28 NOVEMBER 1931, Page 28

The International Labour Organization : the First Decade, tvitli a

Preface by Albert Thomas (Allen and Unwin, 12s. 6d.) is a very welcome volume. The work of the International Labour Organization commonly receives much -less publicity than the major activities of the League of Nations, and many even of those well acquainted with international affairs in general are astonishingly vague both as to how the Organiza- tion works and what it does. This volume removes all excuse .for ignorance, for it gives a compact and comprehensive- account of everything, that any but the complete specialist will want to know on the subject, and gives it with a lucidity and an absence of overlapping all the morecraitable when it is considered that several hands have collaborated in the work. The principles and the organization of the I.L.O. itself are treated in the early chapters ; in the later ones comes an account of the results achieved. It is a record the range and variety of which will surprise most of its readers. Particularly interesting is the chapter entitled, " The Effective Results of the Conventions," which shows what advances have been made in the actual labour legislation of the different Countries of the world, as a result of the I.L.O.'s work. Here, as else- where in the book, the sober statement of facts and notable absence of rhetoric adds greatly to the effect.

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