• The rumour that the Prime Minister is setting to work to construct a new permanent National Party rests on no firmer foundation than the rival rumour that he is angling for...

prospect that the Young Plan mechanism will be kept in being but that no repara- tions will be paid in the immediate future. To which may be added as an unofficial corollary,...

Spectator that Europe as a whole must tell the United States plainly that if reparations payments have to cease, then debt payments must cease too has since been echoed in a...

in last Saturday's general election. Mr. Scullin's following was reduced from thirty-five to thirteen, in a House of seventy-five ; his Treasurer, Mr. Theodore, and five other...

1.—A Subscription to the SrEcTATon. costs Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SrEcrsTon is registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on...

Mr. Gandhi was said to have virtually declared war—war, of course, in the figurative sense of non-co-operation—on Great Britain has developed into a mystery. In response to a...

Manchuria under the usual pretext of clearing the province of bandits; and there is every sign that, the League of Nations Council 'having declined to include the town of...

some reports has already been initialled and according. to others not, is probably less important than it. looks. If the Kellogg Pact means anything at all, bilateral agreements...

the suspended Cunarder. Indeed, the longer the derelict hull stands, untouched on the stocks the deeper the tragedy of the whole thing is driven into the public mind. But the...

invited by the Governor-General to form a Ministry. Mr. Lyons has made it perfectly clear that his policy is " fundamentally Protectionist," but that he will be ready to discuss...

the ship finished, on the ground that it could only be run at a loss- under present conditions, it would be much better to say so plainly at once. That 534 could earn a profit...

The B.B.C., if it is open to conviction at all, must be convinced by this time that the decision ascribed to it of prohibiting the mention of contemporary novels by name in its...

Spectator last week on the Manchurian question M. William Martin observed that " it appears that Great Britain and the United States at the time of the London Naval Conference...

" a good deal too much nonsense was talked about 'basements. " The Council had been asked by the London Council of Social Service and its kindred body, the Mansion House Council...

flowing on in comparative placidity since the reassurances given by Lord Peel and Lord Lothian on the subject of safeguards, have got safely past. the minority shoal....

issue, the first of 1932, the Spectator will inaugurate a weekly feature calculated, it is hoped, to commend itself to readers who appreciate a more intimately personal touch...

on September 21st, 1931. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Tuesday 94! ; on Tuesday week, 95 ; a year ago, 102 Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Tuesday 821 ; on Tuesday week, 822-...

Motorists - and the public alike will commend the City Corporation for deciding to consider the construction of a large underground garage or parking-place for 500 cars in or...

G ERMANY is celebrating a Christmas truce, but there is little of the spirit of good will about it. Stern necessity and a hitter consciousness of public danger have impelled Dr....

By PROF. T. E. GREGORY. I MUST begin with a few summary facts about which all parties to the Silver discussion are in substantial agreement. The following six or seven points...

To Aid An Experiment Which Bids Fair to Make History A LL the way up the valley the little towns were full of men standing about in the streets or squatting, as Welsh miners...

By THE RT. HONULE. H. B. LEES-SMITH. TI OW many times does the reader of this article re- member that - the Post Office has failed to deliver his letters punctually ? How often...

6d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Anonymous .. 150 0 0 A Scottish Friend 1 0 0 Miss E. Pease Anonymous (New- castle) .. 10 10 0 0 0 0 Staff and Students of Kingsmead, Birmingham .. 1 0 0...

BY EVELYN UNDERHILL. T HE disputes which long raged round the genius and the work of Giotto seem gradually to have died away, leaving him, after many vicissitudes, in...

BY E. B. CASTLE. V the writers on this aspect of the problem of - I - the Christian conscience had been concerned to discuss the duty of a citizen rather than that of a...

BY IRIS BARRY T HIS metropolis might be an idle woman's paradise: she could recline for ever on a daybed with the telephone by her side. Even if, long after .dinner, she...

By L. A. G. STRONG. T HE afternoon sun, still high in the west, hid for a moment behind a small and fleecy cloud. At once it seemed as if the wide panorama of sea and sand and...

BY LADY LAWRENCE. W HEN one hears so much of communal tension between Hindu and Moslem it is pleasant to recall that scattered over India are tombs of saints which are equally...

A Letter from Paris [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] S1R,—One of the most noteworthy achievements of recent days in this capital must surely be attributed to M. Paul Poiret,...

BRAVE FEAn. Some weeks ago a short account was given of a lark taking refuge between a yachtsman's feet in the Solent in order to escape the pursuit of a sparrow hawk. My...

Some delightful material wherewith to answer the old question, " Which is the best of the' counties ? "- ifir given by Canon Raven, who is one of the most eager and charming of...

It is worth notice how much more attention is paid to natural history year by year in papers and magazines all over the world. The Sydney Mail perhaps takes the lead ; but the...

Recent details of bird migration on the West Coast of America suggest an interesting problem. It is thought by some observers that the species of bird that spend a part at any...

- The query has been put : what is the most human dog- story you know ? I have told mine in a very little dog book, of which part was printed in the Atlantic Monthly (A Letter...

The marvels of a really open Christmas in England - continue in spite of frost.. I could fill a church with . the blossoming sprays of yellow jasmine, and if we cannot say as...

there is a tendency to regard it as one of the ugly ducklings. Doubtless quite hideous patches may be found ; but it has also peculiar virtues. A little circle within it...

A SELF-SUFFICING ENGLAND. I cannot forbear to _ quote the conclusion of the last (or, I hope, only the : latest ?) article on " My Ninth Year's Farming " from The Countryman,...

your December 12th number is peculiarly unconvincing. She writes : " The Red Deer of the Highlands depend for their preservation on deer-stalking, as do the Exmoor Deer on...

us some very charming scenes of country life in her article on " Field Sports and Wild Life in the British Isles," but what a pity she does not stop there! Her arguments...

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

above title by Miss Frances Pitt, which appears in your issue of December 12th, does not seem to solve the problem of Christian conscience with regard to field sports or " these...

to me the theory that the love of animals evinced by sportsmen (often apparently greater than that shown by the unsportsmanlike) is, in reality, an unsuspected endeavour to...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In suggesting that I have done my " unlevel best " to defend (1) Horace, (2) the B.B.C., Mr. Harold Nicolson seems to imply that walking...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] S,a,—Mr. Chesterton, a lover of paradoxes, must be smiling over the present political position, even as I am smiling. The paradox is that the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Is there not a third course which is at least worthy of a parent's consideration in these hard times ? In all the correspondence I have...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Srn,—Again the proposition has recently been put forward quite seriously by a medical man that medical men should, in certain circumstances,...

farmers (many of them, by the way, are ex-Service men) who purchase at least one-fourth of the wheat grown in this country. Under the " quota scheme " will they not have to pay...

[To the Editor of the ScErrxrou.] SIR,—In answer to the enquiry of the Rev. G. S. Hewins in your issue of the 19th inst. I can tell him that there is a stone altar in Skipwith...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — Many of us are rediscovering Emerson, finding that he still interprets the commonplace world correctly. For instance, the following...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, May I add a few words to the interesting letter from Mrs. L. Ragg, which appeared in your issue of December 12th ? As Rector of St....

asks in your last issue for particulars of Anglican churches having stone altars. I am able to supply him with particulars of one. The church of Coates, a small hamlet near...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — I have just read a book, Life in Spain To-day, written by G. W. Armstrong, an. Englishman living in Spain under the dictatorships, and,...

[To the Editor of the SrEcrAron.] Stn,—In Mr. Clennell Wilkinson's Nelson the old version of Nelson's last words " Kiss me, Hardy " is given. Here in Egypt our belief is that he...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — I trust you will allow me, as an English Jew, a little space to reply quite briefly to Herr Schucht's letter, or, rather, to the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I reply to Mr. G. B. Harrison's at first sight rather damaging criticism of my book, The Imperial Theme ? He gives especial attention...

We much regret that in our issue of December 5th Commander J. L. Cather, the writer of the article " A Plea for Nature," was described as " an active worker for The Animals'...

issued in 1830; why not in 1831 ? or at least to the latest date possible of the latter year ? We notice the document, however, chiefly to point out the blundering way in which...

To A DONOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." The Archdeacon of St. Kitts, British West Indies, begs to tha:ik the kind friend who sends him the Spectator every week and regrets that he has...

[To the Editor of the SPecrAiron.] Sta,—Does not your reviewer of General Gough's The Fifth Army miss a very vital point of view strongly supported by him in writing of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sitt,—Can you, or any of your readers who are animal lovers recommend a winter resort in the South of England where we can stay without having...

THE " SPECTATOR," DECEMBER 24TH, 1831. London is busy with the important preparations for Christmas- Shall we be thought to sermonize, if we ask our readers, at this season of...

The Hounds by Night SLOPE after slope to valley Descended into white, Baptized by the long weeping Of the winter night. Suddenly, without warning, They came, the still, the...

In your - issue of 'December 5th, your Parliamentary corre- spondent mentions my name as one of a small group who voted against the National Government on the money resolu- tion...

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...

THE Editor of the Spectator offers a first prize of LIO nos. and a second prize of k5 5s. for a short story of not more than 1,5oo words, written in English. Entries should be...

Haim we have answers, furnished by authorities entitled to the highest respect, to two questions which are clamouring for a solution—what is the way out of this silly mess into...

shop. 2s. Gd.) Mount Zion : or, In Touch with the Infinite. By John . Betjeman. (James Press, 3 Culross Street, W. I. Ss. 6d.) - OCCASIONALLY in literature one encounters a...

Other Dimensions. A Selection from the Later Correspondence of Victoria Lady Welby. Edited by Mrs. Henry Cust. With an Introduction by Dr. L. P. Jacks. (Jonathan Cape. 12s. tkt....

the Royal 2s. 6d.) Ma. JOSEPH'S lucid little treatise is not addressed to the light- minded author suffering from the " vanity called self-expres- sion " but to the prudent...

ONE of the illustrations of this book shows us a man with a fiercely devouring eye, a nose whose bluntness and wide- inhaling nostril shows him ready to sniff out prey ; the...

THE kit twenty years have witnessed a marked revival of interest in antiquity, and in classical antiquity in particular. One might have expected that a mechanised age would have...

Memories of Pioneer Days in Queensland. By Mary Macleod Banks. (Heath Cranton. 3s. 6d.) The Traveller's Companion. By Paul and Millicent Bloomfield. (G. Bell and Sons. 7s....

The Milner Papers : South Africa, 1897-1899. Edited by Cecil Headlam. (Cassell. 30s.) LORD 141II.NER did a service to history and to his own reputation in directing that his...

7s. 0d.) CERTAIN verse-forms seem to have acquired by some inalienable right the secret of perennial youth. This book is a timely reminder that this royal and ancient form has...

A New Book by Miss Charlotte Brontë IN the bottom right-hand corner of a show-cabinet in the British Museum, amongst many august manuscripts, is a tiny booklet written on pages...

SIR W. H. HAnow's contribution to the English Heritage Series is a remarkably lucid, learned and concise account of English music from the time of St. Augustine to the present...

of short stories is pleasingly written and records some faithful and entertaining impressions of the Basque character and mode of life. The story, " Gold from Argentina," rings...

Ma. A. L. MAYCOCK, who dates his preface from Cambridge, discourses with evident enthusiasm about the sister University in An Oxford Note-Book (Blackwood, 10s. 6d.), which is...

6d.)—Seasoned with a touch of romance and an Italian " villain," this lively story of a treasure- hunt is most exciting when involving a small yacht in the dangers and thrills...

in the Inverness-shire Beauly his old gillie observed, " My name is Campbell, but my heart is with the Great Montrose," and despite Ayton's " grim Geneva ministers " and their...

and religion, was full of superficial inconsistencies. One has only to read his essay on War to realize the muddled thinking of which he was sometimes capable. Vet, beneath all...

RUMOUR AT NIGHTFALL. By Graham Greene. (Heine- mann. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Greene is one of those authors who have something to say but whose turgidity prevents them from saying it. The...

7s. 6d.)—A land-owner loses money, threatens to sell his " place," and discovers that his wife loves it more than she does hiin. A familiar situation unconvincingly tidied up by...

James VI of Fife, and it is that golden fringe—of (amongst many other historic spots) Culross, Aberdour, Dysart, Largo (where was born Robinson Crusoe's prototype), of the...

A Year's Investment Wrrn the passing of Christmas and the approach of the year-end, the investor is generally accredited by financial writers with the habit of reviewing his...

itself perfectly to the literary methods of the modern romantic historian. Connected by blood or marriage with the noblest houses of France, The !fatiguing Duchess (John...

our issue of December 5th, was described as being published by Houghton Mifflin. The book is published by George Allen and Unwin.

in More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, by Dean Inge (Putnam, 7s. Od.), are beyond praise. Various, frank, skilful, trenchant and lively, their appeal is infallible. " That I enjoyed...

special virtue. Dalmatia, the New Riviera (by Geoffrey Rhodes ; Stanley Paul, 18s.) has a good many claims. An English pedestrian lately spent over four weeks there and failed...

For the great majority of the investing public, 1931 has been an unfavourable, if not a disastrous year, prices of practically all securities having been seriously weakened by...

those that follow the path of least resistance, the chronological path, and those that attempt some sort of arrangemeht according to a theory of ideas. The London Book of...

company was held early in the week, reflected the very serious fall in metal prices last year, while the company also suffered through the much restricted outlet for the...

The atmosphere of practically the whole of the Stock Exchange was altered by the publication of the Hoover proposals, and prices advanced rapidly during the opening days of the...

At the annual meeting of Carreras Limited, Sir Louis Baron gave shareholders a very intimate review of the position of the tobacco industry both at home and abroad, and while he...

Price movements throughout have conformed to previous experience in the . Stock Exchange, which has always shown that while prices can often withstand definitely unfavourable...

MARKETS QUIETLY STEADY. WHILE the approach of the Christmas holidays is naturally a factor tending to restrict business on the Stock Exchange— and on the present occasion there...

That doubt as to immediate developments had been the principal reason for the weakness of industrials was evident at the opening of our fourth period of the year, .which has...