[Book Reviews]

Abstract

IN each of these books there is a full and interesting account of the present condition of New Zealand. Mr. Bradshaw's indignation has been excited by some of the hasty judgments expressed by Mr. Froude in “Oceana,”and “New Zealand of To-day”may be regarded as to some extent an answer to Mr. Froude's criticisms. Mr. Payton's book consists of “notes from a journal of three years' wanderings in the Antipodes,”and the impression produced by his narrative is not essentially different from that of Mr. Bradshaw's more polemical work. Both writers believe strongly in the future of New Zealand, and express warm admiration for the great results already achieved by the colonists. Yet it cannot be said that either writes extravagantly, or that, in describing the social, industrial, and other characteristics of the colony, they have allowed themselves to be unduly swayed by mere feeling. They have, of course, a good deal to say about the Maoris, and it is worth noting that each refers to habits and physical conditions which cannot but tend to hasten the decay of that interesting race. A strong liking for whisky is unfortunately characteristic of most Maoris, and Mr. Payton remarked that the state of drunkenness appeared to have a great fascination for them. “I once saw a Maori that I knew,” he says, “walking up and down the veranda of an hotel, and looking very much disgusted about something. On my asking him what was the matter, he told me he had had thirteen glasses of whisky, and couldn't get drunk!”

New Zealand of To-day.

By John Bradshaw. (London: Sampson Low, 1888.)

Round about New Zealand.

By E. W. Payton. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1888.)