We have received a further batch, twenty-eight in number, of
the useful Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office for the Peace Conferenco and published by the Stationery Office. The most important of these gives an account of the political and economic situation in the Persian Gulf (2s. net), tracing the long diplomatic process by which Great Britain has secured complete ascendency in this region so as to prevent any foreign interference. The last treaty mentioned was made with Ibn Saud of Nejd and Hasa on December 26th, 1915. Six handbooks deal with Portuguese Africa; the San Theme and Principe volome !states that in 1913-17 48,925 "indentured labourers" wore imported from the main- land and 27,220 repatriated, and that the death-rate among them is from 8 to 10 per cont., while it is still higher among their children. Other volumes deal with the French, Portuguese, and Dutch East Indies, with New Guinea (Papua) and the Falklands, with tho Guianae, British Honduras, St. Pierre, and Greenland. One wonders what the Peace Conference could wish to know about Greenland.
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