1 FEBRUARY 1935

Page 1

The Three Essentials

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But the problem is by no means beyond solution. The old trilogy, arbitration, security, disarmament, has been displaced by another—equality, security, disarmament. France...

The Banks and Trade The speeches of bank chairmen are

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mostly relegated to the City pages of the daily papers and get much less general attention than they deserve. That is particu- larly unfortunate at a time when the future of...

NEWS OF THE WEEK IT has unforttmately to be recognized

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that the visit of M. Flandin and M. Laval to London opens in an atmosphere less ; favourable than prevailed after the Saar mines settlement at Rome and the agreement reached at...

OFFICE.4 : 99 Gower St., London, TLC. I. : MUSEUM

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1721. Entered as second-class Mail Matter at the New York, N.Y. Post Office Dec. 23rd, 1896. Postal subscription 30s. per annum, to any part of the world. Postage on this issue...

Page 2

The Appeal for a National Theatre This time the appeal

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for a National Theatre must not be allowed to fail. It has been a disgrace to this country that it should be behind the rest of the civilized world by refusing to give that...

The New Speed Limit In view of Mr. Hore-Belisha's resolve

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to bring the 30-Mile speed liinit in built-up areas into force on March 18th, it is to be hoped that the Ministry of Transport will insist on the reasonable interpretation of a...

The Means Test Again A sustained attack was made upon

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the Government (not only by Labour Members) in the House of Commons in the discussion of the Means Test as applied by officials of the new Public Assistance Board. It should be...

America and the Court President Roosevelt's failure to persuade the

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Senate to approve the entry of the United States into the Permanent Court of International Justice is an unwelcome reminder of the hold a blind isolationism still has, not...

Mr. Bennett's Conversion The remarkable speech made by the Canadian

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Prime Minister, Mr. R. B. Bennett, in Montreal on Saturday evening, has aroused much less attention than might have been expected in the British Press. Only The Times, indeed,...

Page 3

Education and Expenditure The London County Council is preparing to

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go full steam ahead in its expenditure on education, and criti- cism was to be expected from certain quarters in view of the anticipated addition of lid. in the pound to the...

The Week in Parliament Our • Parliamentary Correspondent writes :

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There is always something curiously macabre about disturbances in the Public Gallery. Members are entirely unaware in the ordinary course of business that they are being watched...

A further interesting fact that emerged from the debate was

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the fresh decline in the prestige of the Prime Minister. Mr. Buchanan's vitriolic abuse of him was allowed to pass unchallenged until Mr. Holford Knight, a National Labour...

Equity and the Theatre Managers The dispute between the Drury

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Lane Theatre manage- ment and the British Actors' Equity Association has assumed the form of a test case, in which each side is contending for a principle. The objection of the...

• Certainly the operation of the new scales did not

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justify Mr. Lansbury's typically irresponsible statement that " the victims of a brutal economic system " were living " under conditions worse than you would afford to a horse...

An Outrageous Slander Sir John Simon's slander action against a

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Free Church minister, who accused him of being influenced in his foreign policy by the dividends he drew from investments in armament firms, is a salutary lesson to enthusiasts...

Page 4

A JOB FOR MR. LLOYD GEORGE L ESS than six weeks

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have elapsed since the Special Areas Act was passed, and Mr. P. M. Stewart was appointed Commissioner for the depressed areas in England and Wales. That in so short a time he...

Page 5

THE THREAT TO THE OPEN DOOR

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"y AM confident," said Mr. Hirota, the Japanese I Foreign Minister last week, " that while I am Foreign Minister there will be no war." This is probably true ; and it is not...

Page 6

The reason, I imagine, that the funeral service for Allen

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Leeper on Monday was held at the unusual hour of nine in the morning was that the Foreign Office could not be left denuded, for practically all the staff, from the Foreign...

It was stated the other day, whether accurately or not

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I do not profess to know, that the chef of a luxury liner ' draws a larger salary than the captain. However that - may be, I am told an authentic story of a recent reunion of a...

The new volume on The Murder of the Romanovs, with

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its long foreword by M. Kerensky, first Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government formed after the March revolution in Russia, and afterwards Prime Minister, is likely...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK " W HAT a spectacle was presented to

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the nation of the Conservative party machine working frantically night and day, its wealth, its wire-pulling, Ministers of the Crown in shoals, agents by the dozen, all employed...

I am not surprised that the Archbishop of York and

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Canon Campbell :should have voiced what I believe is general astonishment at the calculated denigration by The Times of the discussions on Christian union that have for sonic...

Page 7

A PROGRESSIVE POLICY : V. AGRICULTURE By VISCOUNT ASTOR W HEN,

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moulding a future policy for Agriculture, we must remember that Britain's population is twice, and her standard of living four times as high as after Waterloo. This is due to...

Page 8

THE CASE FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

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By SIR- ARNOLD WILSON, M.P. [The Archbishop of York stated in last week's SPECTATOR the case for the abolition of capital punishment.] THE revival of interest in this question...

Page 9

SHOULD CORONERS BE ABOLISHED ?

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By A BARRISTER-AT-LAW T HE prominence into , recent events have brought the ceroners court has emphasized the necessity of what the Home Secretary has just announced —an...

Page 10

RADIO, CINEMA AND PUBLIC TASTE

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By HAMILTON FY - FE Y OUNG ENGLAND," my friends told me, " is a riot. Young England is a scream. You must see it." So I saw it, and found the combination of an author writing a...

Page 11

NORWAY AND THE GROUPS

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By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT T HE activities of the Groups have been the most important item of news in the Norwegian press for some time past, but particularly during the last...

Page 12

THE SNOWS OF SPRING

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By H. E. BATES I N England the snow more often than not comes late, so late that we may talk of the snows of spring. In the south country snow and flowers are common enough...

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MARGINAL COMMENTS

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By ROSE MACAULAY T HE Secretary of the Lord's Day Observance Society has been remonstrating with the B.B.C. for tarnishing its tradition of the Unsoiled Sunday. Once more the...

Page 14

STAGE AND SCREEN The Theatre

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?"Murder in Motley." By Fenn Sherie and Ingram d'Abbes. At the Kingsway Theatre THE device of calling upon the audience to complete the cast of a play is the opposite of new,...

The Cinema

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"Chopin's Farewell." At the Curzon WE are asked—indeed, implored by a preliminary caption —not to regard this French production as an attempt at accurate biography. One...

Page 15

Un hOpital gratte-ciel [D'un correspondent francais] Las services parisiens de

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l'Assistance Publique ont, it y a huit jours, inaugure, en presence des autorites competentes et des representants de la presse, rhapital le plus moderne qui soit actuellement...

Music News from Russia ANY first-hand evidence about the effect

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upon the arts of the new social , order in Russia is of interest, especially as political prejudice one way or the other vitiates so much of what is written by foreign observers...

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Annual Flowers As to annual flowers, the displays that remain

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in the memory are of close masses. Almost any freely flowering annual in a solid patch is 'attractive ; and there is room in any garden for one such mass. It is interesting to...

Bought Foxes In some country place an unreported battle is

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being si'age not without heat, and perhaps I may be allowed to play ; the part of war correspondent. The habit is more or leSs established hi some districts—one within my...

COUNTRY LIFE

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The Shire In spite of tractors, in spite of modern critics, the old English shire, whose excellent show attracted Londoners this week, keeps his ancient place. Foreign critics...

A Prospering Goose Experiences in Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire suggest

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that we may now claim an extra big bird as a national- ized Briton. The Canada goose has firmly established itself; especially within the pale of our big country 'houses. They...

Vegetable Monotony The flower catalogues descend on us ; and

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some of them are really marvellous examples of book production. The illustrations make the mouth water. If only we could grow such perfect pods, such a curtain of bloom ! Most...

Artificial Earths A more scientific system prevails in other hunts.

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A spacious home is provided. The biggest and oldest that I know of consists chiefly .of drain pipes covered over by a hill of earth, and foxes bred in this commodious residenee...

New Asters Perhaps the biggest advance made in any old

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flower is in the aster. The newer single-flowered branching asters are as lovely as the old annual aster was thick and stubby and formless. Their popularity is immense and...

Page 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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[Correspondents arc requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most szsitah!e length is that of one of our "News of the Week" paragraphs. Signed...

SOCIETY AND EXECUTIONS

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — During 38 years my father, the late Sir Joseph W.. Pease, repeatedly moved from his place in the House of Commons for the abolition of...

[To the Editor. of THF. SPECTATOR.] _ SM, — The distinction which

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Lord Eustace Percy makes,'in his article in your issue of January 18th, between , the merely per- sonal policies of statesmen and the substantial needs of their peoples, is...

Page 18

ROAD ACCIDENTS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —The fact

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of delegation of authority in the matter of road traffic to the Ministry of Transport cannot absolve the Government from responsibility and the charge of negligence in the face...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —At the Balkan Conference

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of 1930 a delegate remarked that the surest method of promoting peace between the Balk an nations would be to make a bonfire of the text-books of history. Nowhere has so-called...

TEXT-BOOKS AND POLITICS [To the Editor of TELE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—No

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doubt Mr. Morrison is right and the London Labour Party's celebrated resolution was actuated solely by its well-known passion for historical scholarship. What Mr. Morrison...

Page 19

THE CANING OF GIRLS

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Many of us who are interested and concerned about the above subject are very grateful to you for the paragraph you wrote in The...

DOMINION STATUS FOR INDIA

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. C. F. Andrews and the more sympathetic corre- spondents have shown that Indians are resenting the omission of any .reference to...

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF FORCE

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The reference you made in last week's issue to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech in Belfast regarding the precedent established...

Page 20

WARDE FOWLER

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In his "Country Life" notes of January 18th my old friend Sir William Beach Thomas writes : " Warde Fowler reversed the role of Gilbert...

DR. SCHWEITZER—ALSATIAN

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sia,—May I correct an • error in your interesting article " Arzt, Denker, Musiker " ? Albert Schweitzer is not a German, as the phrase "...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—There is something almost fantastically ironic in finding in the same issue of The Spectator containing Mr. V. S. Pritchett's analysis of my recent book, Foreigners, a...

A BURNING QUESTION

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It was pleasing to read the letter published in your issue of January 25th above the signature of so distinguished a public man as Mr....

Page 21

" THE WEB OF THOUGHT AND ACTION "

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] sia,—Professor Levy now charges Me with. confusing objects " and the knowledge of them. It is a curious fact that " it is precisely the ....

" STIMULUS FROM BANGOR "

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[To the Editor of 'fan SpncrAroa.] SIR,--=-In your article under the above heading (January 25th, 1935) you say The architect of the great measures that brought about' Old...

THE TECHNIQUE OF ADVERTISING [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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gIR,--ks a national advertiser of 30 years' standing may I throw a little light on the difficulty raised by Mr. Sutherland ? • Advertisers are only human and fallible, and...

JAPAN'S DEMAND

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, I venture to deal with the note appended to the letter of mine which you were good enough to insert in your issue of January 25th. You...

FRENCH LOGIC

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,---The foreign policy of the French Government is, of course,. governed by the desire of security : flanked as they are by , an unfriendly...

Page 22

Scolding the Scientists

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By C. E. ONE can respect a sturdy materialism which refuses to spiritualize the universe for our assurance and consolation. The universe is, it is obvious, a very large place...

Page 23

The Responsibility for March, 1918

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Tuts volume displays all the vast learning and the luminous exposition of detail which we have come gratefully to expect from the author of this great undertaking. He gives...

Page 24

Manchu and Mongol

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Mn. LArrIMORE always commands our attention. By travel and study he has made himself one of the acknowledged authorities on the frontier region from the Pacific to Chinese...

The Age of Brahms

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Press. 17a 6d.) WHATEVER its failures to attain an ideal scientific precision, English historical criticism, and especially that school of it which emanates from Oxford, has...

Page 25

'A Rich Personality The Lawyer's Last Notebqok. .By the author

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of A Lawyer's Notebook. (Martin Seeker. 5s.) THOSE who have enjoyed the Lawyer's previous Notebooks will enjoy this too. It reveals the same rich personality, and it abounds in...

Page 26

Baroque and Modern

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Henry Moore. By Herbert Read. (Zwernmer. 68.) THERE are few contemporary English artists to whom it would be worth while devoting a monograph, but Mr. Henry Moore is certainly...

A Great Evangelical

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Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, 1847-1934. By the Right Rev. E. A. Knox. (Hutchinson. 188.) WHEN the future Bishop of Manchester was being examined for his diaconate, one of...

Page 28

M. Aragon ?s Novel

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The name of Louis Aragon is probably unfamiliar to the_ majority of those English readers who display an occasional interest in the French novel. Yet his new novel, his first...

Page 30

Fiction

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By WILLIAM PLOMER The Poacher. By R. E. Bates. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) A House Divided. By Pearl S. Buck. (Methuen. 7s. 6d.) THERE must be very few novelists of Mr. H. E. Bates's...

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LONDON BY NIGHT By Francis Sandwich This is an excellent

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addition to the " Life in Art and Photograph " Series which Messrs. Chatto and Windus are publishing at 5s. a volume, and it well maintains the high standard set by its three...

Motoring

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Comfort and Long Life IT is our pride that the English industry produces a car for every taste, every purpose and every purse. We make the best "baby " cars in the world and we...

Current Literature THE DARING YOUNG MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE

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By William Saroyan Mr. Saroyan's book of short stories was one of fhe most resonant successes of the last publishing season in America, and judging from assurances on the...

REFERENCE BOOKS FOR 1935 We have received the following works

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of reference : Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage (Dean. 75s.) and Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, the Privy Council and Knightage (Burke's Peerage. £5...

Page 34

Finance

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More Banking Problems READERS of The Spectator who may desire to learn the actual facts with regard to the position of the banks in this country and also the relations of the...

Page 38

Westminster Bank Meeting ECONOMIC NATIONALISM.

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I find myself very much in sympathy with what I regard as the outstanding point in the able address delivered to shareholders of the Westminster Bank by the Chairman, the Hon....

Page 42

Banking in the Empire

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BARCLAYS (D., C. AND 0.) MEETING. I am rather glad that there has been a departure from the former practice of holding the annual meeting of Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO. 122

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TgialLIILALIMtli - • IUILITI A - 0JUI sf AIT El El Al CIKI El RI SIR] I - I Bi Al LI CIIIISIMI I I Sill Al RI 0 LI IIKII r111131 SI igH R E X RI BIMINI Al NI TUTI 0 it EITi...

"The Spectator" Crossword No. 123

The Spectator

Br ZENO [A prize of one guinea will be given to the _sender of the fi rst 'correct solution of this week's crossword puZZle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked "Crossword...