of Australia an exceedingly interesting Memorandum on the proposed organisation of a National Guard for the land defence of Australia. It gives in detail the scheme for the...

reading of the Unemployed Workmen Bill was rejected by a majority of 149 (265 to 116). The significance of the division- list is not confined to the large number of Liberals who...

I T is with great regret that we again record the fact that the Prime Minister's condition shows no improvement. The continuance of a state of which the best that can be said is...

are examined. On Tuesday they were discussed by the Budget Committee of the Reichstag, and the Times corre- spondent says that the Imperial Debt, which amounts to over...

the Tatsu-Maru ' was settled at the end of last week. The modified Japanese demands to which China consented included a sufficient apology for the hauling down of the Japanese...

case.

Mr. Justice Warrington yesterday made an order sanctioning an agreement under which a company will be forthwith formed to take over the business of the publica- tion of the...

both Labour Members, moved and seconded a Resolution that the working day in all trades and industries should be limited by law to a maximum of eight hours. Mr. Harold Cox...

was presented to Miss Florence Nightingale at the Guildhall. Miss Nightingale was too infirm to appeai, and the oak casket containing the resolution was received on her behalf...

England Temperance Society was held at the Church House on Tuesday. It was presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and attended by a very large number of Bishops....

pointed out that we could not have lower units and fewer units without the production of fewer Reserves. The organisation of the Special Reserve filled him with mis- givings....

raised in the House of Lords on Wednesday by Lord Cawdor in a long and critical speech. In reply Lord Tweedmouth reiterated the familiar statement that it was absolutely...

Lord Midleton, who had asked for any minute of the Army Council approving the further reduction of the Regular artillery and the Report for 1907 of the late Inspector-General,...

criticism of the proposal to alter the system under which the value of licenses is now estimated. We are further inclined to agree with the Morning Post in viewing with favour...

pensions, signed by Sir William Anson, Mr. J. A. Baines, Sir William Chance, Professor Foxwell, Mr. H. Hobhouse, and Mr. Edmond H. Wodehouse. Their main object is to urge, even...

treatment which the Unionist Free-traders are receiving from the 'Tariff Reformers, in spite of the fact that on questions outside the Fiscal issue many of the Unionist...

of Lords a Bill for the solution of the education problem which accepts without qualification the two principles of public control and the abolition of tests. It provides that...

forthcoming formation of an Officers' Training Corps. The corps is to train public-school boys and members of the Universities with a view to their becoming Special Reserve...

makes so just and so sound a comment upon the Council's resolutions that we feel we cannot do better than quote a portion of it :— " Opposition to a time-limit, regardless of...

19th Consols (24) were on Friday 87 on Friday week 87A-.

the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, died on Wednesday week. Born in 1839, he became a Congregational minister at Greenwich. It was he who convinced the British public, first,...

A VICTORY FOR COMMON-SENSE. W E are delighted to be able to record that common- sense has prevailed, and that the Labour Party's Unemployed Bill was defeated on Friday week by...

W E have dealt in our previous article with the more • general aspects of the Unemployed Bill. There is one point, however, of very great importance which requires special...

from Haiti in the last few days describe a state of affairs which is re- current in that beautiful but unhappy island. As usual there was a revolutionary conspiracy, and as...

W E are indebted to a correspondent of the Globe for the particulars of a political conspiracy of a new and formidable kind. For the most part English parties prefer to make the...

remains the struggle in the engineering trades in the North of England, where the issue wavers. Possibly in that difficult corner also the President of the Board of Trade will...

A S warm supporters of the policy of the National Service League, we note with satisfaction the progress which is being made by the League, and how very much greater and wider...

M. SABATIER gave on the 10th of this month at the Passmore Edwards Settlement in TavistoCk Plade the last of three lectures upon the Modernist Movement in the Church of Rome....

I N New York a curious and disquieting Exhibition has been opened at the Natural History Museum. It illustrates the congestion in the tenement-buildings of the city, and the...

W HEREVER there is a rookery, all over the country, the next two months will be a busy and interesting time. The birds have already come back and have begun operations, which at...

OLD-AGE PENSIONS. fTo THE EDITOR OP TEN " SP2CTAT02.1 Six,—How will old-age pensions operate upon the London Unions ? is a question, perhaps, which I can answer with some...

have read with the greatest interest the correspond. ence as well as your• articles dealing with this subject. The principles which you enunciate in your issue of the 7th inst....

A CENTRE PARTY. tTo THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOrt." . 1 SIII,—Your suggestion of a Centre Party is as sound as it is opportune and as opportune as it is sound. The Spectator...

SID,—May I be permitted to add my plea for the formation of a Centre Party ? And I would propose the name of " Unionist Free-trader," as being less objectionable to the moderate...

your comments last week upon Lord Rosebery's speech you say : " As a matter of fact the dilemma [the choice between Socialism and Protection] can never occur, for the sufficient...

[To THE EDITOR. OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—The suggested formation of a Centre Party brings out in a very striking way the crippling effects of our present electoral methods....

tTo THU EDITOR OP THII "SPECTATOR.'] Sin,—In your interesting article of March 7th on the Licensing Bill you speak of the Bill's "many faults," of the "radical vice " of its...

the Licensing Bill in your issue of March 7th one of the three amendments suggested is that the distiller should bear his "fair share in the provision of compensation." In the...

TO THE EDITOR OH THE " SPECTATOR.".1 Srn,—Temperance reform should not be a question of party politics. It is not naturally so. But in present circumstances it is difficult for...

be thought of other parts of the new Licensing Bill, there is one section of it to which special attention should be given by any who are keen on increasing national temperance....

ITO THE EDITOR OF THE "SpECrAToIt.1 Sra,—There is an important matter, in connexion with the Licensing Bill, which appears to have been almost overloOked by the framers and...

[To TEE EDITOR OF TES "SPECTATOH.'l Six, Your excellent letter No. XI. "to a working man" has recalled to my mind a curious example of the confusion which exists as a result of...

[To TEl EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." _I Stn,—The Confederates are again at work, and it is significant of the corrupting tendencies of Protection, and of the real aims of those...

Conservative, the son and grandson of Con- servatives. I am, moreover, rather in favour of Tariff Reform. But I am thoroughly disgusted with the tactics pursued by extreme...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE ° SPECTATOR." J SIE, — The allegation that German unemployment is less than English has been repeated ever since 1905, and has become a commonplace of...

13 0 TUB EDITOR OF TUB BP ECTATOR:'1 Sin,—May a mere Irishman inquire at the founts of Imperial wisdom in any quarter why it is lawful to create public "lazzaroni" with public...

[To THR EDITOR or THE "SPROTATOIS,..1 SIR,—In your issue of March 7th you insert a letter from a correspondent on " Squirrels and Cocoanuts " which recalls to Me an experience...

Bra,—I thank you for again drawing attention in your last issue to my proposal that the hours of day shall be so arranged that during a period equivalent to one day of our...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sia,—The following extract is from your review of William Clarke's writings in the Spectator of February 15th :—" He asks : What can be...

DEAR MR. I want to draw your attention to a fact too often forgotten. It is that we have tried, and tried very thoroughly, a system of State Socialism in England, and that it...

THE THRESHOLD OF MUSIC. OF all the theories about the future of music, perhaps the most generally supported is that which, while admitting the possibility of great developments...

A VOICE FROM THE MINE. ["The Lord preserve us. We are , all trusting in Christ. "] NOT with a curse upon their lips, Not with the coward's whine, Manful they met life's dread...

WORDSWORTH'S LETTERS.* Tan - L'aree volumes of Wordsworth letters now collected together for the first time by Professor Knight will be welcomed by all who are interested in...

CAPTAIN MAHAN has collected under the title of Some Neglected Aspects of War articles which we have already seen. Two of the articles are not by Captain Mahan, but by Mr. Henry...

WE congratulate Mr. Hardy on the completion of what, with all its strangeness and imperfections, is a very remarkable- poem. Four years ago, when the first part appeared, we-...

written a very plain-spoken and courageous little book. Whether it carries the reader with it or not, it will certainly make him think, and not unfruitfully. • Home Life. By J....

" THE influence of Christianity on mankind at large is, and has been, strangely disproportionate alike to its high claims, and to the reasonable expectation of those who saw its...

Mn. ADAM, who tells us that be is a. journalist, set himself the task some years ago of studying crime and prison life in all its phases. He has received facilities for the...

THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY.t WE are not quite sure whether Mr. Chesterton was well advised in adding " a Nightmare " to the title of his new fantasia. On the one hand, it has the...

of the British Constitution that under its aegis we are able to combine many, and sometimes divergent, principles in our scheme of government. We owe our liberties to its...

23 Charing Cross. 3d.)—This address is full from end to end of powerful reasoning, cogent arguments put in a way which makes them easy of apprehension. Lord Balfour's main...

is a class of modern novel which is merely concerned with the portrait of its heroine,—that is to say, the whole book is seen through her eyes. and nothing but her feelings and...

Heinemann. 6s.)-There are passages in this story that make one feel hopeful about Mrs. Agnew's literary future. The Italian scenes, for instance, are excellent, especially that...

Co. 25s. net.)—The subject of Portuguese architecture has never before been treated as a whole. Mr. Watson does not pretend that it is of first-ritte importance. There are no...

Lane. 6s.)—A book which readers will either very much like or dislike, according as they are affected by the would-be comic point of view from which it is written.—The Lost...

[Under this heading we notice each 'Books of the week as have not too reserved for review in other formal Notes. (Issued by the Unionist Free-Trade Club, 38 Victoria Street,...

net.)— Professor Castelein—he occupies a Chair of "Natural Law," a fact which is not incapable of an ironic application—discusses in this book the "Origin, Rights, and Duties"...

obituaries," the most generally known name being that of Mr. Joseph Hatton, come various indexes and catalogues raisonnis of London, provincial, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish news-...

edition of " The Works of Charles Dickens : Complete in Twenty Volumes," with the original illustrations by Cruikshank, "Phis," &c. (ls. 6d. net per vol.) — A Popular History of...

Co. 12s. net; or in the three sections : " Colombo, &c.," 4s, ; " Kandy, &c.," 6s. ; "Northern Provinces, &c.," 4s.)—This volume seems to contain almost everything that can be...

net per vol.) we have The Tragedies of Sophocles, Trans- lated by Dean Plumptre, and Rienzi, by Lord Lytton.—In the same publishers' " Muses' Library " we get Poems of Bret...

a fine etching by M. Victor Freillon of Mr. C. N. Hemy's picture (R.A., 1906) of " Lower Away !" a very spirited rendering of a scene in a yacht-race, when the wind has grown...

the title of North - Western Trans - Frontier, which exhibits on the half-inch-to-the-mile scale the country which was the scene of the recent expedition. The whole country...

as full as usual of curious and useful information. There is the strictly scientific portion, which has, of course, its own public; there are articles which appeal to a larger...

(Alexander and Shepheard.)—The Gladstone Library was opened by Mr. Gladstone not quite twenty years ago. Among the chief promoters of the scheme were Mr. John Noble and...

3s.)— This is a volume, it is almost needless to say, of the very greatest interest. It may be noted that nine Sees have been founded in the last thirty years at an expense of...