"WHITAKER.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21544, 16 January 1932, Page 10

" WHITAKER.”

If the “ dippability ” wfyich Stevenson recommended in books is a quality bespeaking their excellence, “ Whitaker’s Almanack ” must be classified as a very good book indeed. The reader who picks it up carelessly, thumbing a page here and there, will, if he has the normal amount of curiosity, find his attention held and diverted on almost every one of its thousand pages. The remorselessness with which “ Whitaker’s ” directs him from one item which he has no particular wish to read to some other entry that has no especial significance in his daily round may possibly annoy him at first; but if he is sensible,' with a desire to improve his knowledge, he will soon become a meek disciple, profitably absorbing the authentic information concerning all countries that is provided between the familiar green covers of the invaluable almanack. The history of “ Whitaker ” might quite truthfully be said to be linked with the modern history of Great Britain, since the publication has for more than six decades provided an annual summary of the events in the United Kingdom and beyond. Its history also concerns that of the spheres, for Joseph Whitaker, who founded it, set down plainly on the ornamental title page that his “ Almanack for the Year of Our Lord, 1868 ” was competent to speak not only upon such mundane matters as government, finances, population and statistics, but also on “ the Astronomical and other Phenomena ” of the day. With a reticence due, no doubt, to its Victorian upbringing, “Whitaker ” for 1932 makes no reference to itself, save to explain that political changes towards the end of last year necessitated many changes in the issue in order that it might be available for transmission overseas in the ordinary course. Concerning all other English institutions, however, it is very informative in a manner advertising both its great knowledge and its discretion. If we are so unpardonably curious as to desire to know the identity of the Extra Woman of the Bedchamber of the Queen, “ Whitaker ” can tell us; should we be interested in the duties

of that somewhat embarrassing and prying dignity the King’s Proctor, “ Whitaker ” provides the information. Upon international questions, national events and calamities, “ Whitaker ” has a fund of knowledge that puts Prime Ministers to shame. It knows more about New Zealand than we ourselves know, being equally well-informed upon - the climate of the Dominion, which is correctly described as “mild with an abundant rainfall,” and concerning the number of telephones in the country. If we have a layman’s interest in science, but a layman’s pardonable distrust of technical jargon, “ Whitaker ” is again equal to the task of informing us regarding new developments, from the embalming of whales to the method of taking a census of bees, from the pxecociousness of the zebra butterfly, which possesses a memory, sociability and caution, to the investigations of a learned professor into the foaming of beer. But the gathering of recondite knowledge has not deterred “Whitaker” from more topical studies, and Unemployment Insurance, the British general election, an account of the events leading to the Home crisis and the world crisis, are all treated in authoritative style and with an absence of ornamental verbiage which should make the volume an admirable corrective manual for the politician who believes that in order to convey a lot it is necessary to speak at great length.