Prom Squire to Squatter. By Gordon Stables, M.D. (J. F.
Shaw.) —If we have a fault to find with this book, it is that it takes us too long to get to the squatter. Archie Broadbent is the son of a North-Country squire who tries high farming on his estate, and makes something of a mess of it. Dr. Stables always says what he has to say well, nor is a reader ever tired of his brisk and pleasant style. Still, these preliminary chapters, preliminary to the real business of the book, might have been cut shorter. They serve, however, to introduce the hero and some of his acquaintances, —Bob Cooper, the poacher, and Harry Brown, from Whitechapel, who play important parts in the little drama of his Australian life; for it is of Australia that Dr. Stables really wishes to write, and a very stirring tale of adventure he gives his readers, with not a little instruction in it as well as entertainment. Archie, perhaps, meets with better luck than the average settler. Had he not, he would hardly have done for the hero of a story, who must be always a little idealised. Still, we feel that this is a real, in the sense of being a possible life, that we are reading about. The ups and downs of the squatter's occupations are described with much force,—trouble with floods, native enemies, and other adverse • influences, as well as prosperous ventures. We must not forget to mention with special praise the excellent sketch of "Gentleman Craig," a tale with a moral that no one could read without profit.
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