Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Saturday 19 April 1924, page 18


. ¡ Books of the Week \

"THE REAL RHODESIA." I

SDUTHr/RM Rbodesn, the voiingcst

of Britain's sell governing colonie» -sell govciliment was actuallj es tablishcd only su months ago-has a eloiei and sj mpathetic jhistoi ian in Ethel lawso lolho, 31 L A , who IS the .wife of n pioneci, ii incmbei of the Legia lati\e \ssemblv of the voting colonj nul foi vcats one of the toiemost battleis foi responsible government Undei the title of Hie Real Rhodesia' (Hutibinson and Co Ltd), Alis iivvsc lolhe lias (,iven bei loaders u glimpse of the îomance. and the iealit> oí the (,icat colonv of Rho desia Jo judge ii oin the n tides that globetrotters have published-«e m Vus tulla hn\e suffeied tiom the tube-one might be inclined to lenard Rbodesn as a kind of blend of Bttt Halte and Kiplni0 i blond of ' The Luck of Rom mg Camp

and Plain Tales lioni the Hills When one has read The Real Rhodesia ' how evei, one hnds il as diffeicut fiom that kind of thing as lostci 11 iscr s cauca lines wore from the pictiues ot i teal Austialia Rhodesia ispcciallj ii the North bo included, is a vcij inst countij a lind rf tienicndous dneisitv of io souicca, and it is not to be judged fiom a casuil Mhit to & limbury oi Bulimy o Like Vustralin it i-, essuitiallj Biitish the most niteiiselv Biitish place in bouth Africa, and Afis Jollu shows Hi it it li is \er\ much the snnc lind of piobleins te meet mid that its deulopment c ills foi the same gut und courage Iheie me chaptois oi tins mist mlctesting bonk those dealing with development with the fight foi soli government mid with ?woman'« life in the bael veld tint UP stiikinglv simihr to our own lnstoij It is not the land ot the lcimttnnee man oi 'the j,oungei son' but the lund of men with the couingo of Ailing-, thoug i thev lttendcd J nglisli pilbil schools oi dufled fiom i i ottagc in the Lo« linds ot Scot

land Mrs tollio too «ill be oi gie it Bcrvico lo poisons who mnj be fiscinitcd with the glamoiu oi the phee beenup she tels ho v the <i\il sei vice he p lue and professions ne beru ung long still offciiug litt'e ippottuiutv to oitsilets 101 the time being, ml she nnpl see up in

intending soUlets '.he need fir a siout heart mid as much capital ¡is they can raise. "In Rhodesia." »bo nyf, "the min who lias n.it been 'liroke' at lost once can hai-dly be railed an old band." She also advises every piospective settler to spend an apprenticeship on the lund in some particular district of his choice be-fore speculating in land. Mi«. Jollie has wiitten not only a very inteiesting but a very useful book.

MR. ASQUITH'S ESSAYS.

Though many people may differ from Mr. Asquith in politics it must be ad-mitted that he is still a gi eat man, and his speeches and wntiugs command re-spect no' matter what the subject may be. In his recently published book of os=ays and speeches, entitled "Studies and Sketches" (Hutchinson), Mi. Asquith for-tunately treats almoit entirely of liter-ary subjects. The book contains fifteen essays, rangini* from "Some Aspects of the Victorian Age' to classical, studies dealing with Tacitus, Demoslliene«, and "The Antigone." Kach pupei levcali consideinble scholarship, but on the whole Hie studies arc sound rather than brilliant, and intoieiting lather than smart. He tells tis little about polities, even in his article about his old chief, the lute (Jampbell-Bannerman. 3>iobubly the most fasci-nating study of all is the comparison'be, , tween the present age and Víetorlnnism,

about each of which Mi. Asquith can speak with authority. RIDER HAGGARD.

Sir Rider Haggard may lack some of the original vigour that he displayed thirty years ago, but he shows in his latest book. "Heu-Heu" (Hutchinson), that he is still the incomparable master in the romantic school of fiction in which we first met Allan Quartmain, and Captain Good.

"Heu-Heu" is a story told by Allan Quartermain (before his death in a preced-

ing book) about a monster that lived in the hills of Rhodesia and accumulated a cave of human victims. It ¡s a very plausible story, and if human eyes have never rested on the cave since Allan Quarter- main's trek it is because of the gigantic landslide. Sir Rider Haggard is far too

great a craftsman to overlook details of that kind.

"THrTERRIFORD MYSTERY."

'Mrs. Belloe Lowndes knows better than II most writers how to maintain the in-

terest in tr mystery sloiy. Accordingly .'The Terriford Mysteiy" (Hutchinson) opens with a very exciting eiicket mutch in which a famous Australian team is beaten by one tun. -The host on Hut occasion was Henry Gullett, and it wa« he who, with a, brilliant catch, won the match for the English team. The leader knows', ' therefore, that no matter how' black Hie circumstances may be it was not Henry Gnrlett who poisoned his in-valid wifo while vhc match was in pio. gloss. ' The ease against bim proceeds

with growing interest, and with moic i circumstantial detail until the very end.

. - winn there is an unexpected confesión

fiom another person-the very person 'that one suspected all the time without much reason. That is the kind of thins that makes a really good deteetive stpty.

GILBERT FRANKAU.

Mr.' Gilbert Fmnkau's new novel is ft romance of the type of leliant «olf-mnttu man whose eneigy and business gemini

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have brought bim to the top of the finan-cial tree. "Geiald Cranston's Lady" (.llutel)iii«oiiJ teils the stoiy of ihe amaz-ing success oí Qornld Cratis-ton in the business world and his amazing failure as the husband of a veiy beautiful woman. Like all the work of Mr. r'runltaii, it is a realty wonderful storehouse of character sketching. Gerald Omiston himself, tim cllicient business man who marries for position, afraid to "let himself go" and love bis wife, fearing that love, the ess-eiico of .senliinentnlity, would impair his business ability and get in his Way gener-ally. It really is a story quite out of the oi'dlnniy-but Mr. Ktiinkau alwnys is quite out of the oidmniy. This latest bool: contain« much ih.it reminds one of "Peter Jackson." but it is not such a great bro);. There is- also a reininisrent touch of ''Ailette Di linton," but it is a greater book than that one.

RAFAEL SABATINI.

Is tlieic another author to-day in any ronntry who is such a master of historical i oin: ice as Rafael Snbalini V Messrs. Stanley Paul and Co. have.recently pub-lished an inexpensive edition of several of his novels, including that romance of France iii the great days of »Louis XIII. "Bardelys the ?Magnificent," the story of how .Mons le Mnrquis de -Bardelys wrocd and married the daughter of a rebel to the king ho sewed. . On the other hand "The Lion's Skin" is staged largely in England, and in another period, when tho followers of the Pretender fount!, refuge in Franco. Vet it is n tale as distinctly English ns the other is French, n tide of fnir women and braye anil honourable meu-the sort of romance that is better than half a hundred dry as du--t liKtory books, because in, it men and women live again in the correct set-ting, confronting their .own1 particular' problem«, und' one gets a true perspective on human nature and life of the period. To Snlmtiiii yesterday is always the key of to-tltiy.

DOROTHEA CONYERS. ?,,,.,,; '

"The Adveritures of Gerry" (Ilutcllin

«?on) is the belt book that Dorothea Cnnyois has written for'some time ' As usual it ¡s a stoi.V of Irish life, this time during the unsettled limes when Free Staters and Republicans were following each other across the land. Gerald Dallas, learning that his mother was a homicidal maniac, leaves his wife, and buries himself in nu out of the way corner of Tieland. But lils neighbours refuse to let him play the hermit, and his adven-imos keep the reader thoioughly inter-ested until one reaches the happy end-ing almost with a sigh-foi the happy ending means the end of a most enter-taining book.

OTHER NOVELS.

A. Vi. Marchmont has attempted a very big subject in "The Faith Healer'' (Hurst and Blackett), and has argued his point of view* with miioh skill and fore;. The hero, however, is slightly ton heioie; at times one might be inclined to call it priggish, but "The Faith Healer" is an interesting story on a psy-chological subject «that is greatly exercis-ing the thinking world.

Max Pemberton has essayed another kind of stniy, quite different íic-m his earlier work,..in "John Dighton, Mystery Millionaire"- (Cassell), and a very good yarn the mystery of John Pighton. makes.

Dighton disappears from the woild.thit* knows him, and" his son takes command and learns -with something of consterna-tion of liia father'? wide interest«. In Russia, Dighton has been somothin,- of "The Scatlel Pimpernel." and his active wotk -for the .betterment of, humanity in many out of the way« corners of'Hie earth is ft hugo surprise. The mystery of Iii« disappearance and1 the fulfilment of bia destiny give this gifted author quite a good chance to hold the reader's

intero't to the end. '

The author of "My Wife's Hidden Life1" has written another book. . "A Joyful Reaping" (tfadder, and Stoiighton). that will fnobably be very po'tiultir with thd admirers of the first book. It is quite a sininly iold narrative of the'-life'ot Ann Drage and her family, of a woman with an artistic temperament married to a man with a purely material outlook,

,."1 innl-inir n a» TOM« nf I, ol' Hfn Tin.

vet making n success oí lier lite. Un-

fortunately, like most books with' an jinpiqviiij; outlool;., {he author has made the mistake of slightly overdrawing the cliai'acteis.

STORY OF CANBERRA.

Thoje who knew Canberra In the days before it became Federal territory, ivijl lind much ^delight In/"Canberra's First

nundi ed Years," an interesting volume piepnied by Fiederiek W. Robinson, M.A.. Ph.D.. lecturer in English and Gorman in the Queensland Univeisity. Dr. Robinson waF formell? a professai' in .the Royal Militnrv Coilege at Dun-

troon, and it was wTiilo there he became impressed with thal quaint and hcailliful old church of Canberra, and decided to -write its history, which subsequently developed into a' lihtory of Cnnbeirn, but sliinncd of all' that -political association which -would make nn official hi«tory 'o tedious. Dr. Robinson han riied out a gip.it deal of lifoful research -work among old papers and documents, and among other things be definitely estab-lishes the fact that Pani« M 'J .1 nativ'e

nnme. For a lorjil history i'i is nn ex-ceptionally inteiesting volume. Tt is pub-lished by Penfold r...d Ca.,- Ltd.

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