THE QUARTERLIES.
The Edinburgh.
Professor A. B. Keith's searching article on " The Imperial Constitution and the Imperial Conference " deserves careful study. He notes how opinion has changed since 1907 and 1911 in regard to fundamental questions such as Defence, Emigration or Preference, how the Indian problem has grown in importance, and how membership of the League has affected the Dominions as partners in the Empire. It is clear that the Conference of the coming autumn will have plenty of subjects to discuss. Sir Alexander Harris examines the alternatives " Empire or Commonwealth ? " and urges that no sufficient case for changing the time-honoured name of the British Empire has yet been made out. Mr. F. A. W. Gisborne, writing on " The Future of Tropical Australia," states afresh his well-known arguments against the " White Australia " policy in which nearly all Australians firmly believe. An instructive " Sidelight on Reparations " is given by an unnamed writer, who Shows that the constituent States of Federal Germany depend for most of their revenue on the central Exchequer and that the States might well contribute, directly or indirectly, to Reparations as the Peace Treaty requires them to do. M. Cammaerts writes well on Belgium and the Entente " ; he looks to Belgium to reconcile Great Britain and France, or rather to show them that they are really in agreement though they may appear to differ. Professor Gregory contributes an important article on " Climatic Changes and Continental Drift," dealing with Wegener's new theory, on which he casts doubt, and with Professor Huntington's belief that changes in climate account for most of human history—a belief which Professor Gregory utterly discredits. Sir F. W. Mott deals in an interesting fashion with " The Biological Foundations of Human Char- acter," and Lord Ernie has a delightful essay on " The Light Reading of the Stuarts," which was by no means solely composed of " Clelie " and the " Princesse de Cleves."
Previous page
