25 SEPTEMBER 1915

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During the bombardment of the early part of the week

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a mixed British and French squadron was in action off the Belgian coast, and directed a torrent of shells upon the German positions. This action was supported by the Belgian and...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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B Y far the most important news of the week is that received as to the mobilization of the Bulgarian Army. Wednesday's news was officially.confirmed by a state- ment in...

On the Western front the week has been marked by

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very heavy artillery duels ill which the French and British 4uns appear to have had the mastery. In the French official COMnnEMiqtL8 published in Wednesday's papers it is stated...

Lord Kitchener has been criticized for asserting that the Germans

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have apparently shot their bolt, but we are hound to nay that recent events give support to his words. We think it most probable that the Germans are beginning to feel anxiety...

We have dealt elsewhere with the Russian campaign, but must

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record here that, though Vilna was evacuated by the Russians last Saturday and at once occupied by the Germans, the latter have failed completely in their main object, which...

In the South—that is, on the Galician frontier—the Russians have

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continued to take the offensive, and to inflict severe punishment upon the Austrians opposed to them, Here we may record that to the Russian com munique published in Thursday's...

Before we leave the subject we may note that the

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agree- ment with Turkey in regard to the Dedeagatch Railway has been completed, and a Bulgarian Commission is at once proceeding to Demotika to take over the territory to be...

*** TO OUR READERS.—The "SPECTATOR." is now published on Friday

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afternoon, and is on sale at all Messrs. Smith and Son's London Bookstalls and all London Newsagents. All country readers can now obtain the paper on Saturday morning, and...

*** The Editors cannot undertake to return .Manuscript in any

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case.

Page 2

The new taxes stated in their briefest form are as

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follows : Income Tax raised by 40 per cent. and levied on lower incomes than before; Super Tax increased on incomes over £8,000; a special tax of 50 per cent.. on war profits;...

The new Super Tax on incomes over £8,000 will be

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as follows:- Between £8,000 and £9,000 2s. 10d. Between £9,000 and £10,000 8s. 2d. Surplus of all incomes above £10,000 ... fls. 6d. Thus a man with an income of over £10,000...

As for the Income Tax, only 20 per cent. of

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the proposed 40 per cent. increase will be levied during the remainder (that is, the second half) of the current financial year. The following table shows the old and new rates...

We have dealt at length elsewhere with the question of

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National Service, and the bitter controversy which has arisen over it. We aro glad to say, however, that this bitterness seems to be abating, and that the wild rumours and...

Unless we are greatly mistaken, she will not try to

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break through in the West, for she knows that there she is held so firmly that to take the offensive would mean a loss in soldiers which she could ill spare. That being so, she...

Practically no news has been received from the Dardanelles during

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the past week. We shall not attempt to say what this inactivity, or apparent inactivity, portends.

We have written elsewhere of the Budget, which Mr. McKenna

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explained with equal brevity and lucidity in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Here we wish simply to summarize its contents. According to the estimate, the expenditure in the...

A long despatch from Sir Ian Hamilton describing the Gallipoli

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operations in May and June was published in the papers of Tuesday. This spirited narrative tells how in the early days of May it was still hoped that a comparatively rapid...

The true position of the Cabinet as a whole, and

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of those within the Cabinet whose personal view is that we cannot now carry through the war without compulsion, is net forth by Lord Curzon in the altogether admirable letter...

Other points may be stated. The special tax of 50

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per cent. is to be levied on all industries of which the profits exceed the profits on the assessment for 1914.15 by more than £100. The Sugar Duty rises from 1s.10crto 9s. 4d....

To go into more detail, here is the balance-sheet, as

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drawn up in the Times, of the current financial year :- EXPI4NDITURE. N avy .6 O. ••• 600 .6 £190,000,000 Array ••• ••• ••• 715,000,000 External Advances ... 423,000,000 Pro-...

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The Conference of the executives of Trade Unions who have

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been considering ways and means of speeding up the output of munitions ended on Friday week, They formally accepted Mr. Lloyd George's statement that greater efforts were needed...

Before we leave the subject of Lord Curzon's letter we

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must give him special thanks for the passage in which he deals with Cabinet loyalty. " It is absolutely essential to efficient Cabinet government that all members of the Cabinet...

The Home Secretary ended his speech by a. general defence

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of the Press Bureau. The Press, be declared, had co-operated with the Bureau admirably. There was, be stated in con- clusion, "only one reason for censoring any news at all—...

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr. Hogge opened

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a debate on the Press Censorship. The nation, he complained, was not treated with candour in respect of war news. American newspapers contained more information about the...

The only difference in his position is that where he

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once stood without much backing, lie now finds himself in a company, which is daily growing in numbers and importance, of persons convinced by the unanswerable logic of military...

It is hardly necessary for us to endorse Lord Curzon's

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words, for be has only put in very concise and moving language what we have endeavoured to say ever since the compulsionist controversy became acute.. No sane man desires to...

Mr. Lloyd George has also written to a constituent a

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thoroughly sound letter on National Service. " You say," he writes, "and say rightly, that the Government ought to give the nation a lead on the question whether the moral...

Bank Rate, 5 per cent., changed from 6 p.c. Aug.

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8th, 1911

The Admiralty have announced that submarine `E7' was presumably lost

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off the Dardanelles, as has been stated in a Turkish official report. According to this report, three officers and twenty-five of the crew were taken prisoners. Thus all, or...

At Bristol on Thursday week Lord Selborno explained his scheme

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for establishing local Committees to advise and help farmers. The County Councils were being invited to form County War Agricultural Committees. These would have no legal...

In spite of the pressure of other important news, we

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must save a few lines in which to record the sale of Stonehenge by auction at Salisbury on Tuesday. It was sold for £6,600 to a local landowner, Mr. C. H. E. Chubb. To think...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE SPIRIT OP RUSSIA. W HAT is the meaning, what the cause, and what may be the results of the Bulgarian mobilization cannot be discussed at present. We record elsewhere the...

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THE ARCHIBALD PAPERS.

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his American passport. In a Memorandum handed to the American Govern- ment on June 12th, Count Bernstorff, the German Ambassador at Washington, laments the credulity which...

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THE THIRD WAR BUDGET.

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O N one point all critics of Mr. McKeuna'm great Budget are in agreement—namely, the admirable lucidity with which it was expounded to the House of Commons. There was not the...

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THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY.

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P EOPLE on both sides grow so zealously angry over the controversy in regard to National Service that we cannot do amiss if we remind our readers of some of the fundamental...

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MR. ROOSEVELT AND THE AMERICAN PACIPICISTS.

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R ECENTLY we pointed out the. very curious divergent movements which are going on now in the United States : on the one hand the most widespread pacificist campaign which has...

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THE SENSE OF POSSESSION.

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He neither gives nor receives any sort of present with any great pleasure, not that he is less willing than others to minister to the necessities of his neighbours. He bestows...

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TREES.

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F EW of us really understand trees. Of course there are botanists, and forest-wardens, and gamekeepers, and officers of Reafforestation Societies who imagine that they know all...

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WHY HOLLAND IS NEUTRAL.

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[TO THE EDITOR or THE "..SPECTATOR"] S111, — There are various reasons why I have not answered Mr. John Van der Veer's and "Anglo-Dutch's" criticisms of my first letter. Mails...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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A POLITICAL PROPHECY. [TO TH1 EDITOR OF THE "SPBOTATOR."] SIR, — In reading the Life and Letters of Dean Church published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. in 1895, I have just come...

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NATIONAL SERVICE.

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ITO TIM EDITOR or TRIO "SPECTATOR."] Sra, —Will you kindly allow me to say that I do not "confuse enforced labour, presumably for a soldier's pay, with discipline "P I think...

DEMOCRACY AND TREATY OBLIGATIONS.

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[To THE EDITOR Or TRH ”SrDCTATOR." . 1 Sur,—I should. require too much of your space if I were to deal adequately with all the points raised in the interesting review of...

[To TRR EDITOR or THE " 131400TATOR.1 Sic,,—The following lines

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are taken from an article which appeared in the Spectator some years ago. I made a note of them at the time, and I think they are now particularly applicable :— "Let us never...

[To MO EDITOR Or TRH n SPEOTATOB.'] Sxu,—In view of the

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resolutions of the recent Trade Union Congress, in view of the warning from the railwaymen con- veyed by Mr. J. H. Thomas in Parliament, in view of the ignominious collapse of...

THE DANGER IN TRADE UNIONISM.

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[To TUN EDITOR OP TRIO "BrZCTATOR."] Sia,—I have recently read an able paper on the subject of Trade Unions, written as long ago es 1891 by Mr. T. S. Cree, entitled A Criticism...

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FARMERS AND INCOME TAX.

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[To TEN EDITOR or TEN " EPEOTAT011."] SIR,—Now that Income Tax is to be raised, it is high time that there should be a searching inquiry into the way incomes are assessed, and...

AGRICULTURE AND THE SHORTAGE OF LABOUR.

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[To Tss EDITOR Or TEE " SPECTATOR."] SIE, — Al this critical time it is more important than it ever was in our country's history that we should secure in good condition all the...

SIPPERS AND—MINERS.

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r TO TER EDITOZI Or TUN " BrNOTATOR. " 1 Sin,—We in England are perhaps justified in leaving difficult problems of labour and wages to responsible authorities and skilled...

TWO QUESTIONS.

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ITo THIll EDITOR Or TEEN "SPECTATOR. "] Sin,—Your valuable' paper takes some time in reaching ine, but there is very little in its pages that I find too old for satisfying...

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PUBLIC OPINION.

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[To TRIO EDITOR OF TUE "SFR0TAY0R•" SIR, —Does not experience tend to show that some of the gravest difficulties of popular government are due to the fact that the democracy is...

AGE AND THE WAR.

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[To TUR EDITOR OP Tea " SPROTATOR."1 Slit,—Permit me to offer a few comments on the article signed "Senex " in the Spectator of September 11th. I shall be eighty-two if I live...

THE BELGIAN FIELD HOSPITAL.

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[To TER EDITOR OF DUD " SPECTATOR."3 SIR, — Many appeals are before the public and many are the calls on their charity. and sympathy, but no appeal can be more eloquent and...

EDUCATION IN THE WAR. rye TIER EDITOR OP TER "SPECTATOR. "]

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Snr,—The need for the initiation of some practical measure whereby the nation may be enlightened upon the facts and ideas of the war has now been evident for many months past....

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"THE BITTER END."

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —May I point out that there is an obvious pun on this phrase (see Spectator, September 18th) in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Act...

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF WAR.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Possibly the following extract from my son's letter, just received from "somewhere in Flanders'," may interest your readers as showing...

" TIPPERARY."

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[To THE EDITOR OF TUE "SrEcuroa."1 SIR, —The traveller who heard everywhere in this country "I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier " can hardly have come as far as Portland,...

AN ARMY IN ESSENCE.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " spurrAroz.".1 Sin, — There is a village at that very point of England where, looking at the sea, you doubt whether you are looking at the English Channel...

A QUOTATION FROM MASSINGER.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —This quotation from Messinger may interest some of your readers. They are the words of Archidamus of Syracuse, spoken in a war with...

Page 16

WAR LOAN CERTIFICATES. [To THY EDITOR OP TER " SPEOTATOR.1

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SIR,—Workmen are being urged to save and to invest their savings in War Loan. What will they do with their certifi- cates when they receive them, for very few have any safe...

THE WAR LIBRARY.

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[To THE EDITOR Or THR "BouTATort."] SIR, —We regret that we must lay the urgent needs of the War Library before you and the public and ask for help. The War Library, which has...

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 sieceseorilv be held to be in agreement with the views therein alarmed or with the mode of...

THE NUMBER 13.

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[TO TIER EDITOR OF THY "Srsernros."] Sin, — Perhaps the following coincidence regarding the numker 13 may be of interest to some of your - readers. Br.siness connected with...

THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN.

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[To TER EDITOR 01 TRI "Brzarrron."] Sra, — In your issue of June 2ith "A. E. S. B." asks the question: "Why should not married people who are childless adopt the children who...

THE CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF VOLUNTEER TRAINING CORPS.

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PRESIDENT, LORD DESBOROUGH. How, SECRETARY: PERCY A. HARRIS, Esq. HEAD OFFICES: Judges' Quadrangle, Royal Courts of Justice (Carey Street entrance). The aims and objects of...

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BOOKS.

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PAN-GER. MANISM.* EVEN after more than a year of war there are still visible some lamentable national symptoms, such as the enforcement of untimely Trade Union rules and the...

POETRY.

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"SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE." "SOMEWHERE in France"—we know not where—be lies, Mid shuddering earth and under anguished skies! We may not visit him, but this we say : Though our...

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AN ITALIAN VIEW OF AUSTRIA.*

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THE subjects discussed in Signor Gayda's volume are so numerous and important that it is impossible to deal with them adequately within the compass of a newspaper review. It...

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SIR R. BADEN-POWELL'S REMINISCENCES.* IN vain Sir R. Baden-Powell, in

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the preface to these reminis- cences, tells us that there is nothing very romantic or very exciting about them, and that to some extent they show him to have been just the...

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HARD WORK AND MATERNITY.*

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THE compilers of this little book believe that it is possible, we might even say easily possible, for the State to step in and shield women of the working classes from the...

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THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.*

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THE Romanizers in the Church of England have never been wanting in impudence. But for a society expressly calling themselves "Publishers to the Church of England " to reprint a...

FICTION.

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A TALL SHIP.t THE author of Naval Occasions needs no recommendation from publishers or reviewers. For the task which he has taken in hand he has all the necessary...

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From the many war pamphlets that reach us we may

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select for special mention one that comes from America. Mr, Herbert Armitage Drake, of the New Jersey Bar, has written upon 2"he Prevention of War by Force and Arms...

some of the dissatisfaction that is widely felt with the

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working of our educational system finds expression in Citizens to Be, by Miss M. L. V. Hughes (Constable and Co., 4s. 6d. net). The book is an earnest and carefully elaborated...

SOME BOOKS OF TIIE WEEK.

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[Notice in this cottnn does not necessarily yrectuds stassoiont ronfcw.1 "La ballade," says Trissotin in Les Fcnzmes Seven les," h mon goat eat une chose fade." "La ballade...

The Bose - Coloured Room. By Maude Little. (Sidgwiok and Jackson. 6s.)—Miss

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Little has already written two books ; nevertheless her work is not, we imagine, as widely known as it deserves to be. She sees men and women with understanding, and the world...

The Secret Son. By Mrs. Henry Dudeney. (Methuen and Co.

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6s.)—The Secret Son is a story of three generations, all entangled in the misery of betrayed love. In one case the man is the offender, and in two the woman ; and before long we...

READABLE NOVEL. — Turmoil. By Booth Tarkington. (Hodder and Stoughton.

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6s.)—A story of the delicate son of a hustling American business man, and of bow he came to his own: it is amusing and well written.

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In these days when the " picture palace " is

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becoming a serious rival to the theatre, and when Mr. Chaplin is even more celebrated than Mr. Lauder, The Cinematograph Book, by Mr. Bernard E. Jones (Cassell and Co., 2s. 6d....

Crainquebille is the latest volume of the translation of the

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works of Anatole France in course of publication by Mr. John Lane (6s.). It contains a number of short stories hardly less well known than that which gives the book its title....