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Leading New Zealand Newspapers.

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New Zealand art and the Centennial is featured in picture and letterpress in the latest issue of “Art in New Zealand.” The splendid work being done in this connection by the State and by art organisations is appropriately recorded. Two beautiful colour blocks are included among the Centennial picture reproductions. General articles include a two-page commentary on the caricatures of Noel Counihan with two full-page reproductions, an appreciation of T. A. McCormack's Water Colours, an article on Folk Dancing by Paula Hanger, an illustrated article on Clay Modelling, interesting Art Notes, etc.

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Beverley Nichols and other young writers have written their autobiographies when barely out of their 'teens, so I presume we may not cavil at a young Wellington writer and printer, Noel Farr Hoggard, giving us a potted autobiography. In a booklet of thirty-four pages he writes interestingly of his young life and mentions many local writers. It is a tale of modest achievement modestly told.

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To write a critical survey of literary matters one must naturally be singularly well-equipped. The task, as far as this country is concerned, is, however, not such an onerous one, particularly where it is reserved for one field only, that of fiction. Even so, “A History of New Zealand Fiction” by E. W. Smith, recently published by A. H. & A. W. Reed, fails in a few respects. It appears to be the effort of one who is relying to an extent on the sometimes incomplete records of the past. The author's comments are at times rather critical, with a tendency to smile at the expense of others. We find the following declaration in an early part of the book: “No honest critic, however enthusiastic and anxious to praise New Zealand literature, can pretend that the country has yet produced writings qualified as literature.” Without quoting a number of notable examples of real New Zealand literature over the years, it is evident that E. W. Smith has not read two books published last year, Schroder's essays, and Cresswell's “Present Without Leave.” Neither is in the field of fiction, yet whereas another collection of essays is included in the author's bibliography, Schroder's are not mentioned. There are a few important omissions from the fiction list including Gloria Rawlinson's “Music in the Listening Places,” O. N. Gillespie's anthology of New Zealaand short stories (New Zealand fiction at its best). We find poor old “Gloaming” treated as fiction, whereas Helene Greenwood's novel, “The Splendid Horizon,” is not mentioned. A list of magazines which have published New Zealand fiction is given, but the fine work done by “Art in New Zealand,” “The New Zealand Artists’ Annual “and the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” is forgotten. The book, however, is a useful reference book and except for some recently published novels is a complete bibliography.

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