THE STATESMAN'S YEAR-BOOK FOR 1883.*
Tnz new issue of this well-known annual deserves some- what more attention than is usually given to revised editions. The Statesman's Year-book is now within a short period of its majority. It is one of the most respected and respectable of reference-books,—so much so, that one is apt to treat it as one does the tried family lawyer or doctor, and take everything it says on trust. Yet it is an open secret that hard- worked politicians and publicists of experience, to whom well condensed and reliable information means—as Mr. Arnold says of "conduct "—three-fourths of their business life, have lately found it disappointing, inaccurate, and inadequate, and without absolutely discarding it, have been compelled to resort to the Almano.elt de Gotha, and even to such humbler publications as The Statesman'. Year-book for the Year 1883. Twentieth Annual Publication. London : Macmillan and Co. 1883. Whitaker's and the Financial Beform Almanac, to obtain much of what they need. No doubt, this failure of the Year-book to keep abreast of the times has been due to the infirm health of its founder, the late Mr. Frederick Martin, who did his work admirably at first, but who was forced to retire from the editorship in December last. Further, even a hurried glance at the new volume will show that Mr. Martin's successor, Mr. Scott Keltie, has endeavoured to the utmost of his ability, and within the limited time at his disposal, to remove the inaccuracies of the past. It would not be difficult to point out several errors, mostly, however, of a trifling character, that remain ; but it should not be forgotten that editors and publishers, even if animated with the spirit of the "new broom," are only mortal men, and cannot be expected to do in less than two months the work of a year. As it stands, however, the Statesman's Year-book for 1883 is a most decided and encouraging improvement on its more immediate predecessors. Almost every page bears evidence of revision and of anxiety on the part of the editor to bring it up to time. Antiquated statistics that had done duty for years have been swept away, to give place to others of the year, and almost of the hour. Finally, the present, when the Statesman's Year-book is in a transition state, is the time to make suggestions—such are, in- deed, asked for, in the preface to the new number—which may help in making the Statesman's Year-book as fitted to meet the requirements of 1884 as the first issue was to meet the require- ments of 1863.
A word or two on some of the strong points of, and the inter- esting, because fresh, material contained in the new volume. One of the former is population.- The new census returns have all been taken advantage of. The leading results of that for Great Britain are clearly stated, while Russia and the United States have also justice done them. We are glad to see that special pains have been taken to give accurate information as to the diplomatic representatives of our own and other countries, which had been neglected of late; and that the particular statistics which are" everybody's business," such as those of trade, shipping, railways, &c., have been brought down to date. Countries and provinces which have lately, from one reason or another, come into prominent notice, e.g., Greece, Roumania, Servia, and Egypt, have manifestly received great attention. The statement which appears on the subject of Turkish finance is the freshest and clearest we have seen. The results of the Indian census, particularly those of the various religions creeds, are very valuable. Some pieces of information are, however, given in a rather indefinite way. Thus, in an otherwise very good. account of the recent constitutional changes in Italy, scrutin tie liste is mentioned as if everybody knew what it is. Yet how many electors, we might even say Members of Parlia- ment, are there who could tell off-hand the difference between Bernal& de lisle and, we shall not say scrutin d' arrondissement, but the present mode of returning our House of Commons ? A short explanatory note on this point would have been appreciated by many readers. Th en, again, it is quite true, as stated on p.213, that the recent addition to the Army and Navy Estimates caused by the Egyptian Expedition has been met by "an addition to the Income-tax." Bat why not state exactly what that " addition " is, especially at this season, when we are all feeling it ?
The Statesman's Year-book stands in need of improve- ment, if not of complete reorganisation. Why should we not have satisfactory information about Independent Bur- mah, Corea, Hawaii, Zanzibar, Madagascar, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and other countries that are attracting an increased amount of attention ? Besides, a great deal of the information which Mr. Scott Keltie has been at such pains to collect is obviously new wine put into old bottles. Matters which were of great importance twenty years ago are but of comparatively slight importance now. We have no hesitation in saying that all that need be said of the constitution, government, and reigning families, of the countries of the world, certainly of what the late Mr. Bagehot called their " theatrical " elements, could with ease be compressed into one- fifth of the space here allotted to them. Even the necessary information as to revenue, ecclesiastical matters, education, trade, dr,c., could be better condensed and tabulated. The editor and publishers of the Year-book should, in fact, try to realise what English politicians and publicists must be thinking, writing, and speaking abent,—and all too hurriedly,—too, daring, say, the next quarter of a century. What an enormous advantage to public men, and to the nation, whose servants and, at the same time, guides they are, would be a book in which they could easily compare, possibly by means of tables, the various land systems, schemes of taxation, and local self-government, and methods of solving the problem of pauperism, which prevail throughout the world ! Yet these are only a few of the things that our statesmen will have to be looking at and to, during the next few years, and a thoroughly reorganised Year-book might supply them with the spectacles of cosmopolitan knowledge. This work could be made—we do not eay with ease, however—a very much better 'book than it is, and a very much better book than any other publication at all resembling it.
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