Economy and the Parties E CONOMY, easy to preach and hard to practise, is the primary need of our country at this moment. It seems clear that the Government now recognize the...

The Indian Conference Twenty-seven Indian delegates to the resumed Round Table Conference sailed from Bombay last Saturday. Two days earlier Mr. Gandhi had changed his mind and...

Ministers who had spent the week-end in their holiday retreats returned to London on Monday to decide on their programme. This was presented to the full Cabinet on Wednesday....

Thursday, August 13th and decided that the next Budget must be balanced and that there must be equal sacrifice and effort by every section of the community. They had discussed...

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and the German Chancellor, initiated in London; have been continued, though M. Briand's illness will prevent him and M. Laval from visiting Berlin until after the League Council...

second investigation of the disappearance of Mr. Thorburn. It will be unfortunate indeed if the Chinese Government's conduct in this affair does harm to her relations with the...

radical type than the first, has been laid before the Spanish Cortes. The Republic is to be a unitary State, but is to allow autonomy to those provinces which want it—especially...

seems more hopeful. The international bankers' conference at Basle had some difficulty in arranging for the extension of the short-term credits which Germany needs, but...

Yangtse is still rising. The situation in the immense valley, through which the river winds—or wound— between embankments which centuries of reinforcement have virtually...

made clear the French view of the problem of repara- tions and war debts, the other essential factor in the rehabilitation of Germany and of Europe, in a statement in the Echo...

rudely disturbed in the past week by fanatical outbreaks on either side of the Free State border. On Wednesday, August 12, a body of men said to belong to the " Irish Republican...

has scored a notable success in inducing the Abyssinian ruler to open a school for freed slaves at Addis Ababa, his • capital. In a letter to the Society the Emperor, Ras...

been remarkably free from the fatalities which threaten such enterprises, has now caused the death of two members of the German expedition, Herr Schaller, a new member of the...

Jerusalem, who died on August 14th at the age of eighty-two, had had a stormy career since he was elected to the office in 1897. For he had to hold his own in the bitter...

for the Schneider Trophy race has cost yet another valuable young life. On Tuesday night at Calshot, Lieutenant G. L. Brinton, R.N., who had been chosen for this year's British...

in the American " Oil War " has shifted from Oklahoma to East Texas. The Governor of Texas has followed the example of the Governor of Oklahoma by proclaiming martial law in the...

on July 80th, 1931. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 100 if ; on Wednesday week, 1011 ; a year ago, 10811. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 921 ; on Wednesday...

Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty makes encouraging reading. In the past year both public opinion and Parliamentary action have combined to further, and in...

T HE delegates to the Round Table Conference have sailed from India, and Mr. Gandhi is not with them. Even should he make one of his last minute decisions, it would now be...

H OSPITAL nurses occupy in the affection of the public a unique position ; and no one who has been a patient in one of our large voluntary hospitals will have difficulty in...

BY SIR FLINDERS PETRIE. which this is the first, from the autobiography of Sir Flinders Petrie, shortly to by Messrs. Sampson, Low and Co.—ED. Spectator.] [We are permitted to...

(The Spectator does not necessarily agree with all the views of the writers contributing to this series on the Colour Bar. Our object in publishing the series is to attempt some...

By G. DELAP STEVENSON. T HE government liquor control system of Canada is a compromise between total prohibition, as attempted in the United States, and the English method by...

A Substantially True Story BY " SCADAVAY." " A ND what are you doing over here ? " I asked, lapsing (as I now remember) into the tone of bantering condescension in which we...

BY A. 0. ROBERTS. I T is a curious fact that while most Northerners think of Italy as a land whose fortunate inhabitants bask in perpetual sunshine the Italians themselves...

the night, we had half an hour to spare before the theatrical performance which formed the chief attraction of the Festival. We repaired in haste to the principal hotel, only to...

distress. We had established beyond a doubt that it was now impossible to obtain even the humblest meal ; and it was past the time at which it is legal to buy a drink. Hoping to...

" C'est une etrange entreprise que celle de faire rire les honnetes

" THE MIDSHIPMAID." BY IAN HAY AND STEPHEN KING- HALL. AT THE SHAFTESBURY THEATRE. IT is generally at this • time of year that Mr. Ian Hay and Mr. Basil Foster put out to sea...

People, on the whole, are very bad at describing each other. The pre-Raphaelite, or Police Court, method, which is the most reliable of a bad lot, and consists of the enumera-...

ARNADO : How haat thou purchased this experience ? MOTH : By my penny of observation. (Love's Labour's Lost.) THE THIN Elio OF THE WEDGE. The Times reported last week that...

reidentified the bird on top of St. Paul's as a cormorant. This only makes matters worse. The cormorant (Phala- crocorax garbo, sometimes known as " the Swedish night- ingale ")...

GOOD SHOOTING. MOST of us have given up hoping that the American film industry will come to its senses. The next best thing is that it should come to somebody else's ; and this...

A LETTER FROM Moscow. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—•Although a month has passed since Stalin's speech on the immediate problems confronting Soviet industry and on...

" THE SPECTATOR," AUGUST 20TH, 1831. STATE OF TRADE. Heavy commercial depression prevails throughout the manufac- turing districts of the North, affecting, in a like degree,...

An unusual number of strangers and tourists have, within the last eight or ten days, passed through Inverness, and are at present exploring the scenery of the Highlands. Amongst...

The Pagan ONCE, on a burning August day Along the plain of France, I saw beside the poplared way A gypsy maiden dance. She had a hemlock in her hand, Her eyes were wild with...

A tradesman's son in St. Martin's Lane, lately passing through Duke's Court with a 51. Bank note in his hand, began to play care- lessly with a goat belonging to the Mews, when...

No less than 10,0001. worth of silks were seized a few days ago, for not having paid duty. The persons who had them are said to ho merely agents of a great City house, and to be...

THE PETROL DRAGON. That covey of monsters, with the heads and necks of highly- coloured dragons, which we call petrol stations, are being attacked by an able and successful...

excess of rain. In all these as with grasses, clovers and grains growth has been beyond the normal, perhaps beyond remembered precedent on our lighter soils. But, after all, the...

The bombardment of all our fields by wind and rain and hail of scarcely paralleled continuance or severity is all the worse because of the intrinsic excellence of the crops. In...

of course, are sensitive to any interference with the freedom of advertisement. There are goods, it seems, for which hoardings in villages are necessary for the coping of the...

reaped and stand in stook in order—how sarcastic a hope !— to dry and mature. Though all crops, especially the spring- sown are late, the bulk of the grain is now approaching...

The choice of flowers may have peculiar appropriateness. A certain colonel, who was also a fine classical scholar, showed me during the War a very beautiful little verse that he...

Some correspondence has been published on the fidelity of birds to particular nesting sites ; and I suppose every owner of a garden can quote examples from his own experience. I...

[In view of the length of many of the letters which we receive, we would remind correspondents that we often cannot give space for long letters and that short ones are generally...

I may, to correct one statement in your admirable article on the Sterilization Bill. Your contributor observes that " sterilization, like abortion, is, even when per- formed at...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Those who call for a wider basis to the Income Tax do so much more on moral grounds, and for the effect, than for the sake of the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am too far from Blue Books to check statistics, but I can recognize the figure of £8,148,752 on which Mr. J. R. East bases his...

Sin,—The Economy Report has brought vividly before the country the need for a new outlook in financial affairs, and it is clear that in view, not only of the national but the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The recent history of the Church of England seems to emphasize the need of something like collective Episcopal government. Such government...

your issue of July 25th Major J. C. Darling opposes the R.S.P.C.A. Bill now before Parliament to make deer- hunting illegal, with the argument that it is more humane to hunt...

SIR,—Your correspondent W. R. C. (page 218) regrets that " Fleet Street peers . . . waste space and money on the autobiographies and opinions of murderers, crooks, actresses,...

Those interested in Throp's wife and her " thrangness " will find an entertaining account of them in Tales of the Ridings, by F. W. Moorman (late Professor of English Language,...

LAW [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —May I call attention to what strikes me as an abuse of the Copyright Law, carrying with it considerable hardship to musical composers...

The Propaganda Committee of King Edward's Hospital Fund for London have arranged for a series of lectures in aid of the fund, a programme of which may be obtained from the...

I hope that the Commiteee of the London Hospital will not be accused of making Lord Knutsford's death the pretext of an appeal for funds. A letter has been received at the...

RULES AND CONDITIONS Entries must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. The name and address, or pseudonym, of the competitor must be on each entry and...

A History of Fishes. By J. R. Norman. (Beim. 28s.) WHEN the Third Fisherman in Pericles threw out the query, " Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea," he was answered...

Unemployment Problems in the United States. By H. B. Butler. (P. S. King. 2s. 6d.) As everyone knows, economists, when it comes to giving practical advice, seldom agree. If we...

THE political emigre who joins hands with a foreign country in order to alter conditions in his own inevitably incurs among his fellow-countrymen a hatred far more bitter than...

The Hoojibahs and Mr. Robinson. By Esther Boumphrey. (Oxford University Press. 5s.) SOME things, as journalists say, defy description, and Hoojibahs are particularly defiant...

Life : Outlines of General Biology. By Sir 3. Arthur Thomson University Press. 18s.) Sin Annum. TnomsoN and Professor Geddes are perhaps the only scientific writers of whom we...

The Trial of William Henry Podmore. Edited by the Hon. H. Fletcher-Moulton and Mr. W. Lloyd Woodland. (Bles. 10s. 6d.) The Dreyfus Affair. By Jacques Kayser. (Heinemann. 10s....

Before going abroad or away from home readers are advised to place an order for the SPECTATOR. The journal will be forwarded to any address at the following rates :- One Month...

Substance and Shadow The Forge. By T. S. Stribling. (Heinemann. 8s. 6d.) THE novel which has for its background a well-known period in history offers its author both...

beautifully produced memorial volume to his wife is so modest and so restrained an achievement that the fullest admiration is compelled. I only hope that some day it will be...

a book describing a series of modern parties can be interesting, Afternoon Men is successful. But it is nothing more than its brilliant title leads the reader to expect. Ernest...

6d.)—A quietly written detective story of the Australian bush with an attractive half- caste detective, ably assisted by thought-readers and by ants.

Thu stories of the daring and tactful Englishmen who first opened up our trade with the East have often been told, from the time of Halduyt and Purchas, but they always bear...

a good apology, and does not profess to be anything more: • The author in his introduction describes it as an interpretive (sic) study " of the subject. It suffers somewhat from...

• YOUNG DIANA. By Margaret Ironside. (Philip Earle. 7s. 6d.)—Diana Hotspur is proud of her family, though it is difficult to see why, for her mother is cold and unsympathetic,...

with Pangloss, finds that everything is for the best, it is the person who carries a perpetual chip on his shoulder," who is the victim of a chronic grouch." The Rev. Father...

at least one piece of literature : Mr. T. S. Eliot's Thoughts after Lambeth (Faber and Faber, Is.). Those Anglicans who felt that the Conference Report was open to attack from...

conditions in this country have resulted in a notable increas2 in the number of British visitors to Italy, where at this time of the year one can be certain of fine weather. It...

SCOTLAND PICTURESQUE AND TRADITIONAL. By George Eyre-Todd. (Eneas Mackay, Stirling. 5s.) Moonrsit TowNs IN SPAIN. By Cecilia Hill. (Methuen. 7s; 6d.) GUIDE TO THE SCOTTISH...

book which needed writing.- Mrs. Hamilton is able to compare what she has seen in Germany on her recent visits with what was before the War as well as with conditions in other...

[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in making their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited...

Fire (Putnam', 15s.), perish "in-fires every day. If these twenty-eight died of what " the doctors call psitacossis " [sic], there would be a terrific upheaval, but...

A further explanation, however, of the depression on he Stock Exchange and the fall in gilt-edged securities is to be found in the apprehensions which have been aroused by the...

" Equality of Sacrifice " AT the close of my article last week dealing with the National crisis I said that I was inclined to regard the signs of the Government having become...

Very simply stated, I think that the first explanation is to be found in the grave delays in bringing about the necessary reforms. The warnings against National extravagance...

In view, therefore, of these considerations, it is scarcely surprising that some uneasiness should have been caused by the constant references of the Prime Minister to equal...

Moreover, these developments coincided with the revelation of a great strain upon the London Money Market and upon the Sterling Exchange as a consequence of the financial crisis...

Now in so far as the apprehensions of the investor, the wage earner or the dole recipient are merely based upon motives of self-interest, I am not concerned with upholding...