"PERPLEXITY AVAUNT."

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5229, 19 March 1904, Page 10

"PERPLEXITY AVAUNT."

“Hazoll’s 1 Annual for 1901.” Edited by W. Palmer, 8.A., Hazeß. Loudon.

Hazoil’s Annual for 1904. following 'the course adopted last year, is - Polished at the earliest date consistent with'the inclusion of a complete record of- the events of 1903. from January Ist to December-31st. The book is thereto i- thoroughly up-to-date, ana in the occurrences the record is brought up to a date within a week of publication. There arc two special fcatiircs of the 1904 annual to which attention may be directed. In response to a very general request from readers all over the world, a very full index has been preposo of-facilitating xeiercuco a-nd of giv - - ing a better idea of tno vast i - ange and tlie infinite variety of the contents of the annual.. There is hardlv any, .ir any, topee in Homo or foreign affairs wliich is not dealt with, ana a ■ very largo number ox 1 subjects are included on which information can be obtained in no other work, of reference. The alphabetical -arrangement of the articles lias still been continued, as in previous years, but the cross i references have 'naturally been banished now that the index has been provided to take their place. To discover nil the information that the annual gives in reference to any subject, thereroro, ms index must be consulted. The other special feature is the extent to which the policy of consolidation and classification of articles lias been carried. ‘‘The British Empire” is now an article of forty-four pages, or about 50,000 words, including the statistical table showing the date or acquisition, capital, area, population, revenue, expenditure, imports, exports and public dept of all parts of the Umpire; the articles on the Colonial Office, the Crown Agents for the Colonies, ana all the separate articles on India and tho colonics, for-, morly placed under their alphabetical headings throughout the book. . This section alone is a valuable handbook corrected right up to aat-e, of the British Empire. “Parliament of Great Britain ana Ireland” is an article of 130 pages, or about 150.000 words, containing tho articles on tho Ministry, Secretaries of State, etc..; the Table of Ministries from Lord iiosebory’s last Administration to the present Administration of Mr Balfour ; the-House of Lords, with biographies ol evqry Peer and Bishop ; the House of Commons, with biographies of every M.P.; lists of the registered electors in every constituency, and. of the pollings at the 1900 election and every bye-election since, down to Mid-Devon;'and an account of tlie vicissitudes of political parties from 1868 to' 1904, ending (in the Occurrences) with the remarkable correspondence between the Duke of Devonshire and Mr, Chamberlain. The Parliamentary session of 1903 is another great division of the book, covering 47 pages, and consisting of about'-60,000 words. Every debate of importance diming the session is noted, every Act passed is summarised, all the more - important Bills are also summarised, and the reports of the principal Parliamentary Committees are included. The Employment of Children; Motor Cars, Irish Land, and London_ Education Acts aro set out practically in their entirety. “Tho Fiscal Question” has twenty-nine pages, or considerably over 30,000 words, devoted to it. There is a historical review of the tariff reform movement, followed by an account of the reception accorded to Air Chamberlain’s proposals in Parliament, by the trade unions, the great political .parties, and the Chambers of Agriculture; a summary of foreign and colonial opinion on the proposals; and lists of the publications and associations on both sides. In order that the two sides of the question should be stated as freely' and forcibly as possible, while the annual should preserve its absolutely non-parti-san and purely expository character, Mr A. E. Hunt has written “The Case for Fiscal Reform," and Mr Gilbert Slater ‘,‘, Tho F n ree twide Vicw of Tariff Reform. ; and these two articles are followed by an expert’s review of the broad trend of the foreign trade of Britain, ami the main facts of tlie existing situation. The maex will point the wav to such other parts of the book ■as illustrate or relate to any part of the lisoal question. “Scientific Progress and Societies, 1903,” as another consolidated article, occupying thirteen or neany 15,000 woras, Radium “of' course, receiving its proper share of attention in the scientific review of the year. There are many diagrams and maps in the volume, and possessing as it docs, so much that is Ircsn and original, the .edition of “Hazel 1” for 1904 must be regarded as in many respects a now work. L