Reviews
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1923.tb02153.x |
| Date | 01 December 1923 |
| Published date | 01 December 1923 |
~~~ ~~
The
4
Journal
4
of
Public
4
Administration
Reviews
[It will
be
the object
of
the Reviews
of
Books
in
the
JOURNAL
to cover the
whole ground
of
the literature produced
in
the preceding quarter which may have
a
bearing
upon public administration.
By
this
means, it is hoped, some assistance
will
be
given
to
the student and some direction to the general reader.
A
judgment
of
the value
of
the books will be attempted,
as
portion
of
the ordinary duty
of
criticism, but the particular value
of
the
book
in
its relation to the advance
of
the science
of
public administration
will
be
regarded
a9
the paramount criterion.]
I
‘‘
HISTORY
OF
THE
PEOPLE
OF
ENGLAND,” by Alice Drayton Greenwood.
(S.P.C.K.)
THIS
is the second volume of Miss Greenwood’s social history of England.
She has certainly gathered together in admirable fashion a mass of
material which has been placed at the disposal of students in recent
years. It covers the social history
in a remarkably inclusive fashion and yet she does not altogether depart
from what we must call the conventional story
of
kings and queens,
so
that the student can take into account these fresh studies of social life
and fit them into the picture to which h.: has become accustomed. Of
chief interest to the readers of the
JOURNAL
is the altogether praiseworthy
treatment of Government administration. An excellent example of this
is
the chapter which deals with Tudor administration.
It
tells
us
the
relation
of
the Council to Parliament, the precise functions
of
Ministers,
the Councils
of
the Star Chamber, the Marches
of
Wales and
of
the
North. The last of these deserves the special notice which Miss Greenwood
has given to it. For that was
a
time when the
North
of
England was
regarded
as
having claims to administrative specialization. The Council
sat at York largely because it was given the function
of
maintaining
relationship with Scotland. It had another responsibility in that local
administration was given to its care, including the appointment of
justices, whose functions in respect of wages and prices were astonishingly
wide. It was a
sort
of final court
of
appeal in respect of alleged oppres-
sion, and was the resort of the poor. Miss Greenwood throws new light
on local administration,
the
functions of mayors and corporations of
boroughs,
“
to proclaim and see camed out new Acts
of
Parliament, or
the special orders which were continually issued by the Council in tem-
porary crises, e.g.
as
to
permission or restraint of travelling abroad,
export of this or that class of goods to this or that country, repair of
fortifications, selection of
a
quota
of
soldiers, victualling
of
ships, appre-
hensions
of
robbers or vagrants, quarantine
or
isolation for the plague,
special customs duties, etc.” The village administration is given in
7s.
6d.
net.
Her work is singularly well-balanced.
364
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