7 JUNE 1940, Page 26

The Statesman's Year-Book for 1940 has been abbreviated by Herr

Hitler. Austria had gone from the 1939 edition ; in the new volume Czecho-Slovakia and Poland still appear, but in their new status they call for less space than in their old. Under Great Britain there still appear full details of naval construction up to and including the estimates of 1939-40, as well as of ships in commission, but the Air Force section is discreetly brief. The statistical tables with which the book is prefaced, especially those on the world production of petroleum and iron and steel, are particularly opportune at the present time. The Statesman's Year-Book is as invaluable as ever to anyone who desires to base his views of the international outlook on accurate information.