THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF KINGSLEY FAIR- BRIDGE. (Oxford University Press. 6s.)-This
is mainly the story of a boy's adventures in Rhodesia. He writes of his hard- ships and hairbreadth escapes plainly, almost grimly. It is impossible not to believe what he says, though he tells us very simply that his own people did not always believe him. As soon as he became a man Kingsley Fairbridge went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. His first sight of London came to him as a keen disappointment. The straggling lines of grimy houses made his heart sink and the " throngs Of smallish active, young-looking people shouting and running hither and thither " destroyed his dreams of dignified citizens conscious of the responsibilities of Empire. Inspired by the thought of the wide uninhabited spaces of the earth and the teeming populations of English towns Fairbridge gave the whole of his too short mature life to the setting up of a " Child Emigration Society." We doubt whether the publication of his reminiscences will encourage the emigration of children. Fairbridge's youth was a hard if an exciting one, and he does not impress the reader as having been happy.
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