6 JANUARY 1950

Page 1

INDEX FROM JANUARY 6th TO JUNE 30th, 1950, INCLUSIVE.

The Spectator

NEWS OF THE WEEK A BYSSINIA .. .. .. 450 Arabs : And Jerusalem, 2 ; plans for Jerusalem, 134, 745 ; the League and Jordan, 450 558; refugees returning to Palestine, 809 ;...

Page 5

NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

T . HE Conference of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers which opens at Colombo on Monday may well turn out to be considerably more important than dis- cussions regarding it have so...

The National Finances

The Spectator

Sir Stafford Cripps, with a touch of that frankness out of which his former political reputation was made, pointed out on Wednesday that about half the factors which helped to...

Focus on Formosa

The Spectator

A note of reserve marked the references made by the Russian propaganda services to China during the official celebrations of Marshal Stalin's seventieth birthday ; though she...

Page 6

Little Coal—Much Praise

The Spectator

There is surely something excessive, something not unconnected with the coming General Election, in the praise which has been lavished upon the miners for their success in 1949....

Dollars for the Colonies

The Spectator

Wherever the responsibility may be adjudged to lie, the break- down of the loan negotiations between the Colonial Development Corporation and the International Bank is...

• Defiant Israel

The Spectator

How far Zionism is a religious and how far a secular movement the Zionists have never been able to agree among themselves. There can, however, be no doubt that the current...

Schoolmaster or Bus-Driver ?

The Spectator

The cry of the underpaid schoolmaster has been heard so often in the post-war years that mere reiteration has in some cases deadened its effect. But the arresting address given...

Victory for the Wafd

The Spectator

With no more known of the result of the General Election in Egypt than that the Wafd, led by the now veteran Nahas Pasha, is assured of a clear majority in the Chamber, detailed...

Page 7

WESTWARD LOOK

The Spectator

p RESIDENT TRUMAN'S annual message on the state of the-Union came in time to introduce a greater element of stability into the views of Americans on their own future. Until he...

Page 8

How many marks should be awarded for the following ?

The Spectator

Trans- late into Latin: " My wife could not remember how much 'milk was left." Answer: "Mea feminam non potebat souvenire quaniam

Susan, I read, was the most popular name for female

The Spectator

infants in 1949 as in 1948. This surprises me. There is nothing to be said against Susan, and nothing very much for it. But why choose it ? The name never seems to have...

The Birthday Honours list is as uninteresting as any I

The Spectator

remember. The House of Lords gains Sir Steven Bilsland, a notable figure in the life of South-West Scotland, and five estimable Members of the House of Commons. Among the new...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

T HE widening activities of the company which owns the Daily Mirror are worth watching. The Mirror itself, with a circulation of over 4,000,000, is reckoned an asset to the...

The Prime Minister was 67 on Tuesday ; the alternative

The Spectator

Prime Minister is 75. Meanwhile brilliant public servants like (for example) Sir Wilson Jameson, the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, are being retired at 65....

" Cheap evening trunk rates throughout Britain will not be

The Spectator

available tomorrow, which is a holiday in Scotland." Such is the almost incredible decision of the Postmaster-General. We are bitterly familiar with the cynical disregard of the...

It would be hard to exaggerate the possible importance - of

The Spectator

a new body, the British Empire Society for. the Blind, whose forma- tion is announced this week. Several points about it strike one at once. One is the immensity of the need for...

Low's transference from the Evening Standard to - the Daily Herald

The Spectator

is an event in journalism. He is going where he is going, I imagine, because the Herald represents his spiritual home, as the Evening Standard certainly did not. At first sight...

Page 9

Mr. Cube and the Law

The Spectator

By QUINTIN HOGG, M.P. REAT weight has always been attached to the pronounce- ments of distinguished lawyers in public life on matters which, although in themselves of political...

Page 10

The Encouragement

The Spectator

of Poetry By CECIL DAY LEWIS T HE subject of patronage for poets has been much discussed recently. During the war sales of 1,000-3,000 of a new book of verse were not uncommon...

Page 11

Fontana di Trevi

The Spectator

By D. W. BROGAN T HEY used to say in Rome that if you had to leave thi city, you should throw a coin into the fountain of Trevl and you would be sure to come back. In the late...

Page 12

The Volcano

The Spectator

BEFORE us, the stone basin and its fountain: The squatting dragon's jaw spouts glittering streams Into that round pool where the one carp dreams Hot noon away. And over there,...

English-Teaching in Egypt

The Spectator

By JOHN BRAY A FTER the war British prestige in Egypt suffered a steady decline, and now that our forces are by treaty confined to - the Canal Zone, only a suggestion of what...

Page 13

SPECTATOR COMPETITIONS

The Spectator

With this first issue of 1950 the Spectator is instituting a weekly competition, which it is hoped will interest its readers. A prize of £5, which may be divided, will be...

Page 14

UNDERGRADUATE PAGE

The Spectator

Campione Del Mondo By JULIAN BULLARD (Magdalen College, Oxford) W E tramped into San Sepolcro, Giles and I, about five o'clock on a broiling September afternoon, and made, as...

TO ENSURE REGULAR RECEIPT OF

The Spectator

THE SPECTATOR readers are urged to place a firm order with their newsagent or to take out a subscription. Newsagents cannot afford to take the risk of carrying stock, as unsold...

Page 15

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON p ERSONALITY is the most evanescent of human attributes. However active may be our curiosity, however vigorous our application, we can derive little more...

Page 16

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

The Spectator

CINEMA 44 Holiday Affair." (Leicester Square.) — " Paid in Full." (Carlton.)—" The Cure for Love." (Odeon.) ALTHOUGH Americans are the most sentimental people in the world,...

MUSIC THE ordinary citizen who attends perhaps half a dozen

The Spectator

concerts in the year will hardly have noticed the change that has crept over one of the lesser features of our concert life in the last few years. Perhaps he does not, in any...

Page 17

— arty 'pectator," January 5th, 1850

The Spectator

WHAT IS A CENTURY ?—HOW MUCH IS HALF ? Can you count a hundred ? Nobably you have advanced thus far t in the science of arithmetic, and in that case you can say whether a:...

South Bank Site

The Spectator

(With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge) NEAR Waterloo did Herbert Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Thames, the ancient river, ran Past taverns numberless to man...

RADIO

The Spectator

THE dust raised by Christmas and the New Year is beginning to settle ; but, before we forget the season altogether, may I salute Alexandra Palace for its farewell to 1949 and...

Page 18

Protestant or Catholic ?

The Spectator

SIR. —Your correspondent, the Rev. A. Edward Keene, carries my full cop- currence when he protests against the perpetuation of " unsound or even misleading ideas," but what...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator

What Roman Catholics Want SIR,—You ask, " What does the Catholic ask for that he has not already got ?" it is not a question of the number of jobs for Catholics. It is a...

education for their children can get it without_ being burdened

The Spectator

more than other taxpayers. The financial arrangement has been judged fair in Scotland. By a fully Christian education" I mean an institutional one, with school, teachers and "...

Page 19

Sue, — In his article, The Holy Year, Mr. Hollis makes one

The Spectator

statement that is definitely not correct: "Every country in Western Europe today is under the rule of a Catholic Prime Minister or Chancellor." I think the Netherlands at least...

Holy Year Reflections

The Spectator

SIR,—The covert sneer in the Spectator of December 23rd against Catholic contributors to The Times was indeed sui generis. I challenge you to refer to any single excerpt from a...

SIR,—You ask, "What other word (sc. Protestant) is to be

The Spectator

used to denote collectively Christians who are not Roman Catholic ? " It is probably undesirable that Christians who are not Roman Catholic should be denoted collectively, for...

SIR,—" What other word," you ask, " is to be

The Spectator

used to denote collectively Christians who are not Roman Catholics ?" Certainly not " Protestant," for this word could hardly be applied to some 200 million Christians in the...

Propaganda and the Election

The Spectator

SIR,—May I correct two mistakes made by your correspondent, Mr. Harvey R. Cole, on "Propaganda and the Election ? " He says: " No- body can obtain sugar except from Tate & Lyle...

Preserving Cambridge

The Spectator

SIR,—The Spectator of December 30th declares the new Cambridge town plan to be " as a whole, a large, imaginative, and practical conception." I wonder whether you have given due...

SIR,—Mr. Keene writes that " the Anglican Church has always

The Spectator

claimed to be Catholic." Surely this claim is made, explicitly or implicitly, by all who confess the Christian Creed, which affirms belief in the Holy Catholic Church,....

SIR,—Mr. Christopher Hollis, in his article The Holy Year, stated

The Spectator

that since its institution by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, with a few exceptions due to political disturbances, Jubilee or Holy Years have been celebrated in Rome at least every...

Page 20

A Pension Paradox

The Spectator

SIR,—As another of the humorously termed " self-employed " clergy, I have just been in the same circumstances as your correspondent, the Rev. R. M. French (though I confess that...

War Crimes and Criminals

The Spectator

SIR,—A point rather overlooked in Lord Hankey's book (and by many others) is that most of the crimes committed by German officers were breaches not only of international law but...

Frustrated Youth

The Spectator

SIR,—May I ask the authoress of the touching article printed in the Spectator of December 30th to consider the following words taken 'from a memoir of a friend of mine who died...

Cortisone Problems

The Spectator

SIR,—Dr. Stephen Taylor is quite right when he states in his article Cortisone Problems that: "None of the three agents so far discovered was the last link in the chain." They...

Why Wenceslas?

The Spectator

SIR, Mr. Nicolson's Marginal Comment in the Spectator of December 23rd was full of the sealon's spirit and provided a welcome contribution to the week-end's reat4ipg. In his...

Teachers' Salaries

The Spectator

SIR,—There is a fallacy, which is, I believe, widely held, implicit in the letter of " Rector who has been a full-time teacher." Your correspondent confuses skill in teaching...

Page 22

Canterbury or York

The Spectator

SIR. —J. G. Lockhart, in his Life of Cosmo Gordon Lang, records the remark about clerical moustaches as having been made by King Edward VII at Windsor in 1908 (p. 179). " On the...

In the Garden

The Spectator

The scientific experiment to test the truth of the "no-digging claim " has now been just a year in operation. The intermediate verdict, from Chertsey, is negative in form ; but...

Irish Mistletoe

The Spectator

SIR,—The mistletoe is not so particular about geography as Sir William Beach Thomas implies in his evergreen Country Life, in the Spectator of December 23rd. There he states...

Col. Josiah Wedgwood

The Spectator

SIR. —I am writing a life of Colonel Josiah Wedgwood, M.P. (Lord Wedgwood), and should be very grateful if anyone who has letters or information likely to be of interest in...

What the Deaf Hear SIR.—Janus asks, " How far can

The Spectator

the deaf hear music ? " Having been deaf all my life perhaps I can enlighten him a little. " A delicate ear for verbal music" might be interpreted as hearing the inflexion and...

Land Hunger

The Spectator

The market in English, perhaps also British, farms gives a striking illustration of the Kipling motto that " civilisation is transportation." Land hunger is general, and in...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

Amato attributes of the past Christmas, much more important than the mistletoe, most of it imported from France, was the return of the coco- nut to the market. The tits...

Winter Roses That most praiseworthy of roses, if kept unpruned,

The Spectator

the sweet and thorn- less Zephyrine Drouhin, has surpassed itself this winter. A singularly perfect bud, very sweetly scented, opened on the eve of the 'New Year. Within a few...

Shop Stewards

The Spectator

Sta.—The contributor of the article Shop Stewards omits to mention that to forget this.—Yours faithfully, J. H. M. STEVENSON. the shop stewards are usually paid by the...

Snared Cows

The Spectator

In some farming papers, notably the Farmer and Stockbreeder, a succession of laments have been published from husbandmen whose cows have suffered from wire snares. Frequently...

Page 24

Body and Mind

The Spectator

1he Concept of Mind. By Gilbert Ryle. (Hutchinson's University Library ; Senior Series. 2S. 6d.) THE hypothesis that every human being has a body and a mind (or is both body and...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

The Spectator

Life in Russia Military Attache in Moscow. By Major-General Richard Hilton, (Hollis and Carter. los. 6d.) The People of Great Russia. By Geoffrey Gorer and John Rickman....

Page 26

The Cult of Elia

The Spectator

EVERYONE knows Lamb's two essays, Blakesmoor in H—shire and Mackery End. Potent examples of the Elian quality, to the devout Elian they are sacred texts. Lamb's early -...

Page 28

Schiller for the English

The Spectator

Schiller. By William Witte. Modern Language Studies VI. (Black- well. i 2S. 6d.) Schiller. By H. B. Garland. (Harra!). I cs.) THE Victorians' enthusiasm for Schiller seems to...

Page 30

I I Duce

The Spectator

Benito Mussolini: Memoirs 1941-43. Edited by Raymond Klibansky. (We Weide Id and N icolson 8s.) PROFESSOR KLIBANSKY has brought together a valuable collection of material...

A Critic and Three Cultures FROM a book of criticism

The Spectator

we can often learn nearly as much about the critic as about his particular themes. Each man draws his deductions in accordance with a certain bias of mind. Even his choice of...

Page 32

Fiction

The Spectator

THE novels of Mr. Claude Houghton have all shown him to be imaginatively aware of a deep level of experience, a reality under- lying or overshadowing the everyday world. To him...

SHORTER NOTICES

The Spectator

Piccadilly Pageant. By Simon Dewes. (Rich & Cowan. I6s.) IN spite of a quite shocking collection of misprints, mostly mis- spellings of familiar proper names, and other signs of...

Page 33

THE " SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 563

The Spectator

[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this- week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, 7anuary 17th....

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 561

The Spectator

PA t ret 6 u 5 5 - r! Ilk., a,,,a, - ANA _.. 5,,E50....u„:, o!NS LU R enon-rill IN .1 111k 'EARTHEN Nib `f R E . A '4 o T I... E TIE if , i c Erl ii 1 741111A MI31. E glER...

Page 34

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS APPROPRIATELY enough, the New Year has opened without any exuberance in the stock markets. This is election year, and although it is arguable that the basic facts of...

Personalia. By Rom Landau. (Faber. 21S.) " PERSONA( IA "

The Spectator

is a series of sketches of people whom the author has met and who have influenced him. He begins with a few pages on his childhood, and later there are brief statements about...

The Yellow Book. A Selection Compiled by Norman Denny. (Bodley

The Spectator

Head. iss.) IT is hard to imagine now that the innocuous canary-coloured quarterly from which Mr. Denny has made his selection could have caused such a furore in 1894. Provoked...