26 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 45

THE ROMANCE OF THE COTTON INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND. By L.

S. Wood and A. Wilmore. (Oxford. 5s.)--Do we know that tenth-century Spain grew cotton, that the Worsley Canal came into being through the fickleness of Elizabeth Gunning, that the first power loom was worked by a bull, that France sent £4,000 to the Lancashire Cotton Relief Fund ? This interesting and profusely illustrated book teaches all there is to know (outside Lancashire) about cotton. One shortcoming it has. It lashes our fathers' social sins ; it winks at our own. Manchester had no sewage system in 1834. Parts of Sheffield have none to-day. And rat- infested cellars are still inhabited in Liverpool. Trade is not all romance !