The Quarterly Review for April (John Murray, Os.) is an
excellent number. Among the many interesting articles is one on "German Steel and Iron," by Professor W. J. Ashley, who contends that the very remarkable growth of the industry is due partly to the tariff and partly to the elaborate " Cartels " or combinations which have been built up with Government support in every - branch of the trade. As Professor Ashley's figures show, our British industry has also grown rapidly without a tariff and with only a moderate measure of combination, but its position was not altogether satisfactory before the war. Sir John Page Middleton in another article paints an attractive picture of Cyprus, that beautiful and historic island which, we trust, no Government will over again offer as a bribe. We like his anecdote given as a proof of the shrewdness of the Cypriote peasant
"Certain Jews, who had visited Cyprus with intent to trade,
gave a piastre to their donkey-boy to get something to eat, some- thing to drink, and something to feed the ass with. The boy, having returned with half a melon, bought with half a piastre, told them to eat the flesh, drink the juice, and give the rind to the donkey. The Jews departed with all speed to a more ingenuous land."
Cyprus in this respect rivals Aberdeen. Lord Sydenham discusses the Indian Cotton Duties, and Professor. Hamelius, of Liege, has a charming article on "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville," hich was, of course, a literary fraud perpetrated soon after 1900 by Jean d'Outremeuse, of Liege, for the delight of many generations.
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