George Baden-Powell, KCMG (1847–98), graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, before studying at the Inner Temple in London. After a varied career as a commissioner in Victoria in Australia, the West Indies, Malta and Canada, he became the MP for Liverpool Kirkdale in 1885. He also found time to observe the total solar eclipse of 1896 in the Arctic, and co-write a paper about it for the Royal Society. He was a passionate advocate of free trade within the British Empire, and wrote extensively to support the cause. First published in 1882, this classic work on economics sets out Baden-Powell's case for imperial free trade. In the first chapter he sets out his arguments; the rest of the book is devoted to presenting his evidence and comparing the relative merits of protectionist and free trade economies around the world.