We have received a goodly-sized volume entitled "Glimpses of the South Seas and India," bein one j of a series of the World's Trade Records and Japan Trade Records, issued by the Taikansha, Tokio. 1s difficult to know how to classi this publication, but presumably iz intended as a handbook to trade and commerce. It was preceded last year by "Glimpses of China," and the present volume deals with the Philippine Islands, French Indo-China. the Straits Settlements and Malay States, Siam, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, India, Burma, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand and the South Sea Islands.
Chapters on history ~—and geography are given, and while comments are made as to recent progress in the countries dealt with, the remarks on trade and statistical" returns are such as might be culled from any Customs publications, As a consequence, from the point of view of a merchant desiring particular and detailed information, the book does not go very far, and while in many respects produced in an attractive form, it is, we very much fear, unlikely to prove of the first value as a hook of reference in commerce generally. A great deal of the information set forth will he found in school histories and geographies, and the ever-spreading scope of government trade reports is likely to keep the merchant more in touch with the possibilities of commerce in the far countries of the world than can such a work as this. Nevertheless it presents pleasant and not too heavy reading, and taken in conjunction with the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.