Seaways of the Empire : Notes on the Geography of
Transport. By A. J. Sargent. (A. and C. Black. 7s. 6d. net.)—The Professor of Commerce in the University of London has written an illumi- nating book on the shipping trade of the world, with special reference to the British Empire. In successive chapters he deals with the chief regions, beginning with South Africa and ending with the North Sea and the Baltic, and emphasizing in almost every case the vast importance of our coal exports. His chapter on Suez and Panama is an admirable survey of the changes that will probably flow from the opening of the Panama Canal; the Eastern States of America, he thinks, will trade with Australia by the Pacific, but " the mass of the movement between Europe and Australasia is not likely to be affected by the new canal to any marked extent." In general, the book, which is solidly based on the study of many Blue Books and charts, shows how interesting and how complex are the problems that confront the shipowner and the merchant. It illustrates anew the extent to which the world has come to depend on the British Mercantile Marine, as well as the fact 'that " the movement of shipping depends on ultimate geographical conditions," which politics cannot alter.
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