6 AUGUST 1932, Page 23

THE AUGUST REVIEWS

In the Contemporary, Mr. Wickham Steed takes a gloomy view of "The International Outlook." He recalls his pre- dictions of war in 1909 and points to the Manchurian affair and the ineffectiveness of the Geneva Conference as reasons "why I see to-day that war may be coming as clearly as I saw it twenty-three years ago." Things do not seem to us quite so bad as all that, but the article is worth reading. Mr. F. Kingsley Griffith, writing as a Liberal Member, gives an interesting impression of "The National Government— so far," and Mr. S. K. Ratcliffe discusses "The American Presidential Campaign," cautiously hinting that Mr. Hoover's chances depend upon a trade revival that is still to come. Blacicwood's, a good holiday number, contains a graphic account of an earthquake in Baluchistan by Mr. S. D. Rieley, and an interesting paper by Mr. W. R. Hughes on "The Gentleman at Bacon's "—Joseph Strutt, the eighteenth- century antiquary and artist, who spent some of his later years at Bacon's Farm near Hertford. Strutt's drawings of ancient monuments are of course invaluable. Mr. Frank Hives' story, "The Wildest Dreams of Kew," illustrates the difficulties of British officials in remote Nigeria, where the belief in " ju-ju " and the changing of witch-doctors into leopards is still potent.