SIR,-" A Chairman of Quarter Sessions" is wise in his analysis of the fundamental evil of any institution in which offenders are gathered together and live cheek by jowl. In...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR f i-th an winnl ..te nrnvision of nlavinL-fields. Qvmnasia. swimx 7 As ss Tars Tnrns s true D (! YOUNG OFFENDERS SIR. -I have read with interest the...

"GERMANY AFTER THE WAR" SIR,-Your critic of my article in the Contemporary Review, put forward avowedly " by way of suggestion and stimulus to thought "surely a needful service...

The President of the Board of Trade, who is busy with the forced amalgamation of various trading concerns-" telescoping," as it has come to be called-has stated definitely that...

Twvo great speeches were reported in Wednesday's Times. One wszas by the Prime Minister of Great Britain in the House of Commons, the other by the Emperor of Ethiopia on his...

* * * * The Prime Minister's qualities are evinced as much in lesser matters as in greater. Not long ago the Mastership of a famous College fell vacant. The appointment,...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK II EOPLE who know the new Minister of Shipping and p transport seem to think there is nothing like Leathers, and it may be hoped that they are right. He...

* * * * The Yokohama Specie Bank, I understand, has cancelled all advertising in the British Press after May 3Ist. A straw in the wind? JANUS.

Major-General Buckley, Controller-General of Economy at the War Office, has, I read, suggested that as a means of economising petrol in the army "the different Commands should...

I I ear very interesting accounts of the extensive use being mad- of microphotography at the British Museum, on American initiative. In view, no doubt, partly of the danger...

I I The latest on the night-raider. Air-Marshal Sir Edward Ellingion, at Manchester on Tuesday: " I will not prophesy that the end of the night-bomber is in sight, but if the...

w X w w Government Departments are so often, and so justly, criti- cised for the pedantry, elaboration and obscurity of their official documents that it seems only fair to pay...

Police-witness at Bow Street: " His mother is a respectatl* woman. His father is dead at the moment." In spite of the optimistic implication he will probably stay dead.

WHAT TO TELL AMERICA By ALLAN NEVINS (Professor of American History at Oxford) OF the aroused spirit of the American people, of the fact that they have resolved to make what...

It can, however, do nothing but good to have had the debate, if only to thrash out in public the serious nature of the issues, to temper criticism with responsibility, to make...

I So inevitably everything centred round the Prime Minister, L just as it used to centre round Mr. Neville Chamberlain. No one who cares for the English language can resist his...

At such a time one could wish that Mr. Hlore-Belisha had omitted certain sentences from his speech such as " When my right honourable friend (Mr. Eden) went out to the East, he...

Will there be changes in the organisation of departments as a result of all the oratory? That is the acid test. Will anyone be sacked? Will an order be sent round all...

lessons from Plymouth The successive bombardments to which Plymouth has been subjected and the suffering inflicted on men, women and children in its crowded areas reveals a...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: After a year of tribulation and courage, victories and defeats, Mr. Winston Churchill remains the undisputed...

Bv-election Issues At the time of going to press polling was still m progress n the King's Norton by-election, but it required no great boldless to foresee a decisive victory...

[he Future of Public Schools By an interesting and by no means inopportune coincidence inWOrtat paper by the Headmaster of Winchester on the ture of public schools,...

ROTTING ARMIES By M. VAN BLANKENSTEIN AII GERMANY has shock-troops, which are used for the offensive, but she has also large armies which are stationed in the territories they...

The United States To Convoy ? Mr. Stimson himself, in the significant speech he broadcast on Tuesday, insists that America is not going to let those aircraft and other...

NEWS OF THE WEEK | RAQ has for the moment assumed an importance hardly second, if second at all, to Egypt. Once more Germany s subversive efforts have been successful, and...

merican Aircraft Production During the last four months United States aircraft production has nearly doubled. Among the general public here, and doubtless also in America,...

STRAFFORD: i64I-I941 IE By C. V. WEDGWOOD IWO O D ON May I2th, i641, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, was beheaded on Tower Hill. Although he inspired one of Macaulay's...

Rural Elections To my recent note about parish-councils another point is worth adding. The election of councillors in rural districts has been suspended for the duration of the...

COUNTRY LIFE Sugar-Beet Sugar Before giving the promised recipe for the extraction of sugar from sugar-beet I must give readers fair warning of a snag of which I knew nothing...

WHEN IS A SHOP NOT A SHOP? SIR.-As a regular and appreciative reader of your paper may I ask vou, if possible, to find space in your columns for this letter dealing %with a...

RATIONALISED RATIONING SIR,-The present rationing scheme becomes unjust when the alternatives to rationed foods, such as poultry and fish, are available only to those able to...

A USE FOR OLD BOTTLES SIR.-In your issue of April iith "Janus" asks if there is really no c use for old bottles. The answer is that in a number of districts g [here are special...

MISS BUTLER ON RILKE SIR.-Miss Butler's book on Rilke may be as bad as Mr. Geoffrey Grigson thinks, but when a critic attacks an author's style he should at least be careful of...

In the Garden A country-gardener working a small market-garden gives me some good tips on onions, and also an example of what really patient and expert finger-and-thumb sowing...

WANTED A SHAKESPEARE SIF.-I am a gunner in the R.A. and am at the moment situated in all solated site in Sussex, and have been finding it very difficult to cbtain with any...

,T.N.T. POISONING t SIR,-In your number dated April 4th you published under the f signature of Irene F. Hilton, Diana M. Macdonald and John Wild, N a letter on the risks of...

CLASSICAL PREMIERS SIR,-As " Janus " (who exactly divined my own classification) said in his note, there are several interpretations of the word "scholar," and I took the...

''A SAD HISTORY " ye SIR,-With reference to your criticism of Mrs. Hicks's letter in the h Sunday Times, I should like to-point out that she did not take exception to the...

"A WAY OUT IN INDIA" I SIR,-Mr. Arthur Moore's article " A Way Out in India," which appeared in your issue of May 2nd, is very much to the point. While cordially welcoming his...

LORD HALIFAX Jima SIR,-I am sorry that "Ex Aede Christi " should thinks anything that I wrote of Lord Halifax "both unkind and unfair," for it Nvai far from my intention to...

BOMBING AND MORALE SIR,-In your "News of the Week" for April 25th you are almost led into thinking that it might be good policy for us to endeavour to lower German morale by...

CONFIDENCE-AND QUESTIONS N one sense, as we observed last week, the vote of I confidence which the Government has just been given is superfluous. In the eyes of the public,...

The Angler and the Trout. By Huish Edye. (Black. ios. 6d.) Tiiis is a well-conceived and well-put-together book on fishing for brown trout, addressed equally to the...

(Or PANY VEETNG ASSOCIATED AUTOMATIC CORPORATION MACHINE DIVIDEND OF 6% The I2th ordinary general meeting of the Associated Automatic Machine Corporation, Ltd., was held on...

British Calendar Customs. England: Vol. III. Fixed Festivals. June-December. By A. R. Wright, F.S.A. Edited by T. E. ...... .... . . Lones. 'William Glaisher 2IS.) THIS would...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT I By CUSTOS RUMOUR is busy again with the future of the railways. According to some people who ought to be well informed the Government is toying with a...

Haunted England. By Christina Hole. (Batsford. Ios. 6d.) A CHILD of four was looking at a photograph of a steeplechase. Under his breath he said, " I suppose you do that again...

Books of the Day Basic Bible The New Testament in Basic English. (Cambridge University Press. 8s. 6d. Pocket Edition 3s.) THIS is the first instalment of the Basic English...

Mechanised War II The Nature of Modern Warfare. By Captain Cyril Falls. (Methuen 11 4s.) CAPrAIN CYRI FALLS has done well to publish his Lees Knowles lectures; and he has...

- -A Dabbler in- Diplomacy Seven Mysteries of Europe. By Jules Romains. (Hutchingivn. I2S. 6d.) THOSE who may be inclined to lay this book down in irrita- on because they...

Haile Selassie's Return it The Emperor Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa last Monday, exactly five years after the arrival of Italy's conquering troops. Notables and other...

Stalin His Own Premier M. Stalin, the dictator of Russia, has hitherto been content to be General Secretary of the Communist Party without holding any official position in the...

America and Japan Mr. Stimson made no specific mention of Japan in his speech, but when he spoke of the necessity of commanding more than the reaches of ocean adjacent to our...

The Campaign in North Africa II On the front in Libya and Egypt in the neighbourhood of Sollum the enemy at present do not seem to be attempting any serious advance, and the...

Farewell to Mr. Menzies Before his departure for the United States Mr. Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister, gave a farewell message to this country, which was broadcast on...

Farewell to Laurels Plant and Phantom. By Louis MacNeice. (Faber. 6s.) A Winter Tide. By Robert Nathan. (Knopf. S2.) Apollyon and Other Poems of 1940. Bv George Rostrevor...

Nazi Parnassus German Literature Through Nazi Eyes. By H. G. Atkins. (Methuen. 6S.) THE contempt which Nazi authorities feel, on principle, for culture and philosophy is well...

Shorter Notices 1I The British Contribution. By Donald Cowie. - - (Allen anL I UnWU1. 5s.) WHILE we are all proud of our country, we are less ready thl some other nations to...

Fiction The Farm on the Hill. By Alison Uttley. -A " If (Faber and Faber 7S. U-.) The Bay. By L. A. G. Strong. (Gollancz. 8s. 6d.) The Silver Darlings. By Neil M. Gunn....

FLYING FOR THE FLEET By A PILOT AIRCRAFT of the Fleet Air Arm . . . have made a torpedo-attack on units of the Italian fleet, have divembed enemy shipping off the Norwegian...

Our Times I The Londoners. By James Parish. (Hamnish Hamilton. 7s. 6d.) I Dusk to Dawn: Letters by a Warden. (Constable. 7s. 6d.) The Wounded Don't Cry. By Quentin...

Invertebrate Politics The Behaviour of Animals; an essay on the conduct of natiorn:l organisms in the nutritional field. By Morley Roberts. (Dent. 12S. 6d.) ONE receives,...

COMPANY MEETINGS THE MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA PROFITS AND DIVIDEND MAINTAINED TliE annual general meeting of the Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd., 'ill be held in London on May...

MITCHELL COTTS AND CO., LIMITED POSITION FULLY MAINTAINED I STATEMENT BY MR. ALEXANDER HAMILTON I I THE following is the statement of the chairman, Mr. Alexander Hamilton,...

THE CINEMA I "I Kitty Foyle." At the Gaumont- --" Back Street." At the Odeon.f Kitty Foyle and Back Street both are the stories of women who must make a final choice between...

ART The Royal Academy "THE pride and self-respect which are the natural concomitants of genius will be more likely to keep a man out of the Academy than bring him into it; and...

NAZI SOCIALISM By DERRICK SINGTON FEW weeks ago in the Great Session Hall of the German 1 Labour Bank in Berlin Dr. Ley announced to a gatherg of representatives of the German...

The War Surveyed THE DANGER IN IRAQ By STRATEGICUS I THE main difficulty in producing an accurate balancesheet of the war is not the reluctance of the Government to disclose...