Mr. Healy roughed it because he had to. He is
annoyed by 'the invariably -dishonest pretence that one is tolerating the inconveniences and indignities of second and third class because one meets nicer people in the steerage, or because 'dressing for dinner is a nuisance.'" And Far from Home (Michael Joseph, 12s. 6d.) is distin- guished from many books of this type by a kind of honest detachment which enables the author to estimate the real value of his experiences. He was fired from his job on a Melbourne newspaper, and found himself with little money, nothing to do, and nowhere to go. So he went, eventually, to Broome, a pearling port on the north-west coast of Australia. It was a rough little place, and the Author must be com- mended for running a newspaper, and making a success of it. He describes the life of this little-visited part of the Empire, where pearls are of more account than human beings, and sharks arc not always fish. Then followed two years on the staff of a Sydney news- paper, during which he " covered " the Melbourne centenary air race, and saw something of the life of the aborigines Of the interior. Comparatively few travel-books deal with this part of the world, and Mr. Healy's book is to be recommended.
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