T AST Wednesday, when King George stepped from the LI gangway of the 'Empress of Australia' on to Canadian soil, amid a thunderous welcome from his Canadian subjects, was a day...

ment's decision, but by far the bitterest attacks will come from the Jews, whose declared ambition it has been to increase immigration till the Arabs become a minority in...

Palestine problem is not satisfactory, for the decisive reason that no solution of that problem could be. A situation exists in Palestine which makes it impossible for what are...

the progress the Military Training Bill is making in the House of Commons. The measure's smooth passage is due largely to the Government's willingness to accept a number of...

his visit to Italy on Monday ; the Italian Press insists that the growing political friendship between Italy and Yugoslavia has added further support to the Axis, and hopes that...

the situation in Europe to put Anglo-American policy in the Far East to a severe test. Last week Japanese troops landed at the treaty port of Amoy, on the coast of Fukien, and...

country have always asserted that after the civil war he would inevitably turn to Britain for financial aid. So far they have not been justi- fied by events. But there is no...

Ankara last week, has been received with the greatest satis- faction by every country which is co-operating in the peace- front—and with mingled dismay and hostility in Rome and...

to speak the language of strength and not of weakness, French. public opinion has undergone a remarkable rhsnge. The spirit of Munich is indeed still alive ; M. De:at can ask...

Ambassador in Spain has had instructions to attend General Franco's Victory March in Madrid. Mr. Davidson, the young Labour Member for Maryhill, who is gradually making a name...

business within a measurable space of time remains a mystery. There is no obstruction, and all parties desire to see the defence measures on the Statute Book as soon as...

of Cabinet Ministers who hold directorships in private companies. The matter has arisen over Lord Runciman's directorships. The Lord President of the Council is not a favourite...

have been declaring against conscription, with varying degrees of emphasis. The President of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engin- eering Unions, Mr. J. W. Stephenson,...

has sought Sp darken their sombre lives even further by suggesting that thcy are trene- filing from the hospitality of this country, and not offering their services in the event...

is in a strangely optimistic mood at the moment. The reason for it is not very clearly defined, but there is a feeling that the corner to Peace has been turned at last. Now that...

'particularly between Great Britain and Germany, it should never be forgotten what the Germany of the last four or five generations has given to the world. Violent as may be the...

I T may or may not be true that, as many signs seem to indicate, the Dictators have not only reached but passed the peak of their power. Certainly none of the factors, like the...

TODAY Great Britain is spending over £400,000,000 a year on war preparations, on guns, on shells, on warships, on aeroplanes, on soldiers. This vast expendi- ture is justified...

versity. A recent visitor to Paris was told, with all solemnity, by a former diplomat, a non-German in touch with official German opinion, that Herr von Ribbentrop and his...

from that long- established, staid, dispassionate record of events, the Annual Register, which no less a personage than Edmund Burke founded in 1758. If there is one thing more...

all of them are undeserved. But—thanks, admittedly, in the main to Herr Hitler—enough has been achieved by British diplomacy in the past two months to make Herr Hitler sick with...

by some pungent comments to which I can take no excep- tion. The essential sentence, which reaches me underlined, runs : ." Boil two small live lobsters." That unadorned in-...

propaganda news-sheet published in Bavaria, called News from Germany, of comments on the international situation in The New Pioneer, and mentioned that according to the...

V ARIOUS explanations are proffered for the substitution of M. Maisky for M. Potemkin or M. Molotoff as dele- gate of U.S.S.R. at the League of Nations Council meeting next...

By ERWIN D. CANHAM T HE royal visit to the United States of course raises real problems, which must have been well weighed before it was undertaken. There has been...

FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Cape Town, May 5. H ERR HITLER'S fiftieth birthday was marked in South West Africa by the extremely modest scale of the German population's...

By DR. DAVID THOMSON 11 0W will the future historian interpret the peace-time introduction of conscription into Britain? What place will it have in that chapter which—unless...

By HUGH SETON-WATSON B ULGARIA is one of the States defeated in the World War, and feels that she has several injustices to be re- paired. By the Treaty of Neuilly she lost to...

By COMMANDER • RUSSELL GRENFELL I N a democracy, the man who shouts the loudest gets the most. He who shouts less loudly does not get so much ; while the man who either does...

By F. SHERWOOD TAYLOR C ANCER is the second among the killing diseases. Every year some seventy thousand of our countrymen die from its effects, not in most cases without...

By MARK BEN NEY Y half-past three the old men began to arrive. They came singly, huddled against the thin persistent Sabbath rain, poor, patient old men who carried all their...

FRIGHTENING, tawny and steep, Carved in the delicate eye Are summitless crags, that keep Faith with humanity, That pillar the hidden sky Like Atlas, mortally bowed By weight...

NEW FOUND LAND REVISITED By THOMAS LODGE [Mr. Lodge was a member of the Commission of Government for Newfoundland from 1934 to 1937] T WENT to Newfoundland in 1934 with the...

other human beings in the manner of "the Divinity addressing black-beetles." Yet he was always careful to make it clear (a) that he regarded black-beetles as entertaining little...

grate- ful remembrance: the names of Curzon and of Venizelos. Did Ismet Pasha, now InOnii, I wonder, allow his mind the other night to ffick back across the years ; to meet...

spite of their interminable wrangles, impressed itself upon Ismet Pasha and his staff. "Evidemment," Riza Nour once said to me, in his Anatolian French, "Ler' Kerzoon n'est pas...

sudden diplomacy. I confess that I do not regard as de- pendable agreements which have not had many years in which to solidify and to mature. The foundations of this present...

and sombre magnitude with the March sunshine of boisterous geniality. I recollect an occasion, in 1920, when he was visited in London by M. Stamboliski, the Agrarian Prime...

a dramatic rupture. Yet assuredly it was one of the most valuable diplomatic failures that there has ever been. Curzon arrived at Lausanne to face a Turkish delegation...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE Turkish agreement has been welcomed as a fine diplomatic performance. It is more than that. It represents the integration of those natural interests,...

THE THEATRE "Bridge Head." By Rutherford Mayne. At the Westminster Theatre.--" The Intruder." By Francois Mauriac At Wyndham's Theatre. ALONG the western seaboard of Ireland,...

"Jamaica Inn." At the Regal. —" J'Etais une Aven- turiere " and "The Londoners." At the Academy. Tuts passionate, full-blooded yarn could only have been con- ceived by a young...

[D'un correspondent parislenj IMPOSSIBLE d'y ediapper. On a beau voiler la chose sous des formules anodines—" evenements," " developpements," "con- tingences "—chacun sait que...

II Trovatore at Covent Garden HALF-A-CENTURY ago Mr. Bernard Shaw contributed to critical case-law a valuable judgement which has never yet been upset. In the case of The World...

The plover is the most beneficial and the least harmful of birds. Its beneficences are unqualified on any farm land. At the other extreme comes the starling in the...

Those wise persons who direct the Green Research Com- mittee at Bingley Hall in Yorkshire have now further enhanced the reputation of that most congenial . variety of grass...

Courageous Plovers The birds that build no nests worthy of the name seem to be less sensitive to disturbance than others. You can, for example, hardly persuade a peewit to...

There are many ways of earning the blessing invoked by Dean Swift on the head of him who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before. Captain Holt has dis- covered one...

The date approaches when the work is best done. The only really effective time for either cutting or bruising bracken is during the period of early growth when the roots are...

very rural links, I came upon a method of handicapping that was new to me. The inferior, or less perfect of two players, habitually receives from his opponent half a stroke at...

in England is the mound of barberies at Wisley when the flower is full The most popular of all bushes is said to be Thunbergi, whose purple leaves especially appeal to American...

that grass checks the growth of young trees, and it is thought by some that it has a definitely toxic effect. Yet the grass must not be maligned. In the fruit-growing districts...

Douglas Reed's letter in your issue of May 5th, he may not perhaps have observed that the matters to which he refers are under the active consideration of the Government, and...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—As the originators of the Negev plan—or rather as two of the people most closely concerned with its revival—we have naturally followed with...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

protest too much. We are already fully acquainted with his views on immigrants and aliens, and in his desire to carry on his work of spreading racial prejudice—for, after all,...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Harold Nicolson's article of May 12th is to my mind both right and wrong in condemning the Government's policy of keeping the public...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] am very glad you are taking so active a part in pressing for reform of our diplomatic service. Few things are more important in the present...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—i was interested to read the comments by Janus on the Prime Minister's most unfortunate reply to a question about the desirability of...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. C. Brian Phillips, of Bootham School, fears that military training may have a brutalising effect on the minds of those trained and may...

The Spectator to say that Ulster men can enlist in the Territorials. Ulster has no Territorials. We have in County Antrim a reserve garrison battery of artillery, and recently a...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sta,—The last thing I wish to do is to prolong a correspond- ence which is unlikely to lead to anything because Admiral Eyres and myself are...

SIR,—Owing to the fact that so much publicity has been given to the word " conscription " in Press descriptions of the Government's new policy for six months' compulsory train-...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Sir W. Beach Thomas is quite wrong in describing the area by St. David's Head in Pembrokeshire—offered to the National Trust—as "this bit...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, —With reference to the "Fourteen Points," may I ask for information on the following question? Not long ago, in a letter to The Times, it...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] S1R,—I am surprised to read the impertinent note in your last issue which is offered as a review of Finnegans Wake. I fully appreciate the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—If there is a real danger of the German executive basing their policy on an erroneous conviction that this country will default on its...

to elicit comments from your pen, such as you attach to my letter on the German colonial claims and the Fourteen Points, and I am sorry to persist. But in one particular you...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sit,—In a recent discussion on the burning of Washington in the War of 1812-15, in The Spectator, no allusion is Made to the fact that it was...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sta, — Your reviewer's words that the later letters of Words- worth contain — " remarks on his own poetry ; glimpses of his kindness to young...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, —How are important civilian workers, particularly those in factories producing food or war supplies, going to get to work if war comes? A...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Snt,—You say, on May 12th, that the democracies clung to the be:ief that Herr Hitler's aim was "simply to extend the frontiers of the Reich...

Security (R. C. K. Ensor) . 860 Workmen's Compensation (Dingle Foot, M.P.) ... 862 Guide to Modern Wickedness (Dr. W. R. Inge) 862 Eyewitness in Czecho-Slovakia (Shiela Grant...

Workmen's Compensation. Vol. 1. Social and Political Development. By Sir Arnold Wilson, M.P., and Professor Hermann Levy. (Oxford University Press. vas.) As long ago as 188o...

Mn. JOAD is, in my opinion (since I generally happen to agree with him), doing good service by his books on what Carlyle might have called the condition-of-Europe question. That...

Eyewitness in Czechoslovakia. By Alexander Henderson. (Harrap. los. 6d.) IT was the tragedy of the Czechs that their significance for the rest of Europe was understood too...

The Still Centre. By Stephen Spender. (Faber. 6s.) Letter to a Comrade. By Joy Davidman. (Oxford University Press. 98.) IT is six years since Mr. Spender published his first...

Borstal Lives. By Louis Edward. (Gollancz. 9s.) IF the number of books lately written round the subject of those unhappy folk who have lost their liberty through breaches of the...

The Lovely Quaker. By John Lindsey. (Rich and Cowan, ifs.) VERY little is known of Hannah Lightfoot. She married a Mr. Axford in 1753 at the Quaker Meeting-House or at Keith's...

MANY people nowadays feel on intimate terms with the domestic lives of the Trobrianders, and soon the economic habits of the Tikopia may be equally familiar. For this island of...

Eastern Visas. By Audrey Harris. (Collins. 12s. 6d.) THERE is a saying of Confucius quoted by Miss Harris which she might fairly have taken as the motto for her book : "If you...

Sailing on the South Coast. By K. Adlard Coles and T. L. Stecken. (Shell Guides. 5s.) THE quality of Shell publicity entitles this firm to rank as public benefactors, and in...

FOR an intelligent observer today it is Very difficult to remain entirely unbiassed about what is happening in the Soviet Union. For an intelligent Russian immediately before...

By FORREST REID Gangway Down. By Dave Marlowe. (Harrap. 8s. 64.) MR. DAVE MARLOWE'S first book, Coming, Sir ! was an autobiography wherein he described his life as a waiter...

its existence the Year Book of Educa- tion (Evans, 35s.) maintains its former high standards. It surveys the finance, the philosophy, and the organisation of modern education...

public events at home and abroad. It is invaluable as a work of reference—not for the factual information con- tained, though this is abundant, but because of the general...

biography of the first Englishwoman to practise here with an English medical qualification (Faber, los. 6d.) has been written by her daughter who has, like her mother, attained...

a shadow. It covers the same ground and is only just behind. The Book of the Year, of which this is the second (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 45s.), forms an annual supplement which...

The English police have a reputation for being wonderful. Mr. Roger Courtney's book (Jenkins, los. 6d.) should earn similar praise for the Palestine Police Force, in which the...

GLYNDEBOURNE OPERA OPENING NIGHT: JUNE 1. SIX WEEKS SEASON UNTIL JULY 15. MOZART: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO DON GIOVANNI COSI FAN TUTTE VERDI: DONIZETTI : MACBETH DON PASQUALE...

IT is becoming clearer every day that given any really reliable basis for confidence in the international political out- look City markets would be well on the way to a...

One of the few speculative stocks which has managed to make real headway in recent weeks has been Cable and Wireless (Holding) ordinary, whose merits I have stressed on several...

There is bound to be a good deal of wrangling over the airways merger , scheme, but I think the Government's pro- posals should and will go through. A cash price of 32s. 9d. for...

The more one examines the position of Imperial Chemical Industries the clearer it becomes that this is a company which, having arrived in the industrial sense, is now deter-...

It is unusual in these days to find a board of directors declaring an increased dividend out of a reduced profit, but this is what has happened in the case of Pease & Partners,...

LONDON AND MANCHESTER ASSURANCE COMPANY, LTD. THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT THE seventieth ordinary general meeting of the London and Man- chester Assurance Company, Limited, was held...

Some of the optimists seem to have been disappointed by the Burmah Oil results, good as they undoubtedly are. Allowing for last year's so per cent. scrip bonus, the 21 per cent....

As one expected, the German Standstill Debt Agreement has been renewed for another year without any substantial modification of the existing basis. True, there is a little extra...

THE LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE CO., LTD. 103rd ANNUAL REPORT A SUCCESSFUL YEAR THE one hundred and third annual general meeting of the Liver- pool and London...

weeks in the 5s. ordinary shares of Richardsons Westgarth and Co., the Tyneside firm of marine engineers. Early this year the quotation was down to is. 6d., but it has now...

THE tenth ordinary general meeting of Cable and Wireless (Hold- ing), Limited, was held on May 17th in London. The Rt. Hon. Lord Pender (the Governor) said that the profit for...

SOCIETY OF INCORPORATED ACCOUNTANTS NIR. WALTER HOLMAN, F.S.A.A., London, president of the Society of Incorporated Accountants, presiding at the annual general meet- ing of the...

FOUR MONTHS' TRADE THE Overseas Trade Returns for April suggest two general conclusions : the volume of both imports and exports is con- tinuing to shrink ; as the shrinkage is...

Many rubber companies have continued to produce at a rate substantially above their current quotas and to allow stocks to pile up on the estates. This method has the advantage...

Among those life-insurancr. offices which have shown con- tinuous progress through the difficult times of 1938 must be counted the Licences and General Insurance Company. The...

Mr. A. H. Dawes, chairman of the London and Manchester Assurance Company, announced at the meeting on Wednesday that the actuarial valuation of the company's industrial branch...

" A distinctly successful year" was the description bestowed upon 1938 by Mr. A. Kentish Barnes, who presided at Wed- nesday's meeting of the Liverpool London and Globe Insur-...