26 JANUARY 1929, Page 32

A man who early formed the habit of keeping hot-and-hot

notes of people, things and scenes which impresiedlim, and a man, wh6; lac Sir Walter Hearn, has spentivierity-five years as Bristish -COrikril in various European -coriritries- and in the two Ainericris; is in a position to-produce an entertaining book. Some Recollections (Nash and Grayson; -21a.) is such 'a bOOk, and the reader is taken pleasantly 3 abinit:-4the world; and intrOduced now to the sensational methods of part of the American Preis, now to elk hunting : in Norway, and again to life in. Brazil and sightseeing in Salt Lake: City. A deeper note is struck in the last half of the book, where the author recounts his experiences while holding office as Consul- General at Hamburg from 1911 to 1914, and of the anxious and fateful days of the War at Paris, where in addition to his official duties he undertook all sorts of War-work. It was surely the irony of circumstance that one of Sir Walter's last Hamburg reminiscences should have been the ex-Kaiser's speech before the Kiel regatta in 1914 emphasizing " the beneficent influence of sport in drawing the nations together

in friendly contest." * * * *