2 MAY 1941

Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

'II HE news of the successful withdrawal of at least four- .1l fifths of the British forces in Greece supplies the last touch that was needed to mark that campaign as one of the...

The Greek Islands

The Spectator

The mainland of Greece having been lost, what about the islands which stud the Aegean Sea and constitute an archi- pelago? The Germans lost no time in seizing Samothrace, Which...

Coming Events in Libya

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The ending of the campaign in Greece will have its reactions on the situation in Africa, not merely because it will increase the number of troops and aircraft at General...

Page 2

War-Zone Courts

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The Home Office has announced that war-zone courts with special powers are to be established throughout England and Wales, and that the country has been divided up for the...

General Smuts Foretells Victory

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General Smuts is a statesman who weighs his words, and it was in no mood of paradox that he declared in a broadcast on judl Saturday that Germany is winning victories and losing...

" Salazar Day "

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Last Monday was celebrated by the people of Portugal as a day of national homage to their great Prime Minister, Dr. Salazar. In the twelve years in which his has been the chief...

American Atlantic Patrols

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Ways must be found to ensure that aid for Britain reaches its destination, said Mr. Cordell Hull last week ; and Colonel Knox, the Secretary of the Navy, in a speech elsewhere,...

Threats to Spain

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The appointment of General Lord Gort to be Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar shows the importance which is attached to the defence of the harbour and fortress, and...

Page 3

Criticism of such departments as the Ministry of Aircraft Production

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and of the propaganda and intelligence organisations is all sotto voce or hush-hush ; criticism of the fire-fighting system is more vocal and open. But in neither case does the...

Aged J.P.s

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Everyone will agree with the Lord Chancellor that the j ustices of the Peace (of whom there are 20,000 in this island) are doing very important work in the administration of...

Presumably Mr. Hore-Belisha, who asked for the debate, will speak

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at an early stage, and Mr. Lloyd George will probably ' take part on the second day. There are rumours that other voices may be heard, which have so far kept a dignified...

The recent discussion on Agriculture has been followed by another

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on Food. Everyone, and not least his father, rejoiced to see Major Gwilym Lloyd George make a highly successful debut in his new and responsible post. He is neither an orator...

The Week in Parliament

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Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: The Prime Minister has broadcast to the world and announced figures about the evacuation from Greece. Meanwhile it has been agreed to...

An End of the Means Test Grievance

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Henceforward it may be hoped that the long-standing and bitter controversy in regard to the Means Test as applied to applicants for relief may be swept out of politics. Last...

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Page 4

CRITICISM IN CRISIS

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I days when things are going wrong there is a tendency 1 to open inquests and seek scapegoats. The tendency is not necessarily wrong. The right, and sometimes the duty, of...

Page 5

You can strike odd things in Hansard. This, for example:

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Take one pound each diced of potatoes, cauliflower, swedes, and carrots, three or four spring onions, if possible, one teaspoonful of vegetable extract and one table- spoonful...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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AIONG lending libraries," says the Encyclopaedia Britannica, " should be noticed the London Library in St. James's Square, Pall Mall." It indisputably should, pre- eminently so...

What is the meaning of the succession of savage raids

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on Plymouth? Plymouth, of course, is an important naval base, but not more important than others which have suffered no such accumulation of attack. Is it a kind of purposeless...

Are fishermen, I wonder, actually earning the fabulous sums attributed

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to them? A naval officer writes this: " I had a crew of patrol-service men, all fishermen. Their elders, still fishing, were earning as much as £80 as deck-hands for a week's...

A recent article in The Spectator had something to say

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on the subject of straight news and straight reviewing. A pub- lishers' slip sent in with a review copy has just been handed on to me. It bears the request: " Could Mr. Blank...

Someone—probably the publisher—has sent me a copy of The Rationalist

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Annual for 1941. There is a strong list of contributors on many interesting subjects, but some of the writing is strangely casual. It is almost startling, for example, to find...

My note on Sir Richard Livingstone's list of classical Prime

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Ministers has elicited some suggested emendations from a com- mentator who holds that only four out of the eighteen who held office between 1837 and 1937 (not ten, as the...

Why, I wonder, did the wife of the Bishop of

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Lincoln want to write that harsh and uncharitable letter about the death of Virginia Woolf in the Sunday Times? It was stated at the Inqu e st on Mrs. Woolf that she had left a...

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The War Surveyed THE SUPREME TEST

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By STRATEGICUS T HE Balkan campaign is now at an end, and we have to recognise the fact that for some months at least we shall have to face the supreme test of merely holding...

Page 7

A WAY OUT IN INDIA

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fly ARTHUR W. MOORE (Editor of " The Statesman ") 1 the recent debate Mr. Amery gave an admirable analysis of the stalemate in India. His report to Parliament was what an Army...

Page 8

CHINA AS AN ALLY ?*

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By E. M. GULL T HE time seems ripe for discussion of the possibilities of an alliance between Great Britain and China: Of the circum- stances which make discussion desirable...

Page 9

THE BUDGET AND CHILDREN

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By KENNETH LINDSAY, M.P. I T is too soon to assess the social implications of the Budget and its impact on the way of living for many classes in the community. But the...

Page 10

THE BELEAGUERED SWISS

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By DR. WILHELM WOLFGANG SCHUTZ T HE self-preservation of a small country surrounded by Axis territory represents a remarkable feat. Neutrality becomes in such a case a status...

Page 11

MR. F. P. AND MR. B. B.

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By E. L. WOODWARD hours of rude health I have often made out lists of books I which I would read in bed if I had an illness. I mean books which I have tried to read, and failed...

Page 12

THE THEATRE

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"Under One Roof." By Kim Peacock. At the St. Martin's--. , Black Vanities." At the Victoria Palace. UNDER one roof " in a growing town less than zo miles from London " live a...

ART

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At the National Gallery A Whistler and Early Twentieth - Century Oils supplies a middl distance for the earlier show of British Painting Since Whistler but it is not so large...

THE CINEMA

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" The Marx Brothers Go West." At the Empire Four Mothers." At the Warner Theatre.—" Married But Single." At the Regal. FOR many years a whole world of humour has been...

Page 13

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

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Sta,—The letters on compulsory Sunday observance ("compulsory " is the important word, for on that alone is there difference of opinion) suggests to me two memories of that...

Sm,—I submit that Mr. Basset Scott, in his lengthy letter

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on Sunday Observance, is unfair to the advocates of a restful Sunday. The crux of the whole matter is not so much a question of any interference with the liberties of the...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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A PRIVATE SOLDIER'S VIEW OF OFFICERS' PAY —My copy of The Spectator reaches me second-hand and late in camp. It was not until yesterday that I read an article t ided "The Junior...

Page 14

Snt,—Miss Rose Macaulay asks for a reply to her letter

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in reference to the defeated Sunday theatre proposals. On the specific point raised, it is obvious that if Sunday theatres were permitted, they would open an Sunday evenings or...

Sta,—I am puzzled by the suggestion of " A Chairman

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of Quarter Sessions " in his article on " Young Offenders."' In the penultimate Paragraph he writes that " the inculcation of a teaching calculated to prevent youth from falling...

SIR,—The answer to Miss Rose Macaulay's question is that many

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people still look upon Sunday as the Sabbath. Therefore all amuse- ment or recreation on that day is wrong. The Maltese people, I think, are more Christian and more sensible....

NO SOOTHING SYRUP SIR,—" Janus " never wrote a truer

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word than his first note in last week's issue of The Spectator. We do not want any more of this soothing syrup. Are we to be treated any more as children? I

SIR,—In the early days of the war the Government stressed

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the strength of British morale. As one whose profession brings me into contact with all sorts and conditions of men, I write to point out how I see this morale being damaged by...

ARAB VACILLATIONS "

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Sra,—It is difficult to see what useful purpose was served, or intended to be served, by the article on " Arab Vacillations " in the issue of April 25th. If it was meant for the...

YOUNG OFFENDERS "

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Sno,—Many of your readers must, if they did not already know the fact, have been startled and horrified to learn that one in eighty of the children between ten and fourteen...

Page 15

Stn,—Christ Church was at the turn of the century a

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large and self- contained college, in the sense that its members did not feel the same necessity for outside contacts as was the case with smaller and less happily situated...

MR. STUART HODGSON ON LORD HALIFAX

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SIR,— Controversy about pre-war policy is better postponed in these times unless it can be conducted amicably. But I will ask you just to let me express my opinion that Mr....

OCCUPATION ,‘ NONE " SIR,—As a woman who may soon

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be asked by the Government to state my occupation, I have been wondering what I shall say. Up to now, in reply to the question "occupation," I have said "None," not because I...

THE POWERS OF THE CENSOR SIR, —The proceedings in Dingwall Sheriff

The Spectator

Court are not normally of national interest, but an important question of public policy was raised there recently, when a woman from a little country-village in Ross-shire was...

A V.A.D. GRIEVANCE SIR, —The War Office have recently granted an

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increased lodging- allowance to V.A.D. nursing members, but not to the other V.A.D. members, such as dispensers, clerks, &c. This raises an anomaly, as these people have to have...

Page 16

COUNTRY LIFE

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Spring Promise Spring has come on steadily and normally, with none of those sudden leaps which always give the country-mind cause for such gloomy pleasure. " Ah, we shall suffer...

A RADIO SUGGESTION SIR, —The recent discussion in the Press and

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in Parliament about some " bans " (afterwards modified) by the B.B.C. on speakers alleged to hold certain unpopular opinions leads me to ask if you will kindly insert this...

PARISH-MEETINGS AND COUNCILS

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Sta,—Your admirable H. E. Bates has done good service by drawing attention to the importance of making the most of parish-councils at this time. I would also make a plea for...

SICK HEART RIVER SIR,—Why does Mr. Graham Greene in his

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review of Sick Heart River complain that in John Buchan's view " individuals are of enormous importance " ? When one reads on to fmd his slighting references to such " great men...

In the Garden Many crops of spring cabbage have already

The Spectator

bolted, a total failure. The cause is too early sowing. August 15th is the key-date. Crops raised before that date will almost invariably fail ; September is early enough. There...

Wild Asparagus It is not generally known, perhaps, that asparagus

The Spectator

is a wild plant in England or that it belongs botanically, like the onion, to the lily family. It is rather surprising, too, that a plant which in culti- vation gets perhaps...

GOOD CHARITIES " SIR, —It was decided 46 years ago in

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the Courts (in re Foveaux 1895, 2 Ch. 5ot) and has never been over-ruled, that anti-vivisection societies are " good charities " for the receipt of bequests and for ex- emption...

Silage

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It is about a year since I described a new and cheaper silo made of prepared grass-paper, and emphasised how important the making of silage would be. The campaign for silage had...

PLANNING AS TREASON SIR,—The following is an extract from a

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speech by Lord Harewood, reported in the Yorkshire Post on April 21st : " I submit that any energy that is diverted from the main object of winning the war, in any other...

Page 17

Books of the Day

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The Great Prussian Frederick the Great. By Pierre Gaxotte. (Bell. us.) "WHAT are we, we men, to engender plans which cost so much human blood? " asked Frederick the Great, and...

Angleterre Pour L'Etranger

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English Music. By W. J. Turner.—The English Poets. By Lord David Cecil.—British Sport. By Eric Parker.— The Government of Britain. By G. M. Young. (Collins. 3s. 6d. each.) COMME...

Page 18

Our Foreign Policy Facing the Facts in Foreign Policy :

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a Prospect and a Retrospect. By Algernon Cecil. (Eyre and Spottiswoode. 5s.) THIS book (with the argument and conclusion of which the reviewer mainly disagrees) is well worth...

Clairvaux or Berchtesgaden ?

The Spectator

IT is a far cry from Berchtesgaden to Clairvaux, but for that very reason this is a most timely book. It comes from Harvard, U.S.A., and is a neat piece of historical...

Page 20

The Border-Land

The Spectator

THE Ukraine, as the name implies, is a border land. Its limits have been fluctuating and uncertain. Somewhat similarly during the last thousand years its inhabitants have...

Those Laurels . Again

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Keats. By'Betty Askwith. (Collins. I2S. 6d.) "To add another to the long list of books on Keats seems demand, if not an excuse, at least an explanation." This is ho Amy Lowell...

Taxing the Rich .

The Spectator

Who is to Pay for the War, and the Peace? By Douglas ay , (Kegan Paul. IS.) THIS is one of a serie of pamphlets edited by Mr. Franci s Williams under the general title of The...

Page 22

Poets of the Recent Past

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THIS is a tempting title to the tiny but specific minority to whom the names on the dustcover—" Hardy, Housman, Hopkins, the Imagists, the Sitwells, Eliot, Yeats, Auden "—are...

Fiction

The Spectator

NOVELS are bad lately. They go on being bad—that is to say, dullish, competent, readable. How often in too many, many months has one had to resort to the two latter adjectives...

Page 24

COMPANY YEET NG

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THE ALLIANCE TRUST COMPANY DIVIDEND MAINTAINED AT 25 PER CENT. LIQUIDATION OF U.S. ASSETS MR. JAMES PRAIN'S ADDRESS Tug annual ordinary general meeting of The Alliance Trust...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS So strong are the forces making for recovery that the performance of the stock markets is a good deal better than the war news. In fact, it becomes clearer every day...

Page 25

COMPA MEETING;

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THE ROYAL LONDON MUTUAL INSURANCE SOCIETY LIMITED A SATISFACTORY REPORT THE eightieth annual general meeting of The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, Ltd., was held on...

Page 26

Readers who experience difficulty in obtaining copies of The Spectator

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from newsagents are invited to take out a subscription on the following special terms, which will apply for the duration of the war — 3 Months 6 Months 12 Months ... 6s. 6d....

Page 27

THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 112

The Spectator

[A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked with...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 110

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C A D e,_L'd 1 SION T w in, s j. vLoy 'y R e F I n 7 F . C . P44e$2 eltellti A M IN is po kc..cz og_a Tilcm_ V ,-RRER 'EA.- I 'C A NS 'I t F Nt.It S oM AHEM M P A it T...