1937-03-27 — Page 10

Hongkong Telegraph 港電新報士蔑新聞 All

ZTIE:HOMOKONG TELEGRAFIE, 'HATINDAY, MARCH #T, 1937,

BOOKS OF THE WEEK EDITED

THREE HOME and

THE PORCH

By Richard Church

(Dent, 78. 04.)

R. CHURCH has not pub- lished a novel for two years, and his latest book' shows the meticulous care and fine polish of a writer who is deter- mined not to offer anything un- worthy. It makes me wish that other authors were less lavish of their talents and more discerning.

The Porch deals with life in the Civil Service.. The department he has chosen, the Custom House at Billingsgate, is less stereotyped than the vast buildings of White- hall, and it has given Mr. Church Ecopo for a deal of penetrating humour,

But though the Custom House deals with samples of goods and not only with documents, it re- sembles other Government de- partments in the regimentation, or attempted regimentation, of its staff and in the enste distinctions which keep the various grades

ONE AWAY

rigidly apart and help the stultify- ing process of clever and enthusi astic youngsters who work hard to enter its ranks.

The story largely concerns the attempts of two żuch young men to break away from routine. Ons is determined to become a doctor The and looks like succeeding. other is really post, and 1:15 efforts to pass examinations Anally break down his feeble health.

These two friends fight side by side. but Mr. Church manages to make you feel that, strongly realised individuals as they are, they are yet types of thoze young men who find the poreli of the Civil Service the entrance to n atralt and narrow way. He also makes you believe that Quicksholt had the gift of healing and that Mouncer was a port,

A mature and satisfying novel, the

No Raw Deal Here

RAW MATERIALS OR WAR

MATERIALS?

By Alfred Tummer (Gollance, 3. Gd.)

Nnzia

are now propa- ganding so effectively that, through sheer force of re- iteration, an increasing number of people believe that, after all, there must be something in this "havo" and

"have-not business,

And some of the least well-informed, Inspired by such propaganda, liave al ready decided that a panacea for all our problems is in the handing back to itler of the colonies Germany lost after the War-plus something vaguely referred to na "freelag access to raw materials,"

These and almilar specious 'argu. inents Mr. Plummer tears to pleces With fact and figure ho makes non- sense of the claim that the not

'have-

nations-principally Germany, Italy and Japan-are beling economic ally strangled by their lack of colonies or their poor suppiles of certain raw materials

On the contrary, he shows that their economic problems are largely the crea-

tion of their own vicious nationallasTA. A present of a couple of colonica apleco might temporarily

their appenso natiouni pridie and assist their military strategy. But it would leave empty bellies all empty.

Bul tearing your opponent's enso to pieces, however gently, and shouting What we have we hold," is danger: ous doctrine. Mr. Plummer sensibly makes alternative, and practical, pro- Doan's

It is important, he says, to link to gether as

collective one problem security, disarmament and the redis- tribution of colonial territories under on improved mandates system. Then, with a new internationalism replacing the old imperialiam, raw minierial sup- plies could be made equitable to all rid raw material control a vital safeguard against aggression.

For it is not to all those empty bellies but to pile up wartime reserves that the current clamour for essential raw materials rises. The strategie wolf in hidden beneath the clothing of the economic sleep."

But the problem exists. This admir- ably honest book shows how it can be solved-and the grim consequences of failure.

6. E. R. W.

best that this writer has yet given na He evokes the passion of youth for the unattainable and the feeling, of London's crowded streets and homes with a sureness all his own.

THERE AINT NO JUSTICE By James Carila (Cape, 71. d.)

HIS is a tale of the boxing alum underworld and the streets of London, Tommy Mutch soll papers and had A six-round Oght at the beginning of a progrenme, earning a pound or thirty thillings when he was lucky. Hla am. bition was to save up for a dressing- gown, instead of going into the ring with only a towel.

When ho had paid his second and his trainer" and saved a bit for some cigarettes and a drink at the 'caff," he gave the rest to his mother, as his share of housekeeping.expenses in thint

And Notting Date tenement.

that dressing-gown remained

distant 1 dream.

But one night he attracted the atten- tion of a flasli hanger-on of the boxing world, who took him into regular employment and training. From then on his education progressed rapidly, in the ways of the world and of women,

He learns how to "throw" a fight, when instructed to lose so that his backers shall win their bets. Itis only hope of making a living is to bet him- self. But there ain't no justice." be- cause when he is thoroughly disillu- sloned and sick at beart, he accident- ally wins a fight he has been told to throw and on which he has betted on bis opponent winning.

A racy and realistic story.

THE NINE DAYS' WONDER By Gwyn Jones (Gollancz, &t. 'Ed.)

NE of the tests of a novelist ls whether he can make the reader continuously inter-

ested in thoroughly nasty people. It in a test which Gwyn Jones passes with honours.

There is not a character in this story who is not mean, criminal or silly.

Paul robs warehouses because he is n member of a gang connected with all

THE CHASE

ROGER PIPPETT

I CHASED it in the garden, an' I chased it in the house,

But it really moved much quicker than a motor or a mouse. Jus' once I thought I'd caught it; but it quickly slipped away, 'An' at last I grew so tir'd, I left it till another day, But when I next run after it, I really shouldn't fail To bite It, an' to hold it—'cos it's such a lovely tall!

from "Bimbo the Pup," poems and pictures by Marjorie Low, published by Arthur Barron at 3s. 6d. `;

the racketeering in a northern ty, under the respectable cover of selling care. Christopher is a selfish, hysterical, cowardly schoolmaster who idealises Sal and is so infuriated when his passion beres her that he commits murder.

Paul's father's last act is to make a will so that Christopher's mother, Harriet, shall be destitute at his death,

And there are the hangers-on and lesser lights of a dog-racing, boxing, burglary racket, each weakly and stupidly trying to cheat the others.

The trial of Paul for murder-un- masks the activities of the gang, and he Joins most of his comrades in prison. Christopher commits suicide. Harriet goes inad.

Gordid and horribic-but fascinating. For the pace of the story is so swift: you are swept along in a swirling flood of excitement. You don't wonder what is going to happen next; you are up to the neck in what is happening now,

Brilliant and terrifying.

GREEN MARGINS · By E. P. O'Donnell

(Eyre and Spottiswcbour, 74. ed.)

O most people in this country the United States means Now York and Hollywood. Thes

know, of course, that there is more to it than that, but their main im-

pressions are still limited to what they see at the cinema.

The news of floods and drought ftiters realistically through this sercen between us and America. But nino out of ten novels from across the Atlantic merely confirm our fixed notion that the United States form a compact whole, standardised in its various paris.

Oreen Margins is the tenth novel, describing a way of life and a set of ideas differtog utterly from the usual conception.

This powerful and vivid story of life Among the strange mixed population- halt European, half African-along the Mississippi della, has been a revela. tion even in America, where it ha already sold 13,000 copies.

Its success is not only due to its exolle background of the swamplands, but to the procession of queer charac- ters who throng its pages. In particu lar to Bister Kalavich, the daughter of Middle European immigrants, a lonely, obstinate, nghting spirit, dree- ing her own weird with all the glub- bornness of a living peasant.

The development of this half-savage child into a mature woman is slowly but relentlessly shown. A compelling tale

R. P.

The Concertina of

History

BUFFETS AND REWARDS

By Felix Weingartner -

(Hutchinson, 189.)

EXT month, at Queen's Hall, a.conductor will mount the rostrum, who, fifty years ago, sut in a Munich restaurant drink- ing beer with an intimate friend of Franz Schubert and ten years ago was conducting. in Soviet Russini

The musician who so adroitly compresses the concertina of his- tory is Felix Weingartner. Thanks to his active seventy-three years of life, his alert mind and his vivid memory, you fool almost na if you yourself had shaken hands with Wagner, played duets with Liszt, heard Wolf decry Brahms, talked to Mahler and Bruckner and smoked (but only

half way through) one of Brahms' cigars.

He has not only done all these things, but he has ant at the same table with a man who beard Beethoven, "his grey hair fluttering in untidy strands about his amtall-pox-pitted, rubleund face, his dark eyes sparkling with dis pleasure," shaw someone how one of his pieces ought to be played.

The meeting with Wagner was in 1002 at an at-home to Bayreuth Fes--

RAPID

AN ATLAS OF EMPIRE. by J. F. Horrabin (Golinnez, 3a. Gd). The Ave continents-and the seven seas --caught between two covers and made lo confess their economic and strategical importance and their commitments, Imperialistic and otherwise. Explanatory, fascinating

and highly disturbing. AMERICAN SCENE, by Harry J. Greenwall. (Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 78. Od.). Yet another lively. Introduction to the United States in boom and slump and nerr-boom. With flash-backs to the Morgans. Huey Long. Father Coughlin and Father Divine. Not forgetting Mr. Hearst,

ARCTIC JOURNEYS, by Edward Bhackleton (Hodder and Bloughton, ยาม). The record of Uie Oxford University Ellesmere Land Expedi flon which the author organised. It reasonable singa tho praises of

tival visitors "In his hand he carried colinpalble opera hat, which from time to time he would balance-in its -collapsed' stato-on his head,

What nstonished me most was large Star of some exotic Order which he wore round his neck, bo who de- spised all decorations. Tho riddle was soon solved. He was only wearing it to present it to ble Brat Flower-girl ("Parsifal" was being performed for the first time) with a fow pleasant words.

"It was tumoured that he had only that day received the Ster from some Oriental potentate and had already perpetrated a good deal of nonsenso:" with it, such að hanging it round the neck of his favourile dog."

Liszt appears on many pages, viva- clous, kindly and witty at his musical receptions, falling soleep at a boring -concert, drinking strong coffee and brandy at five in the morning, refer- ring to himself as "the old poodle,” and humorous oven on the eve of his death.

"My cough? It is civilised. It leaves me alono during the music and will surely start again in the intervall" I closed Here Weingartner'a engrosa- ingly Interesting book with the feeling that the many buffets ho recelved In the course of his successful deter- mination to be a great conductor-and the malice of unsuccessful rivals that ho records in astonishing-have in the last resort only contributed to his re- wards.

Not least among those rewards aro the Ппс idealism and deep-felt humanity which distingulah_every

8. P. page of his reminiscences

REVIEWS

hardship." And it contains a delight- ful chapter on the Eskimos. THE STROKE OF MURDER, by Wini- fred, Duke (Robert Hale, 105. Gd.). Studies of four extraordinary murder cases under the titles, "The Hand- Cart Horror," "Edith Thompson of Meerut," "The Clue of the Cocoa- nut Cake," and "She Died Young." LESS PAINT, MORE VANITY, by A, LL Matthison (Heath Granton. 78. Gd.). In which the author of Ari, Paint and Vanity continues the pleasant reminiscences of a full life. With excellent stories of Irving. Ellen Terry, Cunninghame Grabiam and others.

CHRIST IN THE MODERN · HOS- PITAL, by Philip Inman (Hodder and Stoughton, 16.). Further proof .of courage and faith In the world of the wards by the Clairmm of Charing Cross Hospital. .

Quality always tells

insist on

Experience proves Lady

that OVALTINE is

the Best Beverage

for Children

mora

Growing children need nourishmont that ordinary food supplies, that is why "OVALTINE" should be their daily beverage. This delicious food-drink supplies, in a concentrated, correctly balanced and easily digested form, all the nourish- ing elements and vitamins that aro rssential for healthy growth.

Kind

PRING is here, girls.

Docs that

mean much to you?

Flowers popping up, Hongkong ready to

look like a water-

colour drawing in

the new sunlight.

confusing new fashions, desperate

new attacks on the

face? Is that all?

What about

LURV?

Something in

When they find themselves adrift in, a sea of emotion they just seem to lose their heads. It is rather pathetic, really. It is not their ele- ment, and they find themselves just unable to deal with it.

Have you ever noticed a man and woman in love? How foolish the man looks, how altogether self- possessed the womun.

It Of course. is her natural ele- ment. She knows all there is to know about love, by instinct. The man has stumbled into completely alien and new territory.

No sense of

Proportion

It because of his inexperience

In such things that man finds li hard to keep a sense of pro-

DON'T portion. MAKE

FUN OF

YOUNG

MEN IN

SPRING

the Air

All nice little girls are brought up

A woman has much natural pride that if she gets crossed In love, nine times of ten she can out

pretend to herself that she did not love him anyway,

and there just as good sea and

fish

in the

the

on. Even though she knows in her heart that it will be a very long Ume before any of this will be any real consolation. B ú 4 a man romanticist to the core,

is defeated by a disappointment in love. It gives him an inferiority complex which, in his work, he prob- ably never experiences,

to believe that in the spring, and Trouble with a probably at no other time, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts

By making "OVALTINE" your

10-

meal

of love.

children's beverage

times, at bed-time and during the

morning break at school, you can

be sure that they will obtain

adequate. nourishment for bulld

Ing up strong healthy bodies,

sound nerves and abundant

vitality.

6 5

OVALTINE IS SCIENTIFICALLY PRE- PARED FROM THE HIGHEST QUALI- TIES OF MALT EXTRACT, NEW-LAID EGGS AND CREAMY MILK, AND FLAVOURED WITH COCOA

OVALTINE

The Supreme Beverage for Health

· Rival

Usually his love troubles come

It's something in the air, maybe, from a rivak This makes him feel And all that sort of thing.

Inferfor, unwanted, hopeless.

But whatever it is, men certainly do Beem to be more love-prone in the springtime-which perhaps is the rea- son for all our new clothes and new face attacks.

Now it is all very nice for us. We can sit and simper before the odor- ing gaze of our young man; or we

Either he goes about threatening suicide, or he besleges the object of his passion with wild and tedious im- portunings, or he blacks the other fellow's eye. Some form of violence he must take.

Look at the famous murderers: Crippen, Bywaters, Vaquler, Mahon,

can snigger over his mooniness with. Armstrong, Stoner-love drove them

our girl-friends, enting the chocolates all, in one form or another.

he gave us meanwhile.

But do, I beg you, treat the

poor

crenture, "enrefully. : Do · not drive him to foo great a pitch of

Women are so

Practical

How many women have killed for

love-sickness. Because a well-known love? Not many. In fact, I can't paychiatrist declared to me the think of any, except the American other day that men, if you please, Mrs. Snyder, are the more emotional sox.

A Sea of

Emotion

When women kill, they kill for far more material rearons: money, ex- asperation, sometimes even plty.. Far more practical, you see,

This ́surprised me for a moment: So this spring, when all your Then I began to agree, After all, young men's fancica turn, in varjous men's concern is with hard facts, degrees of lightness, to the subject such, as money,' work, and ideas. of love-be gentle with them. There's And perhaps it is in reaction, from so. little. romance In the world lately all, this that they are, in their omo- that it is nica to preserve it whari tional liver, so-romantic

you can

C.D.

TEST ANSWERS Loopwoll SOLUTION

Leepwell talked too much. Having roundly asserted that his room had not been entered for a month, he stupidly drew attention

to the fact that the clock on the mantelpiece was ticking. This, of course, afforded positive proof that some part at least of his story was untrue. Further investigations by Playfair resulted in his conviction.

Weck-End Problems EGGS

FROBLEM I

By following Jones's advico, Brown will lose 1s,:

sells of Indifference whether he each kind separately or sells them all at nine for 2s.. But where he has equal numbers, he exhausts too his supply of chesper eggs soon. His nine for 25. consists of Ave five-a-shilling and four four- a-shilling cags. Having sold 72s. worth on this basis; he has 36 of the four-a-shilling eggs left over. At nine for 2s., he only gets Us. for these, where actually he should get Ds. And that is why he is 1s. to the bad.

1937-03-27 — Page 10

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