SOME BRIEF REVIEWS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 112, 8 November 1930, Page 21

SOME BRIEF REVIEWS

i Those of the legal fraternity interested in criminal law, as well as others uAio take pleasure in reading full accounts of famous murder triais, will'bc iionvcrsant with the "Famous Trials Juries," published by Geoffrey Bles, several of which have been reviewed at Ifength in these columns. To the list has bjjen added "Tho Trial of A. C. Mason." Ilitason was convicted in. 1923 of coldWooded murder in London. On the evidence produced, there was little iSoubt about his guilt and the Court of Criminal Appeal upheld tho conviction. But subsequently tho Home .Secretary ijjornmutcd the sentence to one of ht'c Imprisonment. Why, is hinted at in the account of this trial by the Hon. ■ '11. Fletcher Moulton. The reader is certainly left with the impression that •perhaps the jury system is not infallible. To what extent tho American Consti--1 tution influenced the form taken by ■ the Australian Federation of States is very fully dealt with by Dr. E. M. Hunt, of Columbia University, in "American Precedents in Australian Federation." The mass of detail and maze of reference will make this book of valuable assistance to the student of Australian history, but the wish is in some cases rather inclined to be the father of the thought and the learned doctor, fired with a natural enthusiasm and admiration for tho Constitution of his own country, ascribes more to the influence of that Constitution upon Australia's than some historians in this part of the world might admit. In this connection might also be read "Tho Failure of Federation in Australia." In this book, which is published by tho Oxford University Press, Mr. A. Is. Carraway, K.C., of Sydney, maintains that the federal form of government is a bar to progress, owing to its discouragement of a national outlook and its consideration for urban populations at. the expense of the whole people. In "The Human Touch" Mr. Philip Inman, House-Governor of Charing Cross Hospital, gave some delightful studies drawn from the lives of his largo and varied family. This has been followed in "The Silent Loom" (Geoffrey Bles) by further sketches, cameos of things seen and heard by him during the daily routine of his work. There is a' bright and happy side to life in a hospital, and these human documents show it. "Brighter Spanish," by Senor Don L. de Baeza (Geoffrey Bles), is bright enough to fire anyone with ambition to visit at onco gay Madrid. It is designed to assist those who already have some knowledge of the language and, aimed with it, one ought to be quite at homo whether in an hotel or at a bullfight. "Can you Solve It?" is au excellent Hutchinson publication for householders where there are children or parties. Over a thousand puzzles and problems of every conceivable sort arc to be found in its pages, and, what is more, their solutions as well.