Infield-outfield farming on a seventeenth-century Scottish estate

Infield-outfield farming in pre-eighteenth-century Scotland has been dismissed as a uniformly extensive, low-yield system of cultivation forming an adjunct to a basically pastoral economy and incapable of improvement and evolution. There are, however, grounds for believing that this model is over-generalized and reflects a lack of detailed studies of the primary sources. A particularly well-documented example of a midseventeenth century field system is available for the Dundas estates near Edinburgh. The evidence for this estate indicates that infield-outfield farming had evolved into a relatively intensive system in which animal husbandry played a minor role and which concentrated on grain production. The ways in which this system evolved are then considered and the implications in terms of a re-evaluation of the traditional model of the development of Scottish field systems are explored.     

Book reviews

Ralph Pettman (ed.), Moral Claims in World Affairs. Croom Helm, London, 1979, pp. 199. £8.50.

Michael B. Yahuda, China's Role in World Affairs. Croom Helm, London, 1978, pp.300. $29.95.

Rodger Swearingen, The Soviet Union and Postwar Japan: Escalating Challenge and Response. Hoover Institution Press, 1978, pp.340. US$14.95.

Taketsugu Tsurutani, Political Change in Japan: Response to Post‐industrial Challenge. David McKay, New York, 1977, pp. xii+275. US$12.50 (cloth), $6.95 (paper).

D. M. Fenbury, Practice Without Policy: Genesis of Local Government in Papua New Guinea. Development Studies Centre Monograph No. 13, Australian National University, Canberra, 1978, pp. xvi + 318. $9.00.

Ian Hogbin, The Leaders and the Led: Social Control in Wogeo, New Guinea. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1978. pp. xi + 195.

Clive Kessler, Islam and Politics in a Malay State: Kelantan 1838–1969. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1978, pp. 274. US $15.00.

Rony Gabbay, Communism and Agrarian Reform in Iraq. Croom Helm, London, 1978, pp. 240. £8.50.

John Dunn (ed), West African States: Failure and Promise. Cambridge University Press, London, 1978, pp. 259. £12.50.

Zdenek Cervenka and Barbara Rogers, The Nuclear Axis: Secret Collaboration between West Germany and South Africa. Julian Friedmann Books, London, 1978, pp. 464. £7.95.

Roger Hill, Political Consultation in Nato. Wellesley Papers 6/1978, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1978, pp. 143. £3.75.

Lawrence Freedman, Arms Production in the United Kingdom: Problems and Prospects. The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, 1978, pp. 50. £6.95.

William H. Blanchard, Aggression American Style. Goodyear Publishing Company, Santa Monica, California, 1978 pp.314.

Paul Hasluck, Mucking About: An Autobiography. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1977, pp. 287. $10.99.

J. R. V. Prescott, ed., Australia's Continental Shelf. Nelson for Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 198, $15.00.

P. Hastings and A. Farran, Australia's Resources Future, Thomas Nelson in association with The Australian Institute of International Affairs 1978, pp. 288 + xvi, $14.95.     

Book reviews

N. C. van Setten van der Meer. Sawah cultivation in ancient Java: aspects of development during the Indo‐Javanese period, 5th to 15th century. Canberra: Australian National University. Faculty of Asian Studies in association with Australian National University Press, 1979. xx, 168 pp. (Oriental Monograph Series, 22.)

C. R. Boxer. Jan Compagnie in war and peace 1602–1799: a short history of the Dutch East‐India Company. Hong Kong, etc: Heinemann Asia, 1979. 115 pp. £3.25.

Bernd Nothofer. Dialektgeographische Untersuohungen in West‐Java und im westlichen Zentral‐Java. Teil 1: Text. — Teil 2: Karten. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1980. xi, 264 pp; xiii pp., XXVIII, 169 maps. DM 68.

Harry Aveling (ed.). The development of Indonesian society. From the coming of Islam to the present day. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1979. xxi, 242 pp.

Werner Müller. Bibliographie deutschsprachiger Literatuv über Indonesien. 2. verbesserte und ergänzte Auflage. Hamburg: Dokumentations‐Leitstelle Asien, 1979. 201 pp.     

Book reviews

Michael Maclear, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. Thames Methuen, London, 1981, pp x + 368. $16.95

Peter King, (ed.), Australia's Vietnam. George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983, pp. 226. $19.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

Carlyle A. Thayer and David G. Marr, Vietnam since 1975 ‐Two views from Australia. Griffith University, CSAAR Paper No. 20, 1982, pp. $3.00

Walter Scott Dillard, Sixty Days To Peace: Implementing the Paris Peace Accords, Vietnam 1973. National Defence University, Washington, 1982, pp. xiv + 240. No price given.

Peter Pringle and James Spigelman, The Nuclear Barons Michael Joseph, London, 1982, pp. xii + 578. $25.00.

Daniel Frei, with the collaboration of Christian Catrina, Risks of Unintentional Nuclear War. Croom Helm, London, 1983, pp. xxxi + 255. $13.95.

Ian Clark, Limited Nuclear War. Martin Robertson and Company, Oxford, 1982, pp.266. £16.50.

Julie Dahlitz, Nuclear Arms Control with Effective International Agreements. McPhee Gribble, Melbourne, 1983, pp.238. $16.95.

G.A. Craig and A.L. George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1983, pp.xiv + 288. $33.95 (cloth), $16.99 (paper).

Michael Carver, A Policy For Peace. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp.123. $6.95.

Everett Mendelsohn, A Compassionate Peace: A Future For The Middle East. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1982, pp. xii + 226. $6.95.

Alison Broinowski (ed.), Understanding ASEAN. Macmillan (in association with AIIA), London, 1982, pp.xv + 323. $36.00 (cloth), $13.95 (paper).

Tunku Shamsul Bahrin, Chandran Jeshurun, A. Terry Rambo (eds.), A Colloquium on Southeast Asian Studies. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1981, pp. xvi + 319, S$35.00.

Alfred W. McCoy and Ed. C. de Jesus (eds.), Philippine Social History: Global Trade and Local Transformations. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City and George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1982, pp. ix + 479. 524.95 (cloth) $12.95 (paper).

Stephen R. Shalom, The United States and the Philippines: A Study of Neocolonialism. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia, 1981, pp. xvii + 302. $19.50.

Karl J. Pelzer, Planters Against Peasants: The Agrarian Struggle in East Sumatra 1947–58 Martinus Nijhoff ‘S‐Gravenhage, 1982, pp. xvii + 186. No price given.

TAPOL, West Papua: The Obliteration of a People. TAPOL, London, 1983, pp. 114. £2.50

R. Mitton, The Lost World of Irian Jaya. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983. pp. ix + 235. $50.00.

Radha Sinha, Japan's Options for the 1980s. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1982, pp. 269. $27.50

Wang Gungwu, Community and Nation, essays on Southeast Asia and the Chinese. Heinemann Educational Books (Asia), Singapore, and George Allen & Unwin Sydney for Asian Studies Association of Australia, 1981, pp. 292. $24.94 (cloth), $12.95 (paper).

B. Male, Revolutionary Afghanistan. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1982, pp. 229. £13.95.

Edward Mortimer, Faith and Power: The Politics of Islam. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp. 432. $16.95.

Julius W. Pratt, Vincent P. De Santis, Joseph M. Siracusa, A History of United States Foreign Policy. 4th edition. Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., U.S.A., 1980, pp. xvi + 553. $US 18.95.

John Cartwright, Political Leadership in Africa. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, and St. Martin's Press, New York, 1983, pp. 310. $26.75.

Greg Crough and Ted Wheelwright, Australia: A Client State. Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, 1982, pp. 255. $7.95.

Altro Polo. The Frederick May Foundation for Italian Studies, University of Sydney, annual. $10.00

The Scottish Government Yearbook. The Unit for the Study of Scottish Government, University of Edinburgh, annual. £10.00 (cloth) £5.95 (paperback).     

Minimum Wage Policy,Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in Malawi

This article examines the pattern of minimum wage changes in Malawi and some of their effects, and considers more generally the appropriateness of a minimum wage policy in developing country situations similar to that of Malawi. After a progressive decline in the real value of the minimum wage during the 1970s there is evidence that the government is attempting, through periodic and rather erratic corrective action, to maintain something like a constant real wage. Data from a Ministry of Labour survey demonstrate that such changes in the minimum wage do have a direct effect on wages paid, but that this is concentrated in specific sectors: outside these, minimum wage policy is ineffectual, and the effective coverage achieved in terms of the national work-force is very narrow. Since the most significant influence on the wages of hired workers is the elastic supply of unskilled labour available at very low wages from the smallholder sector, efforts need to be concentrated on raising the supply price of labour through positive policies pursued in the rural sector. Some special features of the rural labour market are therefore examined. Various measures could be taken here: one which seems likely to be effective in producing immediate results is the progressive transfer of burley tobacco quotas to smallholders.