MANX MEMORIES AND MOVEMENTS By Samuel Norris
Mr. Norris is an English journalist who settled in Douglas in 1894. His lively book of reminiscences (Douglas : Norris Modern Press, 12s. 6d.) is largely concerned with the con- stitutional reforms for which he began to agitate in 5903 and which were granted in 1919. The island as he found it was ruled by an autocratic Governor supported by an official and legal clique ; the House of Keys elected by popular vote was virtually impotent and the administration of justice was far from satisfactory. Mr. Norris, with his English ideas, deter- mined to change all that, and he describes very clearly and not without humour how he fought a puzzled and unsympathetic Governor, Lord Raglan, and all the Deemsters and other placemen. The authorities were ill advised enough to have Mr. Norris committed to gaol in 1916 for contempt of court. Had not Whitehall had its hands full in War-time that blunder would have ensured the reformers' triumph. As it was they had their way as soon as peace returned. Mr. Norris's book is a useful contribution to Anglo-Manx history.
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