30 OCTOBER 1920, Page 3

We must add our hearty congratulations to those of the

many journalists and literary men who gave a dinner on Wednesday night to celebrate the centenary of the firm of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son. The newspaper Press owes much to the enter- rise and the scrupulous impartiality of the famous wholesale newsagents, who had built up a wonderful distributing system even before they started their railway bookstalls. It is right also to say that literature is much indebted to them for greatly extending the facilities for the purchase or loan of books. Their new bookshops have been a boon to readen and writers alike. We wish Messrs. W. IL Smith and Son continuance of the prosperity which they have so well deserved.