7 FEBRUARY 1920

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We are afraid that the whole business of demanding the

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surrender of the war criminals, including the Kaiser himself, has been allowed to get into a sorry mess. We are anxious that the war criminals should be brought to trial, not at...

reasonable or effectual action more and more difficult.. The dis-

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posal of the Kaiser's person ought to have been the subject of a special clause in the Peace Treaty. As for the rank-and-file of criminals, it is plain that delay has been a...

The Allied Council in Paris on Monday announced that the

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Allies would not agree to the re-establishment of the Hapsburg dynasty in Hungary. They did not wish to prescribe a Constitu- tion for the Magyars, but the choice of a Hapsburg...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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O N Wednesday Baron von Lersner, the German representative in Paris, handed back to M. Millerand the list of German officers and officials whose surrender is demanded by the...

Why should not the Allies put into force as soon

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as possible the clause in the Peace Treaty which provides for a Permanent Court of International Justice ? Although the functions of the Court are vaguely described, it is laid...

A trial is also important from the military point of

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view. Every war begins where the last left off. A judicial condem- nation of the criminals would rehabilitate much more surely and more promptly than any other method that is...

Esthonia signed a " permanent Armistice Treaty " With the

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Bolsheviks at Dorpat on Monday. The Bolsheviks agreed to recognize the independence of Esthonia, and to pay the little State fifteen million gold roubles as her share of the...

The visit of the new Rumanian Premier, Dr. Vaida-Voeved, to

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London has enabled leading members of the various Churches in Great Britain to draw his personal attention to the imnortance of relit ions liberty. The Rumanian occupation of...

The crushing criticism of " Too Late " must be

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written over the whole of the Allies' dealings with Germany about the .war criminals. Sir Auckland Geddes in a speech on Wednesday said that Holland would be pressed to give up...

*** The Editor cannot accept responsibility for any articles or

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letters submitted to hint, but tchen stamped and addressed envelopes are sent he will do his best to return contributions in case of rejection.

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Mr. McKenna, the new Chairman of the London Joint City

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and Midland Bank, made an excellent speech on the causes of high prices at the general meeting on Thursday week. He de- monstrated that the root cause of high prices was...

The leading bankers, commercial men, and politicians who have asked

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for an International Economic Conference met the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Tuesday. They impressed upon him, as Mr. McKenna had done upon his audience, the stern truth that...

Precisely the same denunciations of the Castle were going on

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in Mr. Birrell's time, although Mr. Birrell tolerated every kind of sedition on the principle that you must not sit on the safety-valve. We understand all about the...

As Mr. Glass's letter seems to have produced the impression

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that Great Britain wanted to borrow afresh from America, our Treasury promptly informed him that we had no intention of doing so. Since June last, British Government purchases...

Let us examine the list. There is Mr. Long's private

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score- ;my, Sir John Taylor, who is condemned for being " at Lord French's elbow." Sir John Taylor, the private secretary of an Irish Vioeroy, is, we believe, a Roman Catholic....

Although we hope for the return of Mr. Asquith, for

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the Special and immediate reason that the House of Commons is greatly in need of this distinguished Parliamentarian with his cool analytical method, with his great knowledge of...

The American signatories of the memorial for an International Conference

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received last week a frank and chilling reply from Mr. Glass, the retiring Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Glass said that the United States Government could not make any more...

The truth is that we are not asking the American

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Government for any favours. British opinion supports the proposal for an International. Economic Conference because it itt to our interest that the crisis should be properly...

Mr. Asquith's political programme has distinctly emerged from his speeches

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at Paisley. As regards the proposed nationalization of the coal-mines, he says that if by national- ization is meant the possession by the State of mineral rights, he is in...

We have just been reading an article in the Freeman's

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Journal which is the kind of thing that is read quite literally by English Liberals, and which might have been the text of some of Mr. asquith's vague and perilous reproaches...

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As Lord Beatty said, the Officers' Association will concern itself

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first with promoting the welfare of all who have at any time held a commission in H.M. Forces, and secondly—this is the immediate object--with relieving the distress which is...

On January 26th The Auction of Souls, a film which

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had been produced in America, was given -for the first time at the Albert Hall. A book with the same title has also just been published (Odhams, 2s. net). Both film and book...

He would be a hard-hearted man who could read without

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sympathy the story of Lody, the first German spy to be cap- tured. He was a very decent, sincere-minded man, a tourist- guide by occupation, who believed that he was doing what...

The film and book together make the most terrible indictment

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against the Turk that can be imagined. Both have a realism that is almost intolerable. The worst atrocities have of course to be omitted in the film version, which is not, as...

We cannot commend too earnestly to the attention and interest

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of those who may read these linos the moving appeals on behalf of the Officers' Association which were uttered by Lord Beatty, Lord Haig, and Sir Hugh Trenchard at a Mansion...

' We publish elsewhere a letter from an unemployed ex-officer

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which may be added to the very distressing cases which Lord Beatty and Lord Haig cited. Lord Haig frankly charged the Government with want of generosity. National eoonomy is...

Mr. Smillie on Thursday week gave the public his own

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account of the secret Conference between the miners' loaders and the Prime Minister. With unconscious humour, he said that the Miners' Federation was moved by the spirit of...

The Morning Post has been publishing some extremely interesting articles

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about the German spy system in Great Britain during the war. The chief impression we receive is that the much-belauded and much-feared German spy system was a " frost." Most of...

Bank rate, 6 per cent.,changed from 5 per cent. Nov.

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6, 1019.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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WHEN IN DOUBT, DO SOMETHING FOOLISH ! I T would be difficult to find a good cause worse pleaded than in Lord Fisher's letter to the Times of Monday. A more fallacious and more...

TO OUR READERS.

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We have decided that after the last Saturday in February- i.e., on Saturday, March 6th—the price of the SPECTATOR must be increased to 9d. We had hoped till quite recently to...

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AN AMERICAN TRANSFORMATION. T HE extremely opportune letter which Lord Grey

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of Fallodon sent to the Times of last Saturday seems likely to bring about in America a transformation of feeling about the Peace Treaty. It is as astonishing as it is...

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THE SITUATION IN PALESTINE.

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[COMMUNICATED.] THE legitimate aspirations of the Zionists naturally appeal to our sympathies. To restore " a people without a land to a land without a people " is an attract-...

THE NEW ARMY.

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A T a meeting of the Territorial Force representatives on Friday week Mr. Churchill explained the Cabinet scheme for the new Army. The Regular Army will be reinforced from its...

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MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND THE WAR.

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p ERHAPS the most poignant example of the Irony which watches over, and waits on, the great mutations in human affairs is the strange, the uncanny fact that if we look closely...

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YOUTH AND ROMANCE.

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y 01 71 - 1 - S a stuff will not endure " in more * senses than the obvious one. It is a radiant, diaphanous stuff taking its shape and colour from the sun and wind of eiremn-...

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THE OLYMPIA HOUSING EXHIBITION.

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B ETWEEN us and the last great Building Exhibition lie the black years of the war and the uneasy months thal have followed it. It would be unreasonable to complain that we seem...

LETTERS TO - THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of - the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more efiective, thaw those which fill treble the space.] SHALL THE KAISER BE TRIED...

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THE IRISH MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—May I suggest that the opinion which you quote in your editorial notes on January 24th from the Belfast Telegraph is apt to create a...

FIXING THE INDEMNITY.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sns, — I quite agree with the suggestion in your leading article entitled " To Save Europe " that it is desirable to fix the indemnity that...

MISCHIEVOUS ECONOMICS.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] Sra,—Mr. P. E. Roberts urges that in a normal and healthy industrial State it is natural and proper that a man should make the highest...

EXCJiSS PROFITS TAX.

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[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."] see your correspondents agree with me that this ill- conceived tax is hindering production and ought to have been abolished long ago. They...

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THE UNEMPLOYED EX-OFFICER.

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ITo THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The question of the unemployed ex-officer is at last obtain- ing adequate attention, and it is to be hoped that the middle- class...

THE SEIZURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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" SPECTATOR."] Sus—Since 1917 the property of companies and of private individuals has been seized by Government Departments for national use, and rent has been refused to the...

THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE AS A CAREER.

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[To Ins EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] • SIR,—May I draw the attention of all clever young Britons to the changes recently announced by the India Office in the rules regarding...

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"A TANKARD OF ALE." [To THE EDITOR Or THE "

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SPECTATOR."1 Sta,—I wonder whether Mr. Maynard can supply the first ver:e tI the enclosed second verse from an old drinking-song. I knew thou both in my youth, but have quite...

THE RAISED PRICE OF THE " SPECTATOR."

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[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."3 SIR, —The announcement that you intend to raise the price of the Spectator to ninepence in March reminds me of an incident which happened in...

AN EXPERIMENT IN PISE.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —I have been a constant reader of the Spectator both in India and in this country for a good many years, and lately have followed with...

SQUIRRELS EATING MEAT.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—There is nothing very unusual in the fact brought to notice by Mr. Cotton. It may be doubted whether the taste for meat is common to...

THE LIVYERES.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] 8m—A chance meeting on board a ship brought to my know- ledge a remarkable story of work among an almost unknown people which seemed to me...

LONG FELLOW'S " K ER AMOS."

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."J Sin,—Can you or some of your readers inform me what chnr:•ll and what tomb Longfellow refers to in his poem Keramos " when he says ?— "...

ENHAM VILLAGE CENTRE.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR ."1 SIR,—I shall be very glad if you would make it known through the columns of your paper that the town of Southampton has collected £500...

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POETRY.

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THE WORDS OF CAESAR. 63 s.c. ' I NEED a million to be nothing worth," He said, and kissed his mother, and went forth A debtor ? Nay, the lord of all the earth. 63 s.c. Who...

MANDATORY AND MANDATED?

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' Sie, — May I through your columns ask the advice of literary experts on a matter of terminology which is coming forward ? By what adjective...

TO READERS OF FRENCH POETRY.

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t To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Can any student of French poetry tell me in what poem of Leconte de Lisle's occur the following lines ?— " Heureux qui, embrassant la...

THE THEATRE.

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" JULIUS CAESAR " AT THE ST. JAMES'S THEATRE. WHAT is there in the part of Mark Antony that does not suit Mr. Henry Ainley's acting ? Why did Shakespeare get tired of The Life...

NOTICE.—When " Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's

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name or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked" Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode...

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BOOKS.

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THE TYRANNY OF THE CHOSE JUGEE.• IsfAaoR ADAM has done well to publish a full statement of his case against the War Office, and we trust that it will be widely read. Twenty...

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AN AMERICAN BANKER'S VIEWS.* lila. FRANK VANDERLIP, the well-known New

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York banker, visited Europe last spring in order to see for himself the economical and financial results of the war. He spent three aaonths in travelling from one capital to...

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SOME NEW POETRY4

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IT has been the complaint of the old-fashioned of all ages that the young of their generation are addicted to coteries. Chaucer, Gower, and Dunbar were no doubt dubbed members...

MR.. LLOYD GEORGE AND THE WAR.*

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WE have dealt in our heeling columns with the main feature of Mr. Roch's book. Unfortunately space will not allow us to quote the very remarkable story of the fall of Mr....

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THE GENTLEST ART.*

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WE have borrowed the title of one of Mr. Lucas's charming anthologies in order to attract the attention of our readers to a delightful volume which they might otherwise be...

THE SUBSTANCE OF A DREAM.t Time is only one adequate

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way to review the la test, and by no means the least delightful, of Mr. Bain's long series of Indian romances. That is, in fear and trembling, to rewrite (with perilous brevity)...

FICTION.

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ROBIN LINNET.** ME. BENSON'S new novel, though named after a young man, is much more closely concerned with the emotions of that young man's mother. Robin Linnet, the only son...

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SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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Protios is this ohms Joss set istcessarily prods& sitlisssuest sepias.] THE FEBRUARY MONTRLIMB —General Seely opens the Nineteenth Century with an earnest article on " Flying...

READABLE ]Aovms.—Iiivisible Tides. By Beatrice Kean Seymour. (Chapman and Hall.

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7s. net.)—This is a first navel, and, though it contains some excellent pieces of writing, the author has not yet complete command of her material. The return of the heroine to...

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The architect and the speculative builder are the joint villains

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of The Working Woman's House, by A. D. Sanderson Furniss and Marion Phillips (Swarthmore Press, is. 6d. net), and the working woman the much-wronged heroine. The architect is...

We are glad to see a cheap edition of the

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very pleasant series of biographies written by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Ponsonby under the title of Rebels and Reformers (Allen and Unwin, 2s. 6d.). The biographies are written in...

The new Journal of the Imperial Arts League (97 Jermyn

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Street, 6d.) contains an interesting article by Professor A. P. Laurie on the " Rokeby Venus," attributed to Velazquez, in the National Gallery. Professor Laurie applies...

The Story of the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safely. (Boston

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: Wright and Potter.)—This substantial volume gives a detailed account of the semi-official organization through which the people of Massachusetts helped the Federal and State...

Indiscretions of the Naval Censor. By Rear-Admiral Sir Douglas Brownrigg.

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(Cassell. 12s. 6d. net•.)—Tho Censorship exercised by the Admiralty during the war was more consistent and more efficient than the Censorship directed from the War Office and...

We are glad to learn that the Nary, the admirable

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little magazine issued by the Navy League, will soon appear monthly, as it did before the war. The February number (6d.) contains an interesting article on the new...

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The Story of a Swiss Poet. By Marie Hay. (Berne

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: F. Wyss. 20 fr. net.)—This pleasant book is a memoir of Gottfried Kelldr, the Swiss novelist, the centenary of whose birth was celebrated at Zurich last year. The author has...

With the Aurora' in the Antarctic, 1911-1914. By J. K.

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Davis. (Melrose. 18s. net.)—Lieutenant-Commander Davis was the master of the old Dundee whaler used by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under Dr. Mawson. The expe ,ition set...

Some Sources of Human History. By W. Flinders Petrie. (S.P.C.K.

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55. net.)—This stimulating little book takes a wide survey of the history of man from the post-glacial period, showing why the civilizations of the Tigris and the Nile are...

The Confederation of Europe. By W. Alison Phillips. (Long- mans.

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12s. 6d. net.)--Professor Phillips has revised his excellent book on the Holy Alliance in this second edition and has added a - chapter on the League of Nations. He is no...

With the Mad 17th to Italy. By Major E. II.

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Hody. (Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6d. net.)—This lively book will make the civilian understand the strenuous labours of the Army Service Corps, which is indispensable and yet rarely...

The Letters Patent of Southampton. Vol. H. Edited by H.

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W. Gidden. (Southampton : Cox and Sharland. 28s. net.)— The Southampton Record Society continues its admirable work of printing the records of the ancient borough. The new...

A Galloper at Ypres. By Lieutenant-Colonel P. R. Butler (T.

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Fisher Unwin. 158. net.)—Colonel Butler went out to Flanders early in October, 1914, with the Seventh Division, which concentrated at Bruges, advanced to Ghent to protect the...

WORKS OF REFERENCE.—Mr. Austen-Leigh's handy List of English Clubs (Spottiswoode,

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Ballantyne, 7s. 6d. net) appears for 1920 in its twenty-eighth edition. The editor has allowed the names of the clubs in Moscow and Petrograd to stand, though all the members...