A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK T HERE is one aspect of the Budget
Tribunal's work which I have not seen mentioned, though it certainly should be. The tribunal has (lone its work to universal admiration, and no one will wish to discriminate between the services rendered by its several members. Mr. Justice Porter has presided with conspicuous ability, but his two colleagues have added to their claim on the nation's gratitude by the considerable financial sacrifice their acceptance of this public duty has involved. Both are busy King's Counsel, with lucrative practices, and between them they must be out of pocket by some thousands of pounds through their temporary assumption of judicial functions. They have no doubt strengthened their claim to future elevation to the Bench', but it does not necessarily follow that they desire that. Meanwhile, the Tribunal, inci- dentally to its main purpose, has released a good many unsavoury odours. Opinion may differ as to the morality of gambling in its varied forms, and in the case of the Stock Exchange in particular no sharp line can be drawn between investment and speculation, any more than it can, in another field, between legitimate and illegitimate insurances. But the direction of searchlights on the lives of a number of gentlemen anxious to make money other- wise than by working for it may be salutary in the end.
The Emperor of Ethiopia deserved a better welcome than he got in London on Wednesday. The weather was less depressing than it had been earlier in the day, but it had been no one's business to arrange any reception, and the Foreign Office, embarrassed by a situation without exact precedent (lack of precedent always agitates officials gravely) could manage nothing better than a half-hearted compromise between welcoming the Emperor adequately and not welcoming him at all. The enthusiasm of the crowds made up for a good deal, but even the crowds were to some extent frustrated by the unexpected and unexplained change in the route followed from Waterloo to Prince's Gate. And even with the cheers there was mingled a certain subconscious- ness at any rate of shame. It was not this country's business to save Ethiopia single-handed. But Hail Seilassie must have been moved to pregnant reflection as he contrasted with his country's defencelessness evidences of the might and prosperity of a nation pledged to protect the weak against the lawless.
The aspirations rather casually and sporadically ex- pressed here and there in this country for the formation of the kind of " Popular Front" which now has its estab- lished place in the polities of countries like France and Spain are very unlikely to lead to anything tangible—for one very good reason, which its advocates largely ignore. In both France and Spain it is a case of a " front " against an enemy, to wit Fascism. That is the cohesive agent not any positive programme. The Popular Front parties, in point of fact, have the greatest diffi- culty in agreeing on that, and have achieved nothing but a compromise satisfactory to no one. In British political life the essential element is lacking, for no one is going to be forced into a defensive coalition by the menace of Sir Oswald Mosley, much 'less by Sir Henry Page Croft and his impeccable colleagu,es of the Con- servative Right. If there is going to be a new crystallisa- tion in British politics, which is highly doubtful, it is much more likely to be round the standard of the Left Centre than of the Centre Left.
The fact that the Germans have been triumphantly celebrating the anniversary of "the victory of Skager- rak," or as we call it, Jutland, and that we, as our manner is, have let the day go by default, gives the world—par- ticularly a new generation with no personal memories of 1916—some excuse for believing that it really was a German victory. I am glad to see the naval corre- spondent of the Daily Telegraph calling attention to that danger, for even in this country the idea that the British fleet was defeated at Jutland could easily take root. The answer to the German claim, of course, is simple. The purpose of each of the rival fleets was to hold com- mand of the sea. The British fleet held it (so far as the surface of the sea was concerned) even more incontestably after Jutland than before. German cruisers did achieve one or two useless raids on the east coast of England before Jutland. They did not even attempt any after it.
By Canon Dearmer's sudden death (not so completely unexpected to those who knew how serious his illness last summer was) the Church of England loses a distinctive and in its way a distinguished figure. Few men could speak with greater authority on Church art, Church music, and liturgical ritual. Of the vast number of volumes he produced on different subjects two will keep his name alive longest, The English Hymnal, of which he was joint editor with five colleagues, and Songs of Praise, for which he was personally responsible. Both volumes display an admirable catholicity ; Dr. Dearmer once observed to me how strange it was that some of the best modern hymns seemed to be by American Unitarians. He had particularly in mind Samuel Johnson's "City of God, how broad and far" and F. L. Hosmer's "Thy Kingdom come, on bended knee," and, of course, Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Lord of all being, throned afar."
Miss Ruth Draper's annual return to London is an event. There is nothing of age about Miss Draper, but if there were, it could never wither her, and custom has utterly failed to stale even her ,most familiar sketches. At the Haymarket this week she is as good as ever, which is another way of saying that she is as good- as she —or anyone else—could be. All the well-known sketches are having their turn—I still put "Three Women and Mr. Clifford" at the top of the list—and there are some new ones. "The Actress," which I saw on Tuesday, was new to me at any rate. It gave scope among other things for Miss Draper's astonishing command of languages—in this case French and Italian and Polish, as well as for some finished acting, while the older study of the Dalmatian woman at a New York hospital brought in one more tongue. In spite of occasional emulators Miss Draper remains unique. JANUS.
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