i8 
LAND & WATER 
Books to Read 
By Liician Oldershaw 
July 26, 1917 
GOOD reading for the holidays will be found in Mr. 
and Mrs. Egerton Castle's latest collection of stories 
called after the first of them The Black Office, 
(John Afurray, 6s.) The shortest tale in the book 
" The Smile in the Portrait," is worthv of Stevenson in con- 
ception and execution, and only falls sfiort of being a perfect 
short story in its somewhat commonplace ending. For the 
rest the tales are full of gallant adventure and gay good 
humour, and comprise two stories of guinea ■ smuggling to 
France, an episode in the life of Burke the " resurrectionist," 
an entertaining yarn based on Sir \A'illiam Hope's passion 
for swordmanship, and the first, perhaps the weakest of 
the lot, which revolves round the secret examination of the mail 
bags under the Restoration in France. The book is worthy 
• of the reputation of these popular writers, 
***** 
The new LibraTy Edition of the War Speeches of the Rt. 
Hon. W. M. Hughes, published under the title of The Day 
and After (Cassell and Co., 5s. net), contains a good deal of 
matter, particularly the important addresses on " The Paris 
Conference " and " The Empire's Future," that was not 
published in the previous edition. The book enables one to 
estimate at leisure the value of the contribution of the Prime 
Minister of Australia to the solution of the problems that the 
war has created or brought into prominence. The speeches 
are well worth reading, not only for that reason, but also 
because they reflect the vigorous spirit in which Austraha 
went to war, and are, in that respect, more than the utterances 
o^ a single individual, however eminent. Mf . Huglv.s had a 
respectful, almost a servile, hearing in this country. ■ Much of 
it was a well-merited mark of tribute to the great Dominion 
he represented. Some of it was due to his own personality, 
and a very considerable residuum wasi due to what he 
had to say. Of this last ele»nent of his successful " press " 
in England I speak with diffidence, but I am bound to say 
that the constructive element in liis speeches seems to me 
singularly barren. Mr. Lloyd George, writing a " foreword " 
to the speeches at the time he was Minister of IMunitions, 
employs metaphor appropriate to his office.' " Read these 
speeches," he says, " and you will lirid that the sentences 
get home, and tha| their detonating quahty is of the highest 
order. The percentage of ' prematures ' and ' blinds ' 
is imperceptibly low." I am inclined to think that the Prime 
Minister had a memory of hearing, but not of reading the 
speeches. . I h^ve no doubt that 'the speaker's vigorous per- 
sonality fharged them with a moving force. Except for 
their value in stimulating a martial enthusiasm (certainly a 
great exception), what do they signify ? 
' * * • * * 
Whether or no constructive proposals are lacking in the 
speeches of Mr. Hughes, there is certaiply a brave display of 
them in Mr. Harold Hodge's " tract for the times," In the 
Wake of the War (John Lane, 5s. net) . " The war," says Mr. 
Hodge, " has brought home to the public mind, at. any rate, 
two things : that party politics paralyse effective action, and 
that we have no permanent Imperial Government." Mr. 
Hodge developQs these two points in a book of considerable 
power and uncommon interest. He begins with a lament 
for the downfall of the House of Lords and an exposure of 
what he regards as the present impotence of the House of 
Commons, on lines which have been recently much traversed, 
but which he follows with the well-marshalled arguments 
and the .well-selected illustrations of the accomplished 
publicist. But the greater and by far the more important 
part of the book is taken up with an essay in constitution- 
building. Most people are vaguely of the opinion that the 
Doniinions must be given a more' permanent share in con- 
trolling the greater destinies of the British Commonwealth, 
but so far dim schemes of Federalism have alone been 
adumbrated. Mi'. Hodge rejects Federalism as it is usually 
interpreted and provides a full blown constitution of his 
own devising. I will not unfold still less attempt to criticise 
his scheme. The important thing is that here are definite 
and detailed proposals, clearly thought out, which will form 
at the very least a solid basis for further discussion. 
***** 
Two other books, constructive in their ideas if less concrete 
in their proposals than Mr. Hodge's, may well be noticed 
here. They are called The Coming Polity and Ideas at War 
(Williams and Norgate, 5s. net each), and are the first two 
volumes of "a popular Library of Regional, Human and 
Civic Studies and their Application to Current Issues," which 
is edited by Patrick Geddes and Victor Branford and is called 
by the general title of The Making of Uw Future. Those who 
know the work of the editors, and few people by now are 
ignorant of the name and fame of Professor Goddes, will have 
some idea of the noble and fruitful doctrine of civism which 
is developed in these books, tlie first of which is written by 
the joint editors of the library and the second by Profess9r 
Geddes and Dr. Gilbert Slater. Till recent years the subject 
of sociology has seemed as barren as its name is hybrid. The 
reason for this is no doubt to be found in the materiahstic or 
Prussian concept of it so well contrasted with the humanistic 
or French concept in the opening chapter of The Coming 
Polity. This book is in the main a httle essay in method, 
showing by means of illustrations from the Thames Valley 
how a regional sur\'ey properly conducted, can be adapted 
to aid the urgently needed processes of political reconstruction 
and re-education. The authors pay, by the way, a tribute to 
Mr. Belloc as " orie of the very best of our regional geo- 
graphers, and this, long before he made his reputation as a 
military critic." In Ideas at War the authors take a general 
survey of the Mechanical-Imperial-Financial Age from which 
they deem that civility (as they call civilisation) is passing 
and express their hopes for the reconstriiction of the world. 
* * « * Ml 
"FLM.S. Cornwallis was torpedoed and sunk by enemy 
submarine in the Mediterranean on January gth, 1917." 
Acting Commander A. T. Stewart and her Chaplain, the Rev. 
C. J. E. Peshall have in The Immortal Gamble (A. and C. 
Black, 5s. net), written her obituary notice. With pride and 
affection tlicy describe the great deeds in the Gallipoli cam- 
paign of their ship, which fired the first shot of the bombard- 
ment and played her part in the evacuation, described by a 
Canadian nurse as a " real slick vamooze." As a record of 
life on a battleship during the war, the book has a unique 
interest, especially as its authors write clearly /and simply 
for the benefit of the land-lubber and realise how intimate 
touches, such as the latest word in vogue aboard, will interest 
us at home. Moreover, it is a contribution from a new point 
of view to what its authors call " The Saga of the Straits," 
which " will be sung by our people long years after all who 
gave it orchestration are dead and turned to dust." 
AT THE .5/C.V OF LA BELLE SAUVAGE. 
First and Last Things 
Mr. H. G. Wells has just completed a New and Eevised 
Edition of his older volume — " the frank conferfsions of 
what one man in the early 20th Century has found in 
life and himself." The spiritual theory set forth in 
"God the Invisible King", is here translated into 
inactieal terms. 6s. net 
Memoirs of a Balkan Diplomatist 
Chedomille Mijatovich, late Serbian Foreign Minister, 
provides "a document which will attract students of 
European Kistoi-y " (^The Times). " He has met all the 
chief actors on the Ballcan stage and conducts us 
behind the scenes of an ever-changing drama" (Daily 
Telegraph), telling us " how things happened " 
(C'hronide). ' 4 Photogravures, 16s. net 
Germany Under Three Emperors 
Princess Catherine Radziwill presents " a study by one 
exceptionally well-infoi-med on the personal side of the 
development of Germany " (Obsei-ver), "tells many 
interesting things of the German spy system " {Evening 
Standard), "we very earnestly commend her remarka- 
ble book " ((?;o6e). 8 Photogravures, 16s. net 
With Botha and Smuts in Africa 
Lt.-Commander Whittall, R.N., Amioured Car Divi- 
sion, has given us " the best war book we have had 
thm year " (Morning Post). It is " an authoritative 
account of what was accomplished by the mihtary 
;genius of Botha and Smuts, aad the tenacity of their 
troops in desert and bush" (Observer). 
2 Portraits asod 2 Maps, 6s. net 
THE HOUSE OF CASSELL, LONDON ,E.C.4. 
