NEW BOOKS.

Comparative Administrative Law, with Special Reference to the Organization and Legal Position of the Administrative authorities in British India, by Nagendranath Ghose, M.A.B.L., Vakel, High Court, Calcutta: London, Butterworth & Company; Toronto, The Carswell Co., Ltd.

Most of us are well-informed as to the methods of governing India, having read Kipling and his imitators. There are, however, some few things which Rudyard dealt vaguely with, including the administrative machinery by which a couple of hundred million British subjects are governed. These little matters we shall find in Prof. Ghose's lectures. We shall find not only the history of India Administration but a minute working out of it: take for instance Lecture XI, "Organisation of Departments," and Lecture XII., "Organisation of Offices and Services."

But the best of this book-the part that determines us not to read it but to use it as a bank-is that it is "Comparative." This is a modest statement. The fact is that you can find here in concise form the treatment by any and every race that has left a history of almost every conceivable problem in administrative government. If you are interested in the "elimination of patronage" read pp. 300 et seq. If you want to know about ward organisations in medieval cities see p. 55.

One of the most interesting of his comparative studies is on "Bureaucracy" and it appears that there was once a "benevolent bureaucracy." At least Alexander found one as a going concern in India about 326 B.C.; and presumably wound it up.

We recommend this book, especially to two sorts of people, to editors, that they may acquire erudition over night on any current topic of administration and to zealous reformers that they may see what happened when other fellows tried the same totally new experiment.

The Law relating to the Reconstruction and Amalgamation of Joint Stock Companies, together with Forms and Precedents, by Paul Frederick Simonson, M.A., Barrister-at-Law: London, Sweet & Maxwell, Ltd.; Toronto, The Carswell Co., Ltd.

The third edition of this useful publication has been elicited by the numerous amalgamations of banks and insurance companies during the latter part of the While much of the text is based on specific clauses in the old country Companies Consolidation Act, 1908, nevertheless it is worth consulting by anyone contemplating (or resisting) an amalgamation.

THE FOOL'S PARADISE.

MARVIN LESLIE HAYWARD.

The rheumatic stairs creaked protestingly as the young man climbed to the third floor of the rickety building on the corner of MacDonald Street and Tupper Avenue; and the cobwebs had apparently been undisturbed since the days of William Lyon.

"Surely, Brewster can't be the business man father always thought, judging from appearances, "mused Hartt as he walked to the rear of the long hall and knocked at the door of a small room, a little pucker of perplexity bisecting his boyish brow.

The door opened cautiously, and a tall spare man with a weazened face and overhanging white brows, stood on the threshold and peered through a pair of old-fashioned spectacles. His shoulders were bent, as f from much stooping over books of account, and his black frock coat would not have been accepted as collateral for a fifty cent loan.

"I am Donald Hartt," said the caller, producing his card. "I have often heard father speak of you, and thought I would look you up."

"Your father and I were great friends," smirked John Brewster as he led Donald to a seat, "and it's very thoughtful of you to look up an old recluse like myself."

"Not at all," declared Hartt genially as he took a seat, "and as you were one of father's friends and about the only one of the older men in the city who knew him, it's a genuine pleasure to meet you."

"But you don't resemble him at all. I'd never have taken you for Fred Hartt's son," said Brewster, peering keenly at his visitor.

"No," replied Hartt, "I resemble mother's people more, they tell me."

VOL. XXXIX. C.L.T -35

Brewster made no comment on this piece of family information.

"Were you sizing up my little library?" he queried, as Donald's glance wandered to a well filled bookcase which was the only respectable looking piece of furniture in the shabby room.

"You certainly have a fine library, and they're all law books, too," exclaimed Donald, a little surprised at the sudden change in the conversation. "I didn't know you were a lawyer," he added, with a hasty appraising glance at the old man's unprofessional appearance.

"I'm not," replied Brewster; "but I've read a great deal along legal lines, and so am able to do all my own law business. Haven't paid out a cent for advice in the last twenty years, and I've certainly saved some money. The way these law sharks in Toronto charge is something scandalous, and the Government ought to take hold of it," he concluded, with a painful reminiscent grimace.

"I don't know much about it myself," admitted Donald; "but I've always had the idea that it paid a man to get the best medical or legal advice he could, and not take chances. I remember reading a novel once where one of the characters contended that 'an amateur at law is as dangerous to himself as a selfcocking revolver in the hands of children, or a red-eyed bulldog among sheep,' and it struck me as being sound doctrine."

"Nonsense," scoffed Brewster, "that may be all right for a novel; but I've been ‘an amateur at law,’ as you call it, for quite a few years, and I've always 'got by,' as the young people say."

"You may be right," Donald hastened to assure him; "but I always had the idea that it was the work of a life time to really master the principles of law, or of any other profession for that matter."

"I've mastered enough law to do me all right," maintained Brewster.

"It's certainly a great advantage," agreed Hartt.

"But you didn't come to talk about such matters," said Brewster; "tell me something of yourself. How long has your father been dead?"

"About fifteen years."

"Did he leave you fairly well provided for?". queried Brewster, benevolently.

"No," replied Donald. "A few years before his death he lost $100,000 in 'White Cloud' mining stock, and it left practically nothing after the debts of the estate were paid."

"I thought that mine made a big strike and the stock went up like a rocket?"

"That's where father lost," exclaimed Donald. "He bought the stock at a pretty high figure and it 'slumped' the next week. Then one summer he was up in Northern Ontario and got a wire from a Toronto broker offering him what seemed like a good figure for the stock compared with the low price, so he decided to pocket his loss and accepted the offer. When he got back to civilization and got hold of a market report he found that the stock had gone out of sight the day before he sold, and that he had practically thrown it away."

"Too bad," commented Brewster, a sympathetic thrill in his cracked voice; "but your father's brother, William, I think, was fairly well fixed?"

"He was," answered Donald; "I was his favorite. nephew, and he willed me $35,000.”

"That's enough to give you quite a start," averred Brewster, paternally. "What have you decided to invest it in?"

"I'm rather undecided," admitted Donald. "I've thought some of going west, and have a little idea of investing in real estate here in Toronto."

"Toronto real estate's the very best investment I know of for a young man," declared Brewster with a sudden show of interest; "for the city is sure to grow wonderfully in the next thirty years. Now this building of mine right here is a snap for a young man. The rent brings in a good return on the money and it's sure