reads it. 1 Besides being an entertainment of ! great merit, it contains a vast amount I of wisdom accumulated in a lifetime ' of experience concerning the law and its administration in the Dominion.

Mr Hanlon’s observations on the ; jury system, which he defends, and j on many other aspects of a highly | specialised and universally respected I system of justice, are bound to at- : tract widespread attention in other i lands as well as in New Zealand. He supports his arguments with a wealth j of practical experience which gives i point and force to his claims. J In over 50 years of practice at the , Ear Mr Hanlon has gained a reputa- j

tion as one of the most brilliant and successful advocates New Zealand has produced. Many of the most notable criminal cases were given additional interest by the strength of the intellect he brought to bear upon the defence of his clients. That experience has given him the material for his book, in which he recalls and recounts in polished and fluent style many of the cases that stand out as landmarks in New Zealand’s criminal history. But for all his devotion to the practice of the law, the author has remained intensely human. His sympathy for the “under dog,” his keen analysis of human frailties, his ready application of wit and his association with the men who have mattered in the administration of the law have been responsible for the production in “Random Recollections” of a bock that will live long. PIANIST AND PATRIOT MEMOIRS OF PADEREWSKI Sitting at ease in a comfortable Soho restaurant some six years ago, Paderewski, greatest of modern pianists, quietly discussed the agony of the world, slowly creeping back from the Great Depression. “You must have noted some extraordinary changes in your almost arabesque life, sir,” a reviewer remarked. “No,” replied the maestro after a few moments’ reflection. “Nothing fundamental has changed since the Creation. Human nature has not altered since the Garden of Eden.” Paderewski’s memoirs written in conjunction with Mary Lawton, act-ress-journalist of repute in America, disclose, however, many remarkable variations in every form of human activity and have an enthralling interest for those who love music. Born of two revolutionary stock in a remote village in Poland Paderewski could not, before he was four years

old, tear himself away from the piano. Had to Start Over Again He learnt to use all his fingers and was proud. His first teacher was an instrumentalist who knew nothing about the piano, and when he attained his majority, though he had composed much splendid music. Paderewski had to start over again to master the technique of anyone seriously bent upon becoming a famous pianist. Concentration and hard work, together with a natural gift for music, are, he insists, the only way to attain pre-eminence. Once launched on the concert platform, he experienced few serious setbacks, though twice he was forced to the treadmill of teaching, and his contracts took him around the world with his income mounting to match that of a prince, while he met most of the leaders of nations and directors of the arts, and almost all the men and women who attained fame as composers or pianists. Of them he has made some lifelike sketches. “Charles Gounod,” for instance, “gave you the impression of a High Priest. He was very stately, with a facility of speech that was perhaps a little ecclesiastical at times. He was not only a composer, but a very learned man. He was not as fond of putting his knowledge into print as was Camille Saint-Saens, though he was just as versatile. The prelude and sonata in ‘Faust’ are pages of supreme inspiration . . . And he had a rare gift for singing.” Many Strange Scenes He saw many strange scenes, but not one more arresting that when in Novgorod, in Russia. “One bitter morning we saw several soldiers working beside the road. We hailed them as we approached, but they mcfde no response. They wore standing still, so still that they frightened us. and then we saw that they were all dead, frozen to death. Just standing there frozen to the earth.” A Polish patriot, his big heard bled

for his country under the yoke of the Romanoffs. “The Russians,” he says, “are a very strange people. They are gifted, very gifted; still one never quite gets to the depths of the Russian character. They are fatalistic. They are a little bit Oriental, you know, and they are very curious about their relations with people. They are too polite, too kind, too exuberant. They try to retract a little when they realise they have been too confidential, too intimate. No. they are not exactly false.” Help for Budding Pianists Budding pianists may find help in one confession by the master. At every concert he suffered “the terrible agony of nervousness,” and when he wooed London, Bernard Shaw scornfully wrote that he was “a harmonious blacksmith who laid a concerto upon an anvil, and hammered it out with exuberant enjoyment.” He heard prophecy which was bitterly true, and he did not heed it. but its recall must have been mustard gas on an open wound. Disputing with Lord Milner about the future of Poland, Asquith passed, and, requested to arbitrate, remarked with acid force, “the position of Poland is hopeless.” “LET HIM DIE" AN EXCITING MYSTERY HUMAN AND INTIMATE Except for the note in the dustcover, one might read through half of “Let Him Die,” by E. H. Clements (Hodder and Stoughton), and scarcely recognise that it is a murder story at all. Yet, knowing that it is, a reader will experience no impatience at Clements’ delay in de-

positing a corpse in the house of the pleasant Chattan family, and thus introducing the formula of Scotland Yard interrogation, mystification and successful amateur investigation. The Chattans are a young family with adequate means, distinct personalities, and a father who is virtually unknown to them, and oi bad repute. When their mother dies, Graham Howard, a middle-aged author, becomes their unofficial guardian, and one of his principal tasks is to keep the vicious Chattan father away from their home. He succeeds until, as has been indicated, the father’s corpse is found there during a Christmas party. Mr Clements builds up the situation quietly and effectively, and makes his dramatic personae and their problems very human and intimate. * INTERESTING EXTRACTS FROM THE NEW BOOKS There ought to be a law against bringing children up to have nice instincts and ideals.—“To Step Aside.” To know what you prefer is to keep the soul alive.—“ Room 40.” • •• • • Husbands don’t look at their wives with quite so much interest after the first couple of years.—“ Wide and Innocent.” ♦ * • • The collectives are the Magna Charta of the New Order in the Russian village.—“ Green Worlds.” Her clear voice could tell a guy off.— “A Great Day.” Rhodes looked like a ruhicun prize -fighter.—“ These Meddle*

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