T HE speech of M. Molotov to. the Supreme Council of the U.S.S.R. is disappointing in so far as it seems to imply that further discussions will be necessary before an...

policy of testing the strength and the policies of the Great Powers in the Far East by deliberately infringing their rights. The Kulangsu incident is not yet closed ; the...

command of General Gambara sailed for Italy on Wednesday; in contra- vention of the Anglo-Italian Agreement they left their aeroplanes behind them. On the same day the German...

life that, while it is taken for granted that if the democracies were at war with the dictatorships the United States would support the former by all means in its power short of...

Simon will be faced with pressing questions about the fate of the £6,000,000 of Czech gold held by the Bank of England for the Bank for International Settlements. Last week Sir...

the Hungarian elec- tions with much satisfaction. The electorate, which on Sunday for the first time voted by secret ballot, has returned the Government bloc with a considerably...

of Finance should make Sir John Simon feel his task comparatively easy. On the " ordinary " budget, involving civil expenses alone, a deficit of £7o millions is expected to...

largest party in the French Chamber, met in congress at Nantes this week faced with the danger of a profound split. The situation was serious enough to demand M. Blum's...

and his four partners in heresy from the Labour Party was ratified at the South- port Conference this week by an overwhelming majority of 2,100,000 to 402,000 ; and among the...

suggestion that the length of speeches should be compulsorily limited. Maxima have an uncomfortable habit of becoming minima, and to lose some perorations would be to forgo the...

description of the Czech gold transfer as Mr. Lloyd George's mare's nest merely roused a hornet's nest around himself. Sir John Simon, using every ounce of his legal ability,...

on the adjournment motion was further evidence for those who argue that the Government, if sufficiently hard-pressed, will always give way. They point with some justification to...

Labour Party's Conference raises his political stature. If, he holds, the tardy but powerful Peace Front is to yield more than a temporary respite from panic it must prosecute...

Inter- national Labour Office points out an economic dilemma towards which the world is now steering. The economics of war-preparedness imposes on the living-standards of all...

O N June 3rd the young men of Britain between the ages of 20 and 21 will be required to enrol for six months' compulsory training in the newly created militia ; a month later...

O F all the countries in the world with which we would wish our relations to be unclouded the United States of America would, by the verdict of most Britons, be placed first. We...

whose insistence, at a recent conference, on the retention of flogging in our penal code was so eloquent and so impassioned, is apparently infectious. Or perhaps that is doing...

erratically but effectively against Destremau at Wimbledon on Saturday were gratified to think he would be banging them in against Germany at Berlin a week later. Without Austin...

T HERE is better news of the progress of French aeroplane production. It is still not comparable with our own— the highest estimate I have heard is 25o machines a month— but the...

of an honorary D.Litt. degree to Mr. P. G. Wodehouse, but one eminent son of Oxford would have wholeheartedly applauded it. Mr. Wodehouse had no more fervent admirer than the...

Auslander Dienst, translated (by itself) as " the Welcome to Germany Service." It is prepared to give information and advice to inquirers on any question—a very useful office to...

others) from the paper of Mr. Gandhi is a pleasant -nd un- expected experience. Harijan, the Mahatma's weekly journal, published at Poona in the interests of the oppressed...

speare. Russia is ; and Russians are astonished at our apathy. They have been inquiring of their English friends (not British ; this is not Scotland's business) what we are...

By ERWIN D. CANHAM Washington, May 23rd. T HE air is clearing very nicely in readiness for the royal visit to the United States. By a happy circumstance, the first bursts of...

By EDWARD SACKVILLE-WEST H OW indicate such riches in so small a space, otherwise than by a string of names? Should I sacrifice Mozart to Bach and Haydn, because of the Italian...

By BISHOP HENSLEY HENSON TDEOLOGY," " ideological "—these rather uncouth 1 words have become arrestingly familiar in recent political discussions. Their precise meaning,...

By GRANT DEXTER Ottawa. W HAT will Canada's attitude be in the event of war? There have been debates on Canadian foreign policy in both Houses of Parliament in the present...

By D. R. W RILE the House of Commons has been reflecting all Europe's hopes and fears about the Peace Front and the German-Italian alliance the French Chamber has been debating...

By CHRISTOPHER HOBHOUSE [Osterley Park is in future to be opened to the public on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday in each week] S OME twenty minutes from Piccadilly Circus by...

By W. E. WOOSNAM-JONES I T is satisfactory to learn that arrangements for the defence of the civilian populace in time of war are at last going forward with some degree of...

By ROBERT RYLEE I T was the last of five cases that afternoon, and to the interns and medical students, who always crowded the gallery when Dr. Rowland operated, I dare say it...

throng with rapid strides of busy importance: the gait of the junior whips takes upon itself the self-conscious lilt of the newly-appointed prefect. At no time does this...

day of term, came this rough- and-tumble about the Czech gold. Under the sudden and precise assaults of Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Brendan Bracken, Sir John Simon became almost...

particularly amicable. There was a general feeling of distress and doubt over the long delay in concluding the agreement with the U.S.S.R., although I fail to see why the House...

exaggerated. The Ambassador was speaking at a " get-together " party given for Germans and Italians only. He wished to affirm the solidarity of the Axis and to dispel the...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T is a truism to liken the House of Commons to a public I school, and in truth I find the boyishness of the Mother of Parliaments most rejuvenating. It is...

that the House of Commons dispersed for its Whitsun holiday. Herr Hitler has a predilection for the feasts of the Church, and when we said good-bye to each other we added the...

be similarly used by all of us to sort out the false litter which has accumulated in our minds. In our congested files there are many documents which must be read again with...

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA UNDER HITLER By HUBERT RIPKA WHEN Hitler, on March 15th, forcibly seized Czecho-Slovakia in defiance of his pledged word, he justified himself by claim- ing...

THE THEATRE " Behold the Bride." By Jacques DevaL At the Shaftesbury. " A Theatrical Event." How quaint the phrase sounds, though it is still in use ; and yet what a good...

" Union Pacific." At the Plaza.—" The Lone Ranger —Episode 4." At Gaumont News, Shaftesbury Avenue. "THE guns which Gary Cooper carried as Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman...

[D'un correspondant parisien] LES menaces de l'heure ont donne toute sa signification a la Journee nationale de l'Infanterie frangaise. ll s'agissait de parfaire la somme...

Verdi at Covent Garden Aida always goes well at Covent Garden, and this year it is better than usual, thanks largely to the drive and energy of Sir Thomas Beecham's direction....

pamphlet has just been reissued, The Cruelty called Sport. That sport has cruelty in it no honest sportsman can deny. At the same time, no honest humanitarian can deny that...

impart the rural bias to schoolchildren is being made in a secondary school at Burford in Oxfordshire. Parallel forms are arranged for all boys between fourteen and sixteen,...

Not once or twice within the last week or two I have come upon that new form of fencing, the live wire. It is used on one famous farm, a place of frequent pilgrimage for...

A Great Centenary It is a hundred years since the first Royal Agricultural Show was held; and this year's centenary show in Windsor Park should interest historians as well as...

An amateur gardener seriously assures me that last year's red tulips have come up yellow this May! Tulips of course do strange things: they " sport " and they " break." The...

nourish a sufficient interest in the British Trust for Ornithology. It was formed only four years ago, and has done everything well, except perhaps its own publicity. Societies...

for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came into being. Though both the English and Irish societies were founded earlier, the date may be called historical. The Scottish...

StR,—What, it may be asked, does Mr. Alfred Beesly mean by the word " race "? His letter would suggest that because the majority of the Swiss people, as well as the Alsatians...

SIR,—Mr. Archibald Crawford, K.C., seems to have made out a good case that in " at least " the " three domains of law " he mentions, viz., " Divorce, Succession, and Criminal...

Sta,—On my personal, admittedly rather limited, intercourse with men and women of this country and of England, I am struck repeatedly by the general distrust of the Government...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

argue that the parties supporting the National Government owe their continuing majority to fear of Socialism, the only voting alternative offered them. It is equally reasonable...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, — I note that you have closed the correspondence, which I began, on " The Admission of Immigrants," and have no quarrel with that, as I...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Probably with some others, I was surprised to read, in a review, by a distinguished critic, of Mr. Joad's Guide to Modern Wickedness, in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Snt,—In view of the vast amount of money and trouble at present being devoted to cancer research it would, I think, be a good plan if the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Re article " Scotland's Contribution "—are you right in claiming Sterne as a Scotsman? H. D. Trail (Englishmen of Letters) says " The...

[To the Editor . of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,— We are all accustomed to receiving appeals from Charitable Institutions to sign a covenant by which we are led to understand that the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Stn,—While much appreciating Miss Janet Adam Smith's reference to my book, The Lowlands of Scotland, I must demur when she quotes me as saying...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—" History like an idiot mechanically repeats itself " ; or should we substitute " those who make history "? It is possible, of course, that...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sut,—In his excellent review of the recently published col- lection of speeches by the Prime Minister, your reviewer asks, " Is it courage or...

[To the Editor of Tim SPECTATOR] Sta,—Mr. Harold Nicolson states that our assumption of the Palestine mandate was a generous gesture in the interests of mankind. Generous...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sta,—The other day I read on two adjacent pages of my paper the following: " Our Maginot Line of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights," Earl...

By W. T. WELLS HERR HITLER'S teaching as to Great Britain in Mein Kampf is well known. Its main features are that just as the pre- War German's under-estimate of the Englishman...

Why I Am a Democrat. A Symposium. Edited by Richard Acland, M.P. (Lawrence and Wishart. 25. 6d.) A SUCCESSFUL symposium depends on a happy balance of agreement and disagreement....

Moses and Monotheism. By Sigmund Freud. Translated from the German by Katherine Jones. (Hogarth Press. 8s. 6d.) AMONG the refugees whip, on political or racial grounds, were...

Tills official life is translated by Commendatore Luigi the official propagandist of Fascism in the English-speaking countries. The biography of a dictator, to be official,...

IT would be unfortunate if the good name of the Czechs should suffer from the literary kindnesses of their friends. Mr. Hindus must make the reader apprehensive. For apart from...

The Land of Egypt. By Robin Fedden. (Batsford. Its. 6d.) THIS is not a book for the tourist to take to Egypt with him: it does not tell you how to get anywhere, nor what to see...

the vaguest of historical legends. It has been given two local habitations, at Medmenham Abbey and in the caverns of West Wycombe ; and nobody has a very clear idea of what went...

The Fall of the Russian Monarchy. By Bernard Pares. (Jonathan Cape. t8s.) Snt BERNARD PARES has added an invaluable book to the rich literature of the Russian Revolution ; he...

South American Excursion. By Ernest Young. (Arnold. t8s.) MR. YOUNG has an enviable mind. His interests deepen as he grows older. Having retired from active work he settled...

By CUSTOS WELL, it almost looks as if happy days are here again in Throgmorton Street. Herr Hitler has allowed us to have an old-time Whit week-end, and markets have registered...

It almost looks as if Scotland Yard or M. Poirot ought to be called in to solve the £6,000,000 Czech Gold Mystery. Even the Chancellor, it seems, does not yet know whether the...

PROGRESS CONTINUED IN 1939 BENEFITS OF CO-ORDINATING CONTROL SIR THOMAS ROYDEN'S SPEECH Ladies and Gentlemen, The report of the directors and statement of accounts have been in...

expected, the Railway Rates Tribunal has granted the application for a 5 per cent increase in London fares and the market has registered its apprecia- tion by hoisting London...

(Continued from page 974) HOME RAIL ESTIMATES With another month to run to complete the half-year it is already becoming apparent that the railways' gross takings will not...

WITH the United States pressing hard for a large - scale barter deal of rubber against cotton, and with rumours, obvi- ously premature, circulating to the effect that a deal has...

The more one examines the position of the Burmah Oil Company the clearer it becomes that the £t ordinary units are among the really first-line industrial investments. For 1938...

a mildly speculative flavour might do worse than examine the merits of Jonas Woodhead 6 per cent. redeemable £i convertible cumulative preference shares now standing around 2IS....

Further substantial progress during the first four months of i939 was recorded in the speech which Sir Thomas Royden, the chairman of Edmundsons Electricity Corporation, made at...

and steel manu- facturers, achieved a new record in profits for the year ended March 31, a year which included the worst phases of the recession in the industries in which the...

HAMBROS BANK THE CENTENARY YEAR THE 27th annual ordinary general meeting of Hambros Bank, Ltd., was held on May 25th, at the offices of the bank, 41, Bishopsgate, E.C., Mr. R....

The extreme caution with which Mr. R. Olaf Hambro approached general topics at last week's meeting of Hambros Bank prevented him from saying anything about the effects of the...

UNITED SUA BETONG RUBBER ESTATES RUBBER REGULATION SIR JOHN HAY'S SPEECH THE annual general meeting of the United Sua Betong Rubber Estates, Limited, was held on May 30th in...

That tower of financial strength, Boots Pure Drug Com- pany, has added another few feet to its battlements in the year ended March 31st. Net profit for that period, as already...

in the matter of revenue for the past three years as a natural and inevitable result of the increased competition in the limited field of exhibition buildings. In April this...