5 OCTOBER 1912, Page 13

War and the Private Citizen. By A. Pearce Higgins, LL.D.

(King. 5s. net.)—Dr. Higgins believes that a more widely diffused knowledge of the recognized laws of war would sober public opinion in times of strained international relations. He is a lawyer, but writes for laymen, and draws an impressive picture of war as it affects civilians and non-combatants. There is a valuable chapter on the subject of conversion of merchant vessels into warships, but the chapter which perhaps merits the closest attention is the third, which deals with the position of newspaper correspondents in naval warfare, especially in view of the pos- sibilities of "wireless." Dr. Higgins writes impartially, but fully recognizes that it may be necessary here and there to exclude the war correspondent altogether.