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Prosecutions under Criminal Law, associated in the minds of most people with “criminal offences” of a serious nature—“crime” in the traditional sense—and undertaken by the police authorities, constitute a very large and rather untidy body of public law. It includes a large and constantly growing number of offences in respect of which prosecutions are undertaken by various corporate bodies who, as in the case of local authorities, have a duty albeit with a power of discretion, to prosecute. There would appear to be little in common between such offences, as smoking in the presence of open food or failing to provide soap, nail‐brushes, etc, for food handlers, and the villainy and violence of the criminal, but their misdeeds are all criminal offences and subject to the same law. Other countries, such as France, have definite Criminal Codes and these offences against statutes and statutory instruments which in English Law are dealt with in the broad field of Criminal Law, are subject to special administrative procedure. It has obvious advantages. Although in England and Wales, prosecutions are undertaken by police authorities, local authorities, public corporations, even professional bodies and private individuals, with a few statutory exceptions for which the Attorney‐General's fiat or consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions is necessary, may instigate a prosecution against anyone if he can provide prima facie evidence to support it. In Scotland, prosecutions are instituted at the instigation of the various authorities by an officer, the Procurator‐Fiscal. Many advocate such a system for England and Wales, despite the enormous difference in the volume of litigation. Supervision of prosecutions on a much smaller scale is by the Director of Public Prosecutions, an office created in 1879, with power to institute and carry on criminal proceedings—this is the less significant of his duties, the number of such prosecutions usually being only several thousands per year—the most important being to advise and assist chief officers of police, clerks to the magistrates and any others concerned with criminal proceedings Regulations govern the cases in which DPP may act, mainly cases of public interest. The enormous growth of summary jurisdiction over the years, especially that arising from so‐called secondary legislation, is largely outside his sphere.

THAT DR T. C. SMOUT in his highly praised A History of the Scottish People, 1560–1830 (1969) felt able to dismiss Robert Fergusson (‘the dissipated son of an Edinburgh clerk’) with the verdict ‘nothing more serious than the celebration of food and drink was ever his business’ indicates yet again the continuing depreciation that, with honourable exceptions, has been Fergusson's critical fate since his bourgeoning fame disappeared in the furore excited by the appearance of Burns.

“Bob” Malthus, the Revd T. Robert Malthus (1766–1834), had only one son, Henry (“Hal”) who like his father became a clergyman and married, but died childless in 1882. Malthus's older brother “Syd,” Sydenham II (1754–1821), inherited the family property in Albury, Surrey on the death of their father Daniel in 1800, and transmitted it to three more generations of descendents: Sydenham III (1806–1868), Sydenham IV (1831–1916), and the last Robert (1881–1972) who married but died childless.

In the previous monograph, a discussion took place on what constitutes dismissal and when the termination of the contract of employment takes effect. These two aspects treat the first of the statutory qualifications necessary to enable the employee to exercise his right not to be unfairly dismissed, namely that he must first be dismissed.

Equipment, Programmes, Techniques and Projects. Part of the standard maintenance procedure of the majority of jet aircraft is the internal examination of jet pipes and turbine final stage blading. Up until recently this has been carried out by an inspector crawling into the jet pipe to carry out a normal visual examination.

When, some fifteen years ago, I first became interested in public library history and decided that any subsequent literary endeavours of mine should be in this field rather than in those of practical administration and book selection which had primarily interested me hitherto, I formed the opinion that biographies of Ewart and Edwards ought to be written. Much later I decided that I ought to write them. In due course I tackled Ewart first because there had been no earlier biography; Thomas Greenwood's book on Edwards had appeared in 1902. It was only after William Ewart M.P. had been published in 1960 that I realized how fortunate had been my scale of priority. Ewart's many non‐library and non‐literary activities had encouraged me to make a detailed—frequently a day to day—study of early and mid nineteenth century social and political history that provided the stage on which Edwards could also act out his part.

BOOKS and Libraries for the Blind form the subject of a paper by Dr. Robert C. Moon in the May Library Journal. The writer is the son of William Moon, the inventor of the system of embossed writing bearing his name. He describes the systems of writing for the blind in use, and the various agencies for circulating literature. After examining the existing departments for the blind in Public Libraries, he comes to the conclusion that “all the libraries need more books, and if they are to reach and teach the adult blind they must have a fair proportion of them in the Moon type. All Public Libraries should possess a few works printed in the various types, care being taken to have a good supply of those embossed in the special type which is taught in the schools for the blind of the immediate locality, in order that the pupils in vacation time, and the graduates of the schools may be provided with reading matter, but the infirm and aged blind will be found in almost all communities, and for them books printed in the Moon type are indispensable. Alice S. Tyler describes the League of Library Commissions. “The success of the experiment in co‐operation which was inaugurated in 1901 by the library commissions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, whereby printed matter of common interest and equal necessity and value to these commissions was issued jointly, led to the suggestion that a national organization might more economically carry forward these and other lines of co‐operative work, leaving to the overcrowded state commission workers more time and money for the peculiar problems of each state.” This suggestion was brought up at the St. Louis conference, and resulted in an organization being formed under the title of the League of Library Commissions, consisting of one representative from each of the commissions included. The particular directions in which the League will promote co‐operative work are: carefully prepared lists of books for first purchase for small libraries; lists of new books which, upon examination, had been found desirable ; handbook of suggestions and direction as to the organization and management of small libraries; printed statement regarding the aims and methods of state library commissions, with comparison of their laws; definite help and suggestions on the subject of library buildings, especially floor‐plans arranged for economic administration, growing out of the experience of the library commissions in connection with the erection of Carnegie and other library buildings within the last few years; united effort to bring to the attention of book publishers the urgent need of good, durable binding, adequate indexing, &c.

Since the publication of the report of the Lancet Commission on Brandy and the prosecutions that followed, much attention has been given to the subject, and although no great additions to our knowledge of the composition of this spirit have recently been made, practical use is now being made of information which has been at our disposal for five years or more, which has already had far‐reaching effects upon the trade.