19 FEBRUARY 1910, Page 3

A Royal Warrant has been issued ordering that a Roll

of Baronets shall be prepared and kept in the Home Office. No one whose name does not appear on the roll will be recog- nised as a Baronet. Those who think they are unjustly refused the title of Baronet may appeal to one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and if necessary their cases may to referred to the Privy Council. Thus the substance of the chief recommendation made by the Departmental Committee which was appointed in November, 1905, has been adopted. The odd thing is that it was not adopted sooner. Sir Bernard Burke in his "Peerage" says that the Order of Baronets is "scarcely estimated at its proper value." One explanation of this phenomenon was surely revealed by the Departmental Committee, which reported that five or six per cent. of those who call themselves Baronets have no demonstrable right to do so.