21 FEBRUARY 1925, Page 28

A well-known municipal authority has been heard to remark that

a single volume of L.C.C. "minutes of proceedings " was more interesting than any novel he had ever read. Be that as it may, Mr. Tiptaft has certainly managed to write a very readable book about the trials and disasters of an attempt to build the new Jerusalem in an English provincial town, by means of jeining the city council. Mr. Tiptaft, it seems, did not succeed in transforming toe " Brassville " of his dreams into an actual and regenerated Birmingham (which, we take it, was the scene of both his activities and his book). But he has had his revenge on the obstructionistS by pillorying them in his book.