28 MAY 1937

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NEWS OF THE WEEK a

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T HE:completion .of Queen _ Mary's. seventieth year _last . - ..Wednesday is an occasion for - salutations of no conven- tional .order. No (fee. who watched the COronatiOn...

Britain and Germany The obvious détente in the relations between

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this country and Germany has various causes. Whatever they may be, they are certainly to be welcomed. Personal contact between Field Marshal von Blomberg, Germany's Coronation...

Back to the Buses The end of the London Bus

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Strike will be welcomed unreservedly by the millions of Londoners whom the stoppage has for four weeks involved in grave inconvenience and hardship. The manner of its ending...

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Labour Relations If these measures show what the administration means

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to do, and now has power to do, for the workers, another event of the last week shows what it has enabled them to do for themselves. Last Friday the first important ballot was...

The Paris Exhibition Perhaps it is a trifle premature to

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discuss the Paris Inter- national Exhibition. Just as there is much work to be done on a ship after the launching ceremony, so the official opening on Monday by the President of...

* * * Social Security in the U.S.A.

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The last week may well be described as one of the most significant in the whole history of the United States. On Monday the Supreme Court upheld the clauses of the Social...

N.D.C.

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The principle of Mr. Chamberlain's National Defence Contribution has been approved by all sections of the com- munity except Mr. Keynes and the City of London. The concessions...

Russia at the North Pole "First weather report from the

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North Pole" makes an effective headline ; it also signifies the extraordinary progress of Russian polar science. The Russian expedition which landed a party of four on an...

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Members fresh from their constituencies where in every case the

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most formidable Socialist quarters were the most gaily decorated were genuinely astonished to hear the grave Labour statements that masses of the people were feeling...

The wide gulf in outlook between the Government and Oppositions

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was vividly illustrated in the debate on Wed- nesday on the Government's attitude to the report of the Royal Commission on the Trade and Manufacture of Armaments. The Labour and...

Less Homework In these days of increasingly keen competitive examina-

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tions, homework has become more and more of a bugbear to schoolchildren. The Board of Education's pamphlet on the subject is therefore most timely. It suggests, "very...

The Press and the B.B.C.

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In his speech to the Empire Press Union on Tuesday, Sir John Reith, the Director-General of the B.B.C., made some exceedingly sensible remarks on the relations between...

Mr. Runciman and Free Trade It is pleasant to compliment

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Cabinet Ministers at the end of a long term of office, but congratulations to Mr. Walter Runciman after his farewell speech in Parliament on Tuesday 'as President of the Board...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : The

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Labour Party appeared at their worst in the debate on the Civil List. While being at pains to proclaim their devotion to the institu- tion of Monarchy, they made a series of...

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DEMOCRACY AND KINGSHIP

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A S George escapes from the distractions, of ceremonial and settles to his appointed labours he is favoured by the Leader of the Opposition, who may be the King's first adviser...

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A TRUCE IN SPAIN T HE proposals of the British Government

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for a withdrawal . of all volunteers from Spain have at length inspired hopes, slight though they may be as yet, of a truce in the Spanish war ; for if the proposals are to have...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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W HEN someone asked me what the King would wear at the Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul's on Monday I said, without much thought, presumably some naval or military uniform. But...

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MR. BALDWIN

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By WILSON HARRIS S OME cynics might say that Mr. Baldwin was showing characteristic astuteness in getting out while the going is good—though if they did it would mean that a...

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THE CHILDREN FROM SPAIN

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By GORONWY REES TN the train two Germans respectfully discussed Great Britain's rearmament. While they were talking a flight of aeroplanes appeared in the sky, changing and...

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THE FORTUNES OF THE ESKIMO

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By MICHAEL SPENDER I N the Arctic the change of season as winter turns to summer means a complete alteration in the way of life of the Eskimo. Along most of the populated...

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ECCENTRIC ENGLISHWOMEN: VII. MCKIE BUCHAN*

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By E. M. FORSTER S HE was not English and perhaps not eccentric, but she was very much a woman, and she insists on admission into this series. Her baptismal name was Elspath...

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TOTALITARIAN JUSTICE ON THE STAGE

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By PETER FLEMING TT is odd, it is even a little discreditable, that none of the dictatorships has as yet officially disowned Justice. The Christian religion, objective truth,...

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WEATHER-COLLECMG

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By JAN STRUTHER • KNOW two men, brothers, who are Meteorological highbrows. Weather, to them, is not a mere stop-gap at the convergational feast : it is the guest - Of -...

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MARGINAL COMMENTS

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By LAWRENCE ATHILL W HEN General Smuts, as is his habit, gives to the world some basic truth crystallised in an arresting phrase, he borrows his genius from the great continent...

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DANUBIAN ANXIETIES

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Commonwealth and Foreign FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Vienna. THE coronation fell at a timely moment. All eyes are on England today, and destiny, that incalculable stage...

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OPERA

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STAGE AND SCREEN Mozart at Glyndebourne Mn. JOHN CHRISTIE has concentrated his attention since last season upon the improvement and enlargement of his theatre at Glyndebourne,...

THE CINEMA

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The Coroaation Films HITHERTO the newsreels have been confined, in their present 1- tion of great occasions, to the recording of external splendour. High authority, fearful no...

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COUNTRY LIFE

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Sussex Crafts Those who pay any attention to rural crafts in England will feel it right and proper and pleasing that exhibits are going from Willigh to the Paris exhibition. Sir...

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lighted upon the following passage in H. A. L. Fisher's

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History of Europe : " At rare moments of history the feeling of Christian fellowship overmasters the jealousies and hatreds by which the Church of Christ is ever liable to be...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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

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DIET AND PLAIN LANGUAGE

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With reference to the correspondence opened in your columns last week advocating "liaison officers" to explain the science of dietetics...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In his article, "Everyday Life in Germany," Mr. Everard Allardice says : " When commodities are valued at the correct rate of exchange (is. 8d.), it becomes much more...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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Sut,—Professor Mottram very opportunely points out the need for liaison officers between the professorial chair and the women in the home, but would not the ideal officers be...

EVERYDAY LIFE IN GERMANY

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have no reason to doubt the impression left on the mind of your correspondent, Mr. Hardy, who found that in Germany today "everything in...

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"WHAT SHADOWS," CRIED BURKE • •

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—When in your last issue, on the day of its appearance, I re-read my own letter about the origin of the saying—" What shadows we are, and...

MURDER STATISTICS AND FREE WILL

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Is there any possible way of reconciling the remarkable uniformity of the annual number of murders with the theory of Free Will ? Every...

IMPROVING HUMANITY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.'

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SIR,—It was a great satisfaction to us to read in your issue of last week the informative article by Professor Crew under the title " Improving Humanity." The points which he...

CHANGES IN RELIGION

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sta,—I am glad to learn on the authority of Lord Clonmore that King George IV in later life "changed his habits and became a sincerely...

A CROWDED COLONY

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—My father gave me Mr. Max Salvadori's article in last Friday's Spectator to read. I was born and bred in East Africa, and spent my early...

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'SMOKE ABATEMENT [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your

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issue of May znst you published a paragraph entitled "Smoke in the Air," in which it was stated that "if domestic coal fires were given up, or smokeless fuel made cheap enough...

Sia,—General Lethbridge Alexander's story of a Brigade Headquarters Mess, wherein

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every officer at the call of the Brigadier promptly quoted Plato, is an improvement on Baron Munchausen. The Chaplain who was made to stand on his chair all through dinner for...

MOTORISTS AND PEDESTRIANS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Snt,—Your

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contributor" Janus" says that a complete acquittal of various charges brought against motorists is contained in the statement by the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis in...

"THE POOL OF SILOAIVI " [To the Editor of THE

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SPECTATOR.] Sr,—Your correspondent is quite right. Nehemiah iii. z refers to the pool called Siloam at St. John ix. 7. Isaiah viii: 6 is another reference to the same pool. The...

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"NONE SO FAST AS STROKE" [To the Editor of THE

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SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It would need a life-time of research to look in all the books said by your correspondents to enshrine the above witticism. I incline to believe those who place...

"TWO LEAVES AND A BUD" [To the Editor of THE

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SPECTATOR.] SIR,-It has been represented to me that I May have caused some misunderstanding by my review of Mulk Raj Anand's book, Two Leaves and a Bud, in your issue of April...

DUSSELDORF WIE NOCH NIE

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Lyon einem deutschen Korrespondenten) AM Rhein bliihen wieder die Kastanien. In Diisseldorf gehn wir an Land. Wir wissen heutc nicht mehr, wer Dusseldorf die schonste Stadt am...

SIR,—I have found it ! Eureka ! Or if not

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the very quotation, something next door. Behold : [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] " Start ! ' The word sounded clear from the mouth of the 'Varsity captain of boats, and at...

PHILIP SNOWDEN [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Surely it

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was Walter Runciman and not Philip Snowden who made that statement about misappropriation of Post Office Savings Bank Funds. I remember very well Snowden's speech the night...

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A SAINT

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BOOKS OF THE DAY By HENRY W. NEVINSON IN my long life I have known a few saints, such as Scott Holland and Samuel Barnett, but I call Horton pre-eminently a saint. Of Wesleyan...

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THE MODERN HERO

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THERE are two omissions in this book—no article by Augustus John and no full-length criticism of Lawrence's writing. (David Garnett writes an admirable critical sketch. The late...

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AN AGRONOMIST AT LARGE

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The Hill Lands of Britain. By R. G. Stapledon. (Faber and Faber. 6s.) PROFESSOR STAPLEDON, whose book The Land is perhaps the most outstanding work on agriculture that the last...

A MOTORIST IN AMERICA

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Mine Host America. By The Earl of Cottenham. . (Collins. 16s.) THERE is an ominous phrase in Lord Cottenham's book that rouses the worst suspicions of the hardened reader of...

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KEATS : A FAMOUS DOCUMENT

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Life of John Keats. By Charles Armitage Brown. Edited by Dorothy Hyde Bodurtha and Willard Bissell Pope. (Oxford University Press. 6s.) FOR many years that cheerful, irascible,...

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PEASANT AND PROLETARIAN

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of the U.S.S.R. (Lawrence and Wishart. 8$. .6d.) have regarded. isor7 es a purely . proletarian achievement. ' how far the proletarian State Ices really captured thk country-...

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ART AND IDEA

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Art and Understanding. By. Margaret li.Bulley. (Botsford. J61.) "No theory of art can stand unless it is supported by a philo- sophy of life." With this, the first sentence in...

A TUDOR PLAYWRIGHT linwin. tos. 6c1.) " , ALTHOUGH John

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Heywood and all his workes—farces, inter- ludes, epigrams and proverbs—are almost forgotten, it is an exaggeration to say that his "name for three centuries at least has been...

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WONDER HERO

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A rtEw saga is being evolved. Balletomania, to judge from the number of books on the theme which have been published latterly—with Mr. Arnold Haskell well to the fore as the...

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FICTION

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By_ F T ORREST REID Decline and Full of a British Matron. By Mary Mitchell. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) The Revenge for Love. By Wyndham Lewis. (Cassell. 8s. 6d.) They Lived in County...