Annual Holiday Handbooks.

Limited though passenger publicity necessarily must be, the Home railways have thought it well this season to issue as usual their annual holiday handbooks. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and it is recognised that hardworking civilians will find refreshment and new vigour through a brief seaside or country vacation. I have before me as I write two of the new holiday guides—the Great Western “Holiday Haunts,” and the Southern “Hints for Holidays.” The G.W. publication is a splendidly produced volume of 744 pages. There are descriptions of about 600 resorts and 5,000 holiday addresses, and illustrations are again a special feature. The attractive wrapper depicts a couple of beach belles basking in the summer sunshine somewhere in the West Country. The Southern Company's “Hints for Holidays” handbook runs to 512 pages, and it has been published largely at the request of many proprietors of hotels, boarding houses and apartments, who regard the work as one of the most important channels for their publicity. Like the Great Western handbook, “Hints for Holidays” provides wonderful value for sixpence, and a generous proportion of first-class illustrations has been maintained.