The Biugular Republic. By W. H. Koebel. (Francis Griffiths. 6s.)—The
author has imagined a Republic in South America -which is entirely owned and administered by its President out of his own private fortune. Such a method of government may indeed be called singular, and Mr. Koebel works out with some ingenuity the inevitable destruction of this purely artificial nation. The politics of Neuvonie are more interesting than the love affairs of the hero of the story, though there is considerable humour in the account of his arrival in the " singular Republic." He is received with extraordinary honours and demonstrations of pleasure. So great are these indeed that he imagines he has been taken for a personage of great importance. Such, however, is not the case. He is received on his own merits, for is he not the very first tourist whom Neuvonie has ever welcomed? The figure of the President is well drawn, though the reader remains unconvinced as to his executive ability. The beginning of the book is rather confused, and it would be easier to grasp the situation if some clear statement had been made as to the establishment and conditions of the Republic of Neuvonie, and if the reader were not obliged, as he is at present, to gather his facts by inference as he goes along.
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