Central Government and the Modernization of the British Fire Service, 1900-38

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no suchnotion of a ‘national and onerous’ fire servicein Britain. Organized fire protection was a purely local functionleft to the discretion of local authorities, voluntary organizations,and private enterprise. By the outbreak of the Second WorldWar, although there remained in excess of 1,450 local brigades,the service had been accepted as of national importance, particularlyin view of the threat posed by aerial bombing and incendiaryfires to British towns and cities. This paper traces the developmentof central government intervention within the fire service duringthe first four decades of the twentieth century, contrastingthe peacetime and wartime impetuses for reform, and locatingreform within wider debates about the nature and practice oflocal government. Although financial, technological, and organizationalfactors were important influences on the professionalizationand modernization of the service, the threats posed to the nation'swartime economic capacity and public morale were, ultimately,decisive factors in compelling local authorities to maintainprofessional fire brigades.     

British Courts Martial in North Africa, 1940-3

This article seeks to demonstrate that the exemplary aspectof military law was applied in courts martial cases in NorthAfrica between 1940 and 1943. It will show that there was aclear desire to make examples, which coincided with the preoccupationsof the High Command concerning the state of discipline and moralewithin the British Eighth Army. The article will reveal thatAuchinleck, Montgomery, and Alexander shared many common ideason discipline and morale, but that their concerns often overstatedthe scale of the supposed problem. These fears created an atmospherein which the details of individual cases were often overriddenin the name of discipline and military efficiency. Paradoxically,such an attitude only added to the High Command’s concerns,for by ensuring a high level of convictions, the outcomes ofcourts martial appeared to confirm the validity of its views.     

Reformulating Identities: British Settlers in Early Nineteenth-Century South Africa

This paper examines the formation of a colonial identity among settlers from the British Isles who were relocated to the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony in 1820. It suggests that material aspirations united certain of the settlers in a political programme, and thus began the erosion of imported class (and other) divisions. However, it argues that their establishment as a capitalist colonial class is an insufficient explanation for their construction of a shared and emotive British settler identity. The settlers modified their inherited discourses of class, race, gender and nationality in order to forge solidarity, and the imperative for solidarity derived not so much from their mutual desire for accumulation, but from a corresponding collective insecurity. Not only were settlers afraid of Khoikhoi labour rebellion and Xhosa reprisals for land loss; they also feared abandonment by a seemingly unsympathetic metropole. Their aggressive capitalist endeavour, and collective fear of its destabilizing consequences, were two sides of the same coin, informing the development of a unifying social identity. The paper goes on to consider the mechanisms through which that identity was sustained, including acts of landscape representation, the textual generation of collective memory and the practice of communally binding, quotidian, gendered routines.     

Adulteration and Food Law, 1899-1939

Contemporary concerns about food safety and regulation haveimportant historical antecedents in the Victorian debate aboutfood adulteration which led to the 1875 Sale of Food and DrugsAct, the basis of British food law until 1955. This articlereconsiders the optimistic historiographical view of the Victorianfood legislation, emphasizing its limited impact on the generalprocess of food production and distribution before the SecondWorld War. In the 1930s adulteration was still a significantcommercial ploy. The analysis centres on State-business relations,drawing comparative perspectives from the manner in which bigfood companies shaped the regulatory framework in the USA. InBritain the government assumed a limited regulatory role, persuadedin the 1920s and 1930s that market forces and the commitmentof large producers to quality and scientific research were betterguarantees of safety than statutory legislation. But this wasa risky strategy: big producers were only responsible for aminority of overall output, and the State made no effort toexamine wider manufacturing conditions. ^*This article has been written with the assistance of a grantfrom the Leverhulme Trust.     

Rhodesia: Report on the Administration of Rhodesia. The British South Africa Company. Impressions of South Africa. James Bryce

EUROPE

A Geography of Europe. Edited by George W. Hoffman. 9×6. Pp. ix+775. 156 figs. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1953. 52s 6d.

Die Landschaften der britischen Inseln. By Johann Sölch. 9 1/2×6 1/2. Erster Band. England und Wales. Pp. xii+1–850. Figs. 1–154. Zweiter Band. Schottland und Irland. Pp. 851–1350. Figs. 155–225. Wien : Springer‐Verlag. Vol. I, 1951. Vol. II, 1952. DM 232, or £19, 17s.

Scottish Industry : An Account of what Scotland makes and where she makes it. Edited by C. A. Oakley. Foreword by The Rt. Hon. Lord Bilsland, M.C., D.L., LL.D. 8 1/2×6. Pp. xvii+332. Plates. Sketch maps. Glasgow: The Scottish Council (Development and Industry). William Collins and Sons Ltd, 1953. 25s.

Orkney Miscellany. 8×6 1/2. Pp. 104. 6 illustrations. Kirkwall: Orkney Record and Antiquarian Society Papers, Vol. 1, 1953. 8s 6d.

The Glasgow Story. By Colm Brogan. 7 3/4×5. Pp. 223. Drawings by Keir. London : Frederick Muller Ltd, 1952. 15s.

Devonshire Studies. By W. G. Hoskins and H. P. R. Finberg. 8 3/4 × 5 6/8. Pp. 470. 8 plates. 11 maps and plans. London : Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1952. 36s.

In Search of Winter Sport. By Monk Gibbon. 8 3/4×5 5/8. Pp. 223. 17 illustrations. End‐paper sketch map. London: Evans Brothers Ltd, 1953. 18s.

Three Rivers of France: Dordogne, Lot, Tarn. By Freda White. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 232. 49 illustrations. Map. London : Faber and Faber Ltd, 1952. 25s. Reprinted, 1953. 15s.

ASIA

South China in the Sixteenth Century : Being the Narratives of Galeote Pereira ; Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P.; Fr. Martin de Rada, O.E.S.A. (1550–1575). Edited by C. R. Boxer. 8 3/4×5 5/8. Pp. xci+388. 8 figs. 12 plates. [Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No. CVL] London. 1953. 40s.

AFRICA

The Suez Canal in World Affairs. By Hugh J. Schonfield. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. x+174. 9 illustrations. 2 sketch maps. [Constellation Books.] London : Vallentine, Mitchell and Co. Ltd, 1952. 15s.

AMERICA

Highland Settler : A Portrait of the Scottish Gael in Nova Scotia. By Charles W. Dunn. 9×6. Pp. xii+180. Frontispiece. 2 sketch maps. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1953. $4.00. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege. 32s.

POLAR REGIONS

John Roe's Correspondence with the Hudson's Bay Company on Arctic Exploration, 1844–1855. Edited by E. E. Rich, M.A., assisted by A. M. Johnson. Introduction by J. M. Wordie, C.B.E., and R. J. Cyriax. 9 1/2×6 1/2. Pp. cvi+401+xiv. 2 illustrations. Sketch map and 2 maps. London : The Publications of The Hudson's Bay Record Society, XVI, 1953.     

Neo-Canadians and Schools in Montreal, 1900-1970

Immigrants' involvement in Quebec's unique confessional educational system is viewed through the experience of the important Jewish and Italian communities. This discussion illustrates the degree to which the two “host” communities, French and English, were unwilling to alter their religious or nationalist doctrines and institutional structures in order to accommodate other ethnic groups.     

南非迷失在太阳城

“原始”、“野性”、“财富”、“神秘”点缀着非洲这片美丽的大陆。定格非洲大陆最南端,大西洋与印度洋的交汇处。这个历史上以常年大风大浪的坏脾气著称的风暴角,便是航海人心怀敬意的坐标——好望角。10米高的海浪在这块岬角附近屡见不鲜,航海船只都对它顶礼膜拜。然而今天,这里早已开发成国家公园,过往的只有游客,再大的浪也是风景.     

南非种族隔离制与阿非利卡人政治经济优势地位的确立

本文考察和分析了南非阿非利卡人政治经济优势与种族隔离制之间的内在历史联系。 2 0世纪初期的阿非利卡人陷入了深刻的经济危机 ,通过种族隔离制的选举制度 ,阿非利卡人控制了南非政权 ,确立了自身的政治优势地位 ,并在此基础上进一步强化经济领域中的种族隔离制政策法规 ,最终实现了阿非利卡人经济崛起的目标。