THE postponement .of the League of Nations' Com- mittee of Eighteen, summoned originally for : today (Friday) for the purpose of adding coal and oil to the list of commodities...

Entered as second-class Mail Matter at the New York', N.Y. Post Office, Dec. 23rd, 1896. Postal subscription SOs. per annum, to any part of the world. Postage. within issue :...

usual conflicting, and reports of sensational developments on either side Must be accepted with reserve. General Graziani's advance is at least arrested, but more probably by...

print M. Laval's political fate may be known. The odds are on the whole in favour of his temporary survival, if only because no one is anxious to take his place, least of all...

George of Greece to his country and his palace has been, he finds himself immediately plunged in problems of some gravity. His own policy, obviously both a right and a wise...

is taking strange turns. The independent government that was to include five provinces has dWindled down now to a com- paratively small area in the demilitarised zone controlled...

between the French Ambassador at Berlin and Herr Hitler at the end of last week appears to be in excess of what the facts justified. There is no doubt that M. Laval is anxious,...

of the Socialist party in the House of Commons by no fewer than 88 votes to 48 is more significant, than .most Socialists Would care to admit. Though it might be argued that it...

during the last. few years has raised in an acute form the problem of the loca- tion of industries. It has been realised that industrialists cannot choose factory sites at...

they are the politicians who most deserve.prornotion. The most successful of them in the jut Parliament was undoubtedly Mr. W. S. Morrison. Whatever the hour and however weary...

Mail, draws opportune attention to the need for Government action to protect crops and property from the flood menace of which so much of the country has had disastrous experi-...

for the other fad on which the Speaker laid stress—" that there has been a growing tendency in our debates for them to become the delivery of a series of set speeches." The...

Winterton. He obviously prepares his speeches carefully, but he is able to weave into them most effective answers to the arguthents of the opposition. Though Mr. Morrison is now...

Many un- familiar words and phrases in the twelfth annual report of the British Empire Cancer Campaign, published this week. The dozen years have seen surprising contributions...

a new Parliament opened with an appeal from Mr. Speaker to Members to shorten their speeches. It is not the back-benchers that are the worst offenders, but the ex-Cabinet...

speech of Mr. St. Claire Grondona, the District Commissioner for the " special " area of West Cumberland, is worthy of note. " We have the resources at our collective disposal,"...

T HE heading of this article may in the end prove unjustified. May it be so. But all the indica- tions are that a critical point has been reached in the development of the...

T HE most complex of the many dffi icult problems facing the new Parliament is the impending crisis in the coal trade. To the long history of strikes, Royal Commissions, and...

T HE Cabinet changes are few, but they do not, I believe, represent finality. Two of the Defence Ministers, Sir Bolton .Eyres-Monsell and Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, both...

general thought in fitting language on great occasions, and nothing could have been better than his simple tribute at Earl' Jellicoe's funeral in St; Paul's on Monday to " a...

at the Garrick, is a young woman of enterprise as • well as talent, and. I shall be surprised it much more is not heard . of her, even if little more is heard of the amusing...

Paul's is initiating on Ludgate Hill, is developing great .possibilities. I see that in Edinburgh a similar programme is to be followed outside—and inside—the Tron Church,...

" a film fan." So, at least, he has described himself in an interview. And there is no reason to sup- pose that lie will fill less competently than a hundred other people who...

WALTER DURA,NTY -T ACTS are stubborn things," said Lenin, and' life flows on despite cataclysms, wars and revolu- tions. Evolution is a slow and natural process, whereas...

fly H. POWYS GREENWOOD " HAT we need is a dose of the good old Potsdam W spirit—after all an army's real job is to fight." The propounder of this rather surprising criticism...

By IAN DALRYMPLE T HE entry into office of a new film censor is an opportune moment for reflecting upon the wisdom of restrictions and their scope. Mr. Bernard Shaw never...

By STEPHEN CUSS OLD N ONE of those who listened-in to the broadcast Election speeches could fail to realise that the last decade has seen the emergence of a new factor in...

By B. L. WOODWARD T HERE were many Emperors in Peking before Khubla Khan. One of these Emperors made a lake and a summer pleasure garden on the north-west side of the city,...

By ROSE MACAULAY L AST week was the year's record so far in deaths and injuries from that disease which we call " on the roads." As usual, it • has set people suggesting this...

Turin; is no quiet in the earth, In the green root of history, or the leaves Bending toward the earth ; In the brown eyes, the lake reflecting Cumulus, cirrus, moving; Or in the...

A Letter from Oxford [To the Editor of Tun ScEeyrron.] is recorded that Mr. A. P. Herbert. having avoided forfeiting his £150 deposit, has hurriedly collected the paltry £10...

" The Last Outpost." To be shown at the Plaza.—" The Irish in Us. ' At the Regal The Last Outpost, which will be shown shortly at the Plaza, is a curious mixture. Half of it'...

The Theatre "Not for Children." By Elmer Rice. At the Fortune.-- " The Inside Stand:" By P. G. Wodehouse. At the Saville 111n. EmnPtRICE's new play is difficult to describe,...

Chinese Art at Burlington House BURLINGTON HOUSE is looking beautiful. How has it been done ? There is an inexpressibly rejuvenated air about it : yet is not the art of China...

[Von einein Deutschen Korrespondenten] FRAU ELISAIWT I FORSTER, die Schwester Friedrich Nietzsches, ist in1 holier biblischen Alter gestorben ; sic ist neunzig Jahre alt...

Tan visit last week of thirty music critics, representing the chief newspapers of seventeen European countries, was both a happy social affair and a musical event of importance....

Not in one place but many a new policy is coming into being in the management of our commons. Some of the best have recently been bought, some by local authorities, some by golf...

It is prophesied, I see, that some of our birds, especially woodpigeons, are likely to have a hungry winter owing to the dearth of beech mast and of acorns. The pigeons are of...

A Crisis in Preservation The National Trust has come to a crisis or something very like it ; and the fact was not hidden by those who spoke on its behalf at an entertainment in...

• The English fox is one of the few animals that has multiplied under legalised pursuit. If you look back at the records of some of the hunts (one of which, the Heythrop, has...

Controversialists have made the alleged ." March Cuck'o,,. notorious, but we have heard nothing in the .past, of that much less likely bird the November Cuckoo. So the bird...

Now the National Trust has a very pleasing title, but it is a misleading one. The Trust .is not national in any real sense. It endeavours to save for the nation places and...

The habit of producing a propagandist Christmas card is increasing, especially in pursuit of the cause of rural preser- vation. The best that I have seen this year (if...

[To the Editor of Tar. SPECTATOR.] have read with interest the article called " The Tragedy of Coal " in The Spectator of 15th inst. The article generally is a fair statement...

[Correspondents arc requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed...

SPECTATOR] am not much impressed by• what Mr. , Arthur Ernest Wynn thinks a•well-known American ought to know. • Mr. Frederick Peabody (no relation to the distinguished...

SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am 'an " Anglo-Indian by inept designation and a Eurasian by preference. As a loyal Anglo-Indian I should share the pleasure which Mr. Glorney Bolton's plea...

SIR,—For 50 years I have been sufficiently interested in the lot of the coal miner to feel that Isis pay is not commensurate with the extremely hard work, discomfort, and risk...

great gratitude the forcible letter of Mr. Thomas Burns in reply to the hopeless summary of the situation by Mr. Geoffrey Crowther. Mr. Burns writes as an industrialist, and...

[To the Editor of THE Sm . :ma:roil.] Sia,--It was not I but Mr. Millis who described the conduct of Walter Hines Page' as " treasonable." In my review I objected to the word as...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,---How would The Spectator answer the following question ? Suppose the " application of Sanctions " by sonic 50 nations succeeded and...

[To the Editor of Tun SPECTATOR.] S respect Mr. Van Dieren as a genuine composer, and, since reading his book, as a critic of great originality, and should be seriously dismayed...

[To the Editor of Tai: SPECTATOR.] The Spectator of November 22nd, in the paragraph relating to the return of King George of Greece, I read with surprise the following : " The...

Experiment By G. P. GOOCH Mn. Fisnit's many readers will congratulate him on the completion of a long and arduous task. To offer a fresh, authoritative, penetrating survey of...

Mars His Idiot. By H. M. Tomlinson. (Heinemann. 7s. 6a.) THE importance of this book is not only its denunciation of war (though that is quite terrific) but its raising of a...

THESE two books provide excellent material for • the student of the' problems and the prospects of the League of Nations. Dr. Shisson, in his well-proportioned and...

Shakespeare's Imagery and What it Tells Us. By Caroline F. E. SpUrgeon. (Cambridge UniVersity Press. 2,5s, ) IT is not too much to say that the understanding of Shake- sl lease...

Ma. PENJIALICON'S book is a squib " flung in the face of the Irish," a race—though Mr. Penhaligon denies them the right to be called a race—of whom he appears to have an...

.Tticau have been times when a new theory in ethics made 'a • difference to men's actions ; nor are they far off ; the utili- tarians had a real effect on opinion and law. It...

The Rise of the Stewarts. By Agnes Mare Mackenzie. (Maclehose, 12s. 6d.) THERE is a far too prevalent belief, or if not belief, supposition, that Scottish history only really...

The Frontiers of England'. By Sir Arthur Willett. (Heine.; mann. 108. Gcl.) " TnE frontiers of England," said Mr. Baldwin, " are on the Rhine." So Sir Arthur Willert a few...

By SEAN O'FAOLAIN 7s. 6d.) Kola areare six novels, presumably typical, and certainly varied ; they are discouraging. It is no pleasure to read books of which one feels that they...

By Lewis Letts . • The knights errant of Mr. Lewis Letts' hook (Blackwood, 12s. 6d.) are the armed native policemen of Papua who, under white officers, keep the peace between...

GRAND TOUR • - - Edited by R. S. Lambert .There are .good and bad excuses for uniting several well- known authors in a single volume. Mr. Lambert's excuse is one of the...

A title of this sort invites the reader to disbelief : the • material of Wild Career (Harrap, 8s. 6d.) is indeed 'almost unbelievable. In the twelve or so crowded years which...

By Malcolm Cowley • There is no reason for. Mr. Cowley's calling his book (Jonathan Cape, 10s. 6d.) " a narrative of ideas." It is the story—told in the manner and with the...

(Allen and Unwin. 18s.) The Coming Civilisation. By K. Ingrain. (Allen and Unwin. Os.) Antony. By the Earl of Lytton. (Peter Davies. Os.) This Torch of Freedom. By Stanley...

Currency and Politics in Franc I SHOULD fancy that the occasions have been few when political and financial crises haVe not been closely inter- twined. During the past - week...

DECEMBER sees the beginning of the great annual rush of spending by the general public. During the cOming month more money will be spent than at any other 'time of the year, and...

There seems to be no limit to the growth in prosperity of some of the popular stores, and during the past week the announcement was •.made by Marks and Spencer. Ltd., of an...

INVESTMENT RESOURCES. AFTI. , :R a considerable pause there has been a resumption during the past week of public flotations of new capital of the Trustee type. Sunderland led...

At the annual meeting of Mitchells and Butlers, the Chairman, Sir William Waters Butler, devoted; as will be seen from a report on another page, a considerable part of his...

Shareholders and customers alike of the Royal Bank of Scotland have becOme accustomed to anticipate the main- tenance each year of a good dividend coupled with a sound report...

L A P CHOI - Pill T II I C K -- Si r IT1 I 1 . 1. 1 j I. B RI 1 A D 0 1 - El Q UTTFE al tr BIO Da,' E GI it N D 7 gim AIWI A T AH22'; El R Ili II S Iii PI P E...

BY ZENO IA prize of one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this ?veers I crossword puzzle to tee opened. Envelopes should be marked "...