SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does net necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
Tun OCTOBER ManAzirrus.—Colonel John Ward opens the Nineteenth Century with some plain words about " The Issue in Ireland." He regrets that an offer was made to Sinn Fein at such a time. If the offer is finally rejected, he says that the Government must at all costs maintain the authority of Parlia- ment in Ireland. But they should, he thinks, ask Parliament to give the offer of " Dominion Honk, Rule " statutory form, so that suspicious Nationalists may be assured of its genuineness. Mr. St. Loe Strachey writes on " The Washington Conference and the ` Hand-fasting ' of Britain and America," insisting that Great Britain must " make it clear to the American people that we will stand by them and back them in their proposals at the Conference." He urges the British Press " to treat the Confer- ence not with a weary politeness or a dogged and painstaking sympathy but with zeal and enthusiasm and with that appreci- ation with which a great cause should be handled." Lord Selborne gives a spirited and detailed criticism of " A Bill to abolish Private Property in Land," lately presented by the Labour Party ; it is well worth reading by house-owners as well as landowners, who would all be ruined, while the country would not benefit. Sir Henry Rew, discussing " The Agricultural Wage," describes the work of the Wages Board and pleads for conciliation between farmers and labourers now that the Board is abolished. Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald B. Hurst laments the decision to reduce the Territorial Army, under the ironical heading of "A Great Victory for the Economists " ; it is, he says, in reference to the score of disbanded battalions, "a false economy to deprive the country of these nurseries of character and capacity," and a misfortune from the social standpoint. The total saving is estimated at £400,000 a year. Colonel J. F. C. Fuller discusses " The Purpose and Nature of a Fleet," and concludes that the wisest purpose is that which the Admiralty has apparently adopted, to " maintain a one-Power standard which will not stimulate our arrogance or desire for war." Sir Henry M. Lawson contributes a sympathetic and instructive article on Lord Kitchener. Sefior Pijoan in an article on the situation in Spain declares that a serious campaign in the Riff will mean k Communist insurrection at home, in the absence of the troops. He says that the rebels get arms from Tangier, which should, he thinks, be assigned to Spain. Captain Swinton pleads for a reconsideration of the vexed question of " The Site of London University " ; he favours the Holland Park site as against Bloomsbury, where there is not enough space for expansion, and he will not admit that it is too late to reconsider the Government's choice of Bloomsbury. Mr. Frederic Harrison contributes a charming dialogue, "De Senectute," in praise of a good old age, which, we are sure, expresses the author's feelings more truly than Cicero's treatise did. Miss Katharine C. Hopkinson writes with knowledge of " The Poetry of Peasant Speech."—In the Fortnightly Review Mr. Edmund Gosse gives some interest- ing recollections of Lord Wolseley, whom he knew welL Lord Wolseley served in China in 1860 and ever after retained a great respect for the ordinary Chinaman—" the cleanest, the most temperate, the most philosophical creature in the world." It was by a mere chance that Lord Wolseley was not sent under a flag of truce instead of Captain Brabazon, who was foully
murdered by his Chinese escort. " Damon " contributes an article on " Peace and the Baghdad Railway," drawing attention to the obscurity of the agreement made between Great Britain, France, and Italy last year for the future management of the railway. France, it seems, will have the larger share. Mr.
R. C. Long gives a detailed account of " Dr. Wirth's Financial Reform," which is based on a compulsory mortgage to the State of part of the " gold value " of all property and on the raising of foreign loans for which the mortgage would be a security. Mr. L. D. Charles shows that the boundary dispute between Panama and Costa Rica may be traced back to the royal grant of Veragua to Christopher Columbus and has been in progress since the sixteenth century, because the Madrid authorities did not know the geography of Central America. Mrs. H. A. L. Fisher writes sympathetically and helpfully about " The Un- married Mother." Colonel F. P. Cockerell explains clearly the situation in Upper Silesia. Mr. A. J. Liversedge revives an old project for letting the sea flow across Galilee into the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea and beyond—a project which he thinks that Ezekiel foretold. Mr. S. M. Ellis has a pleasant article on his old friend the late Mr. Austin Dobson. Mr. Julian
S. Huxley sends from Spitsbergen a notable paper on " The Biology of Spitsbergen Birds." " In the laboratory or the lecture-mom," he says, " Evolution often seems to elude the mind, to become a doctrine rather than a reality. . . • Here in the open one sees its slow finger at work and realizes that, with time, all things are possible to Life."—Sir Frederick Maurice writes in the Contemporary on " The Limitation of Armaments." He maintains that, if the reduction of armaments is to be lasting, " there must be other forces at work than a demand for economy." He looks to the League of Nations to amuse public opinion and to keep watch lest any States should seek to evade such agreements as may be made. Great Britain, he says, cannot hope for any further serious reduction of her military expenditure, but he thinks that the three great naval Powers may agree to reduce the number of their battleships. Dr. Addison has a vigorous article on " The Redemption of Slums," lamenting the reduction of the State grant in aid of rebuilding schemes, and maintaining that it is false economy to leave the slum-dwellers to fill the hospitals, workhouses, and sanatoria. Dr. Addison's sentiments are admirable, but he is blind to the financial problems involved. Professor Patrick Geddes, who has spent many months in Palestine in order to prepare plans for the development of the towns and villages, contributes an instructive and impartial article on " Palestine in Renewal." He says that the Arab landowners are getting very high prices for their land from the Jews and are often glad to have Jewish settlers, who set a good example to the native farmers. Most of the Jewish immigrants are, he thinks, quiet and hard-working people. " The area of Palestine available for reclamation and improvement is vastly greater than its present too scanty population can overtake." Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, who has recently visited Bokhara, describes " The Bol- shevist Menace in the Middle East." The Bolsheviks have enslaved the wretched Moslems of Bokhara and Turkestan and threaten Afghanistan. He pleads for " overtures " to the Afghans, but it is they who have rejected the old alliance and who do not seem inclined to renew it in a modified form. Mr. S. K. Ratcliffe writes on " Prohibition : Plain Facts and Common Sense " in America, making light of the partial failure of the law, and suggesting that we ought to send a commission of Inquiry to report on this " momentous movement which is changing the entire civilization of the West."—Blacicw000r has an entertaining article by Brigadier-General H. H. Austin on " Rifle Thieves of Iraq," who gave the British Army much trouble during the advance up the Tigris. The more agile thieves pretended to be dogs or jackals. There is a good paper on " Seven Years of War and the Salt Range," in which justice is done to the Punjabi soldier. Mr. A. W. Long's "A Shooting Trip in the Emerald Isle " recalls the pleasant days that are gone and may never return if Sinn Fein has its way.
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