SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we votice such Books of the week as have not been reserrood for review in other forms.] Pleasure and Problem in South Africa. By Cecil Harmsworth, M.P. (John Lane. 5s. net.)—Mr. Harmsworth treats the "Pleasure" part of his subject with animation, and attacks the "Problem" with moderation and a desire to be fair. To most readers the first will be the more attractive part. We can enjoy our author's excellent description of the Victoria Falls, and sympathise with his disappointment when the trout in the Mooi River (Natal) failed to come up to their reputation,—they are deplorably intelligent creatures, and soon learn to distinguish between a true fly and a sham. Nor need we be troubled with South African difficulties, though we cannot wholly forget them, when we are being shown about Ladysmith and Johannesburg. It is a more serious matter when we have to face the questions of Boer v. Briton, of labour in the mines, and of the Asiatic invasion. Mr. Harmsworth thinks that the bold experiment of the Transvaal Constitution is going to succeed, and denies the allegations of injustice done by General Botha's Government to British officials. In any case, he writes in a praiseworthy temper; it is not in his pages that we shall find such mischievous stories as that which lately shocked us about General Smuts and the British flag. He is hopeful about the Chinese question ; the mines will get on, he thinks, without the "yellow peril"; such, he especially tells us, is now the opinion of many who a few months ago expressed a contrary belief. His opinions on the Indian question we cannot attempt to epitomise, but they are certainly worth study.
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