11 DECEMBER 1909, Page 24

The Great Question. By L. M. S. Amery and J.

M. Robertson, MP. (Sir I. Pitman and Sons. is. net.)—The "great question" is of course the Fiscal controversy; and the book is ingeniously constructed so that the reader, opening it at one end, finds the ease for Free-trade argued by Mr. Robertson, and, turning it round, finds at the other Mr. Amery defending Tariff Reform. The only objection that we can make to this ingenious idea is that neither of the writers has been allowed to criticise the other, and that the arguments are consequently a little "in the air." In particular, the extremely subtle and disguised fallacies of Mr. Amery could only be satisfactorily dealt with by a detailed analysis. But we may be pardoned for saying that Protection has not many advocates so able as Mr. Amery ; and against weaker adversaries Mr. Robert- son has provided a most useful weapon. Each cover of the volume has upon it an excellent portrait ...by Mr. George Morrow of Britannia as she is conceived by the Protectionist and Free-trader respectively. It would be as improper to speculate upon Mr. Morrow's politics as upon those of the Speaker himself, but we cannot help remarking that the Protectionist's Britannia would

make an extremely unpleasant companion. -