21 DECEMBER 1918

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Lord Milner published in Thursday's papers a reply to a

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corre- spondent who asked why we had sent troops to Russia " to meddle with her internal affairs," and how long we meant to keep them there. No one who had read the newspapers...

Mr. Wilson, in replying to his fellow-President's " gracious greeting

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" at the Elysee, said that in all he had done he had tried to translate the thoughts of his people into action. They desired to establish the eternal principles of right and...

Paris was, if possible, even more enthusiastic than Brest in

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acclaiming Mr. Wilson. It was a welcome by the citizens, of whom President Wilson will become one, by edict of the Paris Muni- cipality. M. Poincare, at the Elysee, testified to...

A British cruiser squadron in the Baltic arrived on Thursday

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week at Revel, the chief port of Esthonia. Its mission is to help that unhappy little nation, which, after having been robbed by the German troops, now runs the risk of...

Marshal Foch at Trbvca on Saturday last prolonged the armistice

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with Germany by a month to January 17th. He reserved the right to occupy the neutral zone east of the Rhine, from Cologne northward to Wesel, if he deemed it necessary. He...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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P RESIDENT WILSON reached Brest on Friday week, making a landing which would have been historic, apart from the momentous cause of his visit ; he was the first President of the...

The British Army crossed the Rhine at Cologne and Bonn

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on Thursday and Friday week and occupied the bridgehead east of the river. General Plumer himself took the salute of his splendid troops, the Cavalry, the 29th and 9th...

*.• The Editor cannot accept responsibility for any articles or

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letters submitted to him, but when stamped and addressed envelopes are sent he will do his best to return contributions in case of rejection.

THE PAPER SHORTAGE.

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TO OUR READERS.—It is now necessary for readers to place a definite order for the " Spectator" with their Newsagent or at one of the Railway Book- stalls. Should any reader...

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The Baghdad Railway, Mr. Ward Price stated in Monday's Times,

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has been completed during the war as far as Nisibin, a hundred miles west of Mosul The great tunnels through the Taurus and Anti-Taurus are finished, so that there is railway...

Correspondents have drawn our attention to a letter which ap-

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peared in several American papers signed by Mt. Bertrand Shadwell. Mr. Shadwell points out that the Spectator had suggested that the United States might " take over as large a...

Admiral Beatty's farewell speech to the American Sixth Battle Squadron

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under Admiral Rodman, printed in Wednesday's papers, expressed the mingled feelings with which every true sailor regarded the abject surrender of the German High Sea Fleet. " It...

Dr. Sidonio Paes, the President of the Portuguese Republic, was

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assassinated in the streets of Lisbon on Saturday last. He had exercised supreme power for just a year, as the revolution by which he overthrew his predecessor, Dr. Machado, had...

No doubt there have been real reasons for the long

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delay in dis- tributing the Crown droits to the Navy. The old Victorian Pro- clamation which provided for the distribution of prize money was superseded by an Order in Council...

Our argument was that on grounds of humanity Germany should

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in no conceivable circumstances be allowed to resume control of her Colonies. She had proved herself utterly unfit to rule native races, and the native races must be secured...

Under the regulations the Navy cannot speak for itself. But

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we all know only too well what happens when those who can and do speak for themselves address demands to the Government. The Government instantly yield. The Prime Minister...

The claims which Belgium will make at the Allied conclave

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on the Peace terms are now clearly, though unofficially, foreshadowed. She desires to recover the frontier strip, including Malmedy, annexed by Prussia in 1815 ; the portion of...

Lord Phillimore has delivered an important judgment in respect of

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prize money for the Navy, and it may be hoped that the sailors have come appreciably nearer to receiving their due. The whole question of prize money is •complicated, and we...

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A British airman last week flew from Egypt to India.

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This pioneer of air travel was Major-General W. G. H. Salmond, who commands the Air Force in the Middle East, and who is the brother of the commander of the Air Force in France....

As we write on Thursday, London is giving a most

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hearty welcome to Sir Douglas Haig and his Generals. Under their superb leading the British Armies broke the enemy's spirit in a series of the greatest battles in our history,...

Lord Haldane's view was that we ought to encourage the

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German peace party to become stronger, and that it was well worthy of encouragement. Such encouragement, in his view, probably required that we should not seem to provoke...

The Times of Monday published an important letter from Lord

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Haldane, in which he explained the military policy of the Liberal Government before the war. The reasons, says Lord Haldane, why universal military service was not adopted...

We have no wish to revive an unhappy controversy at

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this moment, but we really must protest against the character and tone of a singular communication issued to Tuesday's papers by the Press Bureau. It began thus ; " In connexion...

Probably the delay caused by the necessity for awaiting the

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votes of the absent millions was the true came of last Saturday's dull- ness. The Englishman, with his sporting instinct for a contest, wants to know the result forthwith. If...

It was announced last Saturday that the Government would assist

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sailors and soldiers, when demobilized, to resume and complete their University and professional studies. This will be an act of justice to the many thousands of our ablest...

Oxford, so often contemned by bustling moderns for its apparent

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sleepiness, was the first of the Universities to complete its Parlia- mentary polling and the first constituency to decide a contest under the new Reform Act. The result was...

The General Election held last Saturday was the dullest within

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living memory. The newspapers made a gallant effort to pretend that the country was deeply stirred by the first contests under universal suffrage, but in the average...

As regards Lord Roberts's intentions, we cannot think that Loth

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Haldane is perfectly just to them. Lord Roberts of course always understood that the defences of this country would not necessarily lie on our own coasts. As every one sees...

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

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April 5, 1917.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE ARMY THAT WE NEED. I T is difficult to keep patience while the conditions of future military service are being . discussed as they are being discussed now. Between...

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GERMAN AFFAIRS AND THE INDEMNITY.

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, N 0 one can say from day to day, or even from hour to hour, what may happen in Germany. There is a tremendous clash of rival authorities and rival doctrines. On the whole the...

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EUROPEANS IN INDIA.

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TI1HE European Association of Calcutta has issued an official statement of its views on the Montagu-Chelms- ford reform scheme, which ought carefully to be- studied by all those...

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NO MAN'S LAND.

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ri lHE recent annexation of Spitsbergen to the British Empire, which passed almost unnoticed amid the stirring events of the war, has settled a very old and curious problem. We...

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CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.

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I T takes a great many qualities to make a successful present- giver. giver. It is idle to imagine that intelligence and benevolence are sufficient. Success demands that the...

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MY NEW DIGNITY.

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"S O it really is true !" I exclaimed, as J. filled in the registration papers which for the first time included me as an elector. Up to that moment, when I saw the space set...

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OUR VILLAGE COMMITTEE OF RECREATION.

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T WOgardeners, a builder, a stonemason, the bookstall clerk, the Vicar, and two or three " residents "—these were our Committee, and our object was to promote 'metal recreation...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] THE TRUE DOCTRINE OF NAVAL...

HOW OUGHT WE TO DEAL WITH THE KAISER ?

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ITo TUC EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, —In your last issue Sir Herbert Stephen (writing under the heading of " How Ought We to Deal with the Kaiser ? ") says : " No one has...

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, We have noted your comments on our letter in the Spectator of November 30th. You say : " The Dance seem to want no more than the...

PRESIDENT WILSON'S VISIT.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sta,—In 1898 Mr. Sohn Hay, then Ambassador of the United States to Great Britain, wrote to Senator Lodge : " It is hardly too muoh to say...

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MR. LLOYD GEORGE ON THE HOUSING QUESTION. ITo THE EDITOR

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OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, — The letter of "Experto Crede" published in the Spectator of December 7th seeks to enlighten you upon some aspects of the health of the working...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] am unaware of

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having in any previous letter referred to official Denmark as voiced by a Rigsdag resolution of October 23rd, mentioned by Mr. Erik Maier in his letter in last Saturday's issue....

NATURALIZED ALIENS AND OTHERS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") you allow me a little space to reply to the arguments of " Fair Play "? Those of us who are pressing, as is the British Empire Union, for...

" POLITICAL DISHONESTY."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In an editorial article in last Saturday's issue occurs this passage :— " Our readers will call to mind the example of the London...

[To THE. EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] appears to Ine

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that the resolution passed by the Mullah Rigsdag on October 23rd, referred to in Mr. Erik Moller's letter in the S'pectutor of December 14th, is premature, especially as events...

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GOETHE AND GOLDSMITH.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOT1: . ] SIR,—The greatest European man of letters of his age, Goethe, in his Autobiography records how deeply he was indebted to the author of...

MOMMSEN ON ROMAN IMPERIALISM AND MODERN AUTOCRACY.

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[To eas EDITOR or THE " SPF.CTATOR."] SIR, — There may be many readers interested in the recalling or passage in Mommsen which touches upon the question of the validity of the...

THE WONDERFUL WEALTH OF THE OCEAN.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —Long ere this reaches you I trust more capable pens than mine will have intervened to show the other side of the canvas which Mr....

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.")

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SIR,—In your issue of December 14th Mr. Howard wrote in a reassuring spirit on the subject of " The Position of Assistant- Masters in Public Schools" with regard to the Pension...

WAR MEMORIALS.

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(To THE EDITOR OP THE " Spectnent.") SIR,—Limavady is to be congratulated on the form which its War Memorial is to take. There can surely be no more useful kind of...

VILLAGE CENTRES FOR DISABLED EX-SERVICE MEN. (To THE EDITOR Of

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THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, —The Village Centres Council have now good hopes of being in a position to open their Centre in Hampshire early in the New Year. I think perhaps your...

THE POSITION OF ASSISTANT-MASTERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [To ism EDITOR

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OF TES " SPECTATOR.") 5ui,—The claim to consideration made by "An Assistant-Master in a Smaller Public School " on behalf of his colleagues is a just and imperative claim, but...

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THE " SPECTATOR " AS PROPHET.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.''] Sia,—In the Spectator of January 23rd, 1904, appeared an article entitled " Germany in Africa." It impressed me so much at the time that I...

THE MEMORIAL TO OUR DEAD: ANOTHER PROTEST. [To THE EDITOR

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OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I add my protest to those of Mr. R. B. Marston and of Mrs. Skrine in your issue of the 14th lust. both as regards the association of Sir Alfred...

DOMESTIC SERVANTS AND THE VOTE. [TO THE EDITOR OT THE

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" SPECTATOR."] Sia, — A great deal is being written about the reconstruction of domestic service and also about the importance of the woman's vote, but I have not seen...

THE MEMORIAL TO OUR DEAD: A PROTEST. [To Tnx EDITOR

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OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Snt,—With teferenee to your footnote to my letter on this subject in the Spectator of December 14th, will you permit me to say that I am entirely in accord...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

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Sia, — Is it too much to hope that in the planning of War Memo- rials, the need of open spaces for the people in our large towns, the need of playing-grounds for the children of...

CHILDREN'S PRAYERS.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Ste,—As regards the attribution of the evening hymn, " Forgive me, dearest Lord, for Thy dear Son," &c., to Jeremy Taylor, do not these...

NOTICE,—When "Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's name

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or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agree- ment wills the views therein expressed or with the mode...

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POETRY.

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TOMTIT AND COCONUT. Wno would follow with the swallow Summer round the world? If you travel, how unravel Half the riddle curled In the seasons' fourfold secret Like a flag...

BOOKS.

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" R. L. S." : NEW POEMS.* CHARLES DICICE.NS once seriously meditated calling his magazine Charles Dickens : Conducted by Himself—a much more revolu- tionary proposition in the...

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INDIAN ART.•

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THE history of painting in India is an amazing one. There, as in Europe, primitive man of the Stone Age drew animals on, the rock walls of caves, and later a great school of...

SIR WILLIAM HOTHAM'S REMINISCENCES.•

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SIR Wrr.t.rAst HOTRAM belonged to one of those families which, as' "Bennet Copplestone " tells us, are dedicated to the service of the sea. His uncle, another Sir William,...

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A HISTORY OF THE COLLECTS.*

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Wa can well imagine a devout Churchman saying that a book con- taining the Collects and a commentary upon the Collects is a book tee much. They are in the Prayer Book, and...

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THE STORY OF AN -ENGLISH SISTER.?

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Lovuns of that •did favourite book, Le Resit d'une Stour, will pro- bably be among those most strongly attracted' by Mrs. Romanist's touching memoir of her daughter;Sister...

READABLE NovErs.—The Admiralty's Secret. By Carlton Dime. (John Long. 7s.)—The

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stealing and restealing of secret plans for the improvement of naval guns is the theme of this story. The dateis just before the war, the hero is the inventor of the plan, and...

FICTION.

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THE WAR AND ELIZABE'flt* MR. MANNERING, the redemption of whose "volatile, recalcitrant soul " is told in Mrs. Humphry Ward's pages, was a country gentleman of exquisite...

OLD SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES.*

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Me. Cossets - Ks apologizes in his Preface to this book of essays for their lack of connexion and unity, and for the antiquity of many of his themes. But his study of Euripides,...

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The Wonderful Village. By Reginald Blunt. (Mills and Boon. 8s.

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Gd. net.)—In these attractive essays on old Chelsea, illustrated from prints and photographs—published for the benefit of the blind soldiers at St. Dunstan's—Mr. Blunt...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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(Notice in this cola= does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] The Assembly Books of Southampton. Edited by J. W. Horroeks. Vol. I., 1602.8. (Southampton : Cox and...

The Twentieth Century Theatre. By W. L. Phelps. (New York

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: Macmillan. $1- 25.)—Professor Phelps of Yale deals frankly with the contemporary stage in America and Great Britain in this interesting book. The best modern writers, he...

Facts about France. By E. Saillens. (T. Fisher Unwin. 8s.

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6d. net.)—One does not expect a condensed encyclopaedia to be both readable and witty, but this ingenious little compendium of informs. lion about France is an exception to the...

Public Administration in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. By

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J. P. Day. (University of London Press. 25s. net.)—This valu. able book gives a detailed and impartial account of the administra- tion of the crofter districts, which, as all...

The War in the Cradle of the World : Mesopotamia.

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By Eleanor Franklin Egan. (Hodder and Stoughton. 12s. net.)—Miss Egan, au American lady, was permitted to visit Baghdad in the summer of 1917, and has written a highly...

GIFT - BOOKS.

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BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. Blackie's Children's Annual. (Mackie. os. net.)—The first story is by Mrs. Allen-Harker, who takes us at once into the charming country -house circle where...

The Education Act, 1918. With Notes by Sir Montague Barlow

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and Richard Holland. (National Society's Depository. Is. Gd. net.)—This edition of the new Education Act may be commended especially to Church school managers. It includes the...

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Pillars of Empire : Studies and Impressions. By W. L.

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and J. E. Courtney. (Jarrold. 15s. net.)—This is a collection of short biographical sketches of our Empire-builders. It includes, for Canada, Lord Dorchester, Lord Durham, Sir...

. The vicissitudes of the war are graphically expressed in

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a useful little War Nap of the Western Front, just issued by Messrs. W. and A. K. Johnston (1s. net). It shows the successive battle-fronts from 1914 onwards, while the enemy...

The Six-Hour Day, and other Industrial Questions. By Lord Leverhuhne.

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(Allen and Unwin. 12s. 6d. net.)—As a successful employer who practises what he preaches, Lord Leverhulme com- mands attention when he speaks of shorter hours of labour, co-...

WORKS Or REFERENCE.—Who'8 Who, 1919 (A. and C. Black, 30s.

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net) runs to 2,760 pages and contains 27,000 biographies. It is a remarkable compilation, for which every one dealing with public affairs is daily grateful. The new issue has...