6 JUNE 1931, Page 34

The Firm of Cadbury, by Iolo A. Williams (Constable. 10s.

6d.) is a valuable document for the social historian, Since its foundation in 1831 members have been not merely leaders in their industry, but, as is the excellent habit of many of their faith, leaders in social reform which has been carried out not at the public expense, or not entirely so, but largely at their own. Their piety and their business were not sundered, indeed the "morning readings " were only aban- doned in 1912 when the number of employees made them impracticable and at one time Mr.. George Cadbury and trusted members of his staff used to kneel together in prayer on weighty questions of business. The insistence of members of this remarkable family on rigid adherence to the dictates of their consciences has often carried them into the midst of public questions, and their libel action against the Standard in 1909, with its attendant circumstances, is part of the history of the war against slavery in West Africa. 'Mr. Williams has done his work well, and has shown great discretion in the suppression of irrelevant detail, which must have been difficult in a publication of this sort.

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