CULTIVATION OF WASTE LAND IN TOWNS. [To mm EDrrOn or TnE " SPEcTATon."i Sm,-Some weeks ago you kindly inserted a letter from me on the above subject. The prominence of the...

THE PRICE OF WUIEAT. [To TEa EMTon OP Tt " St'EfATOA."1 Sim,-In 1868, and again in 1870, I purchased many hundred quarters of English wheat at Birminghanm market at 80s. a...

POTATOES. ITO mnz EDITOR OP TEE " SPECTATOR."] Sre,-A great national economy may be secured, ready to hand, by the use of a little common-sense-viz., let the extravagant...

LABIOUR AND FOOD. [To, nm lbrz0 or Tm SE cTAxo".3'l SiR,-Would you, through the medium of your paper, make an appeal that pressure be put upon all municipal authorities to...

AT THE WARt I Tis pollection of Lord Northoliffe's articles about his experienw I on various fronts and about various military and quasi-military sub. jects makes a distinctly...

TRAVEL R LONDON. I THE late Mr. Charles Morley was an extremely able, enterprising, and effioient journalist. But this volume proves him to have been a good deal more-a man of...

POLITICS AND PRICES. THE controversy over the question of food prices and T food, control continues to rage, and is not likely to grow less keen, for the food problem affects...

A BAD BOY OF THE BEST SORIT. [To Tu-! EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SSip,-We do not wish to gloat, but whilst the spirit shown in the enclosed note from an East End boy...

" TuE HUN,." | [TO Tn EDITOR OF THE "C SPiCTATOfl."I " IS Sin,-It is interesting, as a detail of literary use, to find the word i Hun " in a noble lEnuglisli lyric, in a...

FLAUB RT ON THE HUNS. [TO Tuu rDITOR OF TEIZ1 "SPECTATOR."] Sin,-In turning over the pages of a little collection of the Penstes de 0ustaude FkauberL which appeared recently I...

" A STUDENT IN ARMS." [TO TUE EDrIOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-To many, even in this far corner of the E mpire, the death o; Donald Hankey comes as a very real, almost a...

A REGIMENTAL HISTORY. [To =U. EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] S-a,-With reference to the history of the 31st Foot (now 1-it Isst Surrey), by Colonel Pearse, reviewed in your...

I CHRISTMAS HOSPITALITY rOR SOLDIERS ON LEAVE. I [TO THE EDrTOR or TlE " SPECTATon."] SiR,-With 'the approach of Christmas, an opportunity will 1)e afforded to tho people of...

LABOrR EXCHIAN!GES. [To TME EDITOR OF TH " SPLCTATOL."J SiR,-Surely the article in your issue of November 23th on " The E ncroachments of Bureaucracy " contains at least one...

READABLE NoVELS.-IlIarts and Swted.earl-5. Bvfa dtne AlbanesL (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)-A graceful little story concerning a dis. puted succession. The sympathies of the reader...

-GIFT - BOOKS. STORIES F'OR GIRLS. THERE is an abundant supply of now stories for girls this season, and many of them are very readable. The war of course enters more or less...

F I C T I O N. TWO'S TWO.* I Miz -baxonet, of sonsationail romance was, and of ten still is, cast for thc r6le of the villain. But there was nothing villainous about Sir...

I The Thimes of Monday contained a beautifully written apprl- ciation by "J. M. B." of the late Lord Lucas, formerly lUnderSecretary for War and President of the Board of...

The CoTrcinmcit have talien a bold and well-advised step in I * creatinga separate Department of Scientific and Industrial Rcesearch. 'The Dcpartument will be under the Lord...

Ta the House of Comlnons on Monday Mr. Forster stated that I in the cause of cconomy railv.way traffic is to be reduced as far as .possible. The railway companies -are...

I On Tuesday two important official anounocements were made with regard to economy in food. A Board of Trade Order limits meals served in restaurants, clubs, &e., between 0 and...

In the House of Lords on Thursday -week Lord Derby made an I important and most satisfactory announcement about the Voluntccrs. In describing thc principles of the Volunteer...

The Times of last Saturday published some account of the Germtln 'terror" posters which have been collected by Mr. Ian Malcohu and are to be exhibited at the House of Commons....

Lord French, who spoke after Lord Derby, said that the old I Volunteers had " made good," and in the earlier part of the war the glorious Territorials had stood between this...

Thi second Order was isstucd by Sir Fralicis Lloyd, coznimawling the London District. It limits the charges whivh niay be niadc fo! meals served to soldiers in the district in...

Me appoitument of -new Sea Lords has bU- announced. Admni I Sir tkecil Burney becomes Second Sea Lord in place of Vice-Admiral I Sir Somerset Golgh-Caltliorpe, -and Captain...

Though. no wise man, however -optinistic his-temperament, can. possibly regard the Rumanian news as anything. but glravk or feel. anything but deeply anxious over the successes...

Uhtil those armed forces have been destroyed, until the so-called | victorm can, say that there is no army I in, being opposed to them, or at any rate no army of sufficient...

I The telegram in the Times describing the debate, in the Duma tells us that M. Trepoff was interrupted again and again, and was unable to make his statement till the...

Still less will the Rumanian oil win it. In the first place, there is good reason to believe that the.machinery in the oilfields which have fallen, or are about -to fall; into...

Now suppose things happen as we are suggesting that they will, Aud that the Rumanians fall baclk upon such:a, line and can hold it. la that case we say deliberately that the...

The GOrman Civiliam Service BiI, whieh- authorli induattial conscription, was passed in the Reichstag last, Sataday. TheBiB was saved; from being wrecked by only one-vote on an...

I - Let us try to look at the maiter a little more seriously. Even if the whole of the available Rumanian corn crop could be laid hold of by the Germans and the...

| The. Rusaian Duma reopened last Saturday, when MI. Trepoff, the new Prime Minister, made a. statement of' policy. The most important point was the announcement that an....

What is much more likely is that the Rumanian Army will con-I tinue its retreat, rallying at a point somewhere to the north of Bucharoet, or rather at a line of- prepared po...

Sir Robert Walpole is said to have declared that there ought to be as few Prime Ministers as possible. " It is not good that many people should know how bad men are." With the...

But if we pardon such seekers after patent remedies, what are we to sav. of the men who were loud in abusing Mr. Lloyd George up to -the time of the crisis, and who suddenly...

Lorl ul!i;mn Bere.;ford, V.C. By Mrs. Stuart-Nenzics. (Herbert I Jenkins. 12s. 6d. net.)-Many people who Lnew the late Lord, William Beresford as Military Secretary to the...

How to Male the Railways Pay for thc War. By Roy Hlorniman. I (Routledge. lOs. Gd. net.)-Despite its sensational title, this book is worth reading. It is a detailed account of...

[To TN EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."I I NrR,-Can there be any doubt as to Shakespeare's belief in-or at least knowledge of-the Atonement when one finds in his works ouch a...

SHAKESPEARE AND THE ATONEMENT. (To TEE EDITOR OF " SPECTATOR.'J I Girn,-A better instance surely of belief in the Atonement, in the mouth of one of Shakespeare's characters,...

SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S MESSAGE. [To ToE EDITOM or TH " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-I am delighted to see Sir Douglas Haig's mesage to the country in regard to books for the troops and for...

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. [To TEZ EDrrOR oF THE " SPECTATOR. "I Sm,-Those who have read the communication of your correspondent Mr. Wm. Jeffrey on " The Origin of Evil " in your...

T TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CEVENKNES "-A REMINISCENCE OF STEVENSON., [To Tac EDrroa op Tz " SPECTATOR."] BiR,-There can be very few of the original characters of R. L....

" COMMON-SENSE." [TO THE EDITOR Or ITE " SPECTATOr.."I Sin.,-I think the world does not grasp what the Germans mean by the Kultur of which they are so proud. It is not art cr...

" CHRIST IN FLANDERS." Owir%, to the large and continued demand for copies of the poem entitled " Christ in Flanders," which appeared in our issue of September 11th, 1915, it...

A SOLDIER'S TRIBUTE TO HIS PLATOON OFFICER. [To THZ EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SrR,-This little testimony from a private " somewhere in France " to his platoon officer quite...

" A STUDENT IN ARMS." THU leading article in the Spectator on the death of Lieutenant Hankey and his article " Don't Worry " have been republished as a leaflet by Messrs. W....

WORDS OF CONSOLATION. [To WHZ EDITOa or THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-The enclosed fragment has been entrusted to me, and I wish through your columns that it might bring a touch of...

" BURY OR BURN." THE article under the above heading, dealing with the desecration of beautiful places by the scattering of pieces of paper and other picnic debris, which...

BO OK S. ISLAM AND MODERNISM.* Is 1892, a Committee was organized in America for the purpose of delivering a series of lectures on the History of Religions somewhat similar in...

POETRY.. ARROWHEAD COPSE. (Lines on an abandoned sector of trenches near Guillenont, September, 1916.) BODIES of men in the funk-holes Who in suffering crept there to die,...

Cbildren of all ages will be delighted with Miss Agnes Herbert's I A. Elephai (Hutchinson and Co., 6&e), which is the life-story of an elephant in Mozambique or Nyasaland, told...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK. I E-Tcace in (his column doe8 not viecesoarily preclude subseluent review.) I A Sheaf. By John Galsworthy. (W. Heinemann. 58. net.)- "Mostly pleas of...

I Retverei over Childhood and Youth. By William Butler Yeats. (Macmillan and Co. 6s. net.)-Sligo, Bedford Park, and a Dublin art school, a half-Cornish grandfather who owned...

INDIA AND THE WAR. [To SEE EDrTOR OF THN " SPECTITOR."] Srn,-It has been a great disappointment to many of us who have spent our lives there that India's part in this Great War...

HOW TO TREBLE FOOD PRODUCTION. [To TE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] Srn,-It is absolutely necessary to increase domestic food production as much as possible not only for...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. THE POLICY OF THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. [To TiB EDITOR OF TRY " SPECTATOR."] SmI,-I have read with much interest the articles on the Sibylline books in...

Further, we would have not a War Council but a War Trium- virate consisting of the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for War, and the First Lord of the Admiralty. This...

But though a General Election is clearly not desirable, we can imagine circumstances in which it would be inevitable. To provide for those circumstances we hold that a short...

I On the other hand, it is alleged by Air. Lloyd George's sup- porters that his proposition was that the Prime Minister should not only have the right to attend or preside at...

I The new Government cannot of course exist if they fail to get a majority in the House of Commons, but that failure we do not contemplate. The House of Commons, like the...

On ThurEday, December 7th, Mr. Lloyd George began his task I of Cabinet-making in earneEt. Iiis guiding object, as was most natural and proper in the circumstances, was to form...

NEWS OF THE WEEK. BOMBSHELL was dropped in Downing Street last Saturday, A and M. Asquith and the Coalition were blown out of office. We have dealt elsewhere with the wider...

On the afternoon of Monday Mr. Asquith asked the House of I Commons to adjourn until ThurEday, when he hoped the reconstruction of the Ministry would be, if it could be,...

I We must now mention a subject which may very possibly lead to heated and bitter controversy, though we sincerely trust it will not. What is the exact nature of the proposed...

From that moment the crisis followed its normal Constitutional I course. The King asked Mr. Bonar Law, as leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, to form an...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. MR. LLOYD GEORGE AND HIS TASK. M R. LLOYD GEORGE is in office and in power. His M own actions, the force of circumstances, a lucky star, and the pent-up...

AN OPEN ENEMY. THE Royalist Government at Athens has become an open enemy and must henceforth be treated as such. King Constantine, although he had refused to surrender the ten...

STEADY I WITE might say many things both bitter and true in V' regard to the crisis and the way in which it was brought about. We shall say none of them. To say them would do...

THE MAGAZINES. Ix the Nineteenth Century Lord Sydenham, late Governor of Bombay, writes of " The Danger in India." He freely recognizes the brighter wide of the picture-the...

WOMEN'S WORK ON THE LAND.* ' FAREnS is not a bit hard and horrid, like you said I was to expect," writes a member of the Women's National Land Service Corps, in a letter...

AN ART IN RULING. ULING requires an art just as much as life, according to L Wordsworth, requires it. Those who rule men during a crisis must not only be fit for their task but...

THE "STUDENT IN ARMS" IN ELSTEAD. [COMMUNICATED.] JOVELY quiet Elstead, a quaint little straggling primitive L Surrey village, which had sprung up among health-giving pines,...