Shingle-Short and Other Verses/Preface
PREFACE.
Of the pieces included in this little volume of New Zealand verse, a few in their entirety and fragments of one or two others have already appeared elsewhere; and, for permission to republish these, my thanks are due to the respective editors of the London “Spectator,” the New Zealand “Canterbury Times,” and the Sydney “Bookfellow” and “Australia.”
I wish also to record in this place my deep gratitude to several generous and helpful critics: namely, Miss Jessie Mackay, and Dr. Hight in this country; and, in England, Professor E. H. Donkin, of the Royal Holloway College, and Miss A. E. Donkin. And, to friends, neighbours, and chance acquaintances all up and down this Dominion, my thanks are herewith warmly tendered for a co-operation, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, but invariably kind, without which the studies for this book could not have been made, nor its contents written.
I hope for a few readers in the Old Country, and in that hope have here and there explained, by means of footnotes, not only the Maori words employed, but also the use of certain current Australasian terms. With regard to the Maori words, I have also, to the best of my ability, given their approximate pronunciation; with this exception, that, where a native word is already in daily use among us, I have indicated, in preference to its original and more correct sound, that under which it now forms part of our own tongue.
Long Look-out, Chorlton,
Banks Peninsula, New Zealand.