14 NOVEMBER 1931

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The New Front Bench The Cabinet appointments which were announced

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just too late for comment a week ago bear out that belief. There is obvious intent in the combination of a convinced Protectionist in Mr. Chamberlain as Chan- cellor of the...

News of the Week T HE new Cabinet in its first

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appearance before the new Parliament gave evidence of approaching its task on sound and unspectacular lines. The King's Speech; apart from a significant reference to the coming...

Empty Alarms The session is likely to be short, and

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in the cir- cumstances it is well it should be. The Government has its task and its mandate to discharge that task. Most of wInit it has to do lies in the field of administra-...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.

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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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Old Masters from Russia The Soviet Government cannot be accused

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of " dump- ing " in its decision to export the treasures of the Hermitage. According to the Daily Telegraph it has sold a score of the most famous masterpieces in the collection...

India : The Critical Moment Mr. Gandhi has told an

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American interviewer that the one course open to Mr. MacDonald is to impose a constitu- tion India can accept. That declaration follows on a letter signed by Mr. Gandhi himself...

An Empire Constitution One of the immediate tasks of the

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new Government is the passage into law of the Bill known as the Statute of Westminster, approved by the last Imperial Conference, and designed to give juridical force to that...

Mr. Hoover's Critics President Hoover, having internationally to defend his

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country against critics who think the American Navy too large, finds it necessary nationally to defend it against critics who think it too small. In his controversy with Mr. W....

The Corsican Bandits The French Government has instituted a campaign

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against the Corsican bandits. So long as they were merely outlaws who, in satisfaction of some private feud, had killed their enemies and taken refuge in the " maguis " or...

The Kashmir Trouble The situation in Kashmir is temporarily, at

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any rate, quieting down, but what has happened, and what may happen still in that Indian State is a grave reminder of what the communal problem in India means. The Hindu ruler...

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Labour's Two Voices The Labour Party and the Trades Union

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Congress, through a joint meeting of their two executive committees, have decided to draw the bonds between them closer and co-operate more actively in the future than in the...

* * * * Post- Office Possibilities Lord Wolmer's proposal

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that the Post Office should be turned over to a public utility company on what are known as gas company terms (providing that every increase in dividend above a certain figure...

Lord Mayor's Show The new Lord Mayor of London, Sir

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Maurice Jenks, deserves to be congratulated on the originality and attractiveness of the procession which escorted him to the Law Courts on Monday. Modern industry and science...

The Trade in Munitions From one point of view it

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is satisfactory to hear from Lord Falmouth, chairman of the Sheffield Board of the English Steel Corporation, that armament work has diminished to a mere fleabite compared with...

The " Spectator " " Better World " Number On

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November 20th we shall publish, as we did on November 21st last year, a special " Christmas " issue of the Spectator in which we shall sketch in broad outline what would, in our...

Empire Broadcasting The British Broadcasting Corporation is about to establish

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an Empire service, operating night and day, and capable of transmitting its programmes to the ends of the earth. Powerful American and Russian stations can be heard in the...

Bank Rate 6 per cent., changed from 41 per cent.

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on September 21st, 1931. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 961 ; on Wednesday week, 961x.d. ; a year ago, 1020.d. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 851; on...

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Sir John Simon's Opportunity

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I N his Guildhall speech on Monday the Prime Minister I- mentioned the special responsibilities resting on two members of his Cabinet, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the...

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Health and the Child

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S IR GEORGE NEWMAN'S Annual Report on the Health of the School Child is this year an impressive document:* Sir George Newman is himself a public servant of pronounced...

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Tariffs and the Money System

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BY NORMAN ANGELL P ERHAPS the most amazing feature of the tariff discussion is that none of the tariff advocates, so far as I am aware, has troubled to deal with the relation of...

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The Cause of Cancer

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By HARRY ROBERTS A T the end of the last century, it was generally sus- pected that cancer would turn out to be an infectious disease due to the invasion of the body by some...

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Problems of the Christian Conscience

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[We publish here the sixth article of a new Theological Series which we hope will throw light on some of the most disputed questions of conduct. Mr. Woolley is a Chaplain at...

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If Mr. Lansbury failed to impress the House, so also

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did the Prime Minister. There was indeed only one Parliamentary success on the opening day, namely, the speech of Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd in moving the Address. He broke right away...

In the first place, this Government was chosen to act,

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but to act upon knowledge and not upon inspiration. The Prime Minister defined its problems as the problems of currency, credit, the balance of the Budget and the balance of...

The new alignments of parties in the House were most

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interesting. Mr. Maxton has firmly established himself and his dissentient group as a separate unit on a separate bench. The Speaker called on him immediately after the...

Parliamentary Notes

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N OTHING like the present House of Commons has been seen since the Coalition Parliament of 1918. Those who looked down upon it during the opening day of the debate on the...

The Prime Minister only said in other language what was

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so loudly applauded when uttered by Mr. Lloyd and. Mr. Flint, and the coolness of his reception by the House therefore requires requires some ex-planation. Undoubtedly a large...

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An Eighteenth-Century Tragedy

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BY E. E. CARMICHAEL-FERRALL. H AD Lady Mary Kelly lived in the year 1931 instead of in 1797 her whole story might have been different and possibly sadder, but the notoriety of...

In short the explanation of the Prime Minister's cool reception

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by a section of the House is not that he was too indefinite but that he was too definite. The result of the election is admitted to be that the nation has voted full powers to...

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As the World Goes "

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A CERTAIN gentleman in Hornsey, blessed with more enterprise than fortune, recently contested no fewer than eight wards in the Municipal Elections. The fates, however, were...

FASHIONS AND FACES.

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" Your smile," we read in a prominent fashion journal, " should be changed to suit your hat ; there is nothing so unbecoming as certain expressions with unsuitable clothes." We...

SIDELIGHTS ON THE CRISIS.

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The depleted purse of America has caused a pitiable state of affairs in an unsuspected class : the Parisian painters of masterpieces, those geniuses who are responsible for so...

Art

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Mr. R. 0. Dunlop. The Goupil Gallery Salon. THERE are few English painters to-day, still comparatively young, whose work shows such consistent improvement as does that of Mr....

The Theatre

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"Make Up Your Mind." A Comedy by Leopold Marchand. Adapted by Xenia Lowinsky. At the Criterion Theatre. To throw a firework into a circle of people and watch whether they or...

TRANSPORT AMENITIES FOR THE WILD.

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Lion cubs are very much in the limelight just now. Miss Peggy Salaman, " the intrepid British airwoman," has just secured a couple. Not in the chase, be it noted ; but as pets....

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Correspondence

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LA LETTER FROM MANCHURIA.] I . To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--I am writing on October 21st from Shanghai. Almost exactly a month has elapsed since Japan's military...

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A HOARDING SQUIRREL.

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A pair of grey squirrels have recently arrived in a garden where they had not been seen before ; and they have been very closely observed. One of them has almost a mania, so it...

The building of new cottages is not wholly dependent on

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the energy of District Councils. A great deal can be done to help hy residents who care to enter the field. Examples are to be found in many parts of England where the ground...

CORN IN EGYPT.

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Several correspondents have asked for a fuller explanation of a recent allusion to an Egyptian king who was famous as " a traveller in barley." The story is that Osiris, king or...

GREEN THOUGHTS.

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We like the word green in England. Many of our favourite quotations are built on it. Marvell's " Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade " perhaps...

* • LATE SWALLOWS.

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Though it is November, I see that someone has reported a laggard swallow or two. Let me give the final record or a family history that a neighbour has been chronicling in a...

Country Life

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COTTAGE PRESERVATION. A little while before he became Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Neville Chamberlain put his hand to paper and wrote a preface to a book on Rural Housing....

Many villages still have their slums, comparable with urban slums,

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indeed sometimes in actual accommodation worse. I know places (and some in villages quoted as examples of the new housing) where men, women, children (and the third sex,...

Mr. Chamberlain stresses the wisdom of reconditioning rather than rebuilding,

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where possible. Quite apart from the question of economy, any rural housing policy to be worthy of the name must include, as one of its essential aims, the preservation of...

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TRADE BALANCE AND GOLD [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—Mr. Robbins, in his article in the Spectator of Octo- ber 24th says that Exports and Imports balance, once you are off Gold. This would be the case if our currency was...

FREE TRADE v. PROTECTION

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—Mr. Alan Dore begins his reply to my letter by mis- quoting what I said, namely, that those who favour tariffs do so solely from...

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...

THE FUTURE OF THE LABOUR PARTY [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—One wonders to find Mr. H. B. Lees-Smith consoling himself after a crushing defeat by what he calls " the vital fact " that the organization of his party...

MR. ARTHUR J. COOK

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your comment on this Labour leader seems a partic• ularly just one. The writer had the opportunity of talks with him just after each of...

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In " Business Adrift " the author says " even the mechanism of thought is not understood." The reading of letters on Free Trade and Protection will soon bring this home to...

BANKS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—I have read Mr. Kiddy's defence of the private owner- ship of banks with interest but without conviction. From his article one would imagine that the banks were solely...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I draw your

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attention to page 267, vol. 3, of Life of Lord Salisbury, by Lady Gwendolen Cecil, for his views on a tax on corn? It is very apt that he warns his followers that any renewal of...

BUY-BRITISH MOVEMENT [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—There are,

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of course, a large number of small trades which, in the aggregate, if reasonably safeguarded, would afford a rapid decrease in both unemployment and imports. Many luxury imports...

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-MILK

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOB.1 Sin, --As a milk producer who makes every effort to insure that his product is clean and wholesome, I was interested . in a letter on milk in...

THE FUTURE OF INDIA To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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. • SIR,—The article India—The Immediate Task," . in your issue of November 7th, contains some sound ideas, but may- I submit one or two criticisms ? (1) Where is the need to...

MI1K GRAVY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Sir W.

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Beach Thomas recently remarked upon how little milk is consumed per caput in this country. I was interested to notice, when in Western Alberta, that potatoes were there...

A CHALLENGE TO THE NEW MINISTER OF HEALTH [To the

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Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—You do well to remind the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects that it is not in Shorediteh alone that the " latent...

WATER-DIVINING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sun.—In the article on " Country Life," by Sir W. Beach Thomas, for September 26th; he appears to regard the architect who employed a water-diviner as bordering on the category...

THE OSLO BREAKFAST [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sin,—I was interested to read Sir William Beach Thomas' reference, in your issue of 7th instant, to the " Schiotz Breakfast," introduced by Dr. Johan Brun (Director of the...

THE "CUTS" AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] • - Sm,—There has been a number of letters in the public Press concerning the ten per cent. cut. You, yourself, publish one; But in none of these, nor in any...

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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I am greatly pleased•to read your reply to Mr. Richard It has always been a pleasure to meet your con- • iacnt correct spelling of the word " judgement," and I have 'cad your...

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

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the SPECTATOR.] SI IL -English dictionaries, I have lately noted, indicate the pronunciation of the first three letters in the word nouthenal as the same as the first three...

THE BRITISH INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Sin,—May I crave a portion of your space to refer to the appeal of Professor S. Alexander and other distinguished philosophers for a wide interest in the study of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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a,—In your issue of September 12th the General Manager of the Travel Association of Great Britain and Ireland, in a letter printed under the heading of " Why Not Com.r. to...

• To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] - Sin,—Mr. F.

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MacDermot should cast the beam from his own eye. In his letter complaining against the language of the Spectator he says : • • . . " May I submit that such a use of the word...

POLITE GEOGRAPHY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Su;,-- It

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may (or may not) be a confession of " retrograde nineteenth-century mentality " to call Anvers Antwerp, Bruxelles Brussels or even London Londres (as the unen- lightened French...

BRITISH HOTELS ITo the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Snt,—I cannot imagine who are the people who find our English hotels so inferior to foreign ones. I think few people travel at home and abroad more than my husband and I do. We...

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Poetry

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The Little World Tnouuat God in seven days The world and all its ways Once for his own delight did fashion truly, Yet every man alive Must through his senses five Create it...

POINTS FROM LETTERS

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A HOME OF REST. Miss Geraldine Liddell writes to recommend Backsettown, Henfield, Sussex, for those who seek a quiet place at which to stay in England. Complete privacy can be...

A FRENCH VIEW

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[a M. k Redacteur.] MONSIEUR,—Je suis sceptique stir la reussite de ces grandes solutions internationales vers lesquelles les peuples paraissent se precipiter affoles et dans...

LONDON HOUSING SOCIETIES.

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Reference was made in last week's Spectator to the excellent work of the Bethnal Green and East London Housing Asso- ciation and its participation in the forthcoming Exhibition...

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A Hundred Years Ago THE " SPECTATOR," NOVEMBER 12TH, 1831.

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TORTOLA. Letters from this island describe a bloody and horrible plot which had just been discovered among the slaves to murder their masters, burn their houses, slaughter all...

PREJUDICES.

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Soon after the accession of Charles the Third to the crown of Spain, his subjects were prohibited by a severe edict from wearing flapped hats and long cloaks; caused an...

A POULTERER'S Prry.

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An old woman was " pulled up " before Lord Mayor Key on Monday, for stealing a goose. She was identified, as well as the goose, by the poulterer's man. The old lady said, in...

THE GREAT CAUSE, SMALL. V. ATIWOOD.

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This cause has begun, with very little probability of being termin. ated in the lives of any of the parties. The briefs and other written documents would fill a waggon. The...

C Spectator" Competitions RULES AND CONDITIONS Entries must be typed

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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 not on a separate sheet. When a word limit...

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Lord Rosebery

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Lord Rosebery. By the Marquess of Crewe, K.U. Two vols. With illustrations. (J. Murray. £2 2s. Od.) Tins book is a historical document of the first order, written by one great...

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A Woman Spurned

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NAPOLEON hated Mme. de Stael. He banished her and again and again he refused to let her come back. " I do not want her here," he thundered every time that a petition was...

Claudel's Masterpiece

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Tim work of Paul Claudel, most certainly the greatest of living Christian poets, has never yet been fully appreciated in this country. This, no doubt, is partly because of the...

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Poems of John Skelton

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The Complete Poems of John Skelton. Edited by Philip Henderson. (Dent. 10s. 6d.) FASHION has brought back even the metaphysical poets to bookshop and shelf. Since the unexpected...

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A Prehistoric Orkney Village

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Skara Brae : A Pictish Village in Orkney. By V. Oortion Childe. (Kogan Paul. Ws: 13d. ) ON the west coast of the Mainland of Orkney, near the spot where the Hampshire,' carrying...

A Famous Archaeologist

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Seventy Years in Archaeology. By Sir Flinders Petrie. (Sampson Low. 18s.) SIR FLINDERS PETRIE began collecting coins in 1861, when he was eight, and first went to Egypt, to...

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Fiction

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Round the Compass IN a sense, every work of tragedy is a put-up job. The author must set the stage : but we distinguish sharply between different degrees of arrangement,...

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Current Literature IN this well-printed and attractively produced little book

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Ich Kann Deutsch Lesen : I can read German. (Heinemann, 2s. 6d.) Mrs. C. Gladstone Solomon has made a useful con- tribution to the list of language-learning "methods." "The...

Travel

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[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in making their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited...

In accordance with the prevalent taste for celebrating anniversaries, a

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very interesting little book has been devoted to the memory of James Clerk Maxwell (Cambridge University Press, 6s.), who was born on June lath, 1831. Ten of the greatest living...

Mr. Patrick Chalmers' Gun Dogs (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 25s.) contains

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a dozen picturesque notes on the more im- portant breeds of sporting dogs. Slight and unpretentious in structure, these sketches have a warmth and colour that are wholly...

A Book of Sporting Painters, by Walter Shaw Sparrow (John

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Lane, 42s.) will be more interesting to lovers of sport than to lovers of painting, as it is rather a biographical survey of the painters than an estimate of their work. Mr....

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THE Two URGENT TASKS.

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The Prime Minister is to be commended for haying referred in his Guildhall speech to what are unquestionably the two most urgent tasks of the Government, namel). the restoration...

Finance—Public & Private

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• The Government's Task—II AT this early stage of the new Government's existence it is, of course, impossible to determine the precise manner in which Ministers will interpret...

THE PREMIER'S DECLARATION.

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Moreover, this view of the outlook would seem to find confirmation from the nature of the Prime Minister's speech at the Guildhall. On the present occasion it was only natural...

THE VICIOUS CHICLE.

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From this point the Premier went on to show how a lack of financial confidence all over the world had reacted upon the London Money Market, the situation in Germany, in...

List of Hotels

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• First Class : RINGSTON. Myrtle Bank, Manor House, Constant Spring (closed now, future uncertain), Grenville. - Slightly Cheaper : Mona Great House, Maryfield, Doric, Roslyn...

A NECESSARY REMINDER.

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In spite, however, of some of these world problems, both political and financial, depending for their solution not upon our own Government's policy, but upon the question of...

Italian Travel Bureau

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We understand that at the office of the Italian Travel Bureau n London the Compagnia Habana Turismo is no longer repre- sented. The Italian Travel Bureau remains at 16 Waterloo...

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POLICY or THE FREE HAND.

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In that connexion I suggest that if the Government uses courageously but wisely the free Mandate given 1.):. 'he country with regard to the measures to be taken to res.ore our...

FUTURE OF THE POUND.

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This, however, brings us to a consideration of the other problem, namely, the ultimate stabilization of the pound. As the Prime Minister very truly remarked, it is almost...

MORE HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.

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Without, therefore, in any way minimizing those causes of crisis in our own country, for which we have been responsible, such as extravagance in the National Expenditure, the...

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Financial Notes

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BUSINESS INCREASING. general tone of the Stock Markets remains fairly satis- factory, and there are not wanting signs of increased dealings in Some departments. Indeed, it is...