12 DECEMBER 1931

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A Deal With the Dominions The decision on a quota

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for Dominion wheat is a triumph for the Canadian Prime Minister. But the subject bristles with difficulties, and the prospect of a period of hard bargaining between this country...

News of the Week

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M IE Government is meeting rather heavy weather over its British wheat quota scheme, and will have another set of difficulties to face when details of the Dominion quota scheme...

Deciding Destinies at Basle No body in session at this

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moment, not excluding the Parliament at Westminster or Congress at Washington, is called on to take decisions so momentous in their hearing on the immediate future of the world...

EDITORIAL AND FUBLISHINC OFFICES : 99 Gower /Street, London, - W.f . !.

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1.—A Subscription to the SPECTATOR costs Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on this...

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Dr. Briining's Last Shot But while the Basle Committee discusses

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Germany plunges into crisis. Of the decree issued on Tuesday by President Hindenburg on Dr. Bruning's insistence all that can be said is that nothing is left after this but the...

The Future of Burma The Burma Round Table Conference has

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opened with a degree of preliminary agreement which by comparison with its larger and more famous predecessor may be regarded as almost startling. The memorial which U Ba Pe...

On Buying British There must be reason in all thingS,

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including buying British. The general aim of the Buy British campaign has' already been endorsed in these columns, but seine aspects of the Movement have been so far too little...

Mr. Hoover and Congress The message read by the Republican

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President of ti United States to a Congress Democratic by a narrow majority was important chiefly for its mention of a budget deficit this year of over 2,000,000,000 dollars. A...

The Outlook in India The best comment on the repressive

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measures it has unhappily been necessary to take in Bengal is the observation made by Lord Irwin in his maiden speech in the House of Lords on Tuesday, that mere repression,...

The League and Manchuria The League of Nations Council, in

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the absence of some eleventh-hour hitch, will by this time have ended this phase of its labours regarding Manchuria by adopting a resolution from which every word that might...

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The Spanish Constitution The Cortes, elected last July to draw

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up a constitution for the Spanish Republic, ratified its work on Wednesday. The election of Sefior Alcala Zamora as the first President on Thursday was regarded as a certainty,...

Dockers' Wages Reduced By friendly agreement between the employers and

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the trade unions, the wages of dockers throughout the country are to be reduced by 10d. a day from the New Year. The minimum daily wage will then be 11s. 2d. in the larger ports...

The Australian Election The general election in the Commonwealth is

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being keenly contested. For the 76 scats in the House of Representatives, and nine of the 18 scats vacated in the Senate, no fewer than 229 candidates were nominated last week.-...

Voices Across the Sea Tennyson's vision of " the Parliament

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of man, the Federation of the world," where " the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe," seemed to be brought appreciably nearer last Saturday night, when the...

Bank Rate 0 per cent., changed from 4t per cent.

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on September 21st, 1931. War Loan (.5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 93 ; on Wednesday week, 95 ; a year info. 10211. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 79/ ; on Wednesday...

A Great Zionist The dinner given to Dr. Chaim Weizmann

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on Monday was a tribute most justly due. As President of the Zionist Organization for fifteen years, Dr. Wcizmann has borne the burden of long and difficult negotiations with...

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An Interval for Reflection

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T HE new Parliament has ended its first spell of work, and no one is likely to hail the recess with so much relief as Ministers themselves. The Government was returned to power...

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Brynmawr—A Derelict Town and a New Life

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H AVE you ever been in a derelict town—a town where there is no hope, and in which two-thirds of the able-bodied inhabitants arc out of work, and where there are many who have...

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The Future of the Pound

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By SIR ARTHUR SALTER Fr HE pound is, and must remain, the basis of the economic life of Great Britain. Its future should, I suggest, be, during the present period, a main...

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The Week at Westminster

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T HE Indian debate ended in a bigger victory for the Government than was anticipated. Stripped of all adornments, the case for the Government was that we had pledged our word to...

Mr. Churchill was at some pains to disclaim a reactionary

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policy, and what lost him his case was not so much what he said—indeed, most of what his amendment asked was covered by the statement of Government policy—as the way in which he...

This suggestion may be too inventive, and it would be

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unwise to fall into the error of other countries suffering from currency difficulties, namely, the attribution of every difficulty to foreign machinations. We have enough of our...

The second most dramatic incident of the week was Mr.

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Runciman's speech on Friday, in which he bluntly threatened with a tariff war those countries who took discriminatory measures against British goods. The cause of offence was...

On Tuesday a full-dress debate on India was begun in

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the Upper House, where is concentrated far more experi- ence than the Commons can show. Lord Lloyd whose love for India is a passion, urged steadier progress from below instead...

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Public School Fees

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BY THE HEADMASTER OF STO NV T HE Public School question is the Boarding School question, for the Public Schools, though of course there are day boys at some of them, hold their...

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Housing and the Slums By Da. RAYMOND UNW1N, President of

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the R.I.B.A: T HE removal of the depressing and degrading environment which slum conditions create for the lives of a large proportion of the people, has become one of the most...

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DIRECT subscribers who are changing their addresses are asked to

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notify the SPECTATOR OAT, BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The previous address to 'which' ilia paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted:'

Problems of the Christian Conscience

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[We publish to-day the tenth article of our series which we hope will throw some light on some of the most disputed questions of conduct. Miss Pitt is a joint M.P.H. and has...

Now what, the reader may well ask, have such scenes

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as these to do with the subject of " Field Sports and Wild Life," and in particular, with our duty towards animals ? They have a great deal, insomuch as such scenes—which, by...

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The Theatre

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"Flat to Let": A Light Comedy by Arthur Macrae. At the Criterion Theatre. Fon myself, I confess, or indeed I imagine for the majority of the human race, the news that Aunt...

What People Wrote Thousands of Years Ago

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ITTLE . has been heard in this country of the find, 14 not long ago, of a cache of more than a thousand 4,000-year old manuscripts, in an excavation under a modern city in Asia...

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Art

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Mr. Kelly's Anthology and the East London Group TUE " Anthology of English Painting," from 1900 to 1931, which is to be seen at the French Gallery, 158, New Bond Street is an...

Music (Walton's "Feast")

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TILE first London performance of Mr. Walton's Belsktc.:ar's Feast* was in every sense an event. The B.B.C. orchestra, the National Chorus and the soloist, Mr. Stuart Robertson,...

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Gramophone Notes

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Some December Records Tut: recent reductions in the price of gramophone records will no doubt, recommend them to those searching for Christmas presents. They provide, moreover,...

A Hundred Years Ago

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THE " SPECTATOR," DECEMBER 10TH, 1831. NEWS OF THE WEEK. Parliament was opened on Tuesday, by the King in person. The following is a copy of the Speech addressed to the two...

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Country Life

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MORE ALLOTMENTS. It is a common curiosity, if that is not a contradictory phrase, that the same subject is raised simultaneously from different directions, without any causal...

FEEDLNG BIRDS.

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A happy feeder of hungry birds—and great numbers I% ill soon be in this class—asks me where she can purchase a bird-bath that is quite proof against cats. The best thing to...

SPRLNG IN WINTER.

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And what is characteristic of the present date—of mid- December—in England ? Certainly, little that is, wintry. In all the diarists, new or old, not least in Gilbert White and...

The general naturalist is not less well supplied. His diary

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has been produced as the special year book of the British Empire Naturalists' Association, or Bena as it is fondly called. The association was formed by Kay Robinson, the...

The allotment for the workless, and indeed the urban worker,

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has never quite earned the reputation it deserved. Its contribution to the national food supply in the War was on a really astounding scale ; and it has given—and continues to...

How very close to this ideal of the Friends" was

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Ruskin's Guild of St. George, which still flourishes. It has acquired and is prepared to accept as gifts in trust agricultural land a nd cottages for the use of the working...

THE MASTER FINCH.

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A once rare or rather rare finch appears to be growing much more common, the large and splendid hawfinch. In one neighbour's garden a number are seen continuously ; and some...

A TRAVELLER IN TREES.

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A tour of the world has just been completed by Mr. Barbe- Baker, the founder of "The Men of the Trees." He may be called a traveller in trees though his samples consist in...

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ARE THE B.B.C. TOO CAUTIOUS ?

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —In your issue of December 5th there appears an erudite and recondite letter signed H. C. M. This gentleman does his unlevel best to...

Letters to the Editor

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[In view of the length of many of the letters which we receive, we would remind correspondents that we often cannot give space for long letters and that short ones are generally...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Your Scottish correspondent

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accuses me of making an astonishingly rude remark about Mr. Harold Nicolson's voice—I made no remark about it—I did not even call it a " deprecating drawl," but merely...

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Mr. A. D. Ines

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shows that our Lord appears to condone fighting in certain texts in the Bible. But it is a very different thing to fight small personal battles, than to allow oneself to be...

A LEAGUE OF RELIGIONS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SHL—Along the lines suggested, under the above heading in your issue of December 5th, there seems to me little hope of advance towards world peace. Isaiah's vision, founded on...

SHOULD A CHRISTIAN FIGHT FOR HIS COUNTRY ?

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Herbert Green's attitude on the question of Christianity and war contains such obvious fallacies that it is strange that it should...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—A not impossible case

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may help us ; our 'Lord and His Mother (let us suppose) " went down from JeruSalem to jericho and fell among thieves." Would our Lord have stood quietly by, while they "...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Three of the letters

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you published last week on this subject criticize Mr: Green for - suggesting a parallel where none exists and the criticism is fair, but they do not notice the best part of his...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The arguments of Messrs.

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Woolley, V.C., and Clayton ignore the real issue, the actual personal authority of Christ to the individual believer. I personally cannot believe that He who went unresisting to...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Ines—if one may judge from the final paragraph of his letter in your issue of December 5th—does not appear to know his Bible as well as he should. The advice to the " soldiers...

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NEW HOMES FOR OLD [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR, —To the questions with which Mr. Yeats .Brown has so aptly illustrated the miseries and dangers of slum life, may I add another—How would you like to live in a basement...

PRICES AND PROTECTION [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Ssa,—Presumably

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you have good grounds for the statement which is given a very prominent place in your issue of December 5th : . " Encouraged by the increases in prices it has been possible to...

THE CAUSE OF CANCER [To the Editor of the SrECrAToR.]

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SIR,- -Among the mortality statistics of the leading nations the British are universally considered to be the most reliable. Drawing upon the British mortality statistics...

NERVE-CONTROL IN EAST AND WEST [To the Editor of the

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SPLYTA TOR.] SIR, —It is rather difficult to reply to Mr. Gardner's sym- pathetic letter about my Indian friend who was able through Raja Yoga to bring back his dead wife so...

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BETTING AND GAMBLING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—That

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" Canon Green's definition of gambling is distinctly helpful," as your correspondent in the Spectator of November 28th, writes, is no doubt correct, but when Canon Green...

THE "SPECTATOR" AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] SIR,--Your editorial footnote to my letter, which you were good enough to publish in your issue of the 5th inst., was " Colonel Storr is against us : the Oxford...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—There is an obvious difference between the principle justifying moderate drinking and that on which your corres- pondents try to justify moderate gambling. In drinking you...

POINT FROM LETTER SOCIETY OF FRIENDS APPEAL. The Allotments Committee

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of The SOciety of Friends, Friends House, Eiiston Road, N.W. 1; - send tis a letter about their appeal for £30,000 to continue the work of - providing allotments for the...

Poetry

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The Star ONE silver star seen through a latticed pane Shines like - a jewel in the velvet sky— Its small magnificence divinely formed By God's great hand. One lovely star...

THE FOUNDLING SITE .. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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• Sin,—Mrs. Janet Trevelyan's appeal for the purchase of the Foundling Site may well lead us to recall -certain facts in the history of the institution which seem to be writ...

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"Spectator" Competitions

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RULES AND CONDITIONS Entries must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. The name and address, or pseudonym, of the competitor must be on each entry and...

CHRISTMAS COMPETITION

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Tim Editor of the Spectator offers a first prize of £io 109. and a second prize of is 5s. for a short story of not more than 1,500 words, written in English. Entries should be...

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Books on Art

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Original Engraving and Etching. By Herbert Furst. (Nelson. 42s.) The . Paradise of Tintoretto. By J. Howard Whitehouse. (Oxford University Press. 10s. 6d.) The Post...

Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated into English

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from t ho text of L. F. Benedetto by Aldo Ricci. With an Intro- . duction and Index by Sir E. Denison Ross. The Broadway Travellers. (Routledge. 21s.) IVIIILST Dante wrote his...

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The Fifth Army

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GENERAL Goren's book covers the whole of his career in the Great War, fromhis command of the Third Cavalry Brigade in the retreat troth 'Min's to that of the Fifth Army in the...

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Madampur

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VERSES of Keats have been likened to " sea-nymphs luxuri- ating in their own beauty." Mr. Carthill's prose abounds in deft innuendo and nice collocation, and wallows in its own...

Two Books on Costume

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Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Costume. By Mary G. Houston. (Black. 10s. 6d.) WE have here two books likely to be of particular interest to art students, theatrical...

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Two Saints and a Batch of Cardinals IN order to

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make readable a short popular life of St. Augustine qnly one thing is needful—the writer must be an accom- plished quoter. Herr Lesaar has that qualification. The miraculous...

The Sea, the Hills and the River Sailors Delight. By

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C. Fox Smith. (Methuen. 6s.) The Poetry of Neil Munro. Edited by John Buchan. (Black - woods. 5s.) Round the Camp Fire in East Africa. Sixth edition, with six new poems. By...

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THE Emperor Augustus who, we are told, fished " animi

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laxandi causa," would, no doubt, have also read fishing books just as we do, in season and especially out of season, for the same reason—if such things had existed. He might...

Fiction

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Two New Novelists IT is one of the pleasures of reviewing, which experience in no way diminishes, to come upon a first novel of real quality. There are two on the list to-day,...

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SUSPENSE AND DROSS. By Henry Seton Merriman. (John Murray. 7s.

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6d.)—In spite of the startlingly black and white characters of hero and villain, and all the mis- understandings and agonizings, the first story in this volume is as readable...

New Novels

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STEP TO A DRUM. By Betty Inskip. (Chapman and Hall. 7s. 6d.)—Noel Carter was beautiful, and fascinated all who came . in contact with her, but always remained an inscrutable...

Children and New Ideas The Paintbox. By Martin Armstrong. The

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Greeks. By Rosalind Murray. The Life of Birds. By T. A. Coward. The Story of tivilization. By C. E. M. Joad. (How and Why Series.) (A. and C. Black. 2s. (id. each.) Foa a long...

Christmas Gift Books

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Technical Books for Boys Boons of this type may be divided into two sub-species ; those which are really technical books written simply, and those which profess to explain the...

MANAMA. By M. D. Turner. (Alston Rivers Ltd. 7s. 6d.)

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—Rosemary's passion was ballet dancing, but after she married and had a child she was told she must never dance again. Life became meaningless ; she hated her child, despised...

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Annuals

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Our attention is first drawn to three large bound volumes which should keep the most avid schoolboy or girl reader happy from one year's end to the next. The 58rd volume of The...

Adventurers in the Foreground

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IN this year's school books there are not quite so many replicas of the old-fashioned girl heroine who begins by being a hoyden and ends as the pride of the school. There is not...

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The many admirers of Mr. Russell Flint's etching will be

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grateful to the Studio for adding him to their list of Modern Masters of Etching " (Modern Masters of Etching, by W. Russell Flint, A.R.A. With an introduction by Malcolm C....

Adventurer s Ma. EVELYN WRENCH writes a warmly appreciative foreword

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to the charming little pageant play. It is full of " overseas " enthusiasm, fun, singing, action and imperial sentiment. The "urchin adventure" " whispernspires and controls"...

Current Literature

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NATIVITY plays so seldom contain verse having any relation to poetry that Miss Mary D. Stock's King Herod (Sidgwick and Jackson, 3s. 6d.) is particularly welcome. The three chi...

In these days when the periodical Press offers an ever

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shrinking " market " for poetry, the London Mercury shines forth as a generous exception to the rule. From its files of the last twelve years The Mercury Book of Verse...

The Archduke Francis Ferdinand (Selwyn and Blount. 18s.) was not

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a memorable figure, though his murder must be remembered while Europe knows its history. Perhaps a mans doctor is not the best person to write his life, especially one who, like...

In The Austrian Tyrol (Faber and Faber. 15s.) Mr. Morrow

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has written a book of a type which is very diffi- cult to do well, but very attractive when it is successful. It is a leisurely, scholarly book which is neither quite a...

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The Modern Home

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We shall be pleased to reply to any enquiries arising from the articles we publish on the Modern Home page. Inquiries should be addressed to the Editor, The SPECTATOR, 99 Gower...

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BRITAIN'S BALANCE OF PAYMENTS.

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Before considering the position of our investments in countries further afield, it may be well to point out the importance of these holdings to our national balance of payments....

EUROPEAN LOANS.

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The European loans floated in Britain have been made chiefly to industrial countries, whose future is very in- timately bound up with that of Europe as a whole. Among the...

Finance—Public & Private

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Oversea Investments ALTHOUGH this week's meetings of the Committees appointed to examine Germany's financial position are not dealing with direct debts to the investing public,...

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Financial Notes

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SUGAR REFI N I NG PROFITS. AMONG the relatively few really satisfactory reports recently issued by industrial companies, that of Tate and Lyle stands out very prominently, the...

TILE EXCHANGE FACTOR.

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Although, at the moment, conditions in the " newer " countries of the world show little sign of improvement, their position should have been improved by the deprecia- tion of...

Finance—Public and Private

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(Continued from page 832.) PRIMARY PRODUCERS. Consideration of the factors which have brought about this decline in our oversea income will at the same time reveal the...