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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62

Notices of New Books Relating to the Colonies and India

page 470

Notices of New Books Relating to the Colonies and India.

Australasia.

Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of South Australia. Vol. xiv. Part II. 8vo. Pp. 205. Adelaide. December, 1891. [Presented by the Society.]

The second part of Volume xiv. of this Society's Proceedings opens with a continuation of Mr. E. Meyrick's paper on "Descriptions of New Australian Lepidoptera." This is followed by a Paper dealing with the water-supply of the Broken Hill mines, by Mr. S. Dixon, who submits two estimates of the cost of utilising the water for the mines at Broken Hill, both of which provide for the delivery of one million gallons a day in the mines, the distance being taken at twenty-six miles. The Rev. Louis Schulze contributes an interesting account of the aborigines of the Upper and Middle Finke River, their habits and customs, together with notes on the physical and natural history features of the country; which is followed by a collection of geological notes on the watershed of the Finke River, which takes its rise in the ranges near the centre of Australia, by Mr. C. Chewings. Professor R. Tate is responsible for the following four Papers: "Note on the Silurian Fossils of the Upper Finke River Basin; " "Descriptions of New Species of Australian Mollusca, Recent and Fossil; " "A Second Supplement to a List of the Lamellibranch and Palliobranch Mollusca of South Australia," and a "Bibliography and Revised List of the described Echinoids of the Australian Eocene, with Descriptions of some New Species." The issue is completed by the following papers: "Note on a Volcanic Ash from Tanna," by Professor Rennie and Mr. E. F. Turner; " Further Notes on the Habits and Anatomy of Notoryctes Typhlops," by Dr. Stirling; "Further Notes on Australian Coleoptera," by Rev. T. Blackburn; "Description of a New Species of Fabularia," by Mr. M. C. Schlumberger; "The Foraminifera of the Older Tertiary, No. 2 Kent Town Bore, Adelaide, and Muddy Creek," by Mr. W. Howchin.

New South Wales: Department of Lands.—Stations determined Astronomically in connection with Trigonometrical Survey. 8vo. Pp. 16. Sydney. 1892. (Price 1s.) [Presented by the Department of Lands.]

Frequent inquiry having been made for particulars of the stations in New South Wales, the positions of which have been found by astronomical page 471 observation, they have been printed in a handy form for convenience of reference by the Department of Lands. The observations for longitude have all been made by measurement of the difference of longitude between the station and the Sydney Observatory, the method employed being, with one exception, by transmission of electro-telegraphic signals. A considerable amount of useful information is embodied in the work, which has been prepared under the direction of Mr. E. Twynam, Chief Surveyor, and Director of Trigonometrical Surveys, and contains a map of the Colony, upon which the relative positions of the stations are indicated by blue circles with numbers attached, which correspond to those which appear in the letterpress.

Records of the Geological Survey of New South Wales. Vol. ii. Part IV. Sm. 4to. Pp. 45. Sydney. 1892. (Price 1s. 6d.) [Presented by the Department of Mines.]

Five papers form the contents of this issue of the Records of the New South Wales Geological Survey, and comprise (1) " Notes on Experiments with the Munktell Chlorination Process at Bethanga, Victoria," by E. F. Pittman; (2) "On the General Geology of the South Coast, with Petrological Notes on the Intrusive Granites and their Associated Rocks around Moruya, Mount Dromedary, and Coburgo," by William Anderson; (3) "Descriptions of Four Madreporaria Rugosa: Species of the Genera Phillipsastrœa, Heliophyllum, and Cyathophyllum," by R. Etheridge, Jim.; (4) "The Cave Shelters near Wollombi, in the Hunter River District," by P. T. Hammond; and (5)" Idiographic Rock-Carvings of the Aborigines at Flat Rocks, near Manly," by R. Etheridge, Jun. These papers, which contain a considerable amount of interesting information, are illustrated by nine well-executcd plates.

Dale, Philip, and Haviland, Cyril.—Voices from Australia. 12mo. Pp. 288. London. Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. 1892. Price 5s. [Presented by the Publishers.]

This is a collection of poems dealing chiefly with pictures of Australian life and scenery, and written by Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Haviland, the latter being better known as Philip Dale. Many of them possess a considerable gift of expression, and the volume is a welcome addition to the poetic literature of Australia.

British North America.

Roberts, Charles G. D.—The Canadian Guide-Book: The Tourist's and Sportsman's Guide to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland. 12mo. Pp. viii.-270. London. William Heinemann. 1892. (Price 6s.) [Presented by the Publisher.]

With the annually increasing number of tourists to Canada, the want of a reliable handbook has long been felt, and this little work, although page 472 limited to that section of Canada which is designated Eastern Canada, nevertheless gives a large amount of general information regarding Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland, and that part of Labrador belonging to Newfoundland, though not attached to Canada, are touched upon for the convenience of tourists who may wish to visit them. The territory described may most conveniently be covered in a round trip offering abundant choice of routes and opportunity for attractive side-trips from the most important towns along the way. The contents include full descriptions of routes, cities, points of interest, summer-resorts, fishing places, throughout Eastern Canada and the Maritime Provinces; whilst an Appendix contains the fish and game laws, and official lists of trout and salmon rivers, together with their lessees. The plan of the book, its arrangement and classification of matter, and the system of treatment, are based on the famous Baedeker handbooks, and so the work possesses compactness, portability, and facility of consultation. In addition to three maps, it is well illustrated by a series of photographic views, and can be strongly recommended to those who contemplate making a tour in Canada.

Langtry, Rev. J. (M.A., D.C.L.).—History of the Church in Eastern Canada and Newfoundland. 12mo. Pp. vi.-256. London. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1892. (Price 8s.) [Presented by the Publishers.]

As one of the series of Colonial Church Histories which are being published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, that regarding Eastern Canada and Newfoundland contains a considerable amount of information regarding the early work of the Church and the founding of its first Colonial Bishoprics. There is no more interesting topic of colonisation than that of the early history of the Church in the various Colonies, and Mr. Langtry, who is Rector of St. Luke's, Toronto, has been eminently successful in gathering together in so limited a space, where freedom of treatment has necessarily been excluded, so many interesting items of the foundation of the Church in British North America. Each diocese of what may be termed "older Canada" has claimed the attention of the Author, who divides his work into distinct chapters dealing with the dioceses of Quebec, Toronto, Fredericton, Montreal, Huron, Ontario, Algoma, Niagara and Newfoundland. Several interesting biographical notices of those noble men who have toiled in the hard places of the field are embodied, together with a history of the pioneer days of the Church's life in Canada.

Brymner, Douglas.—Report on Canadian Archives. 8vo. Pp. xlix.-877. Ottawa. 1892. (Price 1s. 6d.) [Presented by the Government of Canada.]

Mr. Brymner continues the publication of the documents regarding the early history of the various provinces of Canada contained in the Public Record Office with the same care and correctness which he has page 473 hitherto exercised in preceding volumes. The portions of the correspondence calendared in this Report include the transactions in the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada during the years immediately succeeding the division of the old province of Quebec. Owing to affairs in the two provinces having been so closely connected, Mr. Brymner, for convenience' sake, gives abstracts of the documents relating to each for the same period, an arrangement which has the advantage of presenting an intelligible and consecutive history of occurrences. Lists of the names of the early settlers referred to in previous reports on the documents, down to the close of the first well-marked period after the Conquest (1760 to 1791), are contained in the present volume, and show to a very considerable extent the gradual settlement of Upper Canada, or, as it is now called, Ontario, besides that of Lower Canada during the same period. The work is one of very great importance regarding the early history of the Dominion, and places on record a collection of facts of an authentic character in a most accessible manner.

Africa.

Methven, Cathcart W. (M.Inst.C.E.).—Sketches of Durban and its Harbour in 1891. 4to. Durban. Messrs. P. Davis & Sons. 1891. [Presented by the Publishers.]

This excellent series of sketches of Durban and its harbour has been executed by Mr. Methven, who holds the appointment of Engineer-in-Chief to the Natal Harbour Board, in intervals of leisure, and the subjects selected are, for the most part, familiar to all who have any acquaintance with the town and port, and are exact reproductions of the original signed sketches. The selection is an excellent one, more especially as regards the harbour, as, of the thirty-five views of which the work consists, twenty-three reveal the wonders which have been wrought by enterprise and energy since the Harbour Board took command of the port. It fell to the lot of Mr. Methven to take up the work begun by his lamented predecessor, Mr. Edward Innes, in 1881, and carried on by that able engineer up to the time of his death in 1887. With how much vigour and success those works have been prosecuted, the sketches contained in the work demonstrate. An historical sketch of the Colony, which precedes the views, is contributed by Sir John Robinson, and the work cannot fail to be the means of preserving pleasant recollections of the town and port, not only to the present inhabitants, but also to visitors and former residents living outside the Colony.

Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide. 8vo. Pp. 164. Port Elizabeth. James Kemsley & Co. 1892. [Presented by the Publishers.]

The publishers of this handbook deserve credit for having supplied a long-felt want in the shape of a collection of local information regarding page 474 the important town of Port Elizabeth, which of recent years has gained so prominent a position in the Colony as a commercial centre, which may be chiefly attributed to the recent railway extensions, which have brought the port into direct communication, not only with all the principal towns of the Colony, but also with the Orange Free State and British Bechuanaland; in addition to which, it will very soon be possible for the inhabitants of the Transvaal to travel direct to Port Elizabeth by train. In consideration of the difficulty experienced by visitors on arrival at Port Elizabeth in finding their way about the town, and in order to obviate this in future, an account of the principal public institutions of the town, together with other information of a useful character, is embodied in the work. The general directory and notes on local affairs will prove of considerable service to residents, besides being handy for reference to those otherwise interested in the Colony.

Ritchie, J. Ewing.—Brighter South Africa; or, Life at the Cape and Natal. 12mo. Pp. viii.-232. London. T. Fisher Unwin. 1892. (Price 5s.) [Presented by the Publisher.]

The Author of this work, better known as "Christopher Crayon," has already given an account of his travels in Canada and Australia in two works entitled, "To Canada with Emigrants," and "An Australian Ramble," which describe in a light, sketchy manner his visits to those Colonies. In the same manner he now describes a recent tour in South Africa, his love for travel having tempted him to that part of the Empire, which he states he prefers to either of the other two. Mr. Ritchie, like so many recent authors, devotes forty-six pages to the oft-told tale of the voyage, which contains an account of the usual daily life on board ship and the places visited en route. After describing Cape Town, which he states is not much of a place to look at, and which boasts of few fine buildings, he proceeded to Kimberley, Port Elizabeth, East London and Natal, and being a keen observer and possessing a ready pen, the various points of interest in those towns are graphically described. The various questions affecting the position and progress of South Africa, including such topics as the Afrikander Bund, Republican tendencies, the native question, and politics generally, also claimed the attention of the Author, who does not appear to have gained a very exalted opinion of the great politicians of the Cape, whose politics, he states, chiefly refer to railways. The book, which contains a map and several illustrations of mail-steamers, &c., will no doubt prove of use as a guide to the intending visitor, and the opinions upon various political questions may also interest residents in South Africa.

page 475

West Indies.

Bain, Thomas.—The Life and Labours of John Wray, Pioneer Missionary in British Guiana. 12mo. Pp. v.-87G. London. John Snow & Co. 1892. [Presented by the Publishers.]

Very few particulars regarding the birth and earlier life of John Wray appear to have been available for the compilation of his biography. It is nevertheless known that he was born at South Skirlaugh, near Hull, in 1779, and at the age of twenty-eight proceeded to Demerara, where he soon became fully occupied in the variety of employment which fell to his lot, as it does to the lot specially of a first missionary in a new scene of action, which in Mr. Wray's case was at Plantation Le Besouvenir, where he became the pioneer of mission work, not only on Le Besouvenir and in Demerara, but also, and chiefly, in Berbice. The account of Mr. Wray's mission extends from the year 1808 until 1830, during which period he was actively engaged in promoting the objects of the London Missionary Society in British Guiana; and the long delay in the publication of the journal is accounted for as follows. In 1831 the Society requested Mr. Wray to write a history of the Mission, to which request he assented in part. The attempt was made amid the care and burden of those claims resting upon him—claims increasing rather than diminishing with negro emancipation. His death, however, intervened, and his history, thus only in its first rough draft, was not more than one-fourth accomplished. Papers and diaries were forwarded to the Missionary Society, but for certain reasons were not utilised, and after a time their return was requested by the family, in whoso possession they have since remained. With the aid of these documents Mr. Thomas Rain, although not compiling so complete and expansive a work as would at an earlier period have been necessary, has nevertheless produced an interesting record of the chief features of the life, character, and conquest of John Wray. The proceeds from the sale of the work, which contains a map of British Guiana and two portraits, are intended to be devoted to missions in the Colony.

British Guiana Directory and Almanack for 1892. 12mo. Pp. xvi.-505. Georgetown. C. Iv. Jardine. [Presented by the Publisher.]

The present issue of this annual comprises a mass of useful information, so well arranged and indexed that no difficulty is experienced in turning to any particular subject. It is replete with an abundance of general, official, and statistical information regarding British Guiana, in addition to which a concise historical account of the Colony is embodied. Amongst commercial questions, that of the gold industry probably at present occupies the most prominent position, and the latest information bearing page 476 upon the question is contained in the book. The industry, it appears, has rapidly increased, the amount of gold exported in 1884 having been 250 ounces, valued at £1,019, whereas for three quarters of the year 1891 it had risen to 65,657 ounces, valued at £243,000. Particulars of the new Constitution of the Colony are also given, as are the latest statistics based upon the Census of 1891—in fact, it will be found an invaluable companion, not only to those having commercial or official dealings with the Colony, but also to those desiring reliable information regarding its past and present condition.

General.

Grey, Earl (K.G., G.C.M.G.).—The Commercial Policy of the British Colonies and the McKinley Tariff. 8vo. Pp. 79. London. Macmillan & Co. 1892. [Presented by the Publishers.]

The greater part of this work was originally written with a view to being published in the Nineteenth Century, as a sequel to a previous article contributed to that Review by the same author; but, owing to the length to which articles in the Review are necessarily restricted, Earl Grey found it impossible to set forth his ideas in so limited a space; hence their publication in the present form. Although affecting the whole of the British Colonies, the Author more especially addresses his remarks to Canada, a country in whose welfare, he states, he has never ceased to take a deep interest since it was his duty, nearly half a century ago, to take an active part in the management of its affairs as Secretary of State for the Colonies. The chief object Earl Grey has in writing this work is to show that the system of Free Trade adopted in the year 1846 proved beneficial to the whole British Empire, and that the subsequent entire abandonment by some of our principal Colonies of that policy in order to adopt one of Protection has caused much more serious evils than even the mistake made by the British Parliament and Government in 1860. In order to strengthen his arguments, Earl Grey refers to the feelings of animosity which have at different times been excited between the various Colonies by the measures adopted in pursuance of the policy of Protection, more especially as regards the complaints of Tasmania of the conduct of their neighbours in Victoria in imposing duties on the fruits of Tasmania to protect their own growers from their competition. Such action on the part of one Colony to another is, in the opinion of the Author, likely to affect in a manner far from favourable the maintenance of a firm union of all parts of the Empire, a result he would deplore in view of his belief that there exists at the present time a strong feeling for a closer union of the Colonies with the Mother Country. Regarding a complete freedom of trade between British North America and the United States, Earl Grey states that the same duties upon imports must be levied in both territories, since, if they were not so, but higher duties were levied in the one than in the other, goods would be imported into that where page 477 the duties were lowest, for the purpose of being afterwards carried into the one in which they were higher, which would thus lose part both of the trade and of the revenue to which it would be fairly entitled. Canada, therefore, in order to obtain the perfectly free intercourse with the United States which is demanded by one party must, the Author upholds, consent to have its commerce with the rest of the world, including the United Kingdom, regulated by the revenue law of the United States, in settling which it has had no part, and which may at any moment be altered by a Congress in which it has no voice. The important position occupied by the Author, together with his views on the great question of Protection v. Free Trade as affecting the British Empire, cannot fail to ensure for his work a wide circulation.

Parkin, G. R. (M.A.).—Bound the Empire. 12mo. Pp. xii.-268. London. 1892. [Presented by the Author.]

The object of this little work is to supply, for the use of elementary schools in the United Kingdom, a simple and connected account of those parts of our great Empire which are outside of the British Islands, and in which so many of the scholars are likely to seek their future homes. Special attention is directed in the work to grouping facts in such a way that their bearing upon the life of the nation may be easily grasped by young minds, and the closeness of the connection which exists between the industries and interests of our people in the Colonies and of those who remain at home is indicated as often as possible by familiar illustrations. Each group of Colonies is briefly dealt with by the Author as regards their physical features, their products and industries and general history, whilst in the concluding chapters such questions as the trade of the Empire, and how the Colonies are governed, are clearly and concisely set forth. A short preface is contributed by the Earl of Rosebery, who is of opinion that the youth of our race will learn from Mr. Parkin's work how great is their inheritance and their responsibility, and states "those outside these Islands may learn the splendour of their source and their home, as well as communion with the other regions under the Crown of Great Britain; and within, English, Scottish, and Irish children may learn, not to be shut in their shires, but that they are the heirs of great responsibilities and a vast inheritance."