IxoTA 1 1950-31—A_ statement prepared for presentation to Parlia- bool ent in' accordance with require This annual volume has inevitably Messrs. Hutchinson have publi to arrive some eighteen months after oda biography of Pagar the termination of the period with written Wythe wite, i'whick Which Ie deals. Its omeial title is] Wallace aces her hua 'A Statement Exhibi and tion "of, India 1930-31." This is a statutary obligation on the Secretary of State, and those who meet this book. in the House of Commons will not find it under the terse title "India in 1930-31" and decorated with grey covers, but in the austere trapping of the Blue Book. It is an open secret that the new Director Public Information has taken over the, preparation of this volume since he first went to India two years ago as Deputy Director. Mr. Stephens need fear no comparison with his distinguished L. P. Rushbrook fessor John Coltman, indeed be has 'o|siven the Government a report Which is 250 pages longer than
"re is supported by quality of a ite "predecessors, "and quantity high order.
So much has Seen written about India and so insistent is it in the current news that a discussion of the narrative passages in the book supererogatory. Its- great value is in its up-to-date exposition of the general state of the people, its elaboration of the many activities of the Government and the peopl outside polities, and its prosaic dication of the economic stability and the improvement in the lot of the masses, which, despite the violent protests of orities of the Government, has steadily proceeded. Tt is too often forgotten that 90 er cent. of the people of India are yural in their ceeupation and environment, To them economies mast always be more important than polities, and the achievements of the Administration in slowly fighting famine, poverty, and ignorance in India stand on record.. This valuable document helps to justify such an assertion. the plain' facts available to a highly organised and [comprehensive bureaucracy.
This does not take. the place of Year Book such as is anni published by "The Times of India" Press, but it affords an authoritative and indispensable guide to the writer on and student of Indi affairs, China can find here information of great service in the chapters on Health and. Education, and the munications, and, in some respects, 'Advancement et' Seienee,"Com" Finance. Just now, when the Chinese Government is) making use of the services of an expert in agricdl= ture there is special interest in the expert's discussion of the introduetion of improved implements, Agricultural education, and agricy tural research. The appendices jelude the terms of the so-called Irwin—Gandhi Pact, a vital note on the wth of the Civil Disobedience movement in Bombay, and Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's important declaration of January 19, 1931. the declaration, be the Government's policy was fully stated and is the policy which holds ood to-day—E.a,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.