THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND THE FUTURE Edited by H. V.
Hodson
The editor of the Round Table is to be congratulated on producing a little book in which the many grave and complex problems confronting the British Empire are very frankly set out (Oxford University Press, 8s. 6d.). The book summarises the proceedings of the second unofficial conference on British Commonwealth Relations, held at Sydney last September, and attended by representative men from home and the Dominions. But its essence is contained in the first and last chapters, in which the editor describes " the national interests of the mem- ber nations," and then sums up the discussions under a dozen heads. There was evidently much plain speaking in these private debates, and the British readers in particular will be sharply reminded of the diversity of Dominion thought on
matters which we are all too ready to take for granted. Here we can only draw attention to this most instructive book. It emphasises the extreme reluctance of the Dominions to be involved again in a European conflict, and thus goes far to justify the cautious attitude of Downing Street in face of Continental troubles.
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