17 JANUARY 1936

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NEWS OF THE WEEK A S the meeting of the League

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of Nations Council on Monday approaches, discussion both of peace proposals and of an intensification of sanctions increases. Many of the peace rumours, such as the reported...

The Coal Controversy .

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The two statements made during the week by respon- sible members of each party to the coal dispute are encouraging. Mr. Joseph Jones, the President of the Mineworkers'...

The Oil Sanctions Problem If the moment is premature for

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peace discussions, as it probably is, the question of imposing petrol sanctions becomes, or rather remains, immediately relevant. Arguments can be adduced for postponing that...

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The Red Cross Bombing The Swedish Government is by no

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means disposed to leave the bombing outrage at Dolo where it is. The - death-roll is now 42. An International Red Cross repre- . sentative has declared after inquiries on the...

Dr. Schuschnigg in Prague The visit of Dr. Schuschnigg, the

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Austrian Chancellor, to Prague, and the conversations to take place there; are, according to official explanations, to be concerned entirely with commercial questions. There is...

Russia's Military Budget The increase in the military expenditure of

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the U.S.S.R. in 1936 has been caused, said M. Molotov last Friday, by the threats to her security from Germany and Japan. The suspicion that this means not two threats, but one,...

Conciliating the Confessional Synod The German Church conflict has taken

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another curious turn, and conciliation is the order of the day. On Sunday the Confessional Pastors in Prussia, displaying consider- able courage in view of the probable...

Japan and the Naval Conference The Japanese have pursued a

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strange course at the Naval Conference. They could never have supposed that their proposal for a common upper limit, i.e., equality, would be accepted by Britain and the United...

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Public Services and Strikes The action of the Traffic Commissioners

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in the East Midland area during this week has been swift, drastic, successful, and on the whole justified. They have, in effect, compelled the settlement of a busmen's strike,...

To Save Country Houses Some time ago, Lord Lothian made

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the proposal that owners of country houses of historic interest or archi- tectural merit should be accorded a remission of death duties on their properties on condition that...

The Cabin Ship Controversy The dispute over the rating of

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the Queen Mary ' has been clarified by the letter which appeared on Wednesday in The Times, from Sir Percy Bates, the chairman of the Cunard White Star Company. From his...

Conflict in Spain In Spain the .restoration of constitutional liberties,

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suspended since the 1934 revolt, has not soothed political passions. Newspapers, after over a year of enforced silence, do not know where to begin with their attacks. The Right...

The Still Falling Birth Rate The Registrar-General's returns for 1933,

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published this week, show that the birth-rate has fallen to the lowest level recorded in this country, except for the last year of the War. The figure, 14.4 per thousand, is...

The Veterans' Bonus Last week the American House of Representatives

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passed the Pittman Bill which authorises the issue of 811.000,000,000 (E2,200,000,000) of new currency to be paid in bonuses to the American war veterans. On Tuesday the Senate...

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THE HALF-OPEN DOOR

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W HEN the Abyssinian War ends, the peace conference that liquidates it will not be a concern only of Italy and Abyssinia. The League, having become a party to the conflict,...

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DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EXERCISE

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- A N unusual feature of the official programme on ZIL which the Government went to the country at the General Election was that it included a special 'educational programme and...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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A SENTENCE in the telegram addressed by the Ross and Cromarty Unionist Association to Mr. Baldwin goes to the very heart of the issue raised by the contest in that constituency....

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THE ANATOMY OF FRUSTRATION

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By H. G. ELLS I. THE AUTHOR AND ROBERT BURTON Mr. A. G. Wells holds a recognised place among the most challenging of modern thinkers. In various volumes, notably " God the...

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FIFTEEN WEEKS OF WAR

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By MAJOR L. I. ATHILL W HEN the Italian high command began to plan its Abyssinian campaign much of its work had already been done for it by -the nature of things. The absence...

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BATTLESHIPS AND BOMBS

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By E. N. B. BENTLEY / p ATTLESIIIPS and bombs have been a subject for argument ever since aeroplanes have been able to carry large bombs. Any effective discussion on the sub-...

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THE WEST INDIANS OF INDIA

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By PHILIP COX N OW that a new Government of India Act is on the Statute Book, it may not be out of place to refer to a discovery that came as a surprise even to some of the...

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TATTOOING

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By WILLIAM PLOMER "THE universality of this practice," said Captain Cook of tattooing, " is a curious subject of speculation." It is indeed, and from time to time it has...

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THE DICTATOR OF GRAND BASSA

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By GRAHAM GREENE I had been a little uneasy when I heard that he was at . Tappee, for my papers were certainly not in order, and I pictured him as rather ferocious in the...

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.MARGINAL COMMENTS

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By ROSE MACAULAY A VERDICT of interest to motorists was given, by direction of the judge, at the Old Bailey the other day, when Lord de Clifford was declared not guilty of...

DIRECT subscribers who are changing their addresses are asked to

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notify THE SPECTATOR office BEFORE MIDDAY OH MONDAY Ole EACH WEEK. The previous address to whieh the paper has , been sent and receipt reference n u mb er should be quoted.

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The Cinema "Second Bureau." At the Curzon. — "Sans Famille."

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At the Academy ONE is inclined to exaggerate the value of another country's films, just as much as of its fiction, for only the selected few reach us. Those who think of the...

STAGE AND SCREEN

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The Theatre " To-night at 8:3o." By Noel Co4rard. At the Phcenix Theatre I WONDER what he's like on the tightrope ? " pardonably mused the lady on my left. We were nearing the...

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Art

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Chinoiserie TuE Fauchier - Magnan collection of drawings prevoked reflections on the origins of the Rococo style in France, and the exhibition of Chinoiserie organised by the...

Sainte Genevieve

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ON a souvent tendanee a se repeesenter la population parisienne °mime legere, gouailleuse et meme versatile. Cel est, pent-etre parfois, l'un de ses aspects les plus super-...

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COUNTRY LIFE

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Country Customs When I wrote, a fortnight ago, of " the category of vanishing country festivals " it did not occur to me that I could fill this page, and another, with even...

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EGYPTIAN NATIONALISM'

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SHI,—As one of the " trousered class " I should like to be allowed to reply to the letter from " A.B.C. Cairo " in your issue of December...

COUNT ST: AULAIRE'S TALLEYRAND

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR . - [Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable' length is that of one of our "Nave of the...

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A COUNCIL IN PALESTINE

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[To the Editor of TilE SPECTATO1.] Sin, — Lord Melehett in a letter to the Manchester Guardian (November 27th, 1935) appeared to hope for " three to four million Jews " in "...

SCHOOL MEALS

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Alfli6ukh the recent eirchlar of the Board of Education, Which has had some notice in your columns, drops the former requirement of...

CRUELTY TO FOXES

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To the Editor of Tim SPECTATOR.] Sin ,—In the Press of December 24th, 1935, was reported a Police Court case in which the Master and a Hunt Servant of the South puilmm Hounds...

NATIONAL IDEALISM AND RELIGION

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To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,The letter from Professor Maurice Belton is frankly a pathetic dOcutnent.. He notes storm-clouds once more darkening over Christian Europe...

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THE POPE AND PEACE

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—To judge from your comment and Dr. Berry's " trenchant words " on the Pope. you and Dr. Berry would have been equally annoyed with the...

SIR,—In a most apposite letter a correspondent writes that "

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The younger children . . . in winter are seldom free from colds and other ailments." Such ailments, however slight as they may be in themselves, tend to undermine the stamina...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The refusal of the

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Pope to co-operate with the " peace advocacy " of the Churches is no matter for surprise or regret. It would be a tragedy if the representative of Catholicism were deluded by...

ITALY AND BRITAIN

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Peace in Europe and British Imperial security alike depend upon the renewal of our ancient friendship with Italy. Britain cannot...

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" THE PROBLEM OF JAPAN "

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[To the Editor of THE SeEcr.vroal SIR,—Professor Allen, replying in your issue of the loth to my criticism of a passage in his review of The Proble»t of Japan, suggests that...

PSYCHIC FORCES

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Since the publication of my article on Precognition in the series on Psychic Forces recently appearing in The Spectator several readers...

THE SUBURB WIFE

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—God knows there are enough people in this England of Ours who evoke our sympathy, but the claims of the " suburb wife " as set forth by...

SWAN FOR DINNER

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[To the Editor of THE SrEcrATon.] Sin,—In the interesting paragraph on this subject a slight error has occurred. The King's swans are unmarked, the Vintners' swans have two...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I should like to

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add my support to the plea that more agents and instruments should be provided for the broadening of life of those women who have to live in suburbs. That the B.B.C. misses a...

" GUIDE TO PHILOSOPHY "

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—" An outline of the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, in 43 pages " ! I only wish that I could have managed it. But, alas, the spoils of...

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The Revolution in Physics

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BOOKS OF THE DAY By Dr. J. D. COCKCROFT PROBABLY no developments in physics have excited so much general interest as the frequently quoted statements that Determinism has...

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The Precursor of Fascism

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Pareto. By Franz Borkcnau. (Chapman and Hall. Os.) Tins study of Pareto follows closely on the publication of the English translation of his principal work, Mind and Society....

Woodrow Wilson : Life and Letters, 1914-1915. By Ray Stannard

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Baker. (Heinemann. 15s.) The Neutrality President WREN President Wilson's second `Lusitania' Note, which caused Mr. Bryan's resignation of the Secretaryship of State in June...

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Lawrence and Shaw

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T. E. Lawrence. By Liddell Hart. (Cape. 7s. Gd.) To Captain Liddell Hart's able biography of the late Aircraftsman Shaw—now published as one of Jonathan Cape's " Academy...

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The Crusade Against Drugs The Last Plague of Egypt. By

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Baron Harry d'Erlanger. (Loyal. Dickson. 10s. 6d.) THERE is no doubt that drugs, especially the newly devised heroin, were having an increasingly devastating effect upon Egypt...

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Acts of Faith

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Totem. By Harold Stovi n . (Methuen. 68.) World Without Faith. By John Beevers. (Hamish Hamilton. 78. 6d. ) Epilo g ue. A Critical Summary. Edited by Laura Riding. (Constable....

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Success

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After School. By Sir Harold Ber.man. (Sampson Low. 3s. 6d.) THERE is an almost forgotten novel by Walter Besant about a country town in which most of the inhabitants have...

Man as a Whole

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Human Ecology. By J. W. Bows. (Oxford. 15s.) As a survey of the sciences bearing on man this is a balanced and well-documented reference book, with whose wealth of de- tail a...

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Fiction

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By WILLIAM PLOMER Co West, Young Man. By Bernard J. Farmer. (Nelson. 7s. 6d.) See How They Run. By Jerrard Tickell. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) Friday was Fourpence. By Kenneth...

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Motoring The Charm of the Modern '1'iu chief characteristic of

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the two new cars I have on my list for report in The Spectator is, to be compelled into a shocking word, modernity. Beyond the obvious implica- tions of the term I must confess...

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Financial Notes

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RISE IN INDUSTRIALS. AcrivrrY in Industrial shares continues to be the outstanding feature of the Stock Markets. British Funds and kindred stocks keep wonderfully firm owing to...

Banking Profits

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Finance Au, the leading English joint stock banks have now published their statements of profits for the year 1935. Without exception, the results are equal to general...

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A Hundred Years Ago

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" THE SPECTATOR," JANUARY 16TH, 1836. THE war of the parson against the peasant is raging in Ireland. The minister of the gospel of peace with his own hands loads the pistols...

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SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO. 173

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SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner of Crossword No. 172 is Miss Jean Macgregor, Carpenter Hall, Aberystwyth.

"The Spectator" Crossword No. 173

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BY ZENO [A prize of one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked " Crossword...