T HE Republican forces in Catalonia have survived a dis- astrous week, in which the Government has suffered great losses. Tarragona has fallen; the insurgents have ad- vanced to...

Chamber on the Spanish ques- tion on Tuesday showed that France is profoundly alarmed at the prospect of a victory for General Franco; but alarm struggles with a deep-seated...

Foreign Minister, Herr von Ribbentrop, to Warsaw on Wednesday may have a profound effect on the future of Europe. It follows on the recent visit of the Polish Foreign Minister,...

unrest is so intense that a repetition of the troubles of last year is seriously feared. The heavy unemployment in Kingston is being swelled by immigrants from the plantations;...

in several areas early this week have been both officially and popularly attributed to members of the I.R.A. Their re- sponsibility has still to be positively proved, but the...

published this week, is couched in distinctly firmer language than the British Government has been accustomed to use lately. It wholly rejects Japan's claim, as outlined by...

the impending conference on Palestine is conveyed by Mr. R. A. Butler's speech to the League of Nations Council on Tuesday. Recalling what the existing position is, since the...

week of Count Czaky, the Hun- garian Foreign Minister, signalises yet another success for German policy in Eastern Europe. Last week Hungary announced her decision to join the...

States Navy Board for the fortification of the Pacific island of Guam recalls one of the keenest controversies aroused during the Washington Naval Conference in 1921-2. Guam,...

work in awakening public opinion on problems of nutrition. The study of national nutrition policies began only three years ago, and during that period the number of national...

in Great Britain last year, 6,595 people were killed (5 more than in 1937), and 226,854 were injured (nearly 500 more than during the previous year). The main reason for the...

the major achievements of Student Movement House in Russell Square in his broad- cast appeal for funds on Sunday evening when, referring to the students of 6o nations associated...

the " farmers' candidate " in East Nor- folk, may have been prevailed on to withdraw at the eleventh hour, but he has the satisfaction of having elicited from the Prime Minister...

thrown the Labour Party into confusion. Last week the Labour Executive rejected his proposals that the Labour Party should take the lead in. forming a Popular Front uniting all...

this week, Sir Auckland Geddes, after advising housewives to build up gradually a store of preserved foods and bottled water, made the sensible state- ment that there was too...

T WO questions must be asked regarding Mr. Cham- berlain's visit to Rome—was he wise to go, and what has his visit achieved ? The answer to the first does not depend on the...

the East Norfolk election, has with- drawn from the field, and the Government can rest assured there will be no split in the ranks of its some- what restive supporters. It is...

this week I think the general impression pre- vailing in this country about the state of Czecho-Slovakia needs revision. It has, of course, what may - be considered up to a...

wrote last week on the tactics employed by a relatively small body called the National Unemployed Workers' Movement implied a lack of sympathy with the unemployed generally....

guilty a week or two ago in the case of Ian Hay—Major- General John Beith, may in certain circumstances cause un- intended inferences to be drawn. It arose, it may be...

question worth considering. After twenty years might not the con- ventional wreath-laying by Ministers of any country visit- ing any other be quietly dropped now ? It has...

elbow, I said " I thought " Mr. George Turner was the first lay headmaster of Marlborough. He is not, nor even the second. Mr. (now Sir) Frank Fletcher and Dr. (now Sir) Cyril...

I am bound to say I read with surprise, as well as regret, the Daily Telegraph's leading article on the League of Nations on Tuesday, constituting as it did an elaborate...

T HE rumours about a possible visit of Field-Marshal Goering to this country seem to have no very solid basis, but in a letter which Lord Londonderry published in his book...

By SIR DONALD CAMERON [This is the third of a series of six articles on Imperial problems. Next week General Sir Ph,' Burnett-Stuart writes on Imperial Defence] U NDER the...

By GEOFFREY VICKERS• T HE salutary shock of last September brought home to many people for the first time that the crisis in which we had lived so long might be partly at least...

By LAWRENCE ATHILL A SITUATION of some interest has just been liquedated in East Norfolk. In the throes of it a few days ago, I felt like a man who cannot see the soil for the...

By A " SPECTATOR " SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT T HE Government is keeping a tight hand, by means of the Home Office and Ministry of Labour regulations, on all refugees who wish to...

By D. B. KITTERMASTER [Mr. Kittermaster was for fifteen years a housemaster at Harrow] O NE of the most time-honoured traditional beliefs of the Public School world used to be...

By LOUIS MACNEICE I WAS in Barcelona from December 29th till January 9th. The most surprising things I saw were on January 9th— in Toulouse, where I landed by 'plane from...

By JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD I STILL use it. Nor would I part with it. I don't know the make, but I've never seen its equal for getting out ink without tearing the paper. Where did...

Government supporters' have said as much, and after delivering their consciences by one bold speech have been driven like sheep into the Government lobby or slipped silently...

She has no false motives. Yet I hand to her, as a gesture of conciliation, a further quotation. " Be bolde," wrote Longfellow: "Be bolde, be bolde and everywhere be bolde Be...

pendent Member for the Combined English Universities; she is more than a contemporary political figure; she is a character out of the Faetie Oueene; she is the Britortart of...

a foreign policy which is more in accordance with the conscience, the vigour, and the traditions of our race; that those of us who feel that our present defence programme is not...

By HAROLD NICOLSON I N last week's issue of The Spectator appeared a letter from Miss Eleanor Rathbone on the subject of Mr. Duncan Sandys' first hundred thousand. It was a...

Such hesitation does not prove him to be either dishonest or cowardly. It is understandable that a supporter of National Government may disagree with certain aspects of the...

was told by Dwight Morrow—who was in truth a great European, while remaining a great American. It was during the War. He had some business with Sir Joseph Macleay, at that date...

AWAKENING AMERICA By H. A. MARQUAND• A UNITED STATES Congressman and I listened to the broad- cast of President Roosevelt's message to Hitler at the height of the September...

Happens to Me." At the Warner—" The Cowboy and the Lady." At the Gaumont. Valley of the Giants begins with a series of extremely long and flowery titles explaining all those...

The Chamberlain Touch THERE is no subject upon which pianists are so touchy as that of " touch." They like to think, and they like others to think, that there is some...

[Von einem deutschen Korrespondenten] NicHT nur die Menschen und Tiere wandern, einzeln, in Gruppen oder in Volkern. Heute, im Zeitalter des grossen weltumspannenden Verkehres...

The Baby Giant Panda A RECENT expedition to the mountains of South-West China has enriched the London Zoo with three giant pandas and a golden snub-nosed monkey, animals so rare...

Are local councils afraid that people will insist on living in such places if they are left erect? Doubtless men have been found living in corners of a garage or even less con-...

Condemned Cottages The local council recently issued a demolition order in regard to a line of old and very beautiful cottages. They had histori- cal and aesthetic value, and...

The owner of some extensive farms in Berkshire asked me the other day whether there was any danger of his sheep being affected by the presence of hordes of immigrant pigeons....

One of the best gardeners I ever met—he was a French- man and a master of his craft—used to sow his sweet peas in earth contained by a circle of a broad wooden shaving. These he...

A principle much under discussion at the moment, both by road-makers and preservers of amenities,. is whether it is better, where possible, to enlarge and straighten existing...

A Kent gardener finds difficulty in explaining the behaviour of his birds to his berries. The gardener has a - number of berried hollies. One close against the side of the house...

A young naturalist (who came to show me some photo- graphs of South African birds) said that during his three- mile walk he had seen and heard two willow tits, a bird that in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—I fear a large section of your readers will be dis- appointed with Mr. F. P. Bishop's apologia for the admitted influence which the...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Lady Simon takes both you and me to task for com- menting unfavourably on the Report of the Consultative Committee of which she is a...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] am sure that many of your readers will have read with interest the letter from Mr. Korostovetz which appeared in your issue of January 6th. In...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, — Believing The Spectator to be genuinely fair-minded, I feel sure that (in spite of your appearing to publish so far only articles and...

Sul,—Dr. McCleary's article on the refugee problem appears to me to be admirable as far as it goes, but not to go far enough to be really helpful. For the question whether we...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—I have recently returned to England after a visit of seven weeks to the United States, part of which I spent in driving across the country...

interesting article in your issue of January. 13th on the economic problem of refugees reminds me forcibly of some scenes I witnessed in the South of France this summer. As a...

your issue of January 6th speaks of President Roosevelt's speech as historic. The first letter in your correspondence, signed Philip Noakes, suggests that British stock has...

• [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] StR,—Mr. Woosnam-Jones' naval article was far from satis- factory to many readers, I am certain. The experience of the World War showed the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, — What does Sir Arnold Wilson mean when he recom- mends the Egyptian Government to make the passage of the Suez Canal free, as was done "in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, Will you allow me to comment briefly on Mr. Gillie's reply to my letter? M. Reynaud might succeed to induce people to repatriate their...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Stn,—I send you the following information concerning lynch- ings for the year 1938. I find, according to the records compiled in the Department...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,— Nearly six hundred years ago this same question was raised: Loke who that is most vertuous alway, Privee and apert, and most entendeth ay...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—The new Criminal Justice Bill proposes to abolish not only flogging, but also such things as hard labour and ticket- of-leave. Many people...

SIR,—In a Letter to the Editor in your issue of January 6th, Mr. D. W. Douthwaite produces an excerpt from Who's Who to show that a writer whom he describes as " X. Y. Z. " is a...

Snt,—Mr. Harold Nicolson asks: " What in this island do we really mean by " gentleman' "? Does not Chaucer answer this question admirably in his description of the perfect...

Spectator of January 6th, on the vexed question of flogging exhibits all the usual bias which appears inseparable from controversial matters. Sir Reginald Coventry's views have...

SIR,—It may console Mr. Whitehouse to know that the Editor of The Spectator occupies an inch or so more of Who's Who than the editor of The Times, half an inch more than the...

The European Inheritance (W. T. Wc11s) Modes of Thought (C. E. M. Joad) The Mad Queen of Spain (John Marks) .. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Edward Sackville West) The Arts of...

Days in Old Spain. By Gertrude Bone. Illustrated by Muirhead Bone. (Macmillan. 12s. 6d.) The Spanish Arena. By William Foss and Cecil Gcrahty. (Gifford. 18s.) On se trompe...

A FEW years ago a new book by Professor Whitehead was in every sense of the word a philosophical event. Many, I make no doubt, will still consider it to be so. Our times are not...

Samuel Taylor Coleridge. By E. K. Chambers. (Oxford. THE mind of S. T. Coleridge has been by no means neglected by recent critics. We have had the psychological analyses of Mr....

The Arts of Scotland. By John Tonge. (Kegan Paul. 3s. 6d.) THERE is comparatively little in Scottish art that can rely for its appeal on its looks alone. The fifth-century...

Miss Weeton : Journal of a Governess. Edited by Edward Hall. (Oxford University Press. Iss.) AUTOBIOGRAPHY, or self-portrayal, is an art in which the lonely and literary woman...

Britain. By Mass-Observation. Arranged and written by Charles Madge and Tom Harrison. (Penguin Special. 6d.) ABOUT half of the new Mass-Observation book is devoted to the...

The Finance of British Government, 1920-1936. By Ursula K. Hicks. (Oxford University Press. iss.) INTEREST in the subject of public finance has increased, since the War, both...

Revue. By Beverley Nichols. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) MR. BEVERLEY NICHOLS' latest book comes as a relief after his crusades for God and Harry, England and Saint George. The...

By KATE O'BRIEN Rabble in Arms. By Kenneth Roberts. (Collins. 9s. 6d.) The Adventures of Christopher Columin. By Sylvia Thompson. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) The Young Cosima is a...

At last the London fare increases are officially outlined and they follow very closely the forecasts made in these notes in recent weeks. It is clear that the railways, main...

place. Here we are with the New Year only a fortnight old and markets are already in the throes of a really bad attack of nerves. Just what has caused this latest spasm it is...

In the circumstances, the recently-appointed Committee representing Transport " C " stockholders is surely acting wisely in holding its hand until the effects of the higher...

Like other members of the " Big Five," the Midland, which is still the largest, has suffered a modest setback in earnings. Net profit is shown at £2,445,671, against £2,508,009,...

First of the bank chairman to vouchsafe us his views, Mr. Edwin Fisher, of Barclays, explains that last year's moderat.: setback in published profits was due partly to increased...

MICHAEL NAIRN AND GREENWICH THE 17th annual general meeting of Michael Nairn and Greenwich, Limited, was held on January 17th in London. Sir Michael Nairn, Bart., the...

The plight of the shipping industry, which has led ship- owners to ask the Government for a renewed subsidy, is also reflected in the latest returns of the shipbuilding...

was expected, an appreciable fall in the visible adverse trade balance—a smaller excess of imports over exports. The adverse balance for the year was £43,352,000 lower at...

which expand very rapidly. Is consolidation getting proper atten- tion? Is the lust for mere size dominating what may have been the original aim of true rationalisation? Are...

With the publication of the December figures of rubber consumption in the U.S.A. it is possible to form a close estimate of world rubber consumption for the whole of last year....

ALEXANDERS DISCOUNT COMPANY MR. COLIN CAMPBELL'S ADDRESS THE 71st ordinary general meeting of shareholders of Alexanders Discount Company, Limited, was held on January 18th at...

BARCLAYS BANK LIMITED OVERSEAS TRADE Mr. EDWIN FISHER'S SPEECH The Forty-fourth Ordinary General Meeting of Barclays Bank was held on Thursday, January 59th, at Southern House,...

of the land, upon which the success of agriculture so much depends, are, as a rule, very gradual in their operation and difficult or impossible to assess accurately from year to...

Viscount Melbourne visited the Queen on Monday morning ; and in the evening Viscount Melbourne, Lord Glenelg, Mr. Spring Rice, Mr. George Byng, and Viscount Melbourne's nephew...

Sir Michael Nairn, the chairman of Michael Nairn and Greenwich, told the shareholders at the meeting on Tuesday that close co-operation had been established between the lino-...

Since the War Loan conversion and the subsequent fall in money rates the London discount houses have found it im- possible to earn a living at their traditional business of...

[A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked "...

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