Theodolite and Coach

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 776, 4 June 1954, Page 12

Theodolite and Coach

EARLY NEW ZEALAND ENGINEERS, by F. W. Furkert, revised and edited by W. L. Newnham; A. H. and A. W. Reed, 37/6. HIGH. NOON FOR COACHES, by J. Halket Millar; A. H. and A. W. Reed, 16/-.

(Reviewed by

A.

M.

HESE books have this vital link ‘of history, that the-sur-veyor and the engineer came before the road and ultimately made it fit for the coach to run on. Early New. Zealand . Engineers places the beginning of engineering in New Zealand at 1820. Even if we take 1840 as a starting point, the first coach did not reach New Plymouth from Wanganui till 1871, and Mr. Millar’s fascinating story of the Newman coaching era begins with the arrival of the first coach at Murchison from Nelson ‘in 1879. The following year, 1880, is the end of the period covered by the summary of public engineering in the Furkert volume. Between these dates an astonishing amount of work was done. For the enzineer New Zealand has been a nightmare of difficulties and a paradise of experience. These natural conditions, the men who overcame them, and our academic training, have given New Zealand engineers a very high reputation abroad. When we consider the country’s development in 114 years, we should never forget what the surveyor and engineer, often combined in one man, have contributed. The late F. W. Fur‘kert collected a mass of biographical ‘material; but, bent on recording facts | rather than on finish, he died before he could put his matter in order. This left his reviser, W. L. Newnham, with a ‘hard task, but in the ultimate interests of history, Mr. Furkert was wise. The years take a terrible toll of fugitive tecords, and in such a case it is better to have a mass of facts, however bare. than a carefully constructed but limited record. We have here 85 pages of a history of provincial and central engineering, and 220 pages of biographies of engineers born not later than 1865. Surveyors who were not engineers, such as Percy Smith, are excluded. In this valuable compilation are men in high positions whose names are well known throughout the country, relatively obscure county engineers who ran big dis-

tricts On very little money, and men in private practice. Very properly Professor R. J. Scott is included, who was responsible for the course at the Canterbury College Engineering School, ‘a course which, "in its comprehensiveness, broadness and insistence on essentials, is equalled probably only by that of Cambridge in the English-speaking world." The portraits, and illustrations of engineering works, are excellent. All concerned, including the New Zealand In-. stitution of Engineers, are to be con« gratulated on a book of reference in which students will always quarry. The story of horse-coaching east, west and south from Nelson lends itself much more to literary treatment. With his love of the subject, industrious gathering of facts, and a readable though somewhat conventional style (marred by such expressions as "equine charges" and "mine host"), J. Halket Millar has made a good job of the telling. It is neatly all the story of the Newman family, who pioneered the service to Murchison, became the chief proprietors in the district, and, taking up motor transport, have established themselves in the North Island also. We need more histories of coaching, and there could not be a better illustration of the industry than the success of Tom and Harry Newman. They were horse-masters and horse-lovers, and from the choice and breaking in of the horses, to the polish on the coach bodies, they watched every detail with scrupulous and unceasing care. It could be a tough and dangerous business. There were flooded rivers to drive through. The Buller could be about the wickedest river in the country. Punts were used ‘to ferry coaches and waggons, and they might list or break away. Mr. Millar has made his story human through interviews with drivers, grooms and passengers, and sketches of roadmen and other characters. "Only just in time" we may ‘say of many of these recollections, and Mr. Millar deserves thanks for their capture. The pictures are admirable; but with sO many routes and names, the lack of a map is serious. This should be remedied if the book reaches the reprint it deserves.

WITHOUT DOGMA

THE QUAKER APPROACH TO CON TEMPORARY PROBLEMS, edited by John _Kavenaugh, Public Relations Director. n Friends Service Committee; Allen and Unwin, English price 15/-. "HIS book is a symposium of articles by 14 Quekers upon what they feel to be the Quaker approach in their various specialist fields. I say "feel" advisedly; for each contribution, whether about peace and war, business, educa--tion, or philosophy, emphasises feeling, | or in stricter language, moral intuition. The pattern which emerges from, their collaboration is a peculiarly interesting one; it may be called without unfairness an X-ray picture of a religion of social welfare. Two. features of the. Quaker approach are! very apparentthe attention and organised charitable activity which the Society of Friends has brought to bear on many social problems, such as race segregation in America and the destitution of post-war Europe, which are amenable to direct, intelligent social action; and the absence of any creed to which the individual | Quaker is required to subscribe. The first feature calls for unqualified admiration. But the second seems to lie at the root of much confused thinking. The position which the individual member of the Society of Friends is called to occupy in society has never | been clearly defined. In general Quakers have accepted the dominion of Caesar all too readily. One is asked to admire an ideal Quaker paternalism in the relation of employer and employee; but one recalls the passages in Logan Pearsall | Smith’s autobiography where he describes the Quaker employers of his boyhood acquaintance, venerable saints in the family circle, merciless slavedrivers in their factories. Of course, the criticism is unfair; we have all known, or are, bad Catholics, Protestants, Moslems or agnostics; but a denomination which has as its focus an undefined moral intuition and lays great emphasis on practice inevitably invites such criticism. Without dogma or definition the venerable saints may have found it all too easy to deceive themselves. I recall my own experience of Quaker schools, here and in England. They were both wellequipped places in pleasant surroundings. But I remember-on one occasion singing a hymn about the Atonement (continued on next page)

BOOKS) (continued from previous page)

without the faintest knowledge of the meaning of that event; and. on another Boyet ree writing a tactful answer to a Scripture question on the Virgin Birth, to the effect that Jesus Christ was a -temarkable man but conceived and born normally. I got full marks; but somehow I feel that George Fox would not

nave approved:

James K.

Baxter