H OPES of a peaceful conclusion to the Sino-Japanese dispute in North China have by now disappeared. On Tuesday General Sung Cheh-yuan, Chairman of the Hopei- Chahar Political...

Two decrees issued in Germany this week illustrate very clearly some of the consequences of her struggle for self- sufficiency. Last week General Goring, as Commissioner for the...

west of Madrid culminated last week-end in what is described as the biggest battle of the Spanish war, in the neighbourhood of Brunete. Some 250,000 men, at least, are believed...

by King Leopold of the Belgians to his Prime Minister, M. van Zeeland, is quite as timely or as useful as it may seem. M. van Zeeland is shortly to announce the preliminary...

Sir Archibald Sinclair in the House of Commons on Tuesday elicited from Sir Thomas Inskip, as Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, a reply marked by a not entirely...

to allow an increase in the railway companies' charges, however unwel- come, comes as no surprise, and it is difficult to see how it can reasonably be challenged. The rising...

this week by the recently-established Army League Committee, is a clear and valuable statement of the need for reform in the organisation of our land forces. During 1937, 50,000...

most serious defeat of his Presidential career, the purpose of his plan to reform the Supreme Court, which the Senate rejected, appears to have been achieved. The emasculated...

Labour rank and file went into the lobby with the I.L.P. The rest of the official Opposition sat glumly on their benches. It is difficult to see what they expect to gain from...

liamentary point of view, is the publication of the report of the Select Committee on Procedure Relating to Money Resolutions. Under the Standing Orders no amendment to a Bill...

to follow with understanding the annual debate on the work of the Mines Department. Everyone, however, could share to some degree the satisfaction of Colonel Crookshank in being...

Federation of Great Britain last week reached two decisions of considerable importance. By the first, reversing a previous decision of the Conference, a resolution approving the...

if the recovery in shipping is reflected by a rise in the prescribed standards of accommoda- tion for crews. The Merchant Shipping Advisory Committee has put before the Board of...

has its Abominable Snowmen no less than Tibet. Their existence is made known on the last two Supply Days of the session, when the outstanding votes are taken late at night...

surprise and regret, from a speech of Lord Baden-Powell's, that the Boy Scout movement is in need of funds, largely owing to its continued expansion. In its combination of...

T HE session of Parliament which (unless events necessitate an unexpected curtailment of the recess) ends this week gives the Government legitimate ground for satisfaction. It...

A T the opening of the Film School at the London Institute of Education this week Mr. Kenneth Lindsay, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, stated that an enquiry...

the only interest left in them is their origin. Who was the author of the saying ? To whom did the incident really happen ? Take the well-known story of the candidate who, when...

which I read in an evening paper this week : " A Borstal boy escaped from Rochester Borstal Insti- tution this afternoon. Parties of boys from the institution are searching for...

And do they do well to try to teach it at all ? I happen during the past week or two to have been discussing English (I am rather under pledge to say British in such cases,...

L ORD CAMROSE (once Sir William Berry), having acquired The Morning Post, has announced his acquisi- tion, kept his own counsel regarding his intentions and gone off on holiday....

her two children to the coast, her car collided with another and its windows were broken. No one, fortunately, was so much as scratched. The Times recorded all the relevant...

to the Bishopric of Oxford with some interest in view of a conversation heard at the Oxford Union a few days earlier. The learned participants were laying down the conditions...

denied owes the fulfilment of her heart's desire to the waters and the mud."—From a German hotel advertisement. Like Pharaoh's daughter ? Or parthenogenesis ? JANus.

By E. T. S. DUGDALE A T the dinner at Mr. Puffington's Mr. Soapey Sponge, having swindled Mr. Pacey into buying his chestnut horse, Multum in Parvo, grandly said " That he...

I. By AN ENGLISH SCHOOLMASTER O NE of the most noticeable features of National Socialist Germany is the intrusion of politics into every sphere of life. Particularly is this...

ideas of the real 1 nature of National Socialism, but very sure that I should be unable to discuss it at all freely. I came back with very different ideas. To the people I met...

By ANOTHER HEADMASTER T HE healthy frankness of " A Headmaster " in the two articles that precede this will set people thinking. All he has said is no doubt true ; but he has...

By STEPHEN SPENDER B EFORE we left Minganilla—a village between Valencia and Madrid, where we were banqueted and, after the banquet, danced to by the children whilst the women...

By JAN STRUTHER S UMMER, after all our weary waiting, is here at last. That is to say, she was here yesterday and she will probably be back again tomorrow. Today is one of...

By ANTHONY BUXTON, T HIS is the time of year when right-minded persons are turning their thoughts to sea trout, for these fish, fattened by good living in the sea, choose by a...

By ROSE MACAULAY G OD knows it would be magnificent to be a dictator. To look round a picture gallery and say " I don't like those ones. Remove them "—this we can all say, but...

SELF-CONSCIOUS AUSTRIA I.—By SIR CHARLES HOBHOUSE Al.:STRIA, and in particular its capital Vienna, is the mutilated, uneconomic, and indefensible remnant of a great Empire,...

THE BALLET First Finale THE first part of the Ballet's season at Covent Garden ends tomorrow night, after which there will be a pause for buckets and spades until the...

How many people, with memories of far-off days when Haggard, Henry and Ballantyne filled every shrubbery with beast or savage, will look to the screen version of King Solomon's...

Dodo " appears in the summer number of Bird Notes and News, which is the journal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It ends with an allusion to the picture of the...

The simplicity is scarcely credible. Hay is still being cut, and cut with. sickles. It is often good hay but full of- the weeds that dry most slowly ; and it is a marvel how it...

manuring is advancing very rapidly in agricultuie, but the practice is rare, I think, in private gardens, perhaps to their loss. As I wrote , the other day, Americans hope to...

When you feel the force of the west wind on this exposed coast you no longer wonder at the claims that both butterflies and birds have • flown the Atlantic. Among the treasures...

The salvation of the land is the peat. It is of the best quality; and peat, like coal, is usually good if it is black and poor if it is brown. The surface is compact of peat in...

trees of Switzer- land have both suggested . an appearance of winter to travellers and reporters. Each variety of tree has its particular enemy, though some caterpillars have a...

Irish Harvesters On the extreme west coast of Ireland I went to the haunts of an antique fisherman who is a mine of information on most native subjects, the birds in the air as...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suita5le length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" A Headmaster " seems curiously to ignore the fallacy of supposing that his plan to reduce expenditure by a pro- blematical 5 per cent....

Stri,—I think Mr. Hugh Ross Williamson's interesting letter must have been written without reading Mr. John Scanlan's Nineteenth Century article which inspired my own letter....

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your belief, as expressed in the last issue of The Spectator, that " the naval agreements between Great Britain and Germany and Great...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — In commenting on the debates in Parliamett Ofi - the Palestine Report you, in common with almost every one who ` has discussed the...

smaller Public Schools may or may not be as -desperate as " A Headmaster " declares : but it appears to me both that he has misjudged the symptoms, and that the remedy he...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sm,—Excellent though the reforms suggested by your medical correspondent may be in principle, I quite. fail to see how they could usefully be...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I follow up the letter of Mr. Philip Trotter, who draws attention to the existence of the Londoners' League in last week's issue, in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SItt,—On July 16th the Chancellor of the Exchequer caused much amusement in the House by disavowing the belief that a spell of prosperity must...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —In his letter in your last week's issue Sir Henry Page Croft says that under the new Constitution, " British subjects who are resident in...

Sir Henry Page Croft complains that the new Constitution of the Irish Free State abolishes allegiance to the Crown, and with it the duty of citizens of the Free State to take...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The origin of this discussion is associated with a quotation from the opening sentence of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was the first...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is, and should be, unusual for reporters of events to enter into public controversy. We generally have enough to do each day not to...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The debate in the House of Lords on July 8th, on the subject of the Basque refugee children, raises a question which does not seem to have...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—You allowed me to ask Churchpeople in England what they thought that a Bishop in the position of the new Bishop in Kenya ought to do to...

[D!tin correspondant parlsien] D'APRES les statistiques il y a en France aujourd'hui a peu pres autant de chevaux qu'avant la guerre. Le cheval aurait donc echappe a la crise....

notify THE SPECTATOR Office BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted: -

Fin de Siècle (E. L. Woodward) .. Culture and Capitalism (Edwin Muir) .. The Savage Hits Back (Goronwy Rees).. Bishop Butler and the Age of Reason (John Sparrow) PAGE 210 211...

The Savage Hits Back. By Julius E. Lips. (Lovat Dickson. 21s.) DR. LIPS has written one of the most original and instructive books that have appeared for some time ; and since...

The Mind in Chains: Socialism and the Cultural Revolution. Edited by C. Day Lewis. (Frederick Muller. 5s.) ' THE intention of this book, according to the dust-cover, is to...

THE Analogy," says Leslie Stephen, " impresses us in literature like some mass of rock-piercing strata of a different formation, unmovable and undecayed, but yet solitary,...

Caravansary and Conversation. By Richard Curie. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) Caravansary and Conversation. By Richard Curie. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) " I AM content," says Mr....

A Key to Modern English Poetry. By Martin Gilkes. (Black. 5s.) MR. GILKES' little book is one of about a dozen published during the last two years with the object of explaining...

6c1.) ALL are agreed that the detective story is in a dilemma: Almost every possible plot and murder-method is exhatisted, the old, leisurely gun-and-fingerprint problem will...

By HAMISH MILES The Citadel. By A. J. Cronin. (Gollancz: 8s. 6d.) Thieves Like Us. -By Edward Anderson.-: (Heinemawt. THERE are some novels which, even on the day of unveiling,...

IN SECRET TIBET By Theodore Illion Mr. Illion gives the impression of being a sincere and unprejudiced student of the occult. Having first trained him- self gradually to wr..:;:...

simple, happy little tale of the house that John modernised. With its pretty pink binding and its gently rural illustrations by Philip Gough, A House for Joanna (Cape, 7s. 6d.)....

Herr Gregor, who is Director of the Theatrical Art Section of the Vienna National Library, has collected in this superlatively produced volume (Botsford, 126s.) illustrations of...

Having expressed a hopeful view of the prospects of British shipping early in the spring, I like the way events are shaping. The advance in freights which began towards the end...

To buy or to wait ? This is the question most investors are now turning over in their minds. One side of the investment picture is painted in alluring colours. Home industry,...

Buying of American utility shares was the obvious reaction to President Roosevelt's defeat on the Supreme Court issue. With a liberally-minded Court, reforms in the utility...

The sight of rubber drifting rather aimlessly below 9d. per lb. is anything but pleasing to the speculative holder of rubber shares, but should not worry the long-term investor....

What I have just said applies primarily, of course, to those who are contemplating purchases of ordinary shares where prices are liable to fluctuate considerably. I see no...

BIG ENGLISH CARS It was an odd coincidence that about a week before I took out the new Lagonda and the largest Hillman I should have received two letters from Spectator readers...

THE REVIVAL IN SHIPPING —LORD ESSENDON'S VIEWS AN outstanding feature of the Stock Markets during the past 18 months has been the activity and strength of the shares of...

ADDRESS OF SIR ROBERT WILLIAMS THE twenty-seventh ordinary general meeting of the Anglo-Dutch Plantations of Java, Ltd., was held on July 23rd at 19 Fenchurch Street, London,...

MARKETS IMPROVE WE are now at the period of what is usually reckoned to be the slackest month for business in the whole year, though incident- ally it may be noted that, not...

Considerable interest is always taken in the statements made by the Chairman at the annual meeting of the Anglo- Dutch Plantations of Java by reason of the fact that its...

Not the least interesting feature of the past week has been tae announcement of a loan for Iraq, the amount being ii,000,000 in 44 per Cents., offered at the price of 94, the...

At the recent annual meeting of Allied Bakeries, the Chairman, Mr. W. Garfield Weston, said that the company was now the largest of its kind in the country, with an issued....

• At the recent meeting of Wellman, Smith, Owen-Engineering Corporation, the Chairman, Sir Samuel Roberts, presented a good financial statement covering the period of. nine...

McDOUGALLS TRUST LIMITED A SATISFACTORY YEAR THE fourth annual general meeting of McDougalls Trust, Limited, was held on July 28th at Thames House, E.G. Mr. Kenneth A. E....

At the annual meeting of Scribbans and Corripany the Chairman, Mr. Philip Hill, explained that' the set-back in profits during 'the past year was entirely attributable to higher...

AMALGAMATED ROADSTONE CORPORATION THE PROBLEM OF THE ROADS THE second annual general meeting of Amalgamated Road- stone Corporation, Limited, was held on July 28th at River...

Undoubtedly the United Dominions Trust is fulfilling a useful function in granting long credits to industry, and indeed the Trust, which has now been established some fifteen...

WIAILILIF L 01W El RI SI A AI SI El A. A L 01WI S SIYJNIEITI 01 HI EI C t CI OIDIDITEI RI RI I 1 B1 LI E HINI El LI I 171 AID1N A LIN CI AIN AI R MI I IN F1 S...

BY ZmNo [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...