THROUGH THE DOCK GATES By Sir Reginald Kennedy-Cox
After more than thirty years in the East End of London Sir Reginald Kennedy-Cox has written a book (Michael Joseph, ins. 6d.) in which quietly, and with little dogmatism, he looks back on a life which has contributed greatly to the social life of the East End. His real memorial will be the chain of Dockland Settlements of which there are now six in London, one in Southampton and one in Bristol. They have been built up in the course of the thirty years -which Sir Reginald has devoted to the dockers of Canning Town and their families. In that time Dockland has seen many remarkable changes some of which the author here surveys. He writes of life within the Dock gates, and of the men who live there and the reader acquires in very palatable form a good deal of interesting information. His main interest, how- ever, is in the human foreground, in the men and their families and the problems arising out of them. He writes of these with real understanding and brings to their difficulties a warm humanity and the gift of simplicity.
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