CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Public Man : his Duties, Powers, and Privileges, and How to Exercise Them. By James Tayler. (Effingham Wilson.)—This is a small volume intended for any one who may be induced by ambition or sense of public duty to enter what is known as public life. The aim of the book is to impart a knowledge of the various offices to which the public are eligible, the times and manner of election, the forms and regulations in use, and the methods to be pursued in the transaction of public business in assemblies of all kinds, from Parliament to Parish Council. The chapters on the Crown and the Houses of Parliament are very slight, and in some particulars inaccurate. There are longer chapters on County Councils, District Councils, and Parish Councils, in which the Local Government Act, the Parish Councils Act, and other Acts of Parliament are summarised with tolerable clearness. But to be of much practical service such a book as this should go more into detail, and should sum up the Acts of Parliament instead of quoting them. The chapter on public meetings contains a useful code of rules, by following which the chairman of a public meeting will preserve order and compel the meeting to do its work in a businesslike manner.
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