NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE PAPER SHORTAGE.—It is not the inten- tion of the " Spectator " to increase its price. It is necessary, however, that we should loyally obey the injunction of the Government to be strictly economical in the use of paper. One of the ways of doing this is to reduce " returns." Readers should therefore give definite orders to their newsagents for a copy of the " Spectator" to be reserved for them each week till countermanded. Though we shall be obliged hence- forth to reduce the number of pages in the paper, we hope to do so with only a very small, and possibly with no reduction in our editorial columns. Our main paper economies will be made in our business rather than in our political or literary department. After the lapse of a short period needed to carry out arrangements already made, we mean drastically to reduce the space now allotted to advertisements. Our advertisers will be strictly rationed to six and a half pages, while seventeen and a half will be reserved for reading matter. This is about the amount of reading matter in to-day's " Spectator " and in recent numbers. If the increase in the price of the advertisements does not keep them down to six and a half pages, as we hope will be the case, measures of a still more rigorous nature will have to be adopted. We are determined not to sacrifice our editorial matter.
