SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[reler this heading ire ectics such Books of the week as IMMO sot been reserved for review in other forms.]
Burma under British Rule. By Joseph Dautremer. Translated and with an Introduction by Sir George Scott, K.C.I.E. (T. Fisher lJnwin. 15a. net.)—M. Dautremer was French consul in Rangoon, and, as Sir George Scott remarks in his introduction, "his book is much more like a consular report of the ideal kind than a mere description of the country." That is to say, it is not a book of travel, but a full account, with plenty of statistics, of the natural features, the administration, and the commerce of Burma. It is of especial interest as being the criticism of an outsider, who is able to compare the state of affairs with that in the neighbouring French colony of Indo-China. The contrast gives us no reason for being ashamed of ourselves.
"On the side of Burma," writes M. Dautremer, "there is an administration that knows what it wants, wealth which grows day by day, large capital which does not shrink from coming to develop the resources of the country, which all know to be well governed, and where they feel that they are perfectly safe. On the other side, in Indo-China, there is an administration which is constantly shifting and never seems to know what it wants to be at. . . . The trade and the industries of the country are not what they might be nor what they ought to be, because we are afraid to sink our capital in the colony on account of the uncertainty of the future and the doubt what the next day may bring forth. Our French colonies have too many people who want to manage them from Paris."
Bat while M. Dautremer is on the whole favourable in his views of the administration of Burma, there are some points on which he has criticisms to make. Many of these are emphasized by Sir George Scott in his introduction, but especially the need for improved methods of communication, both internally and with the rest of the Indian Empire. He emphasizes the strategical as well as the commercial value of a railway connexion between India, Burma, and the Malay States. Sir George Scott also maintains that the Government does not do enough in the way of encouraging capitalists to invest their money. "Burma," he remarks, "may be a model possession from the way in which it is administered, as if it were a small allotment, but it is sadly deficient in the enterprise which knows how to make the best use of its resources."
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