Book Review: Demographic Survey of the British Colonial Empire
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205000500112 |
| Date | 01 March 1950 |
| Published date | 01 March 1950 |
| Author | G. Gordon Brown |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
International
Journal
about
Slavic
Europe."
The
reader
would
probably
come
upon
this
only
by
chance.
There
are
a
number
of
such
weaknesses
in
organization.
These could be
ironed
out
in
a
later
and
revised
edition
when
the
present
edition
is
sold
out,
as
it
deserves
to
be,
in
a
short
time.
Strakhovsky
has
followed a
more conventional
pattern
with
fewer
articles and fewer contributors.
The
smaller
Slavic
nations
receive
less
attention
and
there
is
practically nothing
on
the
groups
of
Slavic
origin outside
of
Europe.
The
Soviet
Encyclopaedia
also
consists
of
a
number
of
longer
articles
on
history,
art,
literature,
law,
etc.,
rather
than
numerous separate
reference subjects.
A
special
feature
of
the
Soviet
work
lacking
in
the
American
books
is
a series
of
excellent
maps,
so
good,
indeed,
that
one
is
tempted
to
believe
that
the
map supremacy
in
Europe
which
used
to
centre
in
Leipzig
has
been
moved
to
Moscow.
It
is
difficult
to
compare
the
scholarship
as shown
in
the range
of
articles contained
in
the
two
American
books.
In
both
books
an
attempt
at
least,
has
been
made
to
secure
a
measure
of
balance
and
impartiality.
The
Soviet
publication
makes
no
pretension
of
impartiality.
It
is
a
thorough-going
statement
of
what
constituted the
"Party
line" in
1948.
From
this standpoint
it
is
itself an
interesting
historical
document
and
deserves the
attention
of
all
those who
are
trying
to
understand
foreign
affairs
and
especially
the
official
perspective
held
by
the Soviet
rulers.
University
of
Saskatchewan,
October
1949.
Geo.
W.
Simpson
DEMOGRAPHIC
SURVEY OF
THE
BRITISH
COLONIAL
EMPIRE.
By
R.
R.
Kuczynski.
VoL
I:
WEST
AFRICA.
1948.
London,
New
York
[Toronto]:
Oxford
University
Press
for
R.I.I.A.
xiv,
821pp.
$18.75,
members
$15.00.)
This volume,
the
first
of
a
planned
series
on
the
British
Colonial
Empire,
is
a
comprehensive and
careful
examination
into an
important
and,
at
the
same
time,
difficult
field.
The collection
of
vital
statistics
and
census
data
in
all
parts
of
tropical
Africa
still
suffers
from inade-
quate
organization, limited
numbers
of
reliable
enumerators
and,
above
all,
insufficient
funds.
In
many
districts
the
statistical
data
amount
to
little
more
than
approximate
estimates.
One
of
the principal
virtues
of
the
present
volume
is
that
it
indicates clearly
how
adequate
or
inadequate
our
present
knowledge
is while,
at
the
same
time,
maintaining
the
greatest
possible
accuracy.
It
is
more
than
a
compendium
of
census
data
and
vital
statistics.
It
is
a
thorough
study
of
population
and
population
changes
since
the
days
of
earliest
European
colonization
as
well
as
a
critical
analysis
of
the
validity
of
the statistics
at
all
periods.
It
deals
with
the
immigrant
as
well
as
the
aboriginal
populations.
And,
above
all
it
includes
comprehensive consideration
of
all
relevant
phenomena:
birth
and
death
rates,
causes
of
death,
movement
of
population
and
related health
and
administrative
measures.
The
present
volume
includes
the data
on
Sierra
Leone,
Gambia,
the
Gold
Coast
and
Togoland,
Nigeria
and the
Cameroons.
Until
super-
76
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