Mr. Jack Hides

First Book is Published

r I ’HE first book written by Mr. Jack A Hides (in 1934) was published in Lon don by Messrs. Blackie on October 10, 1935. It is called “Through Wildest Papua,” and it is a fascinating account of various patrols carried out in more or less unexplored parts of Papua by Mr. Hides when he was a Patrol Officer.

The book is divided into two main sec tions. The first section is concerned prin cipally with a patrol into the Loloipa val ley in Central Papua, to capture cannibals and murderers; while the second section of the book describes very vividly the ad ventures encountered in an expedition which took the patrol right over into the Morobe district, in the Mandated Terri tory of New Guinea. In the latter expe dition Mr. Hides had some extraordinary experiences with the Kiapou pygmies; and, later, he was saved from starvation by Baum, the well known Morobe pros pector, who shortly afterwards was mur dered by the Kukukukus.

“Through Wildest Papua” has been very flatteringly reviewed by the Australian newspapers; and this, together with the publicity recently received by Mr. Hides, should have ensured a good sale in Aus tralia. Unfortunately, however, the pub lishers have made the mistake of selling the book at 13/6 (Australian currency) and Australian people will not pay this price for books. “Through Wildest Papua” has been purchased by an Ameri can publisher, and British and American sales should compensate for missed oppor tunities in Australia.

Mr. Hides will return to Papua in De cember. In the meantime, he has com pleted a new book dealing with his recent exploratory expedition into the unknown centre of New Guinea. This book already has been sold and will be published in London early in 1936. It probably will be called “The Papuan Wonderland,” or something like that. We have seen the manuscript, and prophesy that the book will be a “winner.”