The Legislative Council
The Development of the Legislative Council, 1606-1945. By Martin Wight. (Faber and Faber. 10s. 6d.) BEFORE the publication of this book no one could be blamed for thinking that the Legislative Council in the British Empire came about by chance. Nuffield College is remedying this defect with a series dealing with the development of the constitutional
history of the Colonial Empire, and Mr. Wight has the unenviable task of writing the introductory volume. In it he tries to weave together into a pattern the development of the institutions of govern- ment as seen in the " sixty or seventy dependencies that England has at one time or another possessed since Elizabeth's reign," and in the space of 161 pages we are guided through the varied histories of the old Colonial Council, the Crown Colony System, and the Legislative Council from its inception in the nineteenth century. Any method of describing the changes which have taken place in all these territories over some 30o years is fraught with difficulty, and Mr. Wight's is made even more difficult by his desire to trace every development with reference to the territory concerned. While it is a mine of information, and every source is indicated in footnotes, the general reader and Colonial administrator, for whom this book is written, can be forgiven if, should they reach the end, they have not held the thread all the way. But this is a book which should be read by, or quoted to, all those who decry the British record in Colonial rule, for it is doubtful if any other Imperial Power could produce such a documented proof of good intention and patient effort.
JOHN MARTIN.
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