29 JUNE 1929

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Russia Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, who undoubtedly appreciates the importance of

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" gestures," has, nevertheless, acted shrewdly in communicating with the Governments of the Dominions before taking steps to redeem his promise of normal relations with Russia....

The Left: Wing - :of Labour The Sabbath was enlivened in

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Glasgow by two " monster " meetings arranged:by_ the Glasgow Federa- tion -of the Independent Labour Party. Mr. Wheatley was billed to attend, but he did not put in an...

News of the Week The Government at Work A PART from

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welcome, pronouncements on foreign policy—no less welcome because foreordained— the Government have wasted no time in professions of faith, but have at once set their hands to...

South Africa After his victory in the elections, General Hertzog

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has constituted his new ministry. Mr. Tielman Roos, a very able man, has had to retire on account of his health. Mr. Boyden, formerly Minister of Labour, also retires, Colonel...

(Signed articles do not necessarily represent the victim of the

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SPECTATOR.]

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Gown; Street, London, W

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

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On Tuesday Herr Stresemann spoke again, and made some pointed

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remarks about the urgent need for economic co-operation in Europe to meet the impact of the American colossus. We respect him for his frank statement that in German eyes the...

Afghanistan Lord Irwin emphasized the strict neutrality of the Government

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throughout the troubles in Afghanistan. There the Amir of Kabul seems to retain his power in the City and surrounding districts, and little fighting is recorded. The other...

Time is on the side of this Commission. The efforts

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to boycott it grow weaker, having little or nothing to feed upon. The Nehru Report, practically an ultimatum to the Government of India, has failed in its effect, but it has...

India In India the trial at Delhi of the two

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men who threw a bomb in the Legislative Assembly last April ended a fortnight ago with sentence of transportation for life. At Meerut the trial of the Communists is proceeding...

* * * * Herr Stresemann in the Reichstag Herr

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Stresemann, though still a sick man, has lost little time in " facing the music " in the Reichstag. On Monday he made a frank, courageous, and effective reply to the Nationalist...

Egypt Our Cairo correspondent, writing on the morrow of Our

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Cairo correspondent, writing on the morrow of the Nile Waters Agreement, does well to emphasize how well Egypt is served by her present rulers. The Prime Minister, Mahmud Pasha,...

The Alsatian Trial The trial of Monsieur Philippe Roos, the

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President of the Alsatian LandesPartei and author of Policy and Force in Alsace-Lorraine, - published in Switzerland, for conspiring against the security of France; came to an...

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Mr. A. S. Cochran With great regret we learnt last

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week of the death of Mr. Alexander Smith Cochran. Though he never sought publicity, he could not avoid being known here during the War as an immensely rich American who made...

No more arduous and unpleasant task has been faced with

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greater ability and success. They found a union bankrupt and demoralized ; the wilful idlers set on a level with the genuine unemployed, and both encouraged to prefer a...

Appointed Guardians The new powers at the Ministry of Health

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have made a compromise between their pledges given in 1926 when the Board of Guardians (Default) Act was passed, and the necessity imposed by the Local Government Act of 1929....

Mexico When congratulation is due to all concerned, it would

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be invidious to try to apportion merit. The peace between Church and State in Mexico is a matter for thankfulness for all Christian peoples, and not for praise of persons. But...

Italy and North Africa For a long time it has

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been difficult to gauge the value of the scanty news that has reached us from the Italian Province in North Africa. Italy has thus unwisely led others to suspect that failures...

Incidence of Mental Deficiency Part IV. of the report of

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the Mental Deficiency Com- mittee contains data which provide our social -reformers with an almost unlimited field. The incidence of mental deficiency among children and adults...

Bank Rate, 54 per cent., changed from 41 per cent., ,

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on February 7th, 1929. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 1004 ; on Wednesday week 10011; a year ago, 101*. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 851 ; on Wednesday...

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The Socialist Myth

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I T has been truly said that Great Britain was of all -I- countries the hardest hit by the War, not simply by reason of the " devastated regions " of our trade, but first and...

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The Tasks of a President

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T HE activities of the new and most welCome Ambasiador of the United States during his first week in this country were recorded last week - in our chronicle of the news: Though...

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Shims of_ Southwark

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F OR some time we have not written of our housing problems, not because these matters are any less urgent than they were, but because iteration of one theme is only useful up to...

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Dutch and British in South Africa

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The New Spirit of Reconciliation T AM asked to give some account of the new movement - I - towards harmony between Dutch and British in S. Africa and to explain a manifesto...

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Life in a Woman's Prison

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a f- A NE of the " discoveries " of the twentieth century appears to have been that savagely or stolidly " retributive " treatment is a stupid •method of dealing" with...

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The Zoo Centenary Party

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rr HE,,hyenas were :not laughing. There was no sound of mirth from woodpecker or.. mocking • bird, or sign of astonishment from any onlooker when the spot- lights illumined the...

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The Spirit of Enterprise—A Younger Point of View

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This is another article giving expression to " The Younger Point of View," and providing an opportunity for our readers under thirty to express their views, which are not...

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The Theatre

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[" EXILED." BY JOHN GALSWORTHY. AT WYNDHAM'S THEATRE.] SIR CHARLES DENBURY was a twelfth baronet Sir John Mazer was a king of industry. Already you have guessed right. Mr....

[FEDERICO BELTRAN-MASSiS. NEW BURLINGTON GALLERIES.]

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FEDERICO BEuraAN-MAssks, the Spanish painter who works in Paris, though enjoying an almost unequalled popularity on the Continent, is practically unknown here. Now, however, an...

Art

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[MAURICE LAMBERT. MESSRS. ARTHUR TOOTH AND SONS, LTD.] A PLEASANT sense of having been roused out of the ordinary groove and stimulated is the feeling which the exhibition of...

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Correspondence

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A LETTER FROM CAIRO. [To the Editor of the &men...roil.] Sin,—Politics in Egypt to-day recall the apocryphal story of the German traveller on an English steamer, who one...

BENEFITS.

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When an actor, a manager, or any one else connected or uncon- nected with the theatres, sets about getting up a benefit, his first object is to gain the good word of the...

THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF SIR 'HUMPHREY DAVY.

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We shall here pause in our narrative, for the purpose of introducing to the notice of our readers a few anecdotes, which will not only serve to illustrate the early character of...

A Hundred Years Ago

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THE SPECTATOR, JUNE 27rs, l829. Tax INDULGENCE or LUXURY. We hear at this moment a man crying fine ripe strawberries at fourpence a pottle beneath our window : he also calls...

NEW SUMMER FASHIONS.

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The very numerous and continued visits with which so many co, the Nobility and Gentry have honoured the " Emporium " have rendered that Magasin dee Modes universally proverbial,...

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American Notes of the Week

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(By Cable) AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON REPARATIONS. The conference which the American Reparations delegates, Blr. Young, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Lamont, and Mr. Perkins, had with President...

YOUR FAMILY TREE.

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With the publication last week of Your Family Tree, a fascinating genealogical study by Mr. David Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford University, and Miss Sarah Kimball, many...

REPERCUSSIONS OF THE FARM RELIEF BILL.

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Government aid having been granted to farmers, American merchant shipowners are asking for it to be extended to an even greater degree than at present to them. The efficacy of...

THE ORIGINS OF THE PEACE.

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The view that a premature armistice, resulting in an " American " and muddled peace, was imposed upon Europe by Woodrow Wilson, acting in opposition to the Allied statesmen and...

FINANCIAL MATRIARCHY.

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Approximately 41 per cent. of the individual wealth of the United States is controlled by women, so a recent bank survey shows. Should this proportion increase at the present...

NAVAL DISARMAMENT.

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The speeches of the British Prime Minister and General Dawes had a mixed reception, both in the Press and among the public. Hailed on the one hand with enthusiastic...

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The League of Nations

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The International Labour Conference, 1929 ThE Twelfth Session of the International Labour Conference happened to open on the day of the General Election in this country, and it...

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Another query. Did the hard winter, that punished the birds,

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diminish insects ? We shall not know till the wasps appear how the balance falls, but have already many instances. That abominable little plague the apple sawfly is worse than I...

SCIENCE AND CROPS.

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A similar point arises in a considerable number of farm crops. It was hailed as a new boon for. British farmers when Professor Biffen " created " a wheat of much higher "...

PEONY AND CARNATION.

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The flowers that flame in English gardens in June are now so many and glorious that selection is an almost painful process for gardeners, small or big: Varieties increase by the...

SOUR Gnats.

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That eminent band of scientific men, mobilized by the Americans, in their most thorough manner, to investigate the secret of the perfect lawn or golf green, have come to a...

SUGAR OR YIELD ?

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One aspect of the crop demands more attention than it has received. The plant was grown in England sixty years ago at least ; and there are records of the results. They are...

Country Life

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A PENETRATING PLANT. Among the - English fitful crops that have enjoyed a real revival this year is sugar-beet. The acreage fell alarmingly ' last year, but that was an...

A VANISHING BIRD.

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Is it really true—can it be true ?—that the yellow-hammer is vanishing ? At one time of year it is the most apparent of all our small birds, and so numerous, as a rule, that the...

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"A BOLT) PEASANTRY . ."

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- [To the Editor- of. the -SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The lines from-Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," q uot e d by Mr. Cecil Wilson- in. your issue- of to-day-(June ,22nd) are, when read...

Letters to the Editor

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A POST-ELECTION REFLECTION [To the Editor of the SPEc-rAToa.] SIR,—Now that the Election is over, peOple are taking stock of tendencieS. I think it is definitely recognized th...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] agfee 'with - yen in

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endorsing the quotations- from Mrs. Corbett Ashby - arid Mr.' Henry Hobhoithe in your artiele' "The Real Cie:avail " your issue Of June - 15th, and I halla no fault to find...

THE REAL CLEAVAGE - .

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[To the Editor of - the . SPEc-rApcar.] • - - - - one of the thousands of young' women who voted Labe& last mbntli and took an active part oh the'iorki-f bori'ai well as at...

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. THE POST .OFFICE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—It is not often necessary to criticize the service of the British Post Office,. but the following example of slackness will show that there is still room for improvement,...

"THE PARADISE OF NATIONAL MINORITIES" [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Stn,--In view of the discussion now proceeding, it may not be inappropriate to point out that in at least one European country a peaceful solution of the relations...

BAD TRADE!

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".[To the Edit - or of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,--7We . hear a great deal about , bad trade, but in view of the dilatoriness of..tbc Customs and Excise Authorities at the . G.P.O. is...

THE GOODWILL OF BRITISH COMMERCE [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have read with interest the article which appeared in a recent number of the Spectator, entitled " The Goodwill of British Commerce." The facts as set out in...

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JEWISH SLAUGHTER

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.[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—I have just read. Mr. Emanuel's letter on the Jewish method of slaughtering in your issue of June 15th. Dr. Klein's film, which Mr....

IN DEFENCE OF THE FAITH

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sur,—I have read your series of articles " In Defence of the Faith," and it appears to me that nearly all of them have been founded on a wrong...

THE ITALIAN ELECTIONS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--Your Rome correspondent, in referring to the Italian Elections, states that " there does not seem to have been any attempt at overt...

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IS NATURE CRUEL ?

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Is Eleanor Tyrrell sure that animals are deprived of the power of speech ? Those of us who associate constantly with them know that they...

A CASE FOR INTELLECTUAL CO-OPERATION [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Sia,—There has been a good deal of correspondence in news- papers lately advocating that Public School boys of seventeen years of age should be sent direct to...

CAMPS FOR LONDON BOYS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR, —There are thousands of boys who live and work in London, often in unhealthy conditions, whose only possible chance of a healthy holiday is that provided by a...

DISESTABLISHMENT [To the Editor of the SPEcre.roa.] SIR, —May I be

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perMitted to express the hope that Churchmen, before adopting a hastily conceived policy of disestablishment and disendowment, will not fail to reflect upon the unique...

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THE LATE PROF. H. W. C. DAVIS.

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The sudden death, on June 28th, 1928, of Professor IL W. C. Davis has suggested to a group of his friends that a fund might be formed for a permanent memorial of his work and...

Mn. ALFRED NOYES AND SCEPTICAL IDEAS.

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When a poet enters the lists against error, or what he . regards as such, he is a doughty antagonist, but I wonder how many of your readers, as they followed him in his tren-...

HUMANE SLAUGHTER.

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Discussing this matter with a Swiss law-student to-day, I learned that it has been the law in Switzerland for more than thirty years for every sort of animal to be stunned...

THE COAL PROBLEM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In your note on the " Coal Problem," in your issue of June 22nd, you• observe that " some colliery owners are still haggling about the pre-War issue of national or district...

MR. D. M. COWAN'S CANDIDATURE • [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—In your issue of June 15th your report of the result of the polling for the Scottish Universities' constituency does not do justice to Mr. Cowan, the...

POINTS FROM LETTERS DOMESTIC REFUSE.

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Why travel so far afield for civic cleanliness models ? Is there not Dublin at our doors, " dear ' still but " dirty " no longer ? Would that Hornsey Counsellois could contrive...

CONSTRUCTIVE BIRTH CONTROL.

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THE Society for Constructive Birth Control is appealing for help to extend the work being done in the depressed colliery districts. Two clinics with competent staffs are already...

Poetry

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Pause on the Road ALL day the rain was dripping from the leaves ; All day, all night, the trees were dark with rain. Sigh followed sigh ; speech lace a winter sun Grew thin...

A Holiday Competition

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THE Editor offers a prize of five guineas for the most practical suggestion for a holiday on a stated sum, which may be any- thing from £10 to £100 /including all travelling...

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Books for the Holidays

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Sons of us on our holidays choose to stand and stare ; some of us like to read what may perhaps be called books of escape ; and some of us—the more serious minded—feel impelled...

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Contemporary America

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IT is, of course, impossible, within the limits of a review, to do justice to this detailed, copiously documented, and profoundly interesting study of life as developed in a...

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An Impeccable Lady

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The Life of Lady Byron. By Ethel Colburn Mayne. (Constable. 21s.) Miss MAYNE has written an admirable book, a fitting com- panion to her Life of Byron. Mary, Countess of...

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In Alexander's Footsteps

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On Alexander's Track to the Indus : Personal Narrative of - Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India. By Sir Aurel Stein. (Macmillan. 21s.) Sib Aunni. STEIN has done...

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Talk About the Weather

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Weather. By E. E. Free and Travis Hoke. (Constable. 14s.) THIS is by far the most readable book on meteorology that we have ever seen, and should be a great assistance to...

In Trust for Civilization The Mandates System in Relation to

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Africa and the Pacific, Islands. By Elizabeth van Maarten Hehner, Ph.D. (P. S. Bing and Son, Ltd. 15s.) " THE object of this book," the publishers tell us, " is to give - an...

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The Music of Applause

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AT first' blush the "names o f Sybil Thorndike and Yvette - Guilbert Seern to hal = e' little in coriniien; except that they are both artists to their very finger-tips, and that...

Sleuths and Slayers

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The' Best Detective Stories of 'the Year. 1928. With as introduction by. R. A. Knox. (Faber and Gwyer.. 7s. 6d.) WaNr is a detective story, Father Knox asks in his introdue7...

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Fiction

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Heroes and Neroes A HERO was a splendid creature once, whose story was a tribute to the beauty, the valour, the wisdom, the kinship with the gods, which made him invincible in...

EILEEN OF THE TREES. By H. de Vere Stacpoole. (Cassell.

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7s. 6d.)—A bare summary of the plot of this novel must inevitably render it injustice. Pat Spence is a boy of seventeen, who is heir to a fortune. His mother being dead and his...

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THE CALL OF THE ISLAND. - By Charles L. Warr.

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(Robert Grant. 7s. 6d.)—Here we have a book of Celtic ghost stories ; some are a little horrible but none are alarming enough to rob even the most nervous of their sleep. " The...

Readers who have themselves perpetrated the practical joke of foisting

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third-rate verse upon gullible friends, and of representing it as a quotation from Shakespeare or Browning, will find amusement as well as instruction in Mr. I. A. Richards'...

ABOVE AND BELOW. By R. D. Dorthy. (Seeker. 7s. 6d.)

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—Several times lately the events of a single day have been assembled to make a full-length novel, and now the author of Above find Below has made a further experiment in the art...

KING LOG AND LADY LEA. By Alyse Gregory. (Constable. 7s.

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8d.)—There is an undoubted quality about Miss Alyse Gregory's work, but it is a little disturbing. As we try to disentangle the psychological and emotional relationships between...

THE. KING'S CANDLE. By Temple Thurston. (Putnam. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Thurston,

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who is apt to be too discursive in his novels, handles the short story very successfully. In these thirteen tales he gives us a considerable variety: of theme and treatment ;...

Some Books of the Week

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Duamin the past month the books most in demand at the Times Book Club have been :.— Ficrionr.—AU Quiet on the Western Front, by E. M. Remarque, is still the book most in demand...

The Adventures of Ralph Rashkigh (Jonathan Cape, 7s. 6d.) is

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the story of a convict sentenced to transportation in 1825, of how he served part of his sentence, and the adventures he had before the remainder was remitted. He was the only...

There is special significance in a report on Native Education

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(Government Printer, Port Moresby), by Mr. F. E. Williams, Government Anthropologist in the Territory. of Papua. It proves that the local Government is trying to approach the...

General Knowledge Questions

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Ova weekly prize of one guinea for the best thirteen Questions submitted is awarded this week to Mr. Charles Spurrell, Fro Wen, Carmarthen, for the following :- Questions from...

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* * * * Although Surrey has suffered from the

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bungaloid growth and from the onslaughts of the beauty spot hunter as much, if not more, than any other county, Mr. Gordon Home con- siders that she has not yet been " entirely...

Mr. Salaman also contributes the brief critical and bio- graphical

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introduction to Malcolm Osborne, R.A., R.E., in the Modern Masters of. Etching series (The Studio, Ltd., 5s.) Here is an R.A. with no paintings to his name, and one who entered...

Professor Macgregor, who is a Presbyterian divine, has reprinted in

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Eucharistic Origins (James Clarke and Co. Os.) his Bruce Lectures for 1928 ; adding to them half a Co., chapters to Complete the survey of New Testament Kacramen- talism. Though...

Junior Reader in Economic Geography, by V. C. Spary, (University

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of London Press, 2s.). This is an older book than the Columbus Readers reviewed above; but in our opinion better value. It is perhaps not quite so elementary, but an intelligent...

The Columbus Regional Geographies : Book 1, Children of Many

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Lands (1s. 6d.) ; Book 2, Many Things from Many Lands (1s. 7d.) ; Book 3, Round the World (2s.) Book 4, The British Isles (2s.), by Leonard Brooks and Robert Finch (University...

The task of The Wag Tale is " to be cheerful,

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to make others cheerful, and to help the Westminster Hospital." We have just received the first number of this optimistic magazine, which is to be published annually. The...

Travel

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Valais and its Valleys [Until further notice we propose in this column to publish articles and notes which may help our readers in their plans for travel at home and abroad....

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LOOKING AHEAD. ` it would be an easy matter to

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indulge in speculations as to the course of political developments during the next six months, and, of course, the first session of a new Government cannot fail to be other than...

Fin a ncial' Noteg END OF THE HALF-YEAR.

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MosT of the leading financial centres have been more or leSi affected during the past few days by, the approach of the turn of the half-year. In the United States there are...

RATIONALIZING OIL INDUSTEY,

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At the recent meeting of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, the chairman, Viscount Bearsted, made some very interesting comments upon the present situation in the oil...

Finance—Public and Private

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The -Coming Half-Yeat AT the beginning of the year when attempting to foresee the possible course of markets during 1929, I commented on the fact that it would probably be...

SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS.

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So far as the three factors already enumerated are concerned, it may be said that the only one which has developed favourably from the stock market point of - view is the...

AN EARLY REACTION.

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The year had not proceeded very far when a keener realization of the importance of these factors began to exert a disturbing influence upon the Stock Exchange. At the end of...

BANK RATE PROSPECTS.

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We start the half-yeaf with a' holding of gold at the Bank of England of about t10,000,000 - leis thaii at the same time a yeir Elio; and while we may Conceivably be favourably...

hrrnissic - MERITS UNAFFECTED.

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Let me hasten to add, however, and especially with a view to the reassurance of genuine investors who may chanee to read this article; that theSe views are concerned with...

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GENERAL ELECTRIC RESULTS.

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Since a determined bid was made some months ago for large blocks of shares in the General Electric Company by America, interest in the affairs of that company seem to have been...

A CEMENT MERGER.

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Quite the most interesting point in the annual Report of the Ship Canal Portland Cement Company for the past year is the i=a - imation of a further enlargement of the company's...

Having regard to the events of recent years, it is

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not sur- prising that at the recent meeting of shareholders of Amal- gamated Anthracite Collieries, Lord Melchett should have made a strong plea that the coal industry should...

RAILWAY AND MOTOR COMPETITION

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Shareholders of the United Automobile Services, Ltd., are to be congratulated upon the bids which are now being ;nide to acquire their shares. A few days ago they received a...

BARCLAY PERKINS' Paovirs.

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The Report of Barclay Perkins & Co. for the past year shows that profits (£279,593) were a little smaller than for the previous year, but the Report is, nevertheless, quite a...

HUDSON'S BAY PROGRF-SS.

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It is certainly not surprising that the resolution for increasing the capital of the Hudson's Bay Company should have been carried at the recent meeting by an overwhelming...