25 FEBRUARY 1938

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NEWS OF THE WEEK

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T HE immediate issue between Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Eden is discussed at length on a later page. There will be other opportunities of discussing the larger and more enduring...

There is hardly an issue on which the Fiihrer's attitude

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falls short of intransigence. The colonial question can be settled only by the unconditional return of the German colonies ; M. van Zeeland's proposals meet with the simple...

Herr Hitler's Speech In his Reichstag speech on Sunday, relegated

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to a second place in this and some other countries by the political crisis in London, Herr Hitler showed himself unusually self- confident, aggressive and minatory, qualities...

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Idlers and the Dole A serious flaw in our social

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system has for some time been exercising the minds of everyone connected with the administration of unemployment assistance, and Mr. Ronald Davison, in a letter to The Times,...

India's Constitutional Problems The constitutional dispute in India may after

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all have good results if it is solved as amicably as seems likely at present ; for in fact only by such disputes can a body of convention and precedent be built up which will...

Assimilated Austria How far, and how quickly, the Gleichschaltung of

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Austria is to proceed is by now merely a domestic concern of Ger- many's After the events of the last week, it is clear that no other Power will interfere, while Austria's own...

Rumania's Constitution Rumania's new Constitution, which will be voted on

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by the electorate next Thursday, gives effective dictatorial powers to King Carol and rigidly restricts opposition movements ; but it is idle to pretend that anything better is...

Teruel and After For the last ten weeks the fortunes

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of war in Spain have centred on Teruel ; this phase ended on Tuesday when the Nationalists re-entered the city, without, however, capturing the Government troops who fought...

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The effects of the resignations will not be confined to

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foreign affairs. In recent years some of the supporters of the National Government have invented a kind of Old School Tie political philosophy. According to them, a man is...

The Labour Opposition must be the worst tacticians in Parliamentary

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history. If they had framed a resolution in moderate terms, simply expressing sympathy with and support for Mr. Eden, they would almost certainly have been joined in the lobby...

There is never any ambiguity about the Prime Minister's speeches,

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and on Tuesday his meaning was beyond any possible doubt. He was hammering the nails into the coffin of collective security. After him came Mr. Kingsley Griffith, who emphasised...

The English Bible The fourth centenary of the issue of

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the royal order directing that the Bible should be placed in all English Churches is being celebrated this year. In that connexion The Spectator will publish on the four Fridays...

It seems that the abolition of night baking, a Bill

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for which was first moved some ninety years ago, may at last be achieved. Night baking is a form of night work peculiarly productive of ill-health, and it is on this ground and...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : Great

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Parlia- mentary days are here again. For at least a year and a half there has been no real cleavage of opinion. Members have listened wearily to hundreds of unimpassioned...

The recent agreement of the employers and workers' unions in

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the distributive trades to draw up a scheme for regulating the hours, wages and conditions in the industry provides a welcome instance of voluntary co-operation for the common...

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CHAMBERLAIN OR EDEN ?

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T HE news of Mr. Eden's resignation has been received with undisguised satisfaction in Berlin, Rome and Tokyo, and with undisguised dismay in Paris, Washington and Geneva. That...

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FITNESS AND COMPULSION I N recent weeks insidious suggestions have been

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I made from many quarters that, if necessary, the Fitter Britain campaign should be transferred from a voluntary to a compulsory basis. Fortunately they have been unambiguously...

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Whatever else was significant in Herr Hitler's Reichstag speech on

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Sunday, the tone was unmistakable. In manner and expression it was by far the most hostile and uncompromising towards other countries that the Fiihrer has yet delivered. The...

The last, and most important, question of all is what

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effect the events of the past week will have on Mr. Eden's future. That, certainly, never entered for a moment into his calculations, but ther, is little doubt that in the...

When stress is laid, as it rightly is, on the

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publicity of legal proceedings in this country, it is as well to be clear what publicity means. Normally it means, and should mean, that the general public has free access to...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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T HE political crisis of the week-end has provoked an abnormal crop of unanswered questions. Mr. Eden, in his speech on Monday, spoke of one particular occasion in recent weeks...

Another question which urgently demands an answer, but is unlikely

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to get it, is where one or two Sunday papers got information which at that time could hardly have been known to anyone but Cabinet Ministers. The Sunday Express, for example,...

" The Chancellor of the Exchequer then informed his colleagues

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that Mr. Eden had felt the strain of recent events, and that he was far from well."—The Times, February 22nd. " Mr. Eden told me ' I have never been in better health.' " —Daily...

Stories about football-pool luck, I suppose, are numberless. Anyhow, here

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is a new, and a true, one. A county bench has just heard an appeal brought by a man who had been sentenced to a month's imprisonment for being drunk in charge of a motor-car. He...

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REACTIONS AND ROAD SAFETY

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By SURGEON REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES M. BEADNELL O NE of the . chief causes of road accidents is sluggish reaction time on the part of certain drivers of motor vehicles. The...

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MASS-BOOK AND COVENANT

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By ROSE MACAULAY [The National Covenant was signed in Greyfriars Churchyard on February 28th, 1638] W HAT has happened to Scottish nationalists, that they keep so comparatively...

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LEARNING SOCIAL SERVICE

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By H. POWYS GREENWOOD A YEAR or two ago, with the boldness of the blissfully ignorant, I set out to do some social work in a distressed area. Rarely have I felt so completely...

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SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND WAR

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By ERNST LINDER F ROM her experience of sanctions Italy has drawn the conclusion that in event of war only complete self-sufficiency can guarantee her autonomy. Germany has been...

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FRANcMS-ANGLAIS

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By PHILIP HEWITT MYRING D OCTOR LEMATTRE flung himself down beside me at the café table ; mopped his large red forehead, and eyed my half-empty glass. " Sec or noye?" I...

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EUREKA

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LAST night there came a dream—that I, At length from earthly cerements free, A pilgrim of Eternity, Had reached the place prepared for me : A vault, it seemed, of lustrous...

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Under Thirty Page

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SAFETY FIRST ?-IV By ALAN UNWIN [The writer, whose age is 22, came down from Cambridge last year, and is at present engaged in fa-lanai H UNTING experience is certainly better...

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Commonwealth and Foreign

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THE REDEMPTION OF RUTHENIA By HENRY BAERLEIN O NE of the most noteworthy—and least known—results of the War was the salvation of Ruthenia. For about a thousand years the...

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STAGE AND SCREEN

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THE THEATRE " Awake and Sing." By Clifford Odets. The Stage Society: At the Vaudeville Theatre FOR some years Mr. Clifford Odets has been accepted in New York as the most...

THE CINEMA

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"La Mort du Cygne." At the Curzon—" N. or NAY." At the Curzon—" You're a Sweetheart." At the Leicester Square THE setting is the great Opera House at Paris, with its vast...

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LA FEMME EN FRANCE

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[D'un correspondant parisien] " LA force et l'audace sont du cote de l'homme, la timidite et Ia pudeur du cote de la femme . . . L'obeissance de la femme est la contrepartie du...

ART

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The Eighteenth Century THERE they sit, in Sir Philip Sassoon's house, glaring at each other across the corner of the room, Queen Caroline and Captain Coram, the two poles of...

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Two Robins

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Almost every day, during the autumn, it was a common thing to hear the scream of rabbit pursued by stoat. One morning there was a new voice of distress. It became a double...

The Society's Aims Membership of an International Society is almost

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the only means by which a private person can help in the protection of birds which, like the quail, are menaced by ruthless com- mercial exploitation, and the aims of the...

The Quail Protection Act But now, happily, all this, as

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far as England is concerned, has been stopped. And the readers of The Spectator have, in a sense, stopped it. At least they have materially helped to stop it. On December zznd...

COUNTRY LIFE

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Live Quail The readers of The Spectator have a feather in their caps. On this page, about a year ago, I made an appeal for support for the International Committee of Bird...

The Morning Chorus

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How early in the year does the morning chorus of bird-song begin ? The magnificent tuning up of the bird orchestra, so exhilarating in full spring, seems to have nothing to do...

The Planting of Conifers

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Those who have so energetically opposed the planting of conifers in Lakeland and in other districts already rich in natural beauty may like to hear of one district, at least,...

* * *

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A Catalogue for Epicures I have never felt impelled to review a gardening catalogue until confronted with Bunyard's Vegetables for Epicures. This twenty-page booklet issued by...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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(Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as ts reascmably possible. The most suitable - length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed...

THE CASE AGAINST FLOGGING [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—As an ordinary citizen, I feel I must beg a space in your columns to voice a strong disapproval of the flogging sentences in connexion with the recent Mayfair robbery case....

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] have been much interested

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in the correspondence on " Sixth Forms " and particularly so as, in the schools connected with the Parents' National Educational Union, lessons on " current events " occur once...

INDIA IN TRANSITION

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In describing the social structure of Hinduism, in your issue of January 14th, Mr. Freund reproduces an inter- pretation of Caste which is...

POSITIVE PATRIOTISM

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sia,—The inspiration of Mr. Bellerby's article on " Positive Patriotism " lies in its suggestion that every individual and every family can...

SIXTH FORMS AND " THE SPECTATOR "

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I was much interested in Dr. Terry Thomas's account of the use made in his Sixth Form of weekly discussions based on the current issue of...

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YOU ENGLISH

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] S1R,—I received several answers to my article " You English." I should like to thank their authors and to answer them here, because I cannot...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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Snt,—The cost of our highly class-conscious system of education is undoubtedly largely responsible for the belief of our upper middle classes that they are entitled to...

FOXHUNTING

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sta,—I would like to express warm thanks to Major Lawrence Athill for his clever and satirical article on Englishmen and fox-hunting, and...

BRITISH PRESTIGE

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To the Editor of Tim SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Unfortunately, it must be admitted that the League of Nations has failed to realise the somewhat Utopian objects of its formation. Last...

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CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, -Mr. Percival strikes a pessimistic note in his letter, which is unlikely to find an echo amongst other chairmen of Children's Courts....

PROPAGANDA FOR BRITAIN

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Underlying the debate in the House on February 15th seemed to be the impression that propaganda was a scurrilous weapon, used exclusively...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR, I am not a Foxhunter and have never ridden to hounds. Indeed I have never ridden a horse. But I have yet to meet the Anti-Fox hunter who will meet unflinchingly the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is difficult to

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follow Mr. Percival when he virtually asks us to believe that Gloucestershire is not a part of England. Nor is it easy to understand what exactly he means by his words " . . ....

LIBRARIES AND RATES

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In a paragraph under " News of the Week," in your issue dated February 11th, you commented on " Libraries and Rates," remarking on the...

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BOOKS OF THE DAY

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PAGE Shakespearian Comedy (Bonamy Dobree) Burma Trials (Francis Gower) .. 318 319 The Chamberlain Tradition (E. L. Woodward) .. 319 Escape from Australia (Christopher Hobhouse)...

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JUSTICE IN THE EMPIRE

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Burma Trials. By Maurice Collis. (Faber and Faber. 8s. 6d.) Tins book is an autobiography of three years of the author's life, 1928-31. But the daily events of his life were...

THE CHAMBERLAINS

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The Chamberlain Tradition. By Sir Charles Petrie. (Lovat Dickson. 3s. 6d.) IT is not easy to see why Sir Charles Petrie has written this book. If he has put pen to paper out of...

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ESCAPE FROM AUSTRALIA

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The Strange Case of Mary Bryant. By Commander Geoffrey Rawson. (Robert Hale. I2S. 6d.) MARY BRYANT was an empire-builder much against her will. In the year 1787, she sailed as...

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In 1902 she produced a decigram of reasonably pure radium.

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The discoverer of any new element -has a permanent title -to fame : the discoverers of so rare and utterly astonishing a substance as radium were ipso facto immortals. The world...

THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENTISTS

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A CONSTANT source of trouble to those who have to teach philosophy is the, problem of dealing with the man who thinks that " science " . has proved some metaphysical con-...

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TALKS WITH A TORY

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Thoughts and Talks. The Diary of a Member of Parliament, 1935-7. By Sir Arnold Wilson, M.P. (Longmans. I2S. 6d.) IT is strange to find Sir Arnold Wilson declaring that " a...

THE CO-OP

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Os the eleven million families in Great Britain no fewer than six million do some of their buying through the " co-op." Yet the value of this trade only amounts to one-twelfth...

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" THE AMERICAN WAY "

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The Labour Spy Racket. By Leo Huberman. (Gollancz. 7s. 6d.) THE recent stock exchange break and its accompaniment, the new depression or recession that has struck America, has...

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POPULAR ART BOOKS

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and Degas. By Camille Mauclair. (Heinemann. roe. 6d.) Paul Nash. By Herbert Read. (The Soho Gallery.) THE Phaidon books are performing the most valuable function possible for...

A ROYAL RACONTEUR Memoirs of Prince Christopher of Greece. (Hurst

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and Blacken. I2S. 6d.) THIS is a considerably better book than the selected extracts published in a London evening paper would suggest. The Greek royal house, it must be...

A VIOLENT FABLE

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The Herne's Egg. By W. B. Yeats. (Macmillan. 5s.) MR. YEATS' new play opens magnificently, plunging with staccato sentences in medias res. Sparely told, it compasses in brief...

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SHORT STORIES

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Furthermore. By Damon Runyon. (Constable. 7s. 6d.) PROVIDED that the reader is not misled by the blurb into expecting " greatness " from Mr. Vincent Benet, he will find much to...

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FICTION

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By KATE O'BRIEN Lord Samarkand. By Horace Annesley Vachell. (Cassell. 8s. 6d.) Bidden to the Feast is a novel to be thrust with both hands upon readers—the right readers. For...

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THE FUTURE OF IMMIGRA- TION INTO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

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Edited by W. G. K. Duncan and C. V. Janes This collection of papers (Angus and Robertson, 6s.) on the prospects of. Empire migration in the Pacific comes topically to illuminate...

CURRENT LITERATURE THE TALL SHIPS PASS By W. L. A.

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Derby There is a refreshing freedom from the usual sentimentality about sailing- ships in The Tall Ships Pass (Cape, ass.). It is full of satisfying hard facts, gleaned over a...

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TASTE AND FASHION FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION UNTIL TODAY By

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James Laver Mr. Laver succeeds in handling the esoteric subject of costume with pro- fundity and without pedantry : would that other museum officials could follow his example....

AN ELIZABETHAN PURITAN : THE LIFE OF ARTHUR GOLDING By

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L. T. Golding This book (New York, R. R. Smith, $3.50) is a work of family piety ; and we may be grateful for the sentiment when it leads a latter-day descendant of a minor...

PAST AND FUTURE OF ETHICS By M. A. R. Tuker

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Today, when rival ideologies, rival modes of political and social organ- isation are not only so numerous and divergent but so widely discussed, it is important that a proper...

OUT OF AFRICA By Karen Blixen

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The outstanding quality of this book (Putnam, its. 6d.) is charm : its delight- ful jacket, in green tapestry, of African beasts and birds, clothes a body of careful pleasant...

A PASSPORT ROUND THE WORLD By Charles H. Holmes

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Presumably any Australian can obtain a passport to travel round the world, and, one imagines, almost any literate Australian could have written as good a book as this...

KING CHARLES AND THE CONSPIRATORS By Esme Wingfield-Stratford

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The title of this book (Seeker and Warburg, as.) and a reference on the dust-cover to " capitalist oligarchy," tend to create suspicion of its historical sincerity : for history...

SHAKESPEARE'S VITAL SECRET

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Professor Abel Lefranc has found an ardent disciple in Mr. R. M. Lucas, who in this book (Rydal Press, Keighley, 7s. 6d.) argues that Shakespeare was not, could not have been, "...

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MOTORING

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Touring Abroad Despite the tension in international affairs and the daily reports of impending trouble between this State and that, the popularity of motor-touring abroad grows...

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TRAVEL NOTES

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CANADA Ix past years many people who would have liked to visit Canada have been compelled to abandon the idea because they could not spare the time required for so long a...

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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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WITHOUT daring to be confident, I feel moderately hopeful that stock markets are moving into a recovery phase. After being led up the Berchtesgaden path speculators somehow...

* * * * BRITAIN'S BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

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The huge rise in last year's imports already made apparent in the monthly figures had prepared the City for an adverse balance of payments and I see no cause for alarm now that...

CABLE COMBINE PROSPECTS

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The steady recovery in Cable & Wireless ordinary stock, which has been held in face of dull markets and a disap- pointing January traffic, looks significant. At £67 -the stock...

HOME RAILWAY POSITION

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We still need the full accounts of the London and North Eastern to complete the home railway story, but the L.N.E.R.'s preliminary figures look very good. To pay 1 per cent. on...

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COMPANY MEETING

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GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY BEST YEAR SINCE 1930 THE annual general meeting of the Great Western Railway Company was held on February 23rd at the company's offices, Paddington...

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FINANCIAL NOTES

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NEW RUBBER REGULATION SCHEME. THE text of the proposal to give the International Rubber Regulation Scheme a further lease of life has now been pub- lished. The scheme is to run...

COMPANY MEETING

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S. HUBBARD, LIMITED PROFIT WELL IN EXCESS OF ESTIMATES THE first annual general meeting of S. Hubbard, Limited, was held on Tuesdiy, February 22nd, at Winchester House, Old...

Venturers' Corner

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Canadian stock markets have been so badly battered by the Wall Street hurricane that the impression seems to have become quite widespread that business in Canada, as in the...

COLTRTAULDS' DIVIDEND.

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The market was not overjoyed by the profit and dividend statement of Courtaulds, which showed that the net earnings had risen by approximately £77,400 to £2,373,892, while the...

S. HUBBARD.

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- S. Hubbard, the manufacturers and importers of felts and velours for the hat industry, have enjoyed considerable pro- sperity in their first trading period. Mr. S. B. Hubbard,...

BARICER'S RESULTS.

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It was to be expected, since the indices of retail sales have not been as consistently good in Central London as in other districts, that the big department stores would not...

SELFRIDGE DIVIDEND LOWER.

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Selfridge & Co. show a smaller reduction in net trading profit—a decline of £36,996 to £448,090. But the amount required for taxation has risen steeply from £35,750 to £8o,000,...

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FINANCIAL NOTES

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(Continued from page 342.) GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY PROSPECTS. Viscount Home, the chairman of the Great Western Railway, gave the stockholders at Wednesday's meeting a cheerful...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO. 282

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" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 283

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BY ZENO [A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be...