30 AUGUST 1946

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Conference on Palestine

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The conference an Palestine, which opens in London on Septem- ber 9th, is the fulfilment of Mr. Bevin's statement that any decision reached on Palestine should "if possible, be...

The Big Four in the Saddle

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This week's meeting of the four Foreign Ministers is as much to be welcomed as it is long overdue. If it were not true it would be incredible that a Peace Conference should...

NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE spotlight on Mr. Jinnah grows

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stronger and stronger. The Muslim League leader has shown little dislike so far fOr the glare of publicity, but for once it is possible to detect a lack of confidence in his...

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The Waste Land

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The British genius for making a virtue out of necessity has been demonstrated once again by the steps which have been taken to regularise the position created by the squatters...

Herrings and Waste

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The statement that 192,000 herrings were dumped into the sea at Whitby on Monday "to avoid flooding the market" emphasises the need few planning. At glut periods some food must...

Oil to the Rescue ?

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Mr. Arthur Homer, the Communist President of the South Wales area, was last week elected general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers in succession to Mr. Ebby...

Progress in the British Zone The pre - requisite for any improvement

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in the situation in Germany Is more food for the people. Last week twelve persons in Hamburg died from starvation. Reports of this sort indicate the background against which all...

THE SPECTATOR apologises to those readers who have received their

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copies late in the past two weeks. The reason is a dispute in the printing trade, which still continues.

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THE BALKANS

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1 1 1 HE agenda for the Paris Conference provided that Balkan 1 problems should be considered. There was little hope that any of them would be settled at this late stage in...

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The other day I applied to _his same Board of

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Trade for an import licence in respect of six hawks and six racing pigeons. The Board of Trade granted a licence for the hawks but jibbed at the racing pigeons. "This request,"...

A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

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I WONDER how the increase in the paper ration will affect three publishers of my acquaintance who, having been released from the Forces, have joined together to start a new...

* * * *

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It is not true, as is sometimes loosely asserted, that the British have a genius for making themselves uncomfortable ; but they go about the job in a quietly determined,...

* * *

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The bulldozer I hired, at 30s. an hour, to clear the else impenetrable jungle left by over-thinning 30 acres of beech for the Ministry of Supply in 1940, makes a good job of it....

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THE BRITISH WAY OF LIFE

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T HE word propaganda, highly respectable in its parentage, was thrown on the streets during the first world war and became synonymous with lies. In the second world war this...

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U.N.R.R.A. TO U.N.O. ?

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By T. R. HENN U.N.R.R.A. was begotten of political idealism, not unconnected with the Fourth Term. It was to be international, above all considera- tions of race, creed or...

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THE PROMISED LAND

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By EVAN JOHN W E have promised it — so we are told—to at least two other races, and we still hold it ourselves. It is always easy for our enemies to represent Perfide...

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THE RAND STRIKE

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By T. A. HOOPER T HE strike of the native workers on the gold mines of the Rand lasted approximately for one week and affected at its height eleven mines and some 50,000...

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EXPERIMENT IN FUEL

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By R. J. M. GOOLD-ADAMS I HAVE just come back from Eire. On the road in County Kerry I was given a lift by a Dublin business-man on holiday. When he opened the door of his car...

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MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON O F the many phenomena which perplex our unhappy age, perhaps the most formidable and the least understood is mass propa- ganda. In a sense, of course, this...

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THE CINEMA-, " Piccadilly Incident." At the Empire.—" Concerto." At the

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Gaumont, Haymarket—" Mr. Griggs Returns." At the Ritz. HERBERT WILCOX appears to have developed a special formula of his own, designed no doubt to capture the box office on...

In My Garden It has been asked whether pruaing, and

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consequent kiss of vitality in the bush, is responsible for gooseberry mildew. Personally, I dislike wholesale pruning of any shrub or tree whatever (except black currants and...

Island Welfare

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One of the most dramatic civilian episodes of the war was the com- plete evacuation of Alderney by the Admiralty at moment's notice. The little population is now returning,...

COUNTRY LIFE I Am told that a lecturer in economics

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at Oxford used as an example of a "vertical trust" the action of the I.C.I. which set up a partridge-farm on the argument that the target, as well as the explosive, was of...

Commons and Manors A complaint has been raised that the

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newer Lords of the Manors of our commons do not take their duties seriously; indeed, totally disregard their property. In one place farmers are alleged to have exceeded their...

Flower Protection

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The late Director of Kew, Sir Arthur Hill, set on foot an experiment to test whether bluebells were damaged by much plucking, and the results are now known. It seems that no...

Postage on this issue: Inland, rid.; Overseas, id.

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ANGLO-DANISH RELATIONS SIR,-If it is not too late, I should

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like to comment briefly on what Mr. Ensor said in your issue of August 9th about our relations with Denmark. Mr Ensor laid great stress on the South Slesvig question, and...

THE ART CRITIC'S RESPONSIBILITIES Stu,—Not long ago someone called at

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one of the fine houses in Roe- hampton, long disused and recently occupied, to inquire politely of the owner if a local artist might add to his record of buildings in the neigh-...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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CHINA'S CRISIS SIR,-Dr. van Dusen's article seriously misrepresents the situation in China. He admits "the steady decline among all classes of the Chinese people of confidence...

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TROTSKY AND WELLS

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Sta,—Dr. Huxley says quite rightly that "Wells, the encyclopaedist, re- ceived some hard strokes from specoialists andpedants." But a knock that really seemed to have hit the...

THE PITFALLS OF EDUCATION

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Sia,—It was sad to read Mr. Thompson's comment on the Czech educational experiment. I am in firm agreement with him that a cer- tain type of unemployment offering serious...

THE JEW IN BRITAIN

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SIR, —With reference to your article in The Spectator of August 16th, may I point out to you that this organisation, the Jewish Fellowship, knows nothing of conflicting...

TEARS OF COMPASSION

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SnI,—I wonder why Katharine Gordon was moved to tears at the sight of the German prisoners in the procession. Was it the thought of the thousands who died to save the world...

MEN AND THE MINISTRY

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SIR, —Is it fair to invite young men to enter a ministry when the majority of them will never be able to make ends meet except by marrying money, or earning additional funds...

PRICE DISCRIMINATION

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Sut,—I want a Thermos. These I am told are in short supply, and, not being an agricultural labourer, I cannot have one. This seems fair enough. But, if I will buy a basket,...

THE STRANGE CASE OF MR. ODLUM

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SIR, —Will you allow me to 'raise a question in the case of Mr. Odlum that has not yet found expression in the correspondence ? It would seem that when the actions of a...

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- A History of Socialist Thought

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The Socialist Tradition : from Moses to Lenin. By Alexander Gray. - (Longmans. 21s.) The Socialist Tradition : from Moses to Lenin. By Alexander Gray. - (Longmans. 21s.) Tins is...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

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A Survey of Religious Freedom AMONGST the indispensable freedoms specified in the Atlantic Charter, none has had a more chequered history nor suffered more severe setbacks even...

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The Critical Approach

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Explorations : Essays 4n Criticism Mainly on the Literature of the Seventeenth Century. By L. C. Knights. (Chatto and Windus. 10s. 6d.) ESSAYS that have appeared as artides or...

Travel With Miss Baker

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Alone and Loitering. By Silvia Baker. (Peter Davies. 15s.) IN 1938 Silvia Baker, who had previously been making animal studies at the London Zoo, set out on her travels. Her...

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Industrialising China

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China Enters the Machine Age. A Study of Labour in Chinese War Industry. By Kuo-Heng Shih. (Oxford University Press. 14s.) THOUGH the researches on which this book is based were...

Cambridge Doctors

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MEDICINE, both in this country and the world at large owes a very great deal to the illustrious alumni of Cambridge U niversity and the medical school in which they were...

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Shaw's "World Classic"

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Back to Methuselah. By Bernard Shaw. World's Classics. Revised Edition, with a New Postscript. (Oxford University Press. 3s. 6d.) IN or about 1944 the Oxford University Press...

Fiction

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SOME people when recommending novels for holiday reading seem to think that the more idiotic they are the better ; the idea seems to be that when we relax we become morose. But...

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THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 390

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[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the- sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opened after . ' noon on Tuesday week, September loth....

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 388

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• prier urn dnonnmum dinnium D OOM MEM MEMMIMMM MECIMMO ROOOMMOM mmmmmmom unnomnommn EIGIMMGAMM UMMONM MMMMIIMOM n on nmmm UEMOMM mammon u se amino unman annimMEMO...

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Henry IV. Part II. Edited by J. D. Wilson (Cambridge

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University Press. 8s. 6d.) THESE two volumes continue Dr. John Dover Wilson's labours as editor of the New Shakespeare, seventeen volumes, of which have already been published....

In Praise of Cricket. An anthology compiled by John Aye.*

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(Muller. 2s. 6d.) IT is rather surprising that a first-rate game like cricket should inspire prose and verse which is mostly second rate, or worse. Functionalism has this in its...

Shorter Notices The Boon of the Atom. By George Bankoff,

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M.D., F.R.C.S. (Faber and Faber. 6s.) IT is a difficult task to condense and explain in relatively simple language the present conceptions of matter and energy and to record the...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTOS INTERN/mom% politics flanked by falling prices on - - Wall Street, have again cast their:shadow over the London market. What is more remarkable than the damping...

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