TOPICS OF THE DAY. "A DOPT, Adapt, and Improve " : I. Seeking for the Normal 209 II. Seeking for the Normal Overseas .. .. 248 HI. High Wages and Low Prices, or— ? .. 276...

and 99 Fetter Lane,. EC. 4, and Published by THE ,SpEL'TATOR, LTD., at their Offices, No, 13.York Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. 2. - Saturday, January 21, 1928.

reform of the Lords was that it went much farther than the mere fiat of a Cabinet Committee justi- fied. There was blundering which it is not pleasant to contemplate. At first...

far beyond the Unionist Party. As we have pointed out in an examination of Mr. Lloyd George's proposals of 1922, there is not nearly so much difference between the Unionists and...

in all pure matters of finance. This was inevitable ; Kings were sure of their feudal revenues from the barons, but they had to call the merchants together to raise money in...

and will only express here the hope that if the nature of it Money Bp is, as seems likely; to become the immediate point of dispute, the Government will see the . propriety of...

National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associ- ations on Tuesday, Sir John Marriott moved a resolution promising " wholehearted support " to the Government in passing a...

London, W.C. 2.—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...

A STRONG revolt in the Unionist Party has con- vinced the Government that they were going about the business of reforming the House of Lords in the wrong way. The proposals of...

Limitation Conference at Geneva have been at cross-purposes, tempers are good and therefore the prospect of agreement is fair. The British delegation started off with a proposal...

course, we earnestly beg the friends of the Referendum to come forward and point out in Parliament what complete security from constitutional clashes this instrument would give...

of his wavering and has joined definitely with Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the moderate Nationalists. Moscow is lamenting Feng's " treachery." Chang Tso-lin, the Manchurian...

of censure upon the Government. A Unionist amendment will, of course, be moved and we sincerely hope that the Government will come down on the side of some form of general...

after an absence of six months. They received an enthusiastic welcome, which they thoroughly deserved after carrying through their mission with a rare com- bination of dignity,...

again equality." In these circumstances we feel that our right policy is to go out of our way to accept equality while still pressing for our own proposals. There is no reason...

its candour and earnestness, and though the United States is _ thoroughly entitled to disagree we could wish that opinion in America would not read into our policy intentions...

felt sure he would, the invitation of the Dail to form a new Ministry } Mr. De Valera's Republicans presented themselves at the Dail, and seemed seriously to think that they...

terrible facts which Sir William Beach Thomas has reported in connexion with the trapping of rabbits, particularly in the West of England and Wales. The facts are much worse...

are controlled by five or fewer shareholders. There is no apparent justification for this innovation, except a desire to harass the taxpayer on the mere suspicion that he is...

the Russian expulsion and the House of Lords crisis was that the public almost forgot the Budget, but this week they have been unpleasantly reminded of its exist- ence. Mr....

Royal had pitched his astronomical camp, was one of the very few places from which the total eclipse of the sun was perfectly seen on Wednesday morning. And even there the...

on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 100 it ; on Wednesday week 100-# ; a year ago 1004. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 86 ; on Wednesday...

as follows : Mr. Nigel Colman (Unionist) Mr. James Adams (Lab.) .. Mr. F. J. Laverack (L.) .. .. 10,358 .. 6,032 .. 5,134 Unionist majority .. • • 4,326 The result of the...

scheme—now to be reconsidered and perhaps abandoned—contained a grave defect, and was injured by an equally grave omission, much of the criticism by the Opposition has been so...

W E need a standard for English just as we need a standard for money. Uncertainty as to the meaning of words or the construction of sentences may be as harmful to intercourse...

A LTHOUGH there are worse districts in London than the Victoria Ward of Westminster, this slum is in the richest borough in London, with a rateable value of between £9,000,000...

a murmur arose amongst certain Unionist members of Parliament concerning the proposals of Lords Cave, Birkenhead, and Salisbury for the reform of the House of Lords. These...

(We publish this article by an exceptionally well-informed cor- respondent, not because we necessarily agree with his views, but because we think it is in the interests of the...

[We publish this article by the Precentor of York on the occasion of the beginning of the celebrations marking the 1300th anniversary of the Cathedral.--En. Spectator.] G REGORY...

THE notion of a special week for a special theme - 1 . conies from the United States, whence we took Baby Week and its name. I have always wished that we had called it Mother...

No. r.—Five Cities in Seven Days W E flew over a light haze. The Channel glittered under the pale morning sun. Through the clouds Romney Marsh shone a bright blue. This first...

THE NEW WALL PAINTINGS IN ST. STEPHEN'S HALL.] THERE is no place where His Majesty's lieges are more liable to be kept impatiently waiting than in the antechamber to the Houses...

A LETTER FROM ANGORA. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — It is a crime in Turkey to make invidious comparisons between Constantinople and Angora, and the only English...

WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY ON JULY 20.ra; 1927. Readers resident outside the British Isles and Libraries Overseas; are asked to inform the SPECTATOR Office in advance as to the...

Before going abroad or on their holidays readers are advised to place an order for the SpEcrwroa. The journal will be forwarded to any address at the following rates One Month...

It may throw some light on a present crisis to record the gist of a conversation with a farmer who grows proportionately as much wheat on his immense farm as anyone in the...

How long do wild birds live ? My own belief is that most of the bigger birds have rather longer lives than is generally believed, when they do not suffer a violent death. A...

The contrasts on the farms of East Anglia are singularly abrupt, both in appearance and in essence. I never saw farms look so well as in the rich district of South Lincolnshire...

AN ESCAPE FROM CRUELTY. One word more, not on the cruelty and illegality of steel- traps set in the open, but on the alternatives. The cry for reform is not to be allowed to...

Song for a Piccadilly Flower Girl Fon many a year, and many a year, since times were young and gay, I've sold my pretty roses to the passers by the way, My dewy white...

which nothing need be said here and now, but it is worth notice— whether we agree or disagree—that he stressed very strongly the national folly, as he called it, of admitting...

when I saw this morning, on opening the Spectator, that you had taken up this question of the slums. There is no doubt whatever that it is at the root of all political c,utions....

interest your article on the " Housing' in Westminster." But may I call your attention to one fact not generally known ? Westminster is the richest harvest for beggars in all...

THE SLUMS OF WESTMINSTER [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I offer my congratulations to the Spectator for so courageously making public the appalling conditions in...

LORDS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The recent debate in the Lords on the Reform of the Upper House elicited from the Archbishop of Canterbury an interesting statement...

SIR,--I have been an admirer of the Spectator for some time, although I am a keen Socialist. It is therefore with distress that I find you attributing to the Labour Party a...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] 8114—While quite a number of business men have thanked me for what they term useful hints in the series of articles on ," What Advertising...

issue of the Spectator for May. 28th appears a very interesting article by Mr. Norman Angell entitled " What Advertising Might Become," and as he lays stress upon farming...

SPECTATOR.] " In hac rips molae steterunt mille per annos alimentumque praebuerunt donee utilitatibus scholae aeque altricis cesserunt ammo domini MCMXXVII." Sin,—A few weeks...

Sit,---This week there comes into force, on July 1st, the Public Health (Smoke Abatement) Act, 1926, being the first piece of general legislation against the plague-cloud, as...

shall always treasure Mr. Nelson's letter on spelling and accuracy. He asserts that script is " much too slow for use in everyday life." I would remind him that the " time " of...

the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Any kindly disposed person who has lived like myself in the West Country or other trapping districts must be gravely concerned to learn of an increase in...

Sia,—In company I doubt not with many others, I consider the thanks of the public are due to you for the valuable article Country Life and Sport " published by you in your issue...

the public to lessen the use of steel traps by refusing absolutely to buy any rabbits that have been trapped. Years ago, near the river Wye, I came upon about two dozen traps...

SIR,—It is a curious coincidence that in your issue of June 18th you have an article asking, in the name of Mr. Evans, for a fourth party in the House of Commons. I have just...

the SPECTATOR.] Stn,—You have on several occasions been good enough to publish an appeal made by me on behalf of the Clergy Rest House at Merrow where some of the poorer clergy...

Advertisement of The Christian Year, and dated May 30th, 1827) of " that soothing tendency in the Prayer Book." We shall none of us be here in 2027, but I am ready to vaticinate...

SPECTATOR.] • am sorry to have to agree with Mr. Sidney Dark at last ; but it certainly seems that the " Sacrifice " of the " Mass" is emphasized by the new Canon, and the...

SIR, " E. II. G." says in your issue of May 21st that the " ovoid " of his Cape Cod lighter has cracked and causes him anxiety. My experience is that these ovoids (plungers, I...

SIR,—Your readers may be interested to hear of a very wonderful experience I had a few weeks ago in Montreux, Switzerland. A flock of swifts arrived from Africa and kept flying...

S1R,--Wc have to thank you for making it known in your issue of June 18th that the Mothers' Union is always ready to find good homes for children of parents living overseas. We...

SPECTATOR.] Sin,— The way coffee is brewed matters ; but what matters more is the origin of the coffee used. It would seem that English coffee merchants only know of, or will...

Stn,— I should like to have added another to Miss Winnington_ Ingram's interesting Old Testament questions, and wonder how many students could answer this : Who mentions salt in...

Mn. BELLMAN, the general manager of the Abbey Road Building Society, has done a service to the public by writing his lucid account of The Building Society Movement (with an...

Charles I. (Cornish, 7s. 6d.) records the various marches of Charles I., the product at once of royal irresolution and what Clarendon calls " a disjointed imagination," we can...

his 100 pictures of The Norfolk Broads (Jarrold. 2s. 6d.). The pictures he has chosen of East Anglia are as attractive as the text which he has subscribed is apt. * * * *

THE Editor offered a prize of £5 for the best philosophy of life which could be written on the back of a postcard, and we are glad to find that the majority of the entries are...

is not only wonderful value for the money, and one of the best boys' books we have seen for a long time ; it is also a book that will delight the " air-minded " adult. We notice...

pleasant style in Bridle Wise (Country Life 12s. 6d.). His distinction between bolting and running away is one that we can endorse from our own experience. A bolting horse can...

Our Holy and Beautiful House. By G. Austen, Chancellor and Canon Residentiary of York. (S.P.C.K. 5s.) Everyman's York. Written and illustrated by C. R. Swift. (Scott. 3s. 5d.)...

Pacific. By J. Macmillan Brown. 2 Vols., illustrated. (Fisher lJnwin. 50s.) l'utt good or for ill the feet of India have been set by us on the path which leads towards...

mountain climbing (which is nothing less than its connexion with spiritual aspiration) has been a matter of common knowledge since literature began— since the Psalmist exhorted...

by machines has been a popular theme for the prophet, essayist and novelist ever since M. Claude Farrere wrote that brilliant novel, Les Condantnes a Mort, but no one, perhaps,...

Tins book is an effort to explain Professor Patrick Geddes, who takes all knowledge for his province. How it may affect those who are strange to him I do not know. Those who are...

Reminiscences by an Ex-Detective. By Francis Carlin. (Hutchinson and Co. 18s. net.) REMINISCENCES of great detectives are always interesting, and Messrs. Hutchinson are to be...

Ltd. 7s. 6d.)—Sir Simon Chandos is found dead in his locked library, from morphine, and as he is doomed to a lin- gering death from cancer, and the fact is known, everything...

Some Detective Stories The Case of Sherlock Holmes. By Arthur Conan Doyle. Murray. 7s. 6d.)—It is thirty-eight years ago that Sir Arthur first brought Sherlock Holmes into the...

The Remaking of Modern Armies. By Captain Liddell Hart. (Murray. 10s. 6EL) " THANK Heavens ! Now we shall be able to get back to real soldiering," is a saying attributed to an...

HOW EUROPE MADE PEACE WITHOUT AMERICA. By Frank H. Simonds. (Heinemann. 21 s.)—Dr. Simonds's racy and well-informed sketch of the diplomatic history of Europe from the Treaty of...

Bysshe Shelley. (Noel Douglas.4s. 6d.) —These two books are the latest additions to Mr. Noel Douglas's admirable " Replica " series of literary classics. These books have...

Mure Mackenzie. (Cape. 5s.)—Miss Mackenzie writes with a broad-mindedness that is as refreshing as it is sane. She emphasizes the fact that there are " different sets' of...

6d.)—Mr. Fletcher has given us a well-told story, in which love, faithlessness and a final tragedy of revenge bear their part. The setting is a country farm, the...

6d.) and Terror Keep. By the same author. (Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd. 7s. 6d.)—As an expert in sensational fiction, Mr. Edgar Wallace holds a very high place, and both his...

a pictorial record of George Washington's career Mr. Sawyer's massive volumes are to be commended - to those who love the minute details of biography. Nothing that could be...

PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY :- Exsays in Philosophy. By James Ward. (Cambridge University Press. 16s.) Changing Backgrounds in Religion and Ethics. By H. Wildon Carr....

of General Knowledge questions, but only for their compilation. The prize of one guinea which the Editor offers each week for the best paper submitted is awarded to " C. M....

this informing study of Civics has been published already, for it is based on a series of Stevenson lectures delivered in Glasgow during the winter of 1925-6. It only remains,...

Heft. (Lane. 18s.)-The memoirs of an old Scottish lady married to a Scottish soldier-laird ought to be interesting, but are not perhaps so interesting as other books of the kind...

Timlin. (Black. 8s. 6d.)-These admirable drawings tiring back clearly the architectural charm of Odpetown and the surrounding regions. They possess-some of them-such colour that...

Seaside Touring from the Country IT has become a habit of motorists going on holiday to make for an interesting seaside place, and from there to tour nearby inland beauty...

WITH OR WITHOUT PROFITS I WAS explaining last week the reasons for a with-profit life policy in a first-class assurance company being a more attractive contract than...

In response to the storm of criticism aroused in business circles by the inquisitorial and interfering character of the Finance Bill proposals, Mr. Churchill has tabled a number...

Nor is it possible to ignore one feature of the situation which more than any other perhaps deserves attention— viz., the enormous growth in the National expenditure which is...

It can at once be admitted that the aim of the Inland Revenue Authorities, on behalf of the Exchequer, is to make it difficult for taxpayers to evade the proper claims of the...

All the same, it behoves all public bodies, and for that matter private enterprises, to devise means for protecting their revenues from the attempts of the fraudulent, without...

I have already said that the Inland Revenue Authori- ties have some ground for assuming that attempts are occasionally made by some Super Tax payers to escape from -the .full...

But having made all these admissions it is pretty clear from an examination of the various clauses in the new Finance Bill that the remedy is to be worse than the disease, for...

Harassing the Taxpayer IT looks as though there might have to be a reversal of opinion with regard to Mr. Winston Churchill's Budget for the current fiscal year. It was regarded...

Although the Stock Markets as a whole show signs of returning confidence, in the absence of further heavy with- drawals of gold from the Bank of England in the last few weeks,...

CENTRAL BANKS CONFER. In view of the extent to which the international financial outlook is affected by the policy of the Central Banks of the leading countries, it is not...