12 JANUARY 1924

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All the same we arc bound to say that the

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task will be far more difficult than Mr. MacDonald, in the friendly atmosphere of the Albert Hall, and warmed by the genial response of his audience as he developed his very...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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A T the first sitting of the new Parliament on Tuesday Mr. J. H. Whitley, in accordance with expectation, was unanimously re-elected Speaker. Sir Ellis Hume- Williams, - in...

As regards foreign affairs, which make a programme in themselves,

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Mr. MacDonald need not reckon on oppo- sition if he carrieS . out What is known to be the will of the vast majority. The vast majority want to appease Europe in the spirit of...

The chief impression produced upon us by Mr. MaeDonald's speech,

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is that it was noticeably cautious and moderate. Evidently he knows that if he wants to achieve anything—and he distinctly declared that it was his purpose to put nation above...

It is now _safe_to say that the few attempts at

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bringing about an anti - Socialist fusion before the King's Speech is delivered are breaking down, as we expected they Would. Hardly anybody doubts . that when the time comes...

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Next, we were interested to read that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald

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plainly perceives that it may be necessary to protest against "what is being done in Afghanistan." His only reservation was that protests should be made through the proper...

As regards foreign affairs, Mr. MacDonald said that the Labour

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Party wanted to put all the quarrels of Europe behind them, and to establish" with France, Italy, Russia, Germany—with all peoples of the nations—an under- standing, not of...

In France, the fall of the franc has been compensated

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by the fall of the Seine. Over last week-end the Paris floods had become extremely severe. The highest point was reached on the nights of Saturday and Sunday last, when at the...

Last Sunday's elections of a third of the French Senate

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have resulted in a considerable success for Poineare and his policy. The, condition of the Senate remains almost exactly as it was, that is, perceptibly more Liberal than the...

That is, of course, eloquent, and we believe it is

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sincere, and it certainly deserves and will command our respect till it is proved to be otherwise. The tragedy of such visions is that they filled Mr. Lloyd George's speeches...

The most significant phrase in Mr. MacDonald's speech was that

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"one step" was enough for him, so long as it led to another step. There was no mention whatever in his speech of reconstructing society, of nationalizing the means of...

Turning to unemployment, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald did not give any

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idea of how he intends to deal with it beyond saying that his government would produce "a scientific scheme." He made a considerable point of the housing problem, and drew...

Paris forms a sort of bottle-neck for the united out-

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pourings of the Marne, the Yonne and the Seine, for below Paris, those serpentine bendings and writhings of the Seine, which everyone who has ever flown from London to Paris...

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The report of the Select Committee of the House of

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Commons on Betting was issued on Tuesday. The report is incomplete as the work of the Committee was cut short by the dissolution, but enough has been done for the guidance of...

The real dissatisfaction of the engineers and firemen is caused,

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not by the new rates of wages so much as by the alleged practice of the companies which, according to Mr. Bromley:— " are refusing to tell a man when he is promoted, and are...

If the Majority Report had been finished, it might apparently

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have recommended a scheme for legalizing ready-money betting, for licensing bookmakers, and for imposing a duty of 24- per cent. on all stakes, putting the responsibility for...

To us, 3,200 years, if the figures have any significance

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a all, seem longer than all history. But to Tut-ankh- ttmen they have been only an instant. He does not know that but months remain to him of his sleep, and when the time comes...

It is on this side of the Egyptian discovery—on this

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story of fanciful, of fantastic grandeur and buried mag- nificence—that we would dwell. Later on we are promised a ray of light on the history and the art of ancient Egypt. We...

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, 99; Thursday week, 100k; a year ago, 1001.

Lord Crewe holds another post as well as that of

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British Ambassador at Paris ; he is the President of the Classical Association, and it was in this capacity that he addressed a meeting in the Hall of Westminster School on the...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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UNIONIST POLICY. E Unionist Party finds itself at the opening of the new Parliament in a critical position. Will It miss the tide or will it make itself worthy of its claim to...

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THE FRENCH POLICY OF ENCIRCLEMENT. ,

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W E have all looked to Czecho-Slovakia as one of the hopes of Europe. She has handled her own affairs brilliantly—more brilliantly probably than any of the States which were...

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ADEQUATE AND INADEQUATE CURRENCY IN PRACTICE.

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O N November 13th, 1872, that indomitable septuagenarian, Louis Adolphe Thiers, as Chief Executive, read to the National Assembly his Message containing this striking paragraph...

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POPULAR ERRORS.

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By VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON. IV.—THAT THE OSTRICH HIDES IIIS HEAD IN THE SAND. O NCE upon a time there were two reglons of the earth where any fabulous story might be safely...

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.*putatar.

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5 5 5 The subscription rates of the Spectator post free to any part of the world are as follows :- one Year 80s. Od. Six Months .. • • . 15s. Od. Three Months .. 7s. 8d....

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On his return to South Africa last month General Smuts,

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in an important speech on the Imperial Conference and the effect the British elections would have on it, expressed the opinion that the decisions of the Imperial Conference...

Since the Yellowstone Park was made into a national reserve

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some fifty years ago it has had many emulators. A Johannesburg correspondent of the Times announces that the Minister of Lands will introduce in the Union Parliament during the...

Assuming that 40 per cent, of the land surface of

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the world is fit for food production, Mr. Johnson estimates that there is room in the world for about 5,200,000,000 people. In less than a hundred years, therefore, we shall...

. As the New Year opens, the clouds on the

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Irish horizon seem to be diminishing, and as far as it is ever possible to be optimistic in Irish affairs there would appear to be some justification for such an attitude of...

THE

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ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD. BY EVELYN WRENCH. T HE appointment of Sir Esme Howard as British Ambassador at Washington has once more raised the question as to the desirability of...

In its first flush of its gratitude to the American

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people for their wonderful generosity at the time of the earthquake, the Japanese Press anticipated that Japanese-American relations were entering upon an entirely new phase,...

The Rand Daily Mail publishes a carefully argued leading article

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on this subject. In the British Common- wealth of Nations the will of the people must remain supreme, or, as the Rand Daily Mail has it, "There is no alternative save the...

The New York New Republic contains an interesting article by

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Mr. Alvin Johnson, entitled" Are We in Danger of Over-population ? " The writer makes several refer- ences to Professor East's recent book, entitled Mankind at the Cross-roads....

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ART.

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TWO EXHIBITIONS. THE NEW ENGLISH ART CLUB, R.W.S. GALLERIES, 5A PALI. MALL EAST. DRAWINGS BY THE GIRLS OF THE DUDLEY HIGH SCHOOL, INDEPENDENT GALLERY, 7A GRAFTON STREET, W. A...

MUSIC.

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THE COMING ELIZABETHAN FESTIVAL. IF British music in the twentieth century is remembered for nothing more than the reinstatement of the Tudor musicians, it will Laid a high...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE RIGHT TO ADVISE A DISSOLUTION. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] 6IR, — Mr. Hamilton Fyfe's trump card is rather like the Devil's quotations from Scripture. He selects one...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In her reply Lady

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Astor evades my points altogether. Her statement was that the Liquor (Popular Control) Bill had been attacked on account of the provision for an annual insurance premium of...

THE STATE AND THE FARM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—My attention has been called to Mr. Philip Morrell's article under the above heading, in your issue of December 22nd. He criticises (but...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—There are no agricultural

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feet at which I would sooner sit than at my friend Sir Henry Rew's, and when he tells me that my outline of a policy was incomplete, I hasten to accept his statement. But you,...

POLITICS AND DRINK.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Lady Astor originally said that "the monopoly we call the ' Trade ' has organized itself politically" and that it subsidizes " person% in...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I imagine that many

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readers besides myself must have been startled, and perhaps amused, by the shattering contra- diction between the letter of Mr. Hamilton Fyfe, the editor of the Daily Herald,...

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THE REFERENDUM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—I beg to thank you for permitting me to state—in severely condensed form—my fears of your Referendum. May I say that I do not think you...

UNEMPLOYMENT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—You say, in your issue of December 29th, "Let us get on with the solution of unemployment," and you point out that "there are many ways...

BIRDS AND CATTLE DISEASE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sis,—In the November issue of the Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture there is a long article by Sir Stewart Stockman attempting to prove...

UNTRAINED MANUAL LABOUR.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have read with great interest your recent article dealing with unemployment, and advocating comprehensive construction of roads suitable...

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—The wisdom of having an Established Church has increasingly been called in question in recent years, not only by those who are frankly opposed to the Anglican Church but...

CHURCH BEFORE PARTY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The admirable article on "Church Before Party" in your issue of December 20th precisely and concisely states what is at once the great...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—Col. Josiah Wedgwood wrote to me : "I agree with you to a modified extent about Referendum. Of course, I would couple with it the initiative, but the difficulties in both...

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LORD BUCKMASTER'S BILL.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Medicus " is wrong in supposing that supporters of lunacy as a ground for divorce are advocating something "detrimental to our rudimentary...

THE PASSION OF LANGUAGE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Your note upon the wonderful Jew who made the Jews of Palestine re-create the Hebrew language, although it had hitherto been regarded as...

THE LONDON FEVER HOSPITAL.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I appeal, through your columns, for further subscriptions to the London Fever Hospital to enable it to carry on its essential work ?...

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PRIMITIVE PEOPLES AND SIMPLE LANGUAGE. •

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Bagehot's opinion of the propensity to mimicry being strongest in savages and children has been noticed by many travellers, and is...

SIGNOR MUSSOLINI—A VERBAL SNAP-SHOT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I Write from Rome. How popular Mussolini is ! I saw him well one morning—he had been riding in the Borghese Gardens, and was just coming...

GIBRALTAR OR CEUTA.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—In your article on "Our Relations with France," which appeared in your issue of November 24th —and with the general substance of which I...

THE DANGER OF A LABOUR GOVERNMENT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lord Birkenhead's letter in the Daily Mail of the 7th inst. will, I am assured, represent the true opinion of the present political crisis...

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ACROSTICS.

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fro the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I, as a home reader of many years' standing, add a brief word in support of your Indian correspondent in expressing the hope that you...

POETRY.

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THE KINGFISHER'S RETURN FROM BEING STUFFED. [Written for the children at Field Place, where Shelley was born.] LONG had our Kingfisher been Barred from his meadows green, From...

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

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MONETARY REFORM.—Mr. William Henry Flavelle, Mont Millais, St. Helier, Jersey, writes : "It is with deep regret, as a reader in Australia of very nearly forty years' standing,...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—AS one of your

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regular readers, I quite like the idea, suggested in your correspondence columns, that you should have an acrostic in each number. I am sure it would attract the younger...

REVISION OF THE PRAYER-BOOK.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With reference to your recent article on the above subject, the statement therein made that the proposed alterations, which have received...

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A BOOK OF THE MOMENT.

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THE ART OF OLD PERU. The Art of Old Peru. Edited by Walter Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Ethnological Institute of the Berlin Ethno- graphical Museum ; assisted by...

BOOKS.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. THE Rev. S. Gordon Wilson has been moved by indignation to write a description of The University of London and its Colleges (University Tutorial Press). A...

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CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN.

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The Life of the Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, G.C.B. By J. A. Spender. (Hodder and Stoughton. 42s. not.) IN The Life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Mr. Spender has...

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THE YOUNG BURKE.

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The Early Life, Correspondence and Writings of Edmund Burke. By the late Arthur P. I. Samuels. With an intro- duction and supplementary chapters by the Right Hon. Arthur Warren...

THE UNKNOWABLE.

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OF all living philosophers Professor Santayana is probably the greatest artist, and never has he written better than in this lecture which he has just delivered to the...

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THE GATES ARE OPEN. By Cranston Neville. (Arnold. 78. 6d.)

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Non-musical people will find in the story of Noel Lane much to entertain them. All the same, it is primarily a novel for the musical. It deals with the education of an artist...

An intense desire for a change of social position is

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not a very exalted ambition, but the reader becomes fond of the ploughboy Gabriel with his English good sense and his Scotch--one might almost say German—longing for education....

FICTION.

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EBONY AND IVORY. Ebony and Ivory. By Llewellyn Powys. (Grant Richards. 6s.) Tins is a most painful book. Even the author of The City of Dreadful Night made one exception in...

The conventional tale of the "society beauty who, on the

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death of her father, disguises herself as a man and goes to Tasmania to seek her fortune in the osmiridium She falls in love with the handsome and melodious-voiced Salarno,...

SHORT STORY WRITING FOR PROFIT.

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THERE are some unnatural mothers who rear their young on tinned milk, or chowder, or some such substitute for the natural aliment. Strange to say, their babes often survive....

A story of two brothers, the younger of whom seems

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unable to "draw the line" at anything until the end of the book. Being engaged to one girl, he keeps another girl in a London fiat, cruelly deserts her and causes her, suicide,...

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THE CONTEMPORARY.

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The moral of the General Election is drawn, according to their respective party standpoints, by Sir Evelyn Cecil, Mr. Pringle and Mr. Arthur Ponsonby. Mr. Pringle exultingly...

This is the first specimen of an Anglo-Arabian novel modelled

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on the well-known school of Anglo-Indian fiction. Mrs. Rosita Forbes knows her subject, and her Eastern characters are well drawn. The English people are certainly true to type,...

THE EMPIRE REVIEW.

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The writer of the Monthly Notes in the Empire Review gives a rollicking account of what he calls "The Truth About the Baldwin Debacle." He assumes that Mr. Baldwin had no idea...

THE NATIONAL.

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The National Review in its editorial notes strongly repudiates the idea of a Conservative-Liberal coalition against Labour. "Privy Councillor," enforcing this view, declares...

THE FORTNIGHTLY.

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The Fortnightly starts the New Year well, with a series of instructive articles and with a much improved fount of type. " Augur " discusses "Balance of Power," pointing out the...

BLACKWOOD'S.

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Sir Thomas Warner, with seventeen followers, landed on St. Christopher just three centuries ago. The story of this, the first permanent English colony in the West Indies, is...

THE JANUARY MAGAZINES.

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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The Nineteenth Century begins with an article entitled "Quo Vadimus ? " by Mr. Hugh Chesterman, who, as might be expected, appeals for new efforts of...

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With his customary learning and a pinch of Pre- Dynastic

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wit, Professor Wyld writes yet another missionary tract on behalf of the goddess Philology. The absence of any hint that he enjoys poetry somewhat lessens the force of his...

ARTISTS' RIFLES JOURNAL. (Christmas Number, 1923.) This journal maintains its

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usual standard. It speaks well for the vigour and esprit de corps of a Territorial Battalion : that it should produce a magazine of its own not only in peace time but in winter.

SHORTER NOTICES.

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WINDOWS. By George Montagu, Earl of Sandwich. (Elkin Mathews. 78. 6d.) This little collection of forty-five lyrics shows, in its quiet accomplishment, a keen eye for pleasant...

FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[By OUR CITY EDITOR.] SUPERANNUATION OF EMPLOYEES. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is, perhaps, a sign of the times that in modern business there is a growing...

THE LONDON MERCURY.

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The most important item in the new London Mercury is a series of eight poems by Mr. Ivor Gurney. Their sometimes unusual syntax, together with a rough-hewn directness of...

BURLINGTON MAGAZINE.

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The January issue of this excellent periodical contains an article by Mr. Eric Maelagan on "The Wax Models by Michael Angelo in the Victoria and Albert Museum." It is, as we...

FLETCHER MOULTON'S ABRIDGMENT FOR 1924. By H. Fletcher Moulton. (Ernest

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Benn. 12s. 6d. net.) Mr. Fletcher Moulton has got hold of a good idea in thus gathering together all the new law of the year, whether statute or statutory order, or by way...

OLD MAN'S BEARD. By J. B. Morton. (Philip Allan. 5s.)

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Mr. Morton has humour and gusto, and writes very plea- santly of his real or imaginary adventures on the roads in England or in Italy and Switzerland. It is a pity, however,...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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Without going so far as to endorse the lurid descrip- tion of the situation given by Mr. Lloyd George to the Press, in which he describes the Western skies as "black with the...

It might almost be said that there is a touch

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of real romance in the latest matrimonial arrangement in the banking world. Few banking fusions or absorptions have aroused greater interest than the announcement which was made...

MATERIAL REVIEW.

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IT is often amusing to notice the politely concealed astonish- ment and dislike with which Americans view certain British habits and customs, such as the display of carcases in...