Seaponrs ey THe Far East," by Allister "MacMillan, "F203, Looe don: W. H. & L, Collingridge.
The second edition of this import ant and comprehensive work hag followed so closely upon the first published at the end of 1923, to leave no doubt as to the popularly ty and utility of the book, the scope of which is best told in the worda of the publisher:—
+20. convey, by, photon wel interesting intern ion and
some.of the principal scape Far Bast, more expecially the mmerelal and. industrial etiviti Dealing with the most "of the tant ports and commierciad from Malaya to Tientsin, but omitting all reference to Japan (which, after all, is an integral part of the Flr East), such a book, to be entirely complete in historical sections or all-embnaci in its commercial references, woul ran into several large volume: many of the ports, auch as Shanghak and Hongkong, which occupy prominent places in the present work, would "deserve large individual volumes to themseles, Mr. Macmillan, has avoided afb that.
His historical notes, which are neither too brief to be uninteresting nor too prolix to be boring, are generally well-written and to the point; and if not all of them bear J-mark of originality, Pry ate at least, resented in a riner which, to a stranger to the Far East, cannot but prove interest ing and educative its descriptive articles dealing with the various ports that the book chiefly excels. All of thes accounts are well written, obviousl by writers who know their subjects and the section devoted to Shanghai is one of the truest and brightest dissertations of life in our own, arent city that it has been our privilege to read.
Each port comes really under two main headings—historieal and des" criptive, and commercial and industrial. It may appear somewhat paradoxical, but the commercial and industrial sections impress one og being comprehensive without being "P- complete.
In other words, the industrial and commercial particularg, given are only of firms which ap~ parently have made arrangements for those particulars to be inserted. 'To take Shanghai, for instance: 'There are short articles descriptive of the activities of some 140 firms here, which can be only a fraction of the total number of firms in business in Shanghai. As, however, practically all branches' of commercial and industrial activity are represented in the 140 or 40 firms which have been "written up" there is obviously that comprehen: sivaness without completeness to which reference has been made above. To what extent this con dition obtains in the sections deal-ith other ports we are unable Three new sections have been aded to this edition, dealing with Hankow, Tientsin and the Dutch East Indies, and these are lacking in none of the interest and informfativeness which characterize the other sections, No reference to this book would be complete without mention of the large number of illustrations which, whether to do with native life or with buildings, scenery, commerce or industry, are perfectly reproduced and, on the whole, extremely interesting.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.