11 AUGUST 1923

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Other incidents in the controversy to which we may refer

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are the letters published by the Times from Mr. Wickham Steed and Mr. J. M. Keynes. We had supposed that Mr. Steed, when he was Editor of the Times, had been on the whole...

* * * Directly the Chancellor began to speak there

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was an organized outburst of interruption from the Conununists. Dr. Cuno continued stolidly to read from his notes, and although for some time his voice could not be heard at...

The only thing for Germany to do, the Chancellor went

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on, was to stiffen her resistance, rather than reduce it as some had suggested, and to believe that at long last economic common sense and justice would prevail. The motto of...

Meanwhile, there are some new facts to record in the

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important speech which was made by the German Chancellor, Dr. Cuno, when the short session of the Reichstag opened on Wednesday. Dr. Cuno's speech was fairly summarized by the...

The replies from France and Belgium to the British questionnaires

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about the Ruhr have been published during the week. As they contain nothing that had not been said many times already in different words we shall not summarize them. The only...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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S USPENSE about the Ruhr and Reparations remains in kind and degree as it was when we wrote last week. After all that the Prime Minister has said on the subject we are in no...

We publish this week our half-yearly index, January to June,

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1923. It will be sent free on application to any reader who wishes to obtain it for binding.

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We venture to congratulate the Social Democratic Federation, without being

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sure how our congratulations will be received. On Monday, Mr. G. M. Bell, the Vice- President, moved a resolution urging all Socialists to demand a democratic army for national...

Mr. Harding was often described as " a plain American,"

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and the phrase may be taken to mean that, without knowing much of the outer world, he had all the good qualities of a man who loves his own country and works for it and his...

An objection has been raised by the British Government to

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the appointment of M. Rakovsky as Soviet • repre- sentative in this country. We cannot see how the Government could have acted otherwise. It is one of the first 'principles of...

The new President of the United States, who was Vice-President,

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and therefore becomes President as a matter of course, is Mr. Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts. Mr. Coolidge's name was hitherto not widely known, as there is a tradition: n...

There have been strong rumours during the week that Mr.

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McKenna will not, after all, become Chancellor of the Exchequer. It has been pointed out—though the statement may have been made with a certain guile— that the banking interest...

It is with the deepest regret that we record the

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death of President Harding, which occurred quite unexpectedly at San Francisco on the evening of Thursday, August 2nd. In spite of his serious illness the doctors had never been...

When as Governor of Massachusetts he broke the great strike

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of the Boston police, he took the view that the police were under a special contract, quasi-military in nature, and therefore under• a peculiar obligation to the State, and that...

As a journalist Mr. Harding worked his way up from

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the bottom as a handy boy (so we read in the Times) who did a little of everything—cleaned the office, set the type, and collected subscriptions and advertisements. . At the age...

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Stoke Rochford, the fine Lincolnshire home of Mr. Christopher Tumor,

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was put to a new and admirable use last Saturday, when a " Summer School " for ele- mentary school teachers was inaugurated. Mr. Edward Wood, President of the Board of...

Readers of M. Vilhjalmur Stefansson's recent articles in the Spectator

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will be greatly interested in the attempt to relieve Mr. Crawford and the three other white men who for more than two years have been keeping pos- session of Wrangell Island in...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent., changed from 3 per cent.

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July 5, 1923 ; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 1001t; Thursday week, 100! ; a year ago, 10011.

* * * * The Times of Wednesday published a

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letter from Dr. Edward Lyttelton about the proposed taxation of betting which was•a model of brief and logical argument. He pointed out that the indictment of the proposal was...

Nevertheless, the hardy and adventurous men who are holding that

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very distant potential outpost of the Empire, though they may be sound in health, are virtually in prison. Their isolation has already lasted too long. If they have suffered...

Mr. Henry Sullivan, the American swimmer, has swum the Channel

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and is the third man to do so. He started from Dover last Sunday afternoon and at first intended only to have a practice swim. But feeling in the mood he decided after swimming...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE NEXT STEP. T HE position in which the British people and the British Government are now placed is one of extreme difficulty and danger. Of this fact there can be no doubt....

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UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE COMING WINTER.

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A LETTER from the Industrial Group in the House of Commons to the Prime Minister, which was published in the papers of last Saturday, protesting against Sir Montague Barlow's...

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LORD MILNER'S ESSAYS.—I.

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T HE five essays collected in this arresting and important book* almost defy review. They repre- sent, says the Preface, a protest against some of the " stunts " of the last two...

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HISTORY AND HAPPINESS.

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IT would be an interesting task for a learned man to write a history of happiness in this country. The historian, however, would need to be also a philo sopher. To weigh a...

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PIGS.

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Even in the town, where the butcher is always waiting, many of the poor have one " joint " a week ; that is, one piece of beef or mutton ; the rest of the week they live on the...

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1;ht ,*ptrtatar.

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LIFE MEMBERSHIP. The rates for payment of Life Membership are as follows :— For persons under 45 years of age .. £15 15s. „ over 45 and under 55 years of age .. £14 14s. SO...

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THE

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ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD. BY EVELYN WRENCH. I F President Harding could have chosen the manner of his death he would probably have desired to die in harness, while carrying out...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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AMERICAN PROHIBITION AND THE NATIONS. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—We have been given to understand that the application of our Federal liquor legislation to foreign...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The emphasis with which

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you called attention in your last issue to the letter in the Times from the pen of Mr. E. Price Bell, the able and ardent exponent of Anglo-American unity, with American...

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THE OTHER SIDE. .

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Lord Sydenham gives one an opening when he brings in the word " mentality " in his letter in your issue of July 28th. In the last...

FRANCE AND THE RUHR.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, Week by week I have read your emphatic denunciation of the French policy on the Ruhr. With the arguments you put forward one must agree,...

THE LOGIC OF DISARMAMENT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—There seems to be at this time in almost all sections of the community an idea that this country cannot reduce her expenditure on...

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CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIALISM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lord Sydenham does well to dispute the claim that Socialism, in the political sense of the word, is a " religious idea." Those...

HORACE AS A POET.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —In the Spectator of June 23rd, which arrived by last mail, there is some interesting correspondence with regard to the assertion that "...

DORSET BEAUTY SPOT ENDANGERED.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Will you please bring the enclosed fact before readers of the Spectator ? :— " The War Office propose to acquire permanently, for the...

IDEALS IN THE LABOUR MOVEMENT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Oswald Jones thinks, because he finds at Dewsbury " very few saints in the trade union lodges, in the working men's clubs or among...

HOLIDAY READING.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I think your readers with their recommendations of holiday books are all on the wrong lines. To my mind a holiday is an opportunity for,...

SOME PAROCHIAL STORIES.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —I think the following parochial stories will amuse you. The first has to do with higher education. The question was, " Where was St. Paul...

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BOOKS FOR THE LONELY COLONIST.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lady Jersey's appeal for reading for lonely settlers, in the Spectator of the 4th inst., seems to imply that the Victoria League...

HISTORIC HOUSES.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The letter on this subject in your issue of July 28th, by Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, leaves much unsaid. We have an Ancient Monuments...

PRIZE FELLOWSHIPS FOR WOMEN.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—The university women of this country have just had a remarkable opportunity of testifying, in a very practical way, to the value of the...

POETRY.

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OLD HUSS. IN mute companionship the lamp showed clear Gay patterned colours of the patchwork quilt Deft fingers once had stitched with young content. A broken Bible-cover...

NOTICE.—When " Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's

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name or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked " Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the...

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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. FLANDERS.*

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THE publishers of the new edition of Moll Flanders deserve the thanks of all who admire fine printing ; the book is comely and unpretentious, and the fact that this edition, a...

BOOKS.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. Ammo the few books published this week there are two rather attractive books of poems. One is the Collected Poems of Vachel Lindsay (Messrs. Macmillan), and...

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CONTEMPORARY BRITISH ARTISTS.*

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IN some ways foreign publishers of illustrated books on art notoriously have the advantage of us. In particular, by means of monographs in every form, which are scholarly enough...

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WILD LIEF, IN MANY LANDS.*

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OVERSEAS Nature books are fascinating (and difficult) to review, because of the strangeness of their fauna and flora. Turning their pages, finding only a few familiar creatures...

SIR BARTLE FRERE VINDICATED.*

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" UNLESS my countrymen are much changed, they will some day do me justice," Sir Bartle Frere wrote in 1879 to Sir Michael Hicks Beach, afterwards Lord St. Aldwyn, and then...

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MR. PHILIP GUEDALLA'S ESSAYS.*

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Mu. GUEDALLA is so obviously a master of the medium in which he has chosen to write, he moves so easily among cunning and witty antitheses, and he is so shrewd in his judgments...

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POETS AND POETRY.

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ARTHUR O'SHAUGHNESSY.t " No man loved the appreciation of his fellows better than O'Shaughnessy." If he read his poems aloud, from time to time he looked up for approval. "...

DOSTOEVSKY AND THE DOWNFALL OF EUROPE.*

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Ma. HERMANN HESSE, whose two essays on Dostoevsky have now been translated by Mr. Stephen Hudson, is one of the most interesting of contemporary German critics ; and he is also...

YACHT RACING.*

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Mn. B. HECKSTALL-SMITH (Secretary of the Yacht Racing Association and Yachting Editor of the Field) has in this book simplified the rules of the road in yacht racing so far as...

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FANTASTIC REALISM.t THE three stories collected in this volume are

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examples of the art of fantasy. They are true to a mood but not to a whole- hearted understanding of life ; at least, if they are thought to exhaust experience, life must seem a...

FICTION:

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GREY WE'rHERS.* Miss SACHVILLE-WEST has chosen an admirable theme for her new novel. The story of Clare Warrener, the scholarly squire's daughter, and Nicholas Lovel, the gipsy,...

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The Winding Stair. By A. E. W. Mason. (Hodder and

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Stoughton. 7s. (kl. net.) Mr. A. E. W. Mason's readers will, of course, not expect from him a novel written in a very modern manner. Anti- militarists, indeed, will be deeply...

The Criterion.

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With its July issue The Criterion completes its first year as a quarterly review, and Mr. T. S. Eliot is to be congratulated on an excellent undertaking admirably accomplished....

In Over the Footlights Mr. Stephen Leacock has collected some

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of the very best of his work. " Roughing it in the Bush," a study of the three friends who are " tough enough to stand the hardships of living in the open," is delightful. At...

This sea story is Mr. Springer's first book, and it

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is a capital piece of melodrama. The story itself is the narrative of an old sea-captain, but the author rather spoils his chances of being read and enjoyed by the casual reader...

Mr. Ford of The Marsden Case is Mr. Ford Madox

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Hueffer. To those who have read the book this remark will not seem quite altogether unnecessary or irrelevant, as it is in this fact alone that its worth lies. The story is of a...

Dear Ann. By Elisabeth Fagan. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d. net.) A

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Society story with a clever study of a charming but disingenuous heroine. The book is slight, but will make good summer holiday reading.

THE NEW MAGAZINES.

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The National Review. Mr. Churchill's book on the War is criticized from two points of view. Lord Selborne politely suggests that Mr. Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty...

The London Mercury.

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This is an unusually good number of the London Mercury. Mr. Priestley's article on Maurice Hewlett has enthusiasm and conviction. Mr. Bailey's essay on Thackeray is interesting....

Splashing into Society. By Iris Barry. (Constable. 4s. 6d. )

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This is a very amusing satire on modern Mayfair, writter by a super-civilized and sophisticated adult in the manner of The Young Visiters. It has not the extraordinary direct-...

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Sutherland and Caithness in Saga-time. By James Gray. (Edinburgh. Oliver

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and Boyd. 108. 6d. net.) This unpretentious essay, well equipped with notes, gives an interesting account of the Norse rule in Northern Scotland between the eighth and...

HISTORY.

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The Indictment of Mary Queen of Scots. By Major-General R. H. Mahon. (Cambridge University Press. 5s. net.) General Mahon has printed for the first time a paper, written in the...

This book is, in the author's own words, a study

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by a business man for business men. A good deal of space is (Continued on page 200.) devoted to the statistics and the particular problems of America, and is therefore of little...

Hispanic-American Relations with the United States. By W. S. Robertson.

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(Oxford University Press.) Professor Robertson, of Illinois University, has written a valuable book, tracing the growth of intercourse, political, economic and social, between...

The Causes and Character of the American Revolution. By H.

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E. Egerton. (Clarendon Press. 8s. 6d. net.) This excellent little book ought to be widely read on both sides of the Atlantic. Professor Egerton was, it seems, impelled to write...

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS.

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The New Constitution of India. By Sir Courtenay Ilbert and Lord Meston. (University of London Press. 5s. not.) This volume of Rhodes Lectures, given at University College a...

Ulster in the X-Rays. By James Logan. (Stockwell. Gs. net.)

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Mr. Logan's cheerful and discursive book is intended mainly for Ulster readers, and deals largely with the wit and humour of the province, its old customs and the industries of...

Mr. Weigall is what we believe to be termed a

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field archaeo- logist by contrast with him who stays at home with his library and occasionally adventures as far as a museum. The advantage from the reader's point of view is...

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The China Year Book, 1923. Edited by H. G. W.

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Woodhead. (Tientsin Press and- Simpkin, Marshall. 35s. net.) The China Year Book, 1923. Edited by H. G. W. Woodhead. (Tientsin Press and- Simpkin, Marshall. 35s. net.) China is...

REFERENCE BOOKS.

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As the public is still very imperfectly informed regarding the International Labour Office, which is an important part of the League of Nations, it may be well to call attention...

Book-Prices Current, Vol. XXXVI. (Elliot Stock. 32s. 6d. net.) The

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new volume of this invaluable record deals with the chief items in the book-sales held between October 10th, 1921, and August 3rd, 1922. The titles are arranged alphabetically...

Notes on War Pensions. (Stationery Office, Kingsway. ls. net.)

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The Ministry of Pensions has issued this handbook for the guidance of War Pension Committees. It will be found useful by private persons who have interested themselves in what...

St. Peter's College, Radley, Register, 1847-1923. Edited by F. J.

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Nugee. (Oxford : for the Radleian Society.) Old Radleians will be glad to know that Mr. Nugee has revised and completed the annotated Register in a fourth edition, which is a...

FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[By OUR CITY EDITOR.] TRADE DEPRESSION. - [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I notice that the Times in a leading article this week raises a point to which I gave some...

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MATERIAL REVIEWS.

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THE CHALE WEAVING HOUSE. THE Chale Weaving House, 283 Fulham Road, London, S.W. 10, have sent us a delightful silk scarf to criticize. The warp is arranged in stripes of light...

FINANCIAL NOTES.

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, t Regret that the control of the national finances, in these critical days, is apparently not to pass into the hands of Mr. Reginald McKenna is tempered in the City with...