Recollections of a Police Magistrate by Col. George T. Denison (review)

416 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW crime is not very satisfactory, and reveals the old error of classing all misdemeanours, however trivial, which have led to conviction and calling them" crime". Table 52 on page 287 is, therefore, most misleading, not to mention the obvious error with regard to crime in the Yukon, which leaves the reader quite uncertain as to the significance of the figures. It would be ea~y to continue in the sa~e strain pointing out inaccuracies, as for instance the most tremen'dou;s confusion into which the percentages in table 30 (p. 139) have involved themselves and the reader as well. But such would be an ungrateful task and far from the inclination 'Of a candid reviewer. Mr. Smith has performed a service in writing this book for which we must be grateful, and has marked the way for succeeding in;vestigators. Let his be the honour accorded to the pioneer. H. MICHELL Wild Life in Canada. By Captain ANGUS BUCHANAN, M.C. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart. 1920. Pp. xx, 264; illustratixms . CAPTAIN ANGUS BUCHANAN is a naturalist. His expedition in the summer of 1914 into the wild northern part of the province of Saskatchewan was for the purpose of collecting specimens of the birds that are to be found there for the pr~vinc,ial, museum at R~gina. Unfortunately, his intention to pass the winter in the neighbourhood of Fort DuBrochet 'at the north end of R~indeer Lake was fru~trated by the outbreak of ~ar, news of which reached'him at the end of October, and determined him to return to civilization with 'all possible speed, to offer his services to his country. The book which he now publishes is a belated acqmnt of his travels and of his obser~~tions on the natur,a,1 histor)Z of the c~untry, and yet it contains the latest information on the subject, because no traveller since 1914 has passed that way, or at least made 'any report" of his passage. Of exploration, strictly speaking, Captain Buchanan's narrative contains nothing, for the waterways he traversed have long been known. The valuable portions of the book are his observations on th,e habits and migrations of the caribou and the chapters descriptive of the animals seen and the birds of which he collected specimens. To this one mu;st add his very interesting and sympathetic account of his Indian companions and their sledge-dogs. H. H. LANGTON Recollections of a Police Magistrate. By Col. GEORGE T. DENISON. Toronto: The Musson Book Company. 1920. Pp.263. FOR many reasons one rejoices that Col. George T. Denison has written these Recollections of a Police Magistrate. The man himself is revealed REVIEWS OF BOOKS 417 as clearly in this book as in The Struggle for Imperial Unity, which he published some years ago. Col. Denison has never been a social courtier nor a political partisan. From boyhood he has been an imperialist, but in his imperialism there has always been a dominant flavour of Canadian nationalism. One remembers when his teaching, which is now the common faith of Canada, 'W'!-S treated with derision, and his outlook for the Empire regarded as the dream of an intemperate enthusiast. Now many proclaim his gospel who probably would not admit that they are his disciples. It is true that imperial federation as the vision was seen by Col. Denison and his associates of long ago has not been realized, nor have we a defensive tariff round the Empire such as he advocated. But the spirit of his teaching prevails all over the British Dominions, and who may say that in the long future there may not be an organization of the Empire as definite as he has foreshadowed? Moreover, Col. Denison has always been chiefly concerned to develop imperial feeling and to encourage cooperation between the Dominions and the Mother Country. He has never insisted that the machinery must be of some absolute pattern. Nor has he ever believed that all the "loyalty" of Empire was the possession of any particular leader or any particular party. There has been something aggressive in his political independence. So...