The Month's New Reading

The second volume of Sir James Bisset’s planned trilogy Tramps and Ladies, is very good value for money whether the reader takes just an academic, a professional or a mere pas senger’s view of the sea and ships.

LIKE the first volume, published last year and covering his years in sail, it is in collaboration with P. R. Stephensen, Australian professional book-editor.

How much of the excellent writ ing can be attributed to Mr.

Stephensen is hard to say, but Sir James will have to take the credit for those occasional patches of corn—like the ancient story of the man who complained his wife did not have a weak stomach, as she was throwing farther than anyone else.

If book-editor Stephensen is responsible for that one, he should be ashamed of himself. However, it is well known that ship’s masters are inclined to be a bit ponderous, so in Sir James it’s forgivable.

The current volume covers the period between 1905, when the 21-year-old Bisset “went into steam”, until just before the first World War (in which he served in destroyers).

This was an interesting period in steamship development. It covered a boom period in the migrant passenger trade between Europe and the United States of America; and saw the dawn of the era of the ocean giant and the luxury liner.

"Titanic" Recalled James Bisset served two years in available British tramps until 1907, when he got his foot on the first rung of the Cunard ladder that led, eventually, to command of the Queen Mary and a Knighthood.

The book-editor’s influence is strong in the well timed climax to the end of this volume: The sink ing of the Titanic.

Probably thousands of stories have been written and re-written about this ocean tragedy, but this should be no excuse for missing the Bisset version, which is presented from a new angle.

Bisset was Second Officer on the SS Carpathia and as such took part in the rescue of the 700 survivors of the 40,000 ton “unsinkable”

Titanic which carried 1,500 people with her when she took her death plunge that icy night in April, 1912.

Fate had put the Carpathia in the right position on that night; but luck had prompted the Carpathia’s radio officer to put his ear phones on his head at a time

when he would normally have been asleep—and thus to have heard the Titanic’s SOS (or CQD as it was then) half an hour after she struck the ice-berg. Subsequently, it was shown that another vessel was within visual range of Titanic in her last hours and could thus have probably saved all passengers, had not her radio officer gone to bed. These were the days when radio was regarded as a new fangled gadget, not to be taken too seriously.

The final volume in Sir James’ trilogy will cover the period from 1914 to when he retired in 1947. (TRAMPS AND LADIES. Published by Angus and Robertson, Ltd. Australian price, 27/6.)

Behind The Lines

In New Guinea

WHEN Peter Ryan, who had been patrolling in the Wain country behind Lae, New Guinea, and up and over the 13,000 ft. Saruwaged Range for a year or so, got back to base at Wau he did not own even the clothes he stood up in— a pair of ragged green shorts, a wool shirt and sandshoes. These had been given to him by the men at Kirkland’s or the Wampit. The rest of his equipment had been lost coming back from the Madang side of the range, or when he fell into a nest of Japs near the Markham.

He explained this to the quarter master at Wau who demanded his pay-book and other papers, but the quartermaster was not impressed.

“Good God, man, that’s no excuse”, he said. “Don’t you realise that it’s a crime in the Army to lose your pay-book? You can’t be issued with any equipment here without a pay-book”.

Nor was he. Ryan let the District Officer, Major Donald Vertigan, get it for him.

Ryan’s war, or the year or so of it that he served as part of Kanga Force, operating behind the Jap lines in the Markham-Saruwaged area, like any man’s war that is detached from the overall picture and presented as an individual effort, was largely composed of frustration. In his case, it con tained as well, large slices of solitude, continual physical exertion patrolling in the rugged Huon

Peninsula, sickness without ac j quate medical care, poor foe native village accommodation, ras heat and cold. On the credit si; he was his own boss; and he v far from the haunts of either 1 base wallah or the base bludger..

This period of his Army life Ry describes in his book (launched' Australia at the end of October see PIM, Nov., p. 20), Fear Dn My Feet.

The most remarkable thing abic the story—which one assumes largely of encounters with t enemy—is the fact that, in sr of the title, and although it cov< from 12 to 18 months’ of RyaE life, he does not actually engs in any skirmishes with the Jj until the end. By this time 1 reader is so surprised that it pt duces anti-climax where it sho-< have had the reverse effect.

Not that Ryan didn’t have pier to be frightened about. When story opens it is 1942 and he; 18. He was at Wau, which v then being supplied the long w round from Port Moresby and

Lakekamu River to Bulldog, over the top to Wau, a seven carry. , . . r reasons not explained ade aly Ryan was singled out by district officer, given an old an older revolver, one rookie e-boy and five carriers, a ’s food, but no map, no >ass, and told to go find Jock 3od “somewhere in th e waged”. Ryan had, at that ;, been two months in the trv. >ll such stupidities do happen war—although what veteran -od had to say when, by good more than anything else, Ryan ly reached his hide-out deep ie Wain country, without any l provisions, adequate trade s or any of the relief supplies *od had a right to expect from mdevoted bosses back in base, be imagined. an himself is probably more rised now, as a man in his ’Thirties, than he was at 18 i, as he says, he felt like a David Livingstone, or a hero of the Boy’s Own Paper. A : deal of this book is, in fact, ured with mature reflection; 18-year-olds have had the time, tave the inclination to be so sal, even in war time.

No Radios e task of McLeod and Ryan to “govern” some tens of sands of natives in the area— L ly by patrolling amongst them; at the same time to keep an in the Japanese who were dug in strength, in Lae and maua although they had not, hat stage, penetrated far in ,e coastwatching aspect of i’s and McLeod’s job, however, largely cancelled out by the that no one had provided with a radio, and anything had to communicate to head ters had to be sent by runner, was at this stage that Ryan 3s the acquaintance, briefly, of Downs (later District Com ioner of Eastern Highlands, a coffee planter), in that area ,ome cloak-and-dagger occupa of his own. Before they could m with planned patrolling, but before Ryan establishes a very ;al Downs in his book, the r is recalled to Australia. this time, the natives of this tically untouched area were idly and co-operative and this inued right up until the time a was sent for medical atten in Port Moresby, the space of a couple of ths the whole aspect changed. :he time he had got permission return again to the Wain itry, all the other Europeans ating in the area had been idrawn. This time, he was ac panied by a former patrol

officer, Captain Les Hewlett, and this time they had a teleradio.

The position was now much more difficult as the Japanese were moving freely into the back country—exploring what evidently was intended as an escape route from Lae to Madang, and the attitude of the natives had changed accordingly.

The natives knew there were thousands of Japs at Lae and Salamaua; they knew there were only two Europeans in their area.

The Japs had a short way about head-lopping. They could not be blamed over much if they bowed to the obvious.

The Ryan-Howlett patrols were complicated by this factor as much as by the fact that they were now, themselves, frequently cross

mg the fresh tracks of Jap patrols.

Finally, their retreat across the Markham was cut off, leaving them the alternative of holing up in some remote mountain village for the duration, or crossing the Saruwageds to the Rai coast where they had heard that two old Terri torians, Lincoln Bell and B.

Fairfax-Ross were operating.

This crossing of the range was finally made, in the face of native reluctance and in spite of an inadequacy of supplies and cloth ing for the task. But no sooner had they reached the other side than they were instructed by head quarters to withdraw altogether from the Huon Peninsula, as HQ had lost contact with one party (Bell’s) and the other (Fairfax- Ross) was also withdrawing. (Overt

tiis is almost the end of Ryan’s y. They succeeded in recross the range further west where > lower, and got to Chivasing, irmerly friendly village close to Markham. It was here they ced into a patrol of Japanese; dett was shot dead and Ryan ;d himself only by submerging self for hours in river mud le the enemy and natives ied out an unsuccessful search, i spite of some obvious short ings, Ryan’s book is an excellent ription of this type of warfare, mgst natives who are not so h Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, as lan beings who want a little i way; in country that even er the best conditions would ik the heart of a mountain goat. observations will not please yone—but they might give food thought, and a lot of natter chatter in the clubs and pubs New Guinea where the book have an interested audience.

SAR DRIVE MY FEET. Published by s and Robertson, Ltd. Australian . 20/-.)

live Life In

j Highlands

lONG the flow of books about New Guinea to come from the publishers is Doctor’s Wife in ) Guinea, which won’t become of the more celebrated works that Territory, but which will e a place on our bookself never ess. be doctor’s wife is Margaret ncer, whose husband, Terry, a Government medical officer ioned in the Middle Wahgi iey in 1954-55 when this book written. It is in diary form, limple straightforward language, it deals entirely with the native pie. No European name so much

as gets a mention—unlike that other, star-studded, book on the Wahgi which immediately comes to mind, Colin Simpson’s Adam in Plumes.

Mrs. Spencer reports on the usual things which strike the new-comer to the Territory—the problem of getting satisfactory house boys, the lack of such things as fresh milk, and the long distance that the groceries have to travel, the intricacies of native trading, the use of pidgin, etc. She recounts her day-to-day experiences, as she works at the hospital with her husband, or goes out on census patrol with him and the kiap, witnesses sing-sings, discusses bride price and the value of pigs, and generally takes an intelligent in terest in native life around her.

She never at any time goes very deep, or has anything of great importance to impart, but she gives an accurate, balanced report of what daily life is like in that area of the Highlands. There are plenty of good photographs to help along the text. Doctor’s Wife in New Guinea will be of greatest interest to those who have never lived in New Guinea.

(Doctor’S Wife In New Guinea.

Published by Angus and Robertson. Aus tralian price, 22/6.)

From The Highlands

To The Sea

ANOTHER book with a New Guinea background is The Last Blue Sea by David Forrest—the story of an Australian militia unit which fought its way down from Wau to Salamaua against the Japs in the Pacific War. It is a novel.

It is not based on history and the only real character who appears, fleetingly, in its pages is Damien

Parer, the famous war cameraman member of the New Guinea Parer family, to whom the book is dedicated.

The last blue sea of the title was a symbolic sea. Those who fought on the New Guinea trails always fought down to the sea, where a man was free again, before fighting across more ranges towards more seas. But somewhere in the future there was a cool, sparkling, incredibly blue sea where there was no more war—the last blue sea.

Those who fight towards the sea in this novel include a mixed bag of Owen and Bren gunners and riflemen—some of them courageous, some of them ready to “shoot through” at any time, and an odd collection of officers including “Butcher” O’Grady who is hated for the way he "ushes his men, and takes risks with other people’s lives.

The author’s description of jungle fighting and of the mountainous terrain is first-class. And there are some first-class passages deal ing with the emotions and the problems of the fighting men—and fighting men are the same every where.

Yet the book falls short of being first-class itself because it is too inclined to be wordy; to use long purple passages, passages of moralising, when a bit of action is what is needed.

Perhaps, surprisingly enough, if the book were longer, many readers would be prepared to forgive some of these faults of verbosity. For there is no doubt that the author does manage to build up, towards the end, a picture of how a raw, badly led militia unit can find it self as a result of battle experience —but it ends there before the reader is quite satisfied with the picture.

He is left wondering what would happen to that unit if it were allowed to go on.

The Last Blue Sea won the first Dame Mary Gilmore Award. David Forrest is now a Brisbane bank official. (THE LAST BLUE SEA. Published by Heinemann. Australian price, 18/9.)

Mr. Sin of Singapore

IN our humble opinion there are a lot of thrillers that could as well make their bow to the public through the paper-back without the formality of the expensive-bound debut—and Mark Corrigan’s exotic adventures could be included amongst them.

However, while the publishers in sist on putting these high-coloured trifles between board covers, and the customers go on paying out 15/for the production, who are we to complain?

Mark, who has been away from home a lot in these latter days, is

in Singapore (with red-headed sr McLean, of course), con ig himself with the oriental s of a gentleman named Mr. md a racket in synthetic gold, lis happened, of course, before ew regime took hold in Singa and decided to root out all of decadent Western ways.

GAPORE DOWNBEAT. Published e*us and Robertson, Ltd. Australian 15/-.)

e Short Stories

LiUMES of short stories sell airly constantly, we gather, Ithough they rarely reach best class; and anybody looking l book of stories better than couldn’t do better than buy Hours After Noon by Paul 3S, who has a novel to his i —The Sheltering Sky. This tion of 10 of his stories ranges gh a series of characters, from iloured washwoman in New through an Arab waiter, and ) an English authoress living ,d. 3 long title story tells of what sns when the pretty daughter Casablanca boarding house ir comes home on holidays school in England. Thanks e unconscious persecution by loud-mouth mother, she finds If involved in a series of up ;hat could otherwise have been d her. b book is short, but good tainment.

E HOURS AFTER NOON. Published inemann. Australian price, 18/9.)

1 To Unfix A

er Fixation

rHLEEN FOYLE is one of that roup of lady novelists which eeps the lending libraries going, publishers describe her novels lelightful”, and the titles in such names as Turn the Marrying into the Mallesons, • Peoples’ Shoes, and The ►r’s Lady.

' latest offering is The Lonely i, which should be as popular e others with the many people like the lending library nces. il Harmer, owner of an 18th ry house in the Lincolnshire e of Thorpe Drayton, leads is described as a solitary life ough we hadn’t noticed) until sts a visit from an old army , an Australian, who has just 3d from Australia with his iter, Carol. Carol has a father on and doesn’t believe in boy Is for keeps. ck, the Australian, is a dying and to please him, Paul asks [' to marry him—and, to please iather, Carol accepts, dly enough, Miss Foyle is

clever enough as a writer to make this appear more plausible than it appears in a cold, hard review, and, to make the ending even happier, Paul Harmer and now-unfather fixed Carol find they Really Love Each Other after all. (THE LONELY GUEST. Published by Heinemann. Australian price, 18/9.)

The US Cavalry

Rides Again

IF John Prebble, Canadian journalist now living in Eng land, had written The Buffalo Soldiers a few years ago, maybe it would have had little general appeal. Such now is the influence

of US television programmes, how ever, that a large slice of the popula tion of book-buying countries must now be more familiar with the ex ploits of the US Cavalry and how they policed the West.

Set in the Middle West, on the borders of Texas, just after the Civil War, Prebble’s story tells of young Lieut. Byrne, newly commissioned from the ranks, commanding a troop of negro cavalrymen who have only recently ceased to be slaves. His Comanche Indian friend, Quasia, lives on a reserve and hunts buffalo under the protection of Byrne’s troop.

After a raid by marauding Texans on his encampment, Quasia’s band attempts to slip away to join the

Lands” Indians to the West. 3 recaptured and imprisoned, vith a few braves breaks out —with Byrne’s troop in hot it. give the Lieutenant incentive ntinue the chase through the ;rs of unknown country and to •e hunger, thirst and heat, the »r has Quasia’s off-sider brain laughter and abduct the son dow Norvall, whom Irishman i worships from afar. 3 by one, on each side, the ers dwindle until the unlikely x is reached when, finally the rnian and the Indian come To Face. ;hor Prebble is a skilled crafts who obviously has soaked him n research of the period, and andling of the human problems zed in Byrne’s leadership of entful, motley negro squad is 3able.

E BUFFALO SOLDIERS. Published [artin Seeker and Warburg, Ltd. ilian price, 18/9.)

it s New in Paper Editions

E UK printers’ strike of a few nonths back has been affecting he supply of paper-cover ons for the Australian market.

However, the following seven are

some that are currently available;

all are Fontana Books (at 3/9A.),

and ours are from William Collins

(Overseas) Ltd.

THREE FEVERS: A story of the sea and the fishermen who fought their unequal battle with it—plus that of the feuding families of Lunns and Fosdycks. Feuding in Bramblewick, UK, is, however, different from the same occupation in Kentucky, USA. By Leo Walmsley.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Agatha

Christie kills off a dentist and Hercule Poirot, one of the late-lamented's less en thusiastic patients, sets himself to find out who, and why.

The Guns Of Navarone; Author

Alistair Mac Lean’s second novel, and prob ably his most exciting. First published in 1957, it soon reached best-seller class. This storv of how a small party of Britishers stormed an Aegean Island and put a German fort out of action, is to be filmed next year by UK film producer Carl Fore man. His company plans to spend million on the film, which expenditure he says, “will be more than justified if it will cause people to wonder when such nobility of purpose, such dedicated courage, will cease to b« wasted on the senselessness of war”.

A pity about poor Mr. Foreman, up there in his ivory tower. It is unlikely that the customers who bought the book in such quantities were beating their chests as thev read it, and crying about the sense lessness of war. And it is unlikely, unless the story is altered vastly for the movie that movie audiences who see it will react much differently, either. (Over)

E Colour Of Murder: Julian

ns received the 1957 Crime Writers’ iation award for this novel. The is about a dutiful suburban husband gets pushed over the brink by a ging, socially ambitious wife.

IAL EXPOSURE: A Paul Mansfield unnit set in a “lovely tropical island’’, mably around the West Indies. The er was made more complex by virtue ie fact that a photographer was at in the room at the time it happened. rURN TO HAPPINESS: Another er in which love strikes down its as like ninepins—by Renee Shann, the il successor to Ruby M. Ayres.

ERILLA SURGEON: Lindsay Rogers, a Zealander, has had an interesting life >und, but here he tells something of nonths during the war in which he in forests and caves with the Jugo m partisans, giving them the benefit s medical and surgical skill in spite ikeshift equipment and language diffi ;s. He had a practice in the North d of NZ when war broke out; he joined Iritish forces in the UK in 1940. After :e in Special Operations (including Javia) he served in Ceylon, India and before he was demobilised. He was five years Professor of Surgery at University, but now is back in New ,nd.