7 JUNE 1924

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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r 11HE housing issue is now before the country in all its significance and gravity. In the House of Commons on Tuesday Mr. Wheatley, in a singularly lucid speech, explained his...

In the House of Commons on Wednesday Mr. Neville Chamberlain

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delivered a shattering attack on the Bill. His speech was cool, deadly in analysis and thoroughly informed at every point—one of the best speeches heard for a long time. It was...

An unauthorized strike of Tube men was declared at midnight

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on Wednesday, in support of the Electric Railway shopmen. All these strikers are defying their unions, and it is impossible to say when we go to press whether the trouble will...

Mr. Wheatley went into the details of the cost of

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a £500 house, and emphasized his intention of punishing profiteer- ing in the cost of materials. He added that the finance of the scheme will be reviewed every three years. " If...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 13 York Street, Covent Garden,

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London, W.C. 2.

In the House of Commons on Thursday, May 29th, the

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Government were once more saved by Liberal votes. The division on the unemployment question had been expected to be the most critical so far in the history of the Government,...

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Such vague reports as there are about the progress of

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the Anglo-Russian negotiations are very discouraging. The truth seems to be that the two sides are arguing in different terms. The Russians will not have any per- manent...

The attitude of the Russian Soviet towards the mani- festo

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recently issued by British bankers is a disagreeable proof of how far the two sides are still removed from one another's thoughts and methods. All that the bankers said was, in...

We much regret to record the death of M. Paul

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Cambon, who was French Ambassador here for twenty-two- years. He arrived when the bitterness of the Fashoda episode was not yet passed- and the traditional enmity between the...

In Germany Dr. Marx is reconstructing his old Govern- ment,

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and his programme virtually contains only one point—acceptance of the Dawes Report. He declares that he considers himself to have received a mandate from the nation, and he is...

The Japanese protest against the new American Immigration Act was

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delivered last Saturday. It will be remembered that even President Coolidge's earnest recommendation that the Bill should not be passed, was disregarded. The Gentlemen's...

In the House of. Commons on Monday Mr. Noel Buxton's

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Agricultural Bill passed its Second Reading. The Bill places the responsibility of fixing wages for England and Wales on a Central Wages Board. The County Wages Boards. will...

Last Sunday night an attempt was made upon the life

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of Dr. Seipel, the Austrian Chancellor. Dr. Seipel was leaving a railway station when a young man fired three shots at him, one of which wounded him dangerously in the chest....

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On Friday, May 80th, the House of Lords, by three

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votes to two, allowed the appeal of Mrs. John Russell. The result of this decision is that she remains legally the wife of Mr. John Russell, and that the child born in 1921 is...

In the Malay States section of the Wembley Exhibition there

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is an exhibit of rubber blocks of a peculiar con- struction by which it is claimed that the problem of street paving is solved. As anyone knows who has the misfortune to motor...

An official paper describing the restoration of the lake and

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its islands and margins in St. James's Park is a testimony to the care and good taste of the Office of Works. There has been much new planting, including water-lilies (which...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent., changed from 3 per cent.

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July 5th. 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 100 * ; Thursday week, 100* ; a year ago, 101 A r . 3f per cent. Conversion Loan was on Thursday, 78; Thursday week, 77f ; a...

Sir Samuel Instone has announced that he is contem- plating

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a service of passenger motor-boats on the Thames, as a help towards solving the traffic problem of London. His scheme is dependent upon some fresh landing stages being...

Mr. Valentine Williams' statement is very eircum- stantiaL as „he

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mentions that Sir Edward Goschen fancied that Sardou's play -must have been in his mind when he hit upon the rendering " a scrap of paper." Herr von Bethmann Holwegg is reported...

The Government's first Honours List was published in the papers

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of Tuesday. There are no new peers, and only two baronets. Mr. F. H. Bradley, the distinguished philosopher of Merton College, Oxford, and Sir Charles Sherrington, the President...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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HOUSES, HOUSES, AND AGAIN HOUSES. W E confess to a sense of deep disappointment over the Housing Scheme unfolded by Mr. Wheatley in the House of Commons on Tuesday. It was...

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THE FRENCH CRISIS.

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T HE sudden crisis that has arisen in France, the open war which has broken out between the new majority in the Chamber and M. Millerand, the President of the Republic, must...

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NATIONALISM AND CHRISTIANITY.

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BY DEAN INGE. P ROFESSOR McDOUGALL, the eminent psycholo- gist, who in his last book (Ethics and Some World Problems, Methuen, 7s. 6d.) has handled questions of political...

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A CIVIC SENSE IN ENGLAND ?

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THE KENT COALFIELDS. I T is generally realized that Kent coal is now proved and that East Kent is destined to become a great colliery area, but few people realize how rapidly...

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THE CASE FOR CERTAIN CRUELTIES.

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CORRESPONDENTS of the Spectator have been LI busy of late with the question, how much cruelty is involved in sport, and whether it can be justified ; and some, especially...

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The idea of setting up at Westminster an All-Empire Parliament

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representing the self-governing nations which make up the British Commonwealth is, of course, no new one, and has a very familiar ring to members of the Round Table groups...

THE

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ENGLISH-SPEAKING WO ILL D. BY EVELYN WRENCH. A NY of the surviving members of the original Imperial Federation League formed in the early 'eighties must have rubbed their eyes...

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'Whatever solution is ultimately arrived at, the whole episode of

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the Lausanne Treaty proves how essential is continuous consultation between the various parts of the British Empire, and some such body as the Imperial War Cabinet, at which...

This statement brought a reply from the Canadian Premier stating

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that his Government had not expressed a desire to have any Treaty with Turkey submitted to the Canadian Parliament before ratification, but that he wished to make it clear that...

The supporters of complete autonomy are numerous in both South

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Africa and Australia as well as in Canada. In the matter of evolving a working constitution for the British Commonwealth we have by no means reached finality. The present...

A perusal of the White Paper containing the corres- pondence

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which has passed between the British and Canadian Governments in respect of the Lausanne Conference and Treaty, the debates in the Canadian House of Commons and the newspaper...

THE THEATRE.

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CONGREVE. AND DUMAS FILS. IF there is nothing else to be learned (and enjoyed) in The Old Batchelour there is the powdered fragrance of language, words wigged and rapiered....

The situation which has arisen brings us therefore face to

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face with the international status of the British Empire. Is a Treaty signed by His Majesty's Govern- ment in Great Britain with a foreign Power binding on the Empire as a whole...

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THE CINEMA.

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IT TALKS AND MOVES. I RAVE just been to-a demonstration of what are- generally called "talking films," though a more exact word, "Phono- fllms," has been coined by Dr. Lee De...

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BOOK COLLECTORS' NOTES.

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A LOVAT FRASER EXHIBITION. (This is the third of a series of Monthly articles intended to interest book collectors and having special reference to the work of the First Edition...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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INTELLIGENCE TESTS. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The article on mental tests in your issue of May 24th was doubtless interesting, and perhaps profitable, to readers...

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PROFESSOR MARGOLIOUTH'S ANAGRAMS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The reviewer of my work, The Homer of Aristotle, in your columns, to whom I cannot be sufficiently grateful, dates that I am fitted to...

HOW CAN PEACE AND PROSPERITY BE . RESTORED ?

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I am venturing to ask for the hospitality of your columns for the purpose of bringing before your readers the conditions of the award of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—A great principle of

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criticism, once discovered, cumu- latively proves itself by leading from one discovery to another. Mr. Walker in last week's Spectator has thus clinched Mr. Margoliouth's...

GROW YOUR OWN FOOD.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—My good friend, Mr. J. G. Gilchrist, appears to be excited that I should go to the working man and say to him, " Feed yourself and save...

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MAIDEN PRIME MINISTERS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Soon after the formation of the present Ministry I wrote from abroad to the Spectator, challenging a statement then current that Mr....

THE CLERGY REST AT MERROW, SURREY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—With your usual kindness, will you again allow me space, at this time, when many are making plans for their holidays, for a short letter...

THE STRACHEY-GUEDALLA MYTH.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As no one of our young literary journalists seems inclined to take on a little job that ought to have been done long ago, I make use of...

THE ORIGIN OF ROTARY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Srn,—In the Spectator of May 3rd the origin Of Rotary seems to be referred to Chicago and the year 1905. Let me call your attention to the...

THE LATE MRS. SETON CHRISTOPHER.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Many readers of the Spectator mourn in a common sorrow the unexpected and irreparable loss • of .Mrs. Seton Christopher, who died on May...

THE WOMEN'S INSTITUTES AN]) "DESCANT" SINGING.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your interest in all that makes for the betterment of our social life tempts me to bring to your notice the Annual Meeting of the National...

"EVEN IN AN AFFIDAVIT."

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Lord Bowen said many good things : others 'are attri. buted to him. Your correspondent, " J. C. F.," I think erroneously, assigns to him...

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EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

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GEORGE MACDONALD.—The Rev. J. Gardner-Brown writes:— Reading the recently published Life of George Macdonald and His Wife, I have been forcibly reminded of the following...

STARLINGS AND BEES.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIB, Knowing you are interested in strange stories in Natural History perhaps you would like to have the following. A swarm of bees took up...

POETRY.

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STANZAS - FROM "BATEAU IVRE." By- ARTHUR RIMBAUD. As I was descending impassive Streams I felt no longer guided by the tows-men, squalling Redskins had taken them for targets...

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A BOOK OF THE MOMENT.

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THE DIARY OF A COUNTRY PARSON. The Diary of a Country Parson : The Reverend James Woodforde, 1758 - 1781. Edited by John Beresford. (Humphrey Milford. Oxford University Press....

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THE COMPANION OF DRAGONS.

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BLAKE descended into Hell and made himself familiar with devils. They were, he found, the true energies and fires of the universe. The God of the Old Testament, geometrizing the...

BOOKS.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. MR. A. E. WAITE'S history of The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (Rider) contains an account of many remarkable alchemists and occultists in the seventeenth...

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THE NEW MORALITY.

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The Morality of Birth Control. By " A Priest of the Church of England." (John Bale, Sons and Danielsson. 10s. 6d. net.) WHEN two books appear simultaneously whose authors take...

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THREE DUTCH PLAYS.

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THESE arc happy gifts from the land of Everyman. Esmoreit, the earliest secular Dutch play, is cousin german to the legend of The Winter's Tale. It contains nearly all of...

A FRENCH GLADSTONE.

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Tills book recalls Mr. Gladstone's incursions into theology. Both he and M. Bapst take their respective subjects with great seriousness ; both are frankly and completely...

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FICTION.

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NOVELS, PLAIN AND COLOURED. No modern writer illustrates better than Mr. Huxley the truth of that often repeated, seldom realized proverb : " Truth is stranger than fiction."...

OTHER NOVELS. To-Morrow and To-Morrow. By Stephen. McKenna. (Thornton Butterworth.

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7s.. 6d. net.) —Those who see in Mr. Stephen. McKenna's trilogy, The Sensationalists, a. brilliant picture of modern life, will admire this novel, which is quite up to the...

THE TRANSACTIONS OF OLIVER PRINCE. By Robert Erstone Forbes. (Chapman

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and Hall. 7s. 6d. net.) The youth of nineteen who fills the name part in this novel is an adept at keeping "on the windy side of the law " in his adventures. It must be , owned,...

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FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] DEBT REDEMPTION AND COMMON SENSE.- [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The City has a way of pretty accurately sizing up our various statesmen—or...

BEYOND THE HORIZON, and GOLD: Two Plays. By Eugene O'Neill.

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(C.ip1•. 7s. 6d. net.) In these two plays Mr. O'Neill's genius seems to be mainly theatrical, with little relationship to significant drama. With a marvellous eye for a stage...

SCCTAL LIFE IN STUART ENGLAND. By Mary Coate. (Methuen. 6s.

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net.) SCCTAL LIFE IN STUART ENGLAND. By Mary Coate. (Methuen. 6s. net.) Whether by reason of politics, Bodley, or Clarendon, the seventeenth century seems to belong to Oxford....

SHORTER NOTICES.

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If from among the numerous illustrations in this book one's chief pleasure is in the examples of fifteenth-century German and Flemish work, it is not because contemporary...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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An indication of the valuable work being done by building societies both as regards the encouragement of thrift and the assistance they give to the financial side of housing is...