A Life of Mr. Winston Churchill Winston Churchill. By Ephesian. (Mills and Boon. lOs. 6d.) TILE writer who calls himself " Ephesian " has quickly added a Life of Mr. Winston...

Ouida Rediviva Are They the Same at Home ? By Beverley Nichols. Ae no a~AA I (Jonathan cape. i s. Dua.) SINCE Ouida regaled us with details of the sumptuous young guardsmen...

THE WARLIKE SPIRIT AND THE TEACHING OF HISTORY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR]. SIR,-Since you published my article on "The Warlike Spirit and the Teaching of History" in the...

BYRON S LAMENESS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-This is not the place in which to conduct a medical controversy on the subject of Byron's lameness. Mr. Fotheringbam...

LIBERALS AND A GENERAL ELECTION [To thte Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,- I had hoped that someone with a more intimate knowledge than I have of the inner working of the party...

READING ROOMS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIB,-Your Liverpool Correspondent concludes his letter last week:-" This reading room for the out-of-work is...

VANDALS AT LEWES [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sir,-May I draw the attention of readers of the Spectator to the proposed erection of new County Council buildings within the...

[To the Editor of the SPrECTTOR.] SIR,--In your editorial note prefacing the article by the late Mr. Strachey entitled " Have I Been on Earth Before ? ' " you write: " Our...

THE IDEA OF REINCARNATION [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,--There is an appeal for a better basis than that of ancient and oriental wisdom in the rapidly increasing...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,---While many of your readers are interested in the recent articles on this subject may I ask a question ? Why is it that metempsychosis...

ITAL'Y UNDER FASCISM [To t1c Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--An11yOnc who knows Italy cannot fail to be impressed by its progress during the last five years. A new spirit has...

I write not for the sake of any political or social protest; but to put forward a definite suggestion. some o1 the land that at present is held to be valueless, since it is a...

What will happen to the land ? A good deal of it will not be ploughed again, nor will it be sown with grass or clover. I hear of one particular piece of about a hundred acres...

SPRING IN AUTUMN. The naturalist has been better treated by the weather; by the eccentric offensiveness of the weather, than the farmer. You could to-day pick a bouquet...

MIGRATION QUERIES. I- -I- I I May I repeat that a great deal of information is wantea by students of the autumn migration ? This year, as last, a great number of warblers are...

None of this is theory or subjective pessimism. I record only facts that come to my personal knowledge. One district does not necessarily resemble another; but it is hardly to...

SCOTTrlSH PAPERS PLEASE Copy. A delightful tale of a dog is sent me by an American correspondent. It should especially please Scotsmen. Bob, the spaniel, was bought near...

A PARTRIDGE CENSUS. The partridge month gives place to the pheasant month. I have been at some pains to try to probe the mystery of the partridge. Generally the birds suffered...

Country Life A GRIND AlICIIAELNIAS. It is not well to emphasize the gloonm extending over:Britisil farmis ; but present facts must be faced, however much we may expect of the...

The military situation in China has taken a lexV turn. The troops of Chang Tso-lin, who holds Peking, have been repulsed in the first encounter of the conltinued campaign...

The Church. Congress opened at Ipswich on Tuesday under the presidency of the 'Bishop of St. Edmunidsbury and Ipswichx. Thq special topic of the Conference is "The Kingdoin of...

Every child, we learn, would then get a State allow. .1 l A A ancc up to tne age o0 lourteen years, and up to the age of sixteen years if he or she remiainecd at school. These...

" By the time the Labour Party comes to levy the rol)osed surtax," says Mr. Lees-Sm-iith, " it may wvell be that the income of the country will have reached a point which would...

Mr. Raamsay MacDoiiald summed up the debate in a manner that may have comforted him but did not comfort the I.L.P. The burden of his speech was that they were all Socialists,...

The surtax, which has aroused more public interest than any other proposal, is a substitute for the Capital Levry, but in another sense is a revival of it. The scheme is to...

The Bishop of St. Ediiiundsbury opened the discussion on the rural work of the Church. An admirable contribution to the discussion, witty and penetrating came from Mr. E. C....

At a banquet given by the Patriotic Union at Barce- lona, the Spanish Prime Minister, the Marquis de Estella, announced (according to the reports that have leaked out about...

The Further Progress of an Emigrant ?]HE emigrant who addressed you some montlis ago T (Letter " From an Emigrant Ship," 5Spectator, March 27th, 1926) successfully suffered his...

Berets, Biarritz, and Borotra The Romance of the Basque Country and the Pyrenees. By Eleanor Elsner. Illustrated. ,(Jenkins. L0s. &id.) Tile only thing we know a'bout the...

The Other Side of the Counter Retail Selling. By Gladys Burlton. (Cape. 5s.) IN one of his earlier books, Mr. Aldous Huxley refers to selling as " the prostitution of the...

This Week's Books 1E IIIIT years, it seems, have gone to the collection of Leaves and Fruit (Heinemann, 8s. 6d.)-essays chosen out ot Sir Edmund Gosse's weekly discourses in...

A very sugaestive help to nature-study is contained in Miss Von Wyss' Living Creatures (Black, illustrated, 12s. Gd.), which is a series of unconnected studies of aquatic and...

* * * * Captain L. AI. Dundas's Big Game Pocket-Bookt for veny/a Cologny (W'itherby, lOs. 6d.) tells us of the wildebeestc, the oryx, the greater kudu, and a host of other...

Hunting Adventures in the West (Putnam, lOs. 6d., illus- trated) brings together in one volume Theodore Roosevelt's previously published works, Hunting Trips of a Ranchrnan and...

Mr. R. F. Dibble has written an able and (although we cannot but deplore the fact) an amusing book in 31ohanncnd (Hutchinson. 12s. 6d.). The story of the great prophet of...

Mr. J. Compton reprints in one slender volume The Curtain Rises (Methuen, 2s.), six plays for young folk. The frank knavery of " Pierre Patelin " is good, though one suspects...

The Autocar and The Motor, both for last week and this, are weighty reminders that the Motor Show is upon us. We can especially recommend the useful Buyers' Guide in The...

It would be difficult to imagine a more charming alliance of poet and artist than that of Mlr. Walter (e la -Mare an(d " Bold ": the latter's woodeuts may, indeed, be said to...

c II Mrs. Besant at Eighty 'IF I were trying to give a true picture of American civilization to-day," said 'Mrs. Besant, " I would not begin with the stockyards of Chicago. Yet...

An Unpopular Aspect of National Health-II IT is an extraordinary fact that though the last century, I and particularly its second half, has witnessed a series of ever-growing...

* * * 2OI ANGI.O-SIAM1. The latest annual Report of the Anglo-Siam Company was of a very satisfactory character, the net profits having increased partly because of a smaller...

A GOOD BEGINNING. The first Report of the City and International Trust, Ltd., makes a good showing. The company did not begin its operations until the end of last December,...

GEN-ERAL MINING RESULTS. In the case of the General Mlining and Finance Corporation the interim dividend of 7. per cent. is also the same as a year ago, but it is payable on a...

Financial Notes GOVERNMENT STOCKS IMIPROVE. Tin. chief feature of the Stock Exchange this week was thel sharp recovery in British Government securities as soon as the offer of...

Insurance POLICY CONDITIONS. A LIFE policy is a contract between the policy-holder and the Life Office, and this being so, the conditions of th~e contract should be as clear...

A PROSPEROUS SOUTII AFRICAN COMPANY. Prosperity in the Mining Industry of South Africa is indieated both in the annual Report of the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment...

JULIUS LEVINE. By a Gentleman with a Duster. (Mills and Boon. 7s. 6d.)-The love of a father for his son provides the connecting thread of interest for a novel that deals on a...

Ilarinsworth's Universal History (to be published in about forty-five fortnightly parts at Is. 3d. each) is written by many scholars of eminence. The first part bids fair to...

Fiction These Men, Thy Friends. By -Edward Thompson. (Alfred Knopf. 7s. 6d.) MR. TiOmPSON'S Indian Day made an impression by the delicate probity of its artistic intention,...

Two War Books Wine, Women and War. A Diary of Disillusionment. Anonymous. (Heinemann. 7s. fid.) A Subaltern on the Somme. By Mark VII. (Dent. 5s.) THERE is certainly much...

Yet Another Utopia The World in the Making. By Count Hermann Keyserling. Translated by Maurice Samuel. (Jonathan Cape. 9s.) TVu new book by the author of The Travel Diary of...

AN UNFULFILLED PLEDGE. It would be very interesting, if one were permitted a peep behind the scenes, to learn just what happened within a short space of time to damp the ardour...

DISAPPOINTED JIOPES. So far, however, from these 1)rojeeted economies havimg materialized, we find that there has been-an actual iMcrera. in -the expenditure durifi - the -past...

LORD HENVARTfS WARN-IN-G. Only quite recently we have had some vcry strong words from high quarters which I fancy have commanded the approval of a very wide area, as they...

REVENUE FROM TEMPORARY SOURCES. The City recognizes, however, that unfortunately we have to do with a Finance Minister who is not only easily satisfied if his estimates are...

IMPORTANCE OF FAvOURABLE CONVERSIONS. And yet we know that it is in the gradual conversion of our huge post-War Debt on terms favourable to the tax-payer that one of our chief...

Finance-Public and Private - I-" The Growth in Expenditure I -- AT the present moment the outlook for the national finances is a little more favourable than it was a feNv...

ANOTHER CRITIC. A further interesting pronouncement was that contai ii ed in a letter which appeared in the Times of Septcmb)er 29th, from M\r. Francis Al. Hirst, a former...

It is said bv some Unionists that the essence of the Primic Minister's pledge lies in the promise of equality with men and not in the age at which the vote shall be given....

News of the Week II 5IIS is a week of party conferences--thc Unionist q -nf Cardiff and the Labour Parts Conference at Blackpool. So far as the conclusions of the conferences...

Thie Labour Party at B3lackpool has adopted for tile first time in its life a series of resolutions wvhich will be shapedl into an immnedliate j)raetical programme. This is...

The real point of the debate was whetlher the iext Labour Government should undertake a p)rogrammleC which they might reasolnal)ly hope to carry out or w-hctlier they should go...

Sea Changes and Chances The Great Days of Sail. By Alexander Slhewan. (Heath Cranston. lOs. Gd.) Sea Escapes and Adventures. By Taffrail." (Allan. lOs. 6d.) MR. BASIL...

HUMANE SLAUGHTER OF PIGS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-I am much gratified to observe the reference to the above in recent issues of the Spectator, and it is...

A CROP-DRYING TRIUMPH [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Sir W. Beach Thomas's description of my crop-drying operations in your " Country Life " columns of last Saturday...

WHAT THE EAST IS THINKING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SiR,-Under the above title some interesting observations have been recorded by a writer in your issue of October...

THE ART OF MARRIAGE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--Thc interesting review of the books by Mrs. Sanger and Dr. Hlaire which appeared in the cohlunns of the ^Spertltor...

INSPECTOR FRENCH AND THE STARVEL TRAGEDY. By Freeman Wills Crofts. (Collins. 7s. 6d.) _ _- !__ _! _ _ -There are few writers who combine an ingemous plot with such careful...

AR. ESSINGTON IN LOVE. By J. Storer Clouston. (John Lane. 7s. 6d.)-The friends of Mr. Clouston's Lnznatic will welcome this further account of his adventures. Tihe book is, as...

SAGUSTO. By Cecil Roberts. (IHodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.)-The reader of Mr. Cecil Roberts's novel, Sagusto, must be content to accept the fact that his plot is absolutely...

Northern Europe After Fifteen Years VII.-Poland pERIIAPS the best way of visiting Poland is via I Danzig, for Danzig is Poland's chief external problem, and you learn what the...

The Theatre [t TIiE LADY IN LAW,- AT WYNDIIA-IMS] I WAS thrilled when the curtain went up. At last I was to see Miss Evans, to whose talent I've always done homage, in a part...

[TImE HOME CR. ATS EXIIlBITION AT THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTLe WE, regret that it is impossible to do justice to the excellent exhibition of Home Crafts at the Imperial Institute at...

[TiE GIEVES GALLERY] AT the Gieves Art Gallery, 22 Old Bond Street, is a gathering, mostly of landscapes, by the Swedish artist Hadar Jonz~n, strong solid work, unattractive in...

Art [THE FRENCH GALLERY] THE: French Gallery at 120 Pall Mall has brought together examples of ten French artists, five of whom are young, while the others were all born...

Poetry Flooded Fields SEE, where those flooded fields are turned to ponds, How three disdainful swans come sailing down, Gazing to left and right inquiringly, Like courtiers...

The Blanesburgh Bill FEW things are more desirable in our domestic politics than that the whole system of national insurance should be lifted above partisanship. The nation has...

The Value of Ancient Deeds The Greenwell Deeds Preserved in the Public Library, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Calendared by Joseph Walton, I with an Introduction by A. Hamilton...

Lord Leverhulme's Life Viscount Leverhulme. By his Son. (George Allen and Unwin. 13s.) TiE life of Lord Leverhulme by his son reads like a romance. Is it really possible,...

It wlas a happy and( generous thought of the (overnoo o0 home to invite the Lord May-or of London. to visit Romc ofliciallv-. Sir Rowland Blades and his sheriffs have been...

A few weeks ago w %e expressed the eoonviction that the Hierarchy in the Free State could not ignore the duty of p)ronouncing a moral ju(lgment upanl l)erjury. We are gladi to...

It must be hoped that more good than wvc can reasonably reckon upon will come out of the Referendum. Yet nobody likes this particular Referendum. The friends of the Flag Bill...

The feelings aroused by the Flag Bill in South Africa arc running stronger than ever. It is extremely (isappointing after Mr. Amery's recent visit, for Mr. Amery without...

Ve have written elseowlere on the public itneasines,; about convi(tions for " street offeiecs'" on unjsatisfying evidlence. It is (leIar that the timc has come for an inquiry....

A Stimulating Lecture nn S;timulus in the Economic Life. By Sir Josiah Stamp, (AC.B.E. Thie Rede Lecture, 1927. (Cambridge U niversity Press. 3s.) It men of science, and...

The Magazines LOUD ASTOR, writing in the Nineteenth Century, discusses the " Reform of the House of Lords," deprecates at some length the hereditary principle, and suggests his...

The Dream, and other Poems. By Richard Church. (Pclm, Is.) Seven Days, and other Poems. By Clarissa Graves. (AMetbhucn; U5s.) Mn. RICIIARD CIRtRCII is most notably a poet...

" Wine, Rose, and Temporal Garland" Others Abide. Bv Humbert Wolfe. (Benn. Cs.) A Laurence Bin}on Anthology. By Latirence Binvon. (Collins. 6s. I Collected Poems. Vol. IV....

Traveller's Lure .hindle Paths and Inca Ruins. By William Montgomery mcco-vern, D.Ph., F.R.G.S. (Hutehinson. 2 is.) Dn. 'McGOVERN, who some years ago accomplished a most...

The Police and the Public FROM time to time there has been uneasiness about the administration of summary justice in the London Police Courts; and, of course, there has always...

Ceylon and the Professor The Cleghorn Papers: being the Diary, 1795-1796, of Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie. Edited by William Neil. (Black. l8S.) TIlE Laird of Denbrae and...

Smerwick Harbour TiEREr. grew, and drifted On a crawling tide From the lulled AtlaRtie That dreamed outside, A golden splendour Of galleons That burned on the water Like...

Poet and --Outlaw The Romance of Villon. By Francis Carco. Translated by Hamish Miles. (Knopf. 21s.) Tnis beautifully printed book, bound in a reproduction of an old map of...

The Aeroplane A GIANT bee you drone through the cloud, Then silver and swift, as a bright dragon-fly, With the speed of a dart You flash to the hills in the sky. The envy of...

Correspondence A LE:TTE:R FROM PEKING. [To the Edilor of thei SPE'CTATOR.] SIR,-Marshal Chang Tso-lin, Dictator of North China, sits to-day in a palace of the former emperors,...

Letters to the Editor THE AVIATION BOOM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-AS an old subscriber to and reader of your paper for pv r thirty years, may I ask permission to...

The Diarist Throughout the Ages More English Diaries and Scottish and Irish Diaries. Edited by Arthur Ponsonby, M.P. (INethuen. Two vols. 12s. 6d. and lOs. 6d.) TihESE two...

The Letters of a King The Correspondence of King George the Third. By Hon. Sir John ortescue. Vols. I. and II. (Macmillan. 25s. each.) JiIs Majesty the King has, once more,...

The Mystic Monist and the Religious Dualist Man and the Supernatural. By Evelyn Underhill. (Methuen. 78. id.) Tim interest and value of this book is twofold. It is a...

Honesty and Politics Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: His Life and Diaries. By Major-General Sir C. E. Caliwell. Illustratea. kAtUabbv. 2 Vols. 42s.) A RARE and refreshing...

Getting the Sack [The author of this article is a riveter.-ED. Spectator.] A BIG Atlantic liner, sailing between Liverpool and New York, had been lying up for repairs. Many...

A Strange Tale of Faithfulness The Lady of the Lotus. By Ahmacl-ul-Umri. Translated by L. M. Crump. (Oxford University Press. 18s.) "IN- the name of the Creator, who has...

The Loves of Napoleon I Napoleon and His Women Friends. By Gertrude Aretz, (George Allen and Unwin. i1is.) WHEN Napoleon had done with love and war and sought distraction in...

-The League of Nations A Communication from the President of the 1.L.U. THAT the International Labour Organization should form part of the League of Nations is a fact which...