16 MARCH 1918

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Mr. Lloyd George, addressing the National Free Church Council on

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Wednesday, warned his fellow-Nonconformists not to mistake phrases for facts. He had often spoken about the League of Nations ; if he did not say more, it was because the...

The enemy, for his part, has been equally active in

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the air. He made a raid on London on Thursday week, favoured by a brilliant display of the Aurora Borealis in a moonless sky. Two machines dropped bombs, killing twenty persons...

The Admiralty return of mine or submarine losses for last

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week is again very grave. We lost fifteen large merchant ships over 1,600 tons and three smaller ships, as against twelve large and six smaller ships in the previous week. Six...

With our lines resting on the sea on the northern

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and southern coasts of Europe, there is no possibility of finding a way round in the old-fashioned manner. The density of modern systems of defence, again, seems to have...

Between the 6th and the 12th inst., according to Sir

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Douglas Haig, British airmen destroyed sixty-five enemy aeroplanes and six balloons, while losing twenty machines. They also bombed Mains last Saturday, Stuttgart last Sunday,...

General Allenby in Palestine resumed his advance northward from Jerusalem

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on Monday week. Moving his centre on a wide front astride of the Shechem road, he pushed steadily through the rough hill-country of Judaea. Last Saturday he advanced his right...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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B Y far the most striking military events of the past week, as indeed of the preceding fortnight, have been the successes of the Allied airmen. The disproportion between our own...

The attacks on German towns are an odious necessity, but,

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since the Germans forced this kind of fighting upon us through debasing the whole currency of military practice, we do not think it possible to argue that we should forfeit the...

The British front in Flanders was subjected to two sharp

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local attacks on Friday week. In the morning, south of Houthulst Forest, the enemy at first captured some advanced posts ; the Yorkshire Light Infantry in a counter-attack not...

THE PAPER SHORTAGE.—We trust that readers of the " Spectator"

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will give definite orders to their . newsagents for a copy of the " Spectator" to be reserved for them each week till countermanded.

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The German Emperor, who, as the Pacificists forget, is the

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sole ruler of Germany, has unveiled his real intentions in one of many flamboyant messages on the - Russian peace. " Our victory in the East," he wrote to the President of the...

One German journalist, Herr Max Cohen, writing in the Vossiache

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Zeitung—which is very far from being a Socialist journal—has had the courage and wisdom to point out that the Gerinan Government have made a fatal error in imposing a German...

Mr. Bonar Law on March -7th moved a Vote of

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Credit for £600,000,000, which is based on an estimated daily expenditure of six and three-quarter millions. In doing so he reviewed not only the finances of the country, but...

The Bolshevik Council last Saturday left Petrograd for Moscow, which

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becomes the Russian capital once more. The Bolsheviks have - undone in a few months all that Peter the Great and his successors had accomplished in two centuries. M. Trotsky,...

The position of Rumania Mr. Bonar Law described as little

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less than tragic. Of our success in Palestine the country had every reason to be proud ; and the Germans, who had promised Mesopo- tamia to Turkey, have had to abandon their...

Mr. Asquith remarked that he still believed the power of

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the Press over opinion to be greatly exaggerated -among politicians. He regretted the very deleterious change in the relations between editors and newspaper owners, now that...

Mr. Chamberlain said that the Prime Minister's principles were satisfactory,

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but there had been " too much coincidence?' It was a very unfortunate coincidence that the very men associated with the newspaper attacks on Government servants, who were...

In the House of Lords on Tuesday Lord Salisbury moved

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a resolution inviting the Government to enforce the law in Ireland. Clare, he said, was not the only plague spot, as indeed the reports of outrages daily show. Lord Curzon in...

Mr. Lloyd George, replying in the debate, urged that newspaper

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owners, as such, ought not to be excluded from the Government. M. Clemenceau owned a paper. The most influential Italian Minister owned a paper. President Wilson had a newspaper...

Mr. Lloyd George in the House of Commons on Monday,

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replying to Mr. Chamberlain, said that the two Ministers, Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook, who had been in control of newspapers, "gave up all direction of their newspapers...

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We have written in one of our leading- articles on

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the importance of the potato. It is probably no exaggeration to say that the potato stands between the nation and the pinch of want. No doubt those who are responsible for food...

Mr. Dillon was on Tuesday unanimously elected. Chairman of the

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Nationalist Party, in place of the late Mr. Redmond. Theo vacant seat at Waterford is being contested by the Sinn Feiner% who have nominated Dr. White, a young physician, as...

The new Education Bill came up for second reading in

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the House of Commons on Wednesday. Criticism -was chiefly directed not so much against the tardy abolition of " half-timers " in the cotton industry as against the proposal that...

It was announced on Tuesday that the exact total raised

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in London during "Business Men's Week" (which ended last Satur- day) by the sale of War Bonds and War Savings Certificates was £75,069,188, a very impressive and satisfactory...

Mr. Meckinder, on behalf of the Clyde shipbuilding industry, made

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a strong protest in the House on. Tuesday against the recent speech of Sir Eric Geddes. It was not the fault of the employers or the workmen that the shipbuilding output was...

In the House of Commons on Tueeday. Mr. Leif Jones

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pointed • out that the country's expenditure upon drink was much too heavy a burden to be borne during the war. The drink bill for 1914 was 164 millions ; for 1915, 182...

He suggested that the Government ought to consult the organized

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Labour of the country, and ask working men to decide for them- selves by a plebiscite whether the present consumption of beer was necessary. The situation as to brea.dstuffs was...

They are rather like Mr. Riley, the auctioneer in The

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Mill on the Floss, who had a general sense of understanding Latin, but whose understanding of any particular Latin was not very clear. Well, here is a case in which the "...

We must make this comment : that the Government in

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thinking that they can point definitely to a particular date when the issue of Bread versus Beer can be safely decided are running an enormous risk. If the time comes when the...

Bank rate, 5 per cent., changed from 51 per cent.

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April 15,1917.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY

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THE SHIPBUILDING CRISIS. T HE misgivings which we have expressed during the past few months about the management of our merchant shipbuilding have been only too well justified...

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THE POSITION OF THE PRIME MINISTER.

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I T is regrettable that the debate in the House of Commons on Monday on the relations between the Government and the Press should have ended so vaguely. The House of Commons has...

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POTATOES AND PIGS.

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I F we had the Grand Victualler to the Nation whose appointment we have so often suggested during the last three years, there would be a very easy food problem now, if any...

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THE FAILURE OF STATE SOCIALISM.

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THE first Report issued by the Select Committee on National YY Expenditure during the present Session—the third since the Committee came into existence—deals exclusively...

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THE NEW PROVINCIALISM.

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Ir HE world has lost its wishing-cap. It is no longer within the power of the richest man in the richest city of the Empire to have what he would like for dinner, to command as...

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POLISH.

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W E spend hours every day polishing. Tho five ration-tins have to be shined with bath-brick. We clean our buttons and hat-badge with soldier's friend four times a day, and bring...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often snore read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] THE SHIPBUILDING CRISIS....

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MORE POTATOES.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Snt,—In view of the growing demand that more land should be put under potato cultivation, those of your readers who are not experts in the...

IRELAND'S PART IN THE WAR.

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[To THE Enrroa or THE " Specreroa."1. SIR,—May I be permitted to point out to your correspondent " Bones," who wrote under the above heading, that if he turns to the...

THE ULSTER UNIONISTS.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Ifnionist Ulster is .grateful to the Spectator for defending it so vigorously and powerfully against what seems to be a con- spiracy...

SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sia,—The dominant factor in agriculture is to maintain the fer- tility of the soil. Prior to the war, for every cargo of nitrate that...

THE ELECTRIFICATION OF SEEDS.

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[To THE Boma OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sin,—May I correct a small error that occurs in your summary of my letter to the Times on the electrification of seeds? You quote me as...

HENRY VII. AND KILDARE.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sin.,—In your article on Ireland of March 2nd a witty remark of Henry VII. is wrongly attributed to his son, Henry VIII. It was after...

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THE AGRICULTURAL. LABOURERS' LEAGUE.

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[To nu EDITOR or TES " SPRETATOR."] SIR,—TO the ordinary outsider, who knows nothing, but what he is told or reads, of the conditions connected with farming, and the relations...

GERMANY AND THE PRODUCTION OF RUBBER. [To TM EDITOR or

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THE " Snorwroa."] Sue —In your article " Germany's Economic Weakness," pub- lished last week, you say that in German East Africa "she hal begun to build up an appreciable...

THE DANGER OF UNCONTROLLED ZIONISM. [To THE EDITOR or THE

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" SPECFATOR."] Sig, — The British Government has recently announced that it is prepared to listen favourably to the desire of the Jews to settle in Palestine—a matter which...

THE ABOLITION OF THE POOR LAW.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—It is to be hoped that the public will take Dr. Addison at his word, and that the Report on "Transfer of Functions of the Poor Law...

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" STICKING IT."

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I think there may be those amongst your readers to whom the following extracts from letters received by me lately from one of our...

A SURREY HOUSE.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sta,—An inquiry has lately been addressed by the present writer to Lord Rosebery concerning the origin of the name of his well- known...

WAR WORKERS THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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" SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It is very easy for our British public to realize the greatness of the work which our women war workers are achieving just now in Great Britain. It is not...

EELS.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I have read your article on " Eels " with the greatest interest, especially as I can claim to have had, what I think few have had, a...

AN INCIDENT OF FOOD CONTOt.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The following incident of Food Control may amuse your readers. The owner of a pig wished to kill it and share it with his friends,...

WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent, under this heading, is evidently ignorant of the routine of these Certificates or he never could have proposed...

TRANSLATION " HOWLERS."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIB,—I have noticed a good many translation " howlers " in the newspapers lately. Some of the best I have seen were published in the Civil...

THE LARK.

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[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sm,—Your correspondent writes drawing attention to the fact of a skylark singing so early as January 25th. The writer of that letter...

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 agree- ment with the views therein expressed or with the...

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BOOKS.

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RUSSIA IN THE MELTING-POT.* Ma. ROBERT WILTON, the Times correspondent at Petrograd, has during the past fourteen years been an eyewitness of events in Russia, " able to study...

POETRY.

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A VOLUNTEER TO HIS EQUIPMENT. Clinch of the equipment issued to Volunteers has seen service in the field.) I WAS, I own, a little dashed, nay, hurt, When you were issued to me...

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MEMORIES OF MIDLAND POLITICS.*

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Low CHAramta's interesting record of his experiences as Liberal Member for East Northamptonshire from 1885 to 1910 will convince the reader that we are living in a new era....

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SOME RECENT VERSE.* THE visional recorded in Mr. Hardy's poems

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are nearly all of the past— visions seen in the magic mirror which " works well in these night hours of ache," and reveals " tinots we never see ourselves once take When the...

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MME. ROLAND.*

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Has. POPE-HENNESSY has not seen Mme. Roland through the eyes of a hero-worshipper. She has given us a very human picture of a woman who managed to weave a reasonably happy lib...

READABLE NOVELS.—The Toll of the Road. By Marion Hill. (John

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Long. 6s.)—An American theatrical novel. The struggle between the attractions of the footlights and those of domestic life in the mind of the heroine is cleverly...

FICTION.

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SINGING SANDS.* Miss Fox SMITH correctly describes her story as an episode. It is not a full-length novel, for the development of the plot is rather abruptly cut short by the...

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Man-Power and the Army Dental Service. Edited by D. F.

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Pennefather, M.P. (Published by the Editor at 25 Victoria Street, S.W. 6d.)—Mr. Pennefather's pamphlet, issued on behalf of the Parliamentary Committee on the Relation of...

An Abbot of Vezelay. By Rose Graham. (S.P.C. K. 3s.

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6d. net.) —Miss Graham, well known for her studies in monastic history, has written a charming little book on the once famous monastery of Vezelay and its greatest Abbot, Pons...

Mr. G. D. Brown, librarian of Princeton University, has written

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An Essay towards a Bibliography of the Published Writings and Addresses of Wofdrow Wiloon, 1910-1917 (Princeton University, 75 cents), which some of the President's British...

Sir Hanbury Brown has reprinted from the Journal of Egyptian

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Archaeology his interesting paper on " The Exodus recorded on the Stele of Menephtah," advancing the theory that the Israelites left Egypt in 1230 B.c., when Menephtah,...

A Polish Manual for Self-Tuition. (Kegan Paul. 2s. 6d. net.)—

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This elementary manual of a language which, though difficult, should be better known in Great Britain, is a simplified version of a well-lutown German handbook to Polish. The...

Abbeville Past and Present. By the Rev. H. W. Fox.

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(Abbeville : Y.M.C.A. Rouen : J. Girieud.)—This readable little history of Abbeville, with some charming pen-drawings by Lieutenant R. G. Brocklehurst, is a piece of war-work...

The Geographical Journal for March (2s.) is of great interest

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as it contains the full text of General Smuts's remarkable lecture on East Africa, besides some new and valuable " Notes on the South- Western Area of German ' East Africa " by...

The Medical Research Committee of the National Health Insur- ance

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Department has published an instructive Report on The Causation and Prevention of Tri-nitro-toluene (T.N.T.) Poisoning. It seems that the poison is largely absorbed through the...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK. -

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INGtice in this column aces not necessarily preclude subsequent revicw.1 The Eton Review, issued by the newly founded Eton Political Society (Eton College : Spottiswoode,...

WORKS OF REFEREXCE —Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed, and

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Official Classes for 1918 (Kelly's Directories, 15s.) is the forty- fourth annual edition of a most useful book, which contains condensed biographies of thirty thousand persons,...

The Deliverance of Jerusalem. By E. W. G. Masterman. (Hodder

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and Stoughton. ls. net.)—Dr. Masterman in this very interesting pamphlet describes Southern Palestine and the brilliant campaign in which General Allenby took Gaza, Jaffa, and...

The housing question is of such great interest and importance

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that we must call attention to a useful Digest of the Report of the Royal Commission on Housing in Scotland, by Mr. W. E. Whyte (Edin- burgh : Hodge ; 2s. 6d. net). The...