In view of the financial crisis in the Commonwealth, Pro-
fessor Edward Shaun's Economic History of Australia (Cam- bridge University Press, 18s.) is timely and serviceable. The author holds the Chair of History and Economics in the University of Western Australia and, as an Australian, dis- plays refreshing candour in his comments on the advanced policies which have landed the Commonwealth in its present plight. His survey of the convict period, the development of sheep rearing and the gold discoveries is vivid and accurate. He sketches with an ironic pen the efforts of the several States to be self-sufficient, until wisdom prevailed and they united in the Commonwealth. Then he describes the origin and development of the practice of wage-fiXhig by Federal and State tribunals which, however well intentioned, has ham- pered employers without satisfying workpeople. To safe- guard artificial wage-standards, the tariff has been raised again and again to fantastic heights. Australia's virtual monopoly of wool has alone made these vagaries possible, but the sudden drop in the world price for wool has brought a rude awakening. Professor Shams is confident that Aus- tralia will have is prosperous future if her wool and wheat export trade is not unduly hampered by burdensome tariffs and taxes -designed to give her a self-dependence that even the United States cannot attain.
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