12 DECEMBER 1891, Page 29

English Colonisation and the Empire. By A. Caldecott, M.A. (John

Murray.)—Though called forth by the University Extension movement, this volume is not precisely a text-book for its examinations. It is specially written for those who cannot attend the Extension lectures in the chief centres in the country, but who nevertheless wish for similar teaching. The work at once challenges comparison with Professor Seeley's "Expansion of England," but it differs from that work in giving less considera- tion to principles and fuller attention to details. The author shows great skill in discriminating the stages of colonisation, and in presenting the motives which prompted the varied movements. There is one detail which needs correction. The latest returns show that the Maoris of New Zealand now number forty-two thou- sand (not forty thousand, and they are not "still diminishing ; " on the contrary, during the last five years there has been an increase.