18 JUNE 1942

Page 1

THE PROSPECT IN LIBYA

The Spectator

N spite of the intensity of the fighting on the Russian front Libya remains the centre of interest and concern for every British tudent of the conflict. Elsewhere, apart from...

China's Need

The Spectator

The problem of help for China is one of the major issues of the War. Japan, whose resources seem to be of almost infinite elasticity, 13, according to Chinese reports, massing...

The War and Education

The Spectator

It is often said that the last war brought education forward in this country, whereas the present war has set it back. Both proposi- tions are true, and the second seems likely...

Page 2

The Status of the Clergy

The Spectator

The Church Assembly has been dealing this week with a number of Measures touching the status and conduct of the Anglican clergy. Those which received general approval on Tuesday...

Eclipse of Battleships

The Spectator

The decision of the United States Government to stop work on five new monster battleships and concentrate on aircraft carriers instead corresponds to the clear lessons of the...

Coal Today and Tomorrow

The Spectator

Both Sir Stafford Cripps' past and his possible future invest any contribution he makes to the discussion of social and industrial con- ditions in this country with considerable...

Home-Grown Wheat

The Spectator

When the Government set out to expand home wheat-growing in 1939 it may be taken that the most profitable wheatland in the country was already under the plough. And as the...

Mr. Butler's Projects

The Spectator

Mr. Butler was not very lavish of promises, and even about raising the school age from 14 to 15 he could merely say that it should be done " when we get the chance." Meantime,...

Page 3

RUSSIA'S YEAR

The Spectator

WELVE months ago next Monday Hitler, being bound by a I treaty of nearly two years' standing to refrain from any act of force or aggression against Russia, invaded Russia...

Page 4

The resumption of raids on Germany on Tuesday night does

The Spectator

something to relieve the perplexity which the failure to follow up the two thousand-machine raids last month had caused. The sensation they created throughout the world, with...

A.B.C.A.—the Army Bureau of Current • Affairs—is one of th

The Spectator

most hopeful innovations of this war, and the report which has just been issued on its first eight or nine months' working shows that the initial hopes were not misplaced. The...

A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

I HAVE more than once emphasised here the disastrous failure of the various half-hearted attempts to interpret this country to Russia. Never was the necessity greater than on...

The hard case of Lord Wardington leaves me, of course,

The Spectator

sym- pathetic, but rather perplexed. What he said in the House of Lords on Tuesday, if The Times report can be trusted, was that "the highest category of surtax-payers were...

What to me is a new, and certainly a very

The Spectator

interesting, point o view on the question of family allowances has just been put befo me. I commit myself to no final judgement on it, but it obviously deserves consideration....

There is something characteristically insolent in Japan's reporte protest against

The Spectator

the suggestion that a Chinese envoy to the Vatican should be appointed. Japan herself recently despatched such an envoy, for transparently political reasons. The number of Japan...

Page 5

FROM TOBRUK TO KHARKOV

The Spectator

By STRATEGICUS T HE design in the Middle East grows in dearness as the fighting becomes more intense. The objective has long been evident, and if the plan by which it is hoped...

Page 6

PUBLIC CORPORATIONS

The Spectator

By OSCAR R. IIOBSON T HE present " white-headed boy " of many economic reformers is the Public Corporation, which is being hailed as the ideal compromise between socialism and...

Page 7

UNDERSTANDING RUSSIA

The Spectator

By SIR BERNARD PARES 1 1 HE publication of the Anglo-Soviet Treaty was sure to be greeted with intense satisfaction. This is what has been eagerly asked for at innumerable...

Page 8

MY TRULLY

The Spectator

By EVELYN SIMPSON Y TRULLY christened himself. His first letter to me began " Dear Miss E. Simpson," and ended " Your Trully Jim Smith," and 'My Trully he has remained ever...

POST-WAR LANGUAGE

The Spectator

By PROFESSOR E. ALLISON PEERS T HE recent entry of Mexico into the War focuses attention once again on the twenty Latin-American republics, all of them alive to the dangers of...

Page 9

DALLAS : HIS DIRGE

The Spectator

DALLAS is dead. It was the tenth of May When Dallas died, It was a week ago today, And what is left? Sylvia. Sylvia cried "God, what is left?" And " Sylvia," the wind...

PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT The maximum number of copies of THE SPECTATOR

The Spectator

that paper restrictions permit are now being printed each week. Readers who experience difficulty in obtaining a copy of the paper regularly are invited to forward their names...

Page 10

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON L AST week's Spectator contained an interesting and opportune letter on the subject of the party system. The argument, if I understood it aright, was that...

* * * *

The Spectator

It is argued, finally, that the purpose of any electoral system to secure that the country is represented in Parliament by " m of high intelligence, integrity and ability to...

Nor do I agree that the . symptoms specified are symptoms

The Spectator

illness. I consider them symptoms of excellent democratic heal It is right that in any grave national crisis, such as war or recon struction, a National Government should be...

* * * *

The Spectator

The writer of the letter in question, to my mind, has weakened the force of its argument by using words and phrases the meanings of which are suggestive rather than precise. Any...

Page 11

CESSATION OF WAR

The Spectator

WILL it cease and the snow— Gathering on the muzzles of guns— Lie undisturbed While the lights of Europe leap and glow And the cracking of ice as the pent-up waters flow Bear...

rHE CINEMA

The Spectator

" The Spoilers." At the Leicester Square.—" Flying Fortress " At Warner's and the Empire.—" The Defeat of the Germans Near Moscow." At the Astoria, Charing Cross Road...

THE 1HEATRE

The Spectator

4 , Twelfth Night." At the Arts Theatre. THAT the new theatrical venture at the Arts Theatre is well worth the fullest support of anyone interested in a lively contemporary...

Page 12

RELIGION AND THE B.B.C.

The Spectator

Sia,—That renowned scientist Thomas Henry Huxley used to deligh in telling the story of a loud-voiced corporal who during a certain w found himself stumbling on a party of the...

THE SCHOOL OF ANATOMY

The Spectator

SIR,—Professor Norman Bentwich in your issue of June 5th says: "A famous painting of Rembrandt, The School of Anatomy,' shows a group of solemn Dutch doctors gathered round a...

Sin,—May I congratulate Messrs. Peele and Whitehorn on their articles

The Spectator

on the Centenary of Arnold's death? I must, however, challenge Mr. Whitehorn's assertion that such activities as music, dramatic, debating and literary societies, magazines and...

Sin,—" Who am I that I should pretend to comprehend

The Spectator

the Inscrutable? said Dean Swift. A finite mind can never grasp that which is Julian In esoteric matters the human intellect can pursue a line of enquiry u to a point at which...

SIR,—I congratulate Mr. J. R. M. Whitehorn on his letter

The Spectator

from Rugby School and especially endorse his emphasis on the primary importance of the cultivation of the intellect in the education of youth. The march of time shows the...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator

ARNOLD AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS StR,—T he Spectator has always been a popular paper at Rugby School. The names of the Headmaster and Mr. P. F. Wiener have drawn an even wider...

A NEW TABLE OF LESSONS

The Spectator

SIR,—The correspondence under the above heading shows signs of flood. ing a much wider area than you envisaged when you allowed it to begin. But—if space allows—may I, in case...

Page 13

—In Lord Maugham's enumeration of essential reparations by ennany which

The Spectator

you quote under this heading in the leading article of air issue of June trzth, the most essential appears to be omitted, in the be of Poland, namely the restitution of lands,...

POST-WAR GERMANY

The Spectator

Sta,—There is one paragraph in your admirable article on "Post-War Germany " to which I think exception must be taken. You say, at the !mom of page 547: " It has been pointed...

BRITISH RESTAURANTS AND FEES t.i

The Spectator

—Mr. A. R. Young accuses the Ministry of Food of having made a bargain with the Performing Right Society in regard to fees for the ermance of copyright music by wireless...

FOOD WASTAGE

The Spectator

Snt,—Mr. Seeley says that the statements of myself and Sir William Beach Thomas are not supported by facts. I am afraid his are equally unsupported. He says that now...

Page 14

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

TWICE within four days my bees have gone through a rather rare manoeuvre. The stock in q uestion is a very stron g one, g rowin g rather too numerous for the hive, and not...

English Tobacco Close alon g side this same afforested area I visited

The Spectator

several times a early experiment in g rowin g En g lish tobacco. It was extremely succe s ful, at any rate so far as the plants and the curin g of the leaves we concerned. The...

THE GOVERNMENT AND FUEL SIR,—I think with you that the

The Spectator

Government would have been better advised to have adhered in principle to the Beverid g e Scheme, and for the very reason set forth by Sir John Percival in his letter in The...

A LOST VERB SIR,—I am anxious to be informed by

The Spectator

any of your readers who are also writers what has happened to the verb " be g in." No modern author now uses it I notice. The followin g q uotations will illustrate my point:...

THE MARQUIS DE SADE Stn,—With reference to Lord Vansittart's pointed

The Spectator

poem in defence of the Mar q uis de Sade in comparison with Heydrich, it may be remem- bered that the Mar q uis, who was in prison at the time that the French Revolution broke...

Vermin Virtues An ardent re q uest that vermin, especially stoats and

The Spectator

weasels, shou t not be allowed to multiply appeared recently in The Field, and it evok the comment that stoats and weasels killed rats. Now it is part of m creed that both...

In the Garden One of the most disappointin g events in

The Spectator

the orchard is the shriven' and droppin g of already formed fruit. It is often Nature's proper meth of reducin g excess ; but it may be due to other causes, and the preventive...

Postage on this issue : Inland and Overseas, td.

The Spectator

Page 16

Last Essays

The Spectator

The Death of the Moth. By Virginia Woolf. (Hogarth Press. 9s.) THESE essays are mainly about literary subjects and what one though of The Common Reader one will, on the whole,...

BOOKS 014 THE DAY

The Spectator

Revolution by Order The Government of Vichy. By Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Tissier. (Harrap. 15s.) The Government of Vichy. By Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Tissier. (Harrap. 15s.)...

Page 18

Countryman's Credo

The Spectator

Remembrance. By H. J. Massingham. (Batsford. Jos. 6d.) MR. MASSINGHAM defines his autobiography as " a topographical record of the country of my own mind from early years to the...

Union of Writers

The Spectator

Writers in Freedom. Edited by Hermon Ould. (Hutchinson. 8s. WHAT new thing is presaged by this book? The sub-tide is " Symposium based on the XVII International P.E.N. Club...

Page 20

Soundings in Science

The Spectator

SIR WILLIAM DAMPIER has added to his well-known book a short section on the science of the decade 5930-40. This would, in itself, make this new edition worth acquiring. It is...

Fiction

The Spectator

Scene in Passing. By Robert Neumann. (Dent. 7s. 6d.) Stoughton. 8s. 6d.) Scene in Passing is no straightforward chronological résumé of past events, but a fable placed vaguely...

Page 21

" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 171

The Spectator

(A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct olution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week. ;nr elopes should be...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 169

The Spectator

O 11[200000 00M0 M00000000 n nuonrinn UH0000 d 0001000d0 0 01300 anuennem annum MOOOW000 U000MMO MM U mnamoun MBO o id131113EICIII ii413012111111C1 CI 13 CI CI 13 13 [I El...

Page 22

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS NEWS from the war fronts has scarcely been of the kind encourage the optimists in the stock markets, and nobody can surprised at the modest relapse in quotations....

Miss JEAN BURTQN'S biography is well-named, for Isabel Arundel: declared

The Spectator

that if she were a man, she would be Richard Burton, " but being only a woman, I would be Richard Burton's wife," and the book lives up to its title, for it does succeed in...

Shorter Notices

The Spectator

The Annual Register. Edited by Dr. M. Epstein. (Longmans. 42s.) THIS indispensable volume is a little slimmer than in the previous year, though there is no reduction in the...

Soviet Heroes. Edited by Ivor Montagu and Herbert Marshall. (Pil

The Spectator

Press. 2s, 6d.) Moscow Under Fire is yet another eye-witness account by o 1 Special Correspondent, and does not break away from " The Field. The two publications of the Pilot...

Page 23

PlViPANY MEETING

The Spectator

ARGENTINE ESTATES OF BOVRIL LIMITED SIDING at the thirty-fourth annual general meeting of Argentine Estates Bovril, Ltd., he d in London on June 16th, the Lord Luke, K.B.E....