24 JUNE 1922, Page 24

The Fiscal and Diplomatic Freedom of the British Oversee Dominions.

By Edward Porritt (Clarendon Press. 12s. 6d. net).—This substantial work is a careful and accurate account of the successive stages by which, during two generations before the War, the Dominions acquired full control of their fiscal arrangements, as well as of the development of their claim to negotiate treaties such as the Franco-Canadian commercial treaty of 1907. Two long chapters are devoted to " The Era of Indifference in Great Britain to Colonies and Empire," which ended in 1887. There is a lengthy appendix of documents. The late Mr. Porritt was not an inspiring writer but he knew how to collect and arrange facts.