21 DECEMBER 1929, Page 25

THE MIRROR OF KONG HO. By Ernest Bramah. (Grant Richards

and Humphrey Touhnin. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Bramah's book was very good reading when he wrote it, and is still good reading to-day. His imaginary Chinaman on an educational visit to London recounts very much the sort of incident with which we are all familiar in boarding-houses and streets, but the freshness of his eye gives them piquancy. The book oscillates between this state of light burlesque and, where Kong Ho's strangeness leads him into actions which are misinterpreted, roaring farce, and is always readable. The wisdom of his civilization is often of little service to him, but just occasionally, as in the story of his meeting with the confidence tricksters, it is his strength. The rendering into conventional phrases of colloquial and police English is not the least charming pait of the book. Mr. 3. C. Squire con, tributes an appreciatory introduction. •