The Toll. By William Westrup. (Hurst and Blackett. 6s.)—A good
deal of light is thrown by Mr. Westrup on the problem of life in modern Johannesburg. The hero of the book is a "shift boss" in a mine, and the heroine, Molly Rayde, goes out to marry him at the opening of the story. It cannot be said that intending emigrants will be much encouraged by Mr. Westrup's descriptions of the conditions of employment in South African mines, and the danger—it might almost be said the inevitable danger—of contracting phthisis is a consideration which does not generally receive much attention from people who go out to seek their fortune on the Rand. The account of the Jewish family whose members do their best to help Molly and her husband, Hugh Elliott, in all the trials which await them is decidedly attrac- tive. The end of the book leaves the reader with a feeling of depression that the conditions of labour in a new country should exact so heavy a "toll" of life and health as that suggested by the author.
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