J.A. Lyons—The Tame Tasmanian: Appeasement and Rearmament in Australia 1932–39, by David S. Bird; Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2008, $44.   Cunctation is a word best said aloud only in the privacy of your own home. In fashionable company, it can cause wine glasses to be dropped, the odd devilled prawn to stick in a throat or the slow moving away of both friends and enemies. Like fructify it can be cunningly released with devastating effect. A quick explanation of its meaning is usually vital to restore some sense of calm. According to Webster’s 1945 edition (smaller, modern dictionaries tend to…