D URING last week-end the Japanese forces in China occu- pied Tsinan, capital of Shantung, and Hangchow, capital of Chekiang. They now hold seven provincial capitals, the two...

in a position to reject Japan's apologies and offers of indemnity for the attacks . on their gunboats in the Yangtze. But both have had to repudiate the Japanese account of the...

services in Paris ended in 24 hours in face of the firm front shown by M. Chautemps, supported by the Socialist deputies. A number of varied causes for the strike may be found,...

the capture of Teruel inevitably conflict ; but it appears that, of the two strong- holds in which the insurgent garrison barricaded themselves, one, the Teruel seminary, has...

Deutsche Volkszoirt, Dr. Schacht demanded of the " possessor nations " a more realistic and " dynamic" foreign policy ; by this he means a policy which will give the " have-nots...

Valera's new Constitu- tion came into force, and the twenty-six counties formerly known as Saorstat Eireann (anglice Irish Free State) officially assumed the name of Eire...

conflict between State and Church in Germany is the uncompromising denunciation by the Pope on Christmas Eve of the persecution of German Roman Catholics by the Nazi Government....

crisis in Rumania has every element of risk. No doubt, from his own point of view, there was no alternative to his choice of M. Goga as successor to M. Tatarescu. The...

rebuilt. Now that the ghost of Abyssinia has almost ceased to walk in the Palace of Westminster Sir Samuel Hoare is re-establishing himself in the general esteem as an admirable...

outlook has changed remarkably little during 1937. To all appearances the Government parties remain as firmly in the saddle as they were twelve months ago, and it is as certain...

a first-class administrator, the ideal head of almost any department, but so far he has never reached the first flight as a Parliament man. In debate he never fails to say just...

in the effect they produce upon their opponents. Lord Baldwin had a unique capacity for turning away wrath. In spite of themselves the Opposition parties regarded him with...

last week of the decision that the Post Office is to experiment during 1938 in the Southampton district with the relaying of broadcast programmes to private subscribers deserves...

air, and though some of the announcements about what the Home Secretary contemplates pretty clearly go beyond the facts, it is safe to assume that durance will become less vile...

the nationalisa- tion of the transport services have for too long been obscured by the subjective fervour of party politics. It may be hoped therefore that the recently...

T HE daily papers, or some of them, are suddenly developing a lively interest in Mr. Winston Churchill's future. According to the gloss put on one cryptic announce- ment Mr....

fire - assessors. On Boxing Day the H.M.V. showrooms in Oxford Street were burnt out. What did the damage amount to ? The public must be told. The Daily Herald told them,...

from life's storms advertises her needs (she is a Lady C.) in a contemporary. I am glad to make them still further known —for nothing. What is wanted is One of the Stately Homes...

so far seen no reference is the tendency—obviously in response to a mot d'ordre from the urbane Dr. Goebbels- to play up articles in Italian papers proclaiming the palpable...

other Socialist contrivances." So Lord Runciman in the Sunday Times. But since when ? Lord Runciman was a member of the Cabinet from 1931 to 1937, and the Agricul- tural...

political opponents. There is, however, one possibility that has not yet been exploited. The cynical methods of propaganda adopted by Signor Mussolini and Herr Hitler have been...

visit Spain during the present Parliamentary recess. So are a number of other individuals of varying degrees of eminence, including a party of those persons who like—or more...

By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN A MID the welter of guesses and uncertainties about the future of North China one fact is crystal clear. The Japanese have moved in to stay. Proofs...

By NOEL CARRINGTON A IR raid precautions are all the rage in political circles ; and no wonder. With the break-up of collective security we have got to consider how vulnerable...

By RICHARD FREUND " y REALISE," said Mr. Rajagopalachari, " that we can no longer take things by storm. The tea has got cold." Mr. Rajagopalachari is the Premier of Madras, the...

By PROFESSOR HERMANN LEVY " THE multitude," so wrote C. F. G. Masterman in his unforgotten study of the Condition of England, " is the People of England ; that 8o per cent....

[This, the concluding article of this series, is by an Oxford graduate, a Doctor of Philosophy, aged 27. It will be followed next week by " Over Eighty on Under Thirty," by H....

IIy BONAMY DOBREE T HE marriage-service takes place at about eleven ; but long before, groups of men and women begin to arrive, on foot or on mules, from the outlying farms up...

By ANTHONY POWELL T HE subject of English cooking has been hacked about nearly as much as the food itself. There exist three main schools of thought ; the defeatists, who...

SUBSCRIPTIONS to the fund initiated by The Spectator to provide wireless sets for the convict and other prisons of England and Scotland are being received in a steady stream,...

WHAT CANADA THINKS OF BRITAIN By SYLVIA STEVENSON " D O you still think of Britain as your Mother Country ? " This was the question, especially apposite in view of the present...

"True Confession." At the Plaza—"Amphitryon." At the Curzon IN this season of festive indigestion we most of us, as the New Year thrusts its inexorable head over the uncertain...

MUSIC Sir Donald Tovey's Essays Rossna did not tear the packing paper from the latest volume ef the Bachgesellschaft edition with more impatience than I cut the knots...

Art as Information SINCE the Romantic movement *e have been so much influenced by the fetish of the Great Artist that we have given unduly little attention to what are called...

[D'un correspondant parisien.] POUR etre exact il faudrait ecrire au singulier : sport d'hiver. Certes, beaucoup de Francais patinent ; le bob, la luge, le curling meme, ont...

The sugar beets, though by no means bumper crops, have been well and quickly harvested and have crucially affected the balance-sheet of a good many farmers. On the whole farming...

While many fishermen are lamenting the decay of streams, especially some of those about which Izaak Walton wrote most ardently and charmingly, others have been taking trout of...

of some of the rivers and brooks that flow into the Thames from the north. Various stretches of a good number have been fished, after being well stocked, by syndicates of...

Drivers of motor-cars through the Eastern counties this Christmas have been astonished by the number of pheasants on the roads. They were not dusting, partly because there was a...

about Christmas a very particular place must be given to the countryside year book and calendar published at is. by the British Empire Naturalists Association, known more...

Traditional Weather The makers of this year's Christmas Cards may have had their justification after all. They had united—at least in my experience of their delicate art—in...

A little problem of natural history, about which a query was put forth by a correspondent, has, I am told, been settled by an archaeologist. A small cluster of stones was found...

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

Sit,—The smug complacency of your fatherly " Word tc Under Thirty " provokes me not a little. Basing your criticism on the views of half a dozen individuals, you proceed to...

SPECTATOR.] SIR, —It seems a pity that your paper, whose main attraction to me has always been that it steers clear of the popular supersti- tions of our day, has now slightly...

Sul,—My experience in the case of habitual drunkards has shown me that further legislation is now necessary. In 1879 the Habitual Drunkards Act was passed, establishing retreats...

Sut,—The information given in Miss Sybil Vincent's article under the above heading in your issue of November 12th, is so incorrect that your readers in South America must be...

Snt,—In your journal of November 26th and December roth, I read with great interest the articles on South America signed by Wilbur Burton and Sybil Vincent. Since I suppose your...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — I feel constrained as the result of my own parochial experience to support Janus in his contention that there are many English people...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — May I add a point to the recent letter to you from any friend Mr. Clothier which seems to give a further illustration of the strange...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — I should like to endorse every word of Mr. S. L. Bensusan's article in your issue of December 17th, and also of a letter on the same...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — With reference to the article which I notice appeared in last week's issue of The Spectator, I am instructed to point out that the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — The R.F.S. is grateful to " Janus " for his understanding comments on the two films which have been produced for them by Gaumont...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Snt,—Your film critic says in his last review that : " The G.P.O. Film Unit, after its pioneer incursions into the wider social perspectives ....

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Vyvyan Adams cries out for facts, and calmly ignores them when on the matter of Capital Punishment I state the facts. He really ought not to...

[This contribution has been awarded the prize of -r2 29. offered for the best reply to the verses under the same heading published in our last issue.—En. The Spectator.] IF the...

PAGE Transport in the Great War (Brigadier-General Sir Valentine Murray) Michael Bakunin (I. Berlin) .. Children's Dreams (L. A. G. Strong) New Poetry (William Plomer) 1185 The...

IN this volume of the Official History of the Great War a departure has been made from the glamour and bloodshed of battles, and the story is told for the first time of the...

Michael Bakunin. By E. H. Carr. (Macmillan. 25s.) BaKuNIN died in 1876, and has, therefore, had considerably over half a century to wait for the official recognition of a...

THIS is an exceedingly interesting book on an exceedingly interesting subject. Dr. Kimmins is to be congratulated on the objective way in which he has tabulated his material,...

An Elegy and Other Poems. By Edmund Blunden. (Cobden- Sanderson. 6s.) MR. BLUNDEN is a ripe and honest poet whose days, it is plain, are bound each to each by natural piety....

Dr. John Bull. By Leigh Henry. (Herbert Joseph. los. 6d.) THIS book is a very precise example of how historical biography ought not to be written. It is a pity, for there was...

Cinemania. By Alfred Gordon Bennett. (Jarrolds. i8s.) " WRITING about the moving picture is one of the least rewarding jobs in the world," remarks Mr. Seldes. Pity then the...

Journey on the Way. By Frank Vernon. (Harrap. 7s. 6d.) Tins singularly neutral Sunday, marooned in mist between Christmas and Boxing Day, and holding neither the climax of the...

Spending Christmas in the north, one could scarcely avoid hearing something of the vicissitudes of the cotton trade. Vicissitudes there have been in recent months, for it seems...

I HOPE investors spared themselves the trouble and the pain of discovering the ways of Wall Street during the holiday break, but the dismal story must now be faced. This fresh...

It is good to see Old King Coal climbing back on to his throne after the buffetings of the slump years. Home con- sumption of coal has established a new record this year and...

Capel Court is still a whispering gallery, and the wise ones are saying that there will be a Government loan within the next two months. I shall not be surprised if they are...

Quite a number of readers have asked whether there is any further news of the Armstrong Whitworth liquidation plan which I outlined, with reference to A.W. Consolidated Trust...

TWO WELL-BEHAVED CARS IT is not often that a couple of cars resemble each other so much in achievement and differ so widely in method as the two I had out lately, the new 16...

NEW YEAR PROSPECTS LOOKING back to my forecast a year ago of market probabilities for 1937, I am glad to see that I indicated the likelihood of a moderate set-back in gilt-edged...

It is not always that market expectations of good dividend results are-realised, but such was undoubtedly the case in the advance in the dividend of Apex (Trinidad) Oilfields...

The City was glad to learn that, although Sir Alfred E. Lewis is relinquishing his position as a Deputy Chairman of the National Provincial Bank, owing to his desire to be...

the past year are showing some slight increase. The preliminary statement of the Canadian Bank of Commerce for the year ending November 30th showed just a small increase in the...

While by no means underestimating the increased spending power this last Christmas, arising very largely, it is good to know, from the greater number of the employed, I think...

DULL MARKETS. IT is by no means unusual to find the Stock Markets quiet in the few days immediately following Christmas. This year there have been two circumstances emphasising...

In view of the necessary growth in the National Expenditure, it is satisfactory to note that the Revenue is coming in fairly well, and the latest Weekly Return of the Exchequer...