4 JUNE 1927

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Some time must pass before it will be possible to

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estimate the results of the break with Russia. If the interesting information published in the Westminster Gazette of Wednesday is correct the immediate effect of the break has...

The invitation to Sarwat Pasha to open negotiations is framed

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quite as much in the interests of Egypt as in those of Great Britain. The Declaration of 1922, though it Was of signal importance, was conceived in a hurry in order to tide over...

On Thursday, May 26th, in the House of Commons the

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Labour Party brought forward their motion pro- testing against the rupture of diplomatic relations with Russia without previous inquiry by a Select Committee. Of course no...

Afterwards, however, a number of factors, mainly economic—in particular the

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coldness of the German Government towards the transfer of Arcos officials from London to Germany—caused the moderate or realistic party to recover its position. The writer says...

News of the Week

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T HE Government have sent a Note to Egypt and it was handed by Lord Lloyd to Sarwat Pasha on Monday. The Egyptian newspapers in characteristic fashion have been describing it as...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 13 York Street, Covent Garden,

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London, W.C. 2.—A Subscription to the SPECTATOR casts Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The...

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M. Venizelos has caused consternation in Greece by publishing in

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a Cretan newspaper a demand for a plebiscite to decide between Republicanism and Monarchy. The Greek Cabinet is still working upon the new Constitution, which gives it trouble...

* * * * Last Saturday Mr. Maxton, Mr. Lansbury

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and several other members of the left wing of the Labour Party took part in a luncheon given to M. Rosengolz, the Soviet Chargé d'Affaires, at the House of Commons. About fifty...

Professor Masaryk has been re-elected President of Czechoslovakia. As had

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been expected, he.secured at the first ballot the necessary three-fifths majority in a joint session of the House of Deputies and the Senate. The Communists alone produced a...

Tokyo • believes that Chang Tso-inn's fall is imminent; and

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the Japanese garrisons at Nanking arid Tientsin are being reinforced. If Chang Tso-lin really disappears a situation which has lasted for nearly sixteen years will be changed....

Mr. Clynes. was transparently anxious to disavow sympathy with the

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Soviet. The best part of a rather ineffective speech was that in which he dealt with the probable loss of trade. Sir Austen Chamberlain regretted the absence of Mr. MacDonald, "...

At last definite news is coming from China. The special

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correspondent of the Times at Shanghai says that the southward "drive " - of Chang Tso-lin's forces, which began on May 26th, has been ah expensive failure. But the losses on...

The Harper Report has at kit been published, but it

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will seem very dull to those who are anxious for naval scandal as it contains only a chronological record of facts at the Battle of Jutland. All the spice which might have been...

The papers of Monday published the Soviet reply to Sir

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Austen Chamberlain's Note. We need not pay it the compliment of analysing it fully. It makes the familiar assertion that all the documents seized were " forgeries." How tired we...

. The Trade Unions Bill has had a fair wind

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during the week, and it has been the cause -of much less trouble than :had been predicted. - On Friday, - May 27th, the Attorney-General was in a very conciliatory- mood and...

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On Monday the House carried the clause pro- hibiting 'Civil

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servants filin taking part in politics through membership of Ordinary trade unions. Labour members tried to assert the unassailable right of man, whatever - his occupation, to...

Captain Lindbergh, who flew alone across the Atlantic, flew on

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Sunday from Brussels to Croydon, where he was welcomed by a crowd estimated at 100,000 persons. Six other machines escorted him. When he first attempted to land the crowd was...

We publish elsewhere an article on the appeal of the

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National Playing Fields Association, which aims at bringing its funds up to £1,000,000. The ideal is that every child should have somewhere to play besides the Street or the...

Mr. Frank Hodges has resigned the secretaryship of the Miners'

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International. Mr. A. J. Cook, Mr. Herbert Smith and other officials of the British Miners' Federation have for a long time been trying to persuade the Inter- national to get...

* * * * We much regret to record the

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death of Professor J. B. Bury, Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, who can be placed without hesitation among the great historians of our time. At Trinity College,...

* * * On Tuesday the House passed the clause

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which prohibits local authorities from requiring their employees to be trade unionists. Mr. Neville Chamberlain reason- ably argued that local authorities are not like private...

• * * * Another prominent figure in the Labour

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world who is retiring is Mr. Havelock Wilson, the President of the National Union of Seamen and Firemen. Although he is nearly seventy years old, he has no liking for idleness,...

Bank Rate, 41 per Cent., changed from 5 per cent.,

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on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 100 h ; on Wednesday week 100.1's ; a year ago 100g. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 861; on Wednesday...

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The Trouble in Egypt

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A LTHOUGH the Declaration of 1922 nominally gave A Egypt her independence it gave it on strict conditions. These conditions should always be remem- bered when mischief brews...

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The Week in Parliament

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THE debate upon Russo-British relations was distin- 1 guished by a very remarkable speech from Mr. Lloyd George—easily the best he has made in this Parliament. He admitted that...

Room to Play

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T HE ascetic, Puritan or kill-joy view of play was false in its roots and poisonous in its fruits. Play is a necessity for all intelligent creatures. Intelligence is the...

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Advertising and National Prosperity

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IL—Some Crucial Failures H OW do we British, who were the pioneers in O introducing machinery to mankind, the very authors of the industrial revolution, answer the question why...

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On Iberian Railways

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A T the level of my waistbelt I saw the pigeon-hole of the ticket office, and I had to contort myself to bring my mouth to its orifice, through which I cried for a third-class...

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On the Saltings

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T ilE salt marshes arc neither land nor sea ; on the map they count as part of English - soil, but 'the waves continually invade them, filling their naked hollows and...

The Foundling Estate for Childhood

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our dirty, 'noisy, dark and overcrowded London We still try to 'rear . children, and still fail, only too often, in the task 'upon which, at all times and every- where, the...

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Art

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THE MEMORIAL EXHIBITION OF MR. W. P. DANA'S PICTURES.] MR. WM. P. DANA, who died last month in London, and whose pictures are now being shown at the Gieves Galleries in Old...

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Music

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[COVENT GARDEN OPER.t. : " FIDELIO.'] WE cannot pretend that we have had the ideal production of Fidelio at Covent Garden ; but we have had one good enough to convince us that...

Poetry

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In Memoriam F.E.W., R.F.C. 0 DEAR brown boy of shyest ways, In whose dark eyes were dancing lights Where, fairies revelled down the days And elves peeped gravely out o' nights,...

The Theatre

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[FORUM THEATRE GUILD. " THE COMBINED MAZE." AT THE ROYALTY THEATRE.] THE Forum Theatre Guild has taken a long leap from the remote austerity of The Dybbuk to the pleasantly...

Correspondence

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A LETTER FROM Deems. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—On June 9th an electoral contest in the Irish Free State, big with history, will come to the issue of the polls. The...

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A LETTER FROM GENEVA. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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ideas govern the world, this old globe of ours must surely have taken on an accelerated spin during the Inter- national Economic Conference at Geneva. For even in this home of...

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THE " OXFORD " BILL [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Stn,---With reference to the Oxford Bill, it may rightly be asked, if democracy means "government of the people, by the people, for the people," why should the...

[To the Editor of the SeHerATond

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SIR,—I have to thank you for correcting my statement that the expense of the polls following the Oxford Bill would fall on the taxpayers' shoulders. As you point out, the...

Letters to the Editor

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THE COMING OF. THE TOTALISATOR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The writer of the article under the above heading, in the Spectator of May 28th, winds up his arguments by...

HOW MUCH I SHOULD ASSURE FOR [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] 811 1,—I have followed Sir William Schooling's articles on Assurance affairs since they first appeared in the Daily Telegraph many years ago, but does he not...

THE PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN [To the Editor of the Srm-r.s.rort.]

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Sut, - -I trust you will not consider it a ridiculous thing for - a man with no scholarship to send you at feu lines on the question of the pronunciation of Latin ; but I think...

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CORRUGATED IRON AS A BUILDING MATERIAL [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—Your correspondents may be interested to hear some- thing of a comparatively new building material which may be used instead of corrugated iron., I refer...

AMERICAN LABOUR CONDITIONS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I write to suggest that the most important cause of good labour conditions in the United States is their prosperous agriculture, which...

THE DODECANESUS [To Me Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sta,—Although, as you state in the Spectator, the Greek islands of the Aegean called the Dodecanesus were by special treaty made over to Greece, in the so-called...

BREAKING THE CURSE OF BABEL

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] S1R,—Miss Pankhurst's letter admirably states the case for the adoption of a European, or more precisely, a Romance, basis for the vocabulary...

PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—It may be fully admitted that no one thus far can do more than guess how ancient Greek was pronounced. Would it not be practicable to...

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A SLUM GARDEN

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Perhaps you would care to tell your readers that the East End Garden their generosity brought into being from a waste patch is the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—No treatment of corrugated

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iron can make it agreeable to the eye, though painting or tarring renders it less obtrusive, and should therefore be compulsory. Does it ever occur to those who create ugliness...

BRITISH RAILWAY TIME-TABLES

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sza,—The sympathetic oreigner seeking for evidence that the people of these islands are the most long-suffering in the world might point to a...

THE CAR . OF THE FUTURE

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have read the above article in your issue of March 19th. Probably the most outstanding feature of the next twenty or thirty years will be the...

LONDON PUBLIC GARDENS

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[To the. Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May we be allowed to draw attention to the work of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association ? Its recent report shows that amongst...

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QUAKERS AND THE RUSSIAN SITUATION

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends now in session is deeply anxious concerning the situation existing between this country and...

LESSONS OF THE CENSUS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I believe in America, that a just man is called aWhite Man." Here in England, if he happens to think differently from others he is...

LIGHTING A WOOD FIRE

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] In your issue of April 30th there is an endorsement of the Cape Cod Lighter which I thoroughly approve, as we have had long experience with...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,- -I have had

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for about three years a neat device of my own making, on a similar principle to that of the Cape Cod Lighter. After being soaked in paraffin, it will blaze for more than five...

SPARE THE OTTER!

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,— After the badger, the otter is proliably the oldest, as he is certainly one of the most fascinating, of distinctively British animals....

THE COMFORTS OF BROADCASTING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,=-Permit me to give a notable instance of the great services rendered by broadcasting nowadays, particularly to those at all crippled....

PAINLESS EARLY RISING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,- - I should not like it to be thought that the letter of your correspondent, A. W. G. Stephens (on the subject of milk- drinking for...

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• * *

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We extend a hearty welcome to health for All, a new " nature-cure " monthly, under the editorship of Mr. Lief, of Champneys, Tring, and published at 53 Bedford Street, W.C. 2....

Professor McDougall has written a deeply interesting and fair-minded study

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of the causes of war and the possibilities of their prevention in his Janus, the Conquest of War (To-day and To-morrow Series. Kegan Paul. 2s. Od.). Every word of this book is...

Mr. Masefield has written a very interesting introduction to Messrs.

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Dent's eight-volume edition of Haleluyt's Voyages (E3 the set). The Elizabethan sailors drank a gallon of beer a day and ate a pound of beef and a pound of biscuits a day ; they...

We cannot agree with Mr. Collingwood Hughes . when he

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writes in Bets and the Betting Tax (Drano, 7s. 6d.) that the Chancellor _of the Exchequer has made " a political blunder of the first magnitude " (oh, these clichés !) in...

How pale- in interest do politics or the latest newspaper

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sensation seem before the marvellous and useful discoveries that are being made almost daily by• our men of science! There is no thriller of Mr. W. Le Queux's more interesting...

This Week's Books

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DURING the past month the books most in demand at The Times Book Club have been :— Frurrosr: Young Men in Love, by Michael Arlen ; Dusty Answer, by Rosamond Lehmann ; Rogues and...

General Knowledge . Questions

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" WHAT was it that Gallio cared so little about ? " asks Mr. S. P. B. Mais in Do You Know?—his amusing general know- ledge book published by Messrs. Brentano at 3s. Od. Here,...

• The New Competition

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Tim Editor offers a prize of 15 for the best philosophy of life which readers can write on the back of a postcard. We shall attempt no definitions nor shall we ask our readers...

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Jolly, Jolly Mariners

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WHATEVER Dr. Johnson may have said, ships and sailors maintain their abiding charm and fascination. " What vision was ever more romantic or beautiful than the Dragon boat of the...

Before and After Jutland

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The Truth about Jutland. By J. E. T. Harper. (John Murray. 5s. net.) TIIERE are fundamental differences between war by land and war by sea which, though we be a maritime...

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Lady Frederick Cavendish's Diary

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The Diary of Lady Frederick Cavendish. Edited by John Bailey. (John Murray. 36s.) Lent FREDERICK CAVENDISH kept a diary from when she was thirteen till when she was forty-one....

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The King of Birds—and Others Bird Life at Home and

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Abroad.. By T. A. Coward. (Frederick Warne. 'is. 6c1.) WHAT a splendid adventure Mr. Seton Gordon has described for us in this, the latest and surely the most deeply fascinating...

John Sargent

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Mn. CHARTER'S had a difficult task set him when he undertook to write the biography of a painter to whom scarcely anything ever happened that was not agreeable. In short, he had...

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Two Books by Mr. Stephen Gwynn

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Ireland. By Stephen Gwynn. (Harrap. is. 6d.) In Praise of Franca. By Stephen Gwynn. (Nisbet. 10s. 6d.) Two new books by Mr. Stephen Gwynn have come out simul- taneously for our...

English Cricket

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England Over. By Dudley Carew. (Martin Sockor. 3s.) I'wo very attractive books on cricket have lately made their ppearance. One is an anthology of stories, articles and verse...

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Saving England

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Rusticus ; or, The Future of the Countryside. By Martiii S. Briggs. (Kagan Paul. 2s. 6d.) TIIAT essentially English coin, the half-crown, would be well spent on the latest of...

Fiction -

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Fashions for All Mattock. By James Stevens. (Knopf. 7s. 6d. net.) Eros the Slayer. By Aino Kailas. (Cape. 6e. net) IT is growing harder than ever to define a " novel." Examples...

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Current Literature

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A SUMER-ARYAN DICTIONARY : an Etymological Lexicon of the English and other Aryan Languages Ancient and Modern and the Sumerian Origin of Egyptian and its Hieroglyphics. Part I....

ESSAYS ON CHRISTIAN POLITICS . AND KINDRED SUBJECTS. By William

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Temple. (Longmans. 7s. ad.)— The reproach that he speaks with uncertainty cannot be levelled at the Bishop of Manchester. These essays and addresses, written or delivered within...

HAROUN OF LONDON'. By Katherine Tynan. (Collins. s. 6d.)—In this

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nimble and pleasant fantasy Mrs. Tynan s her fancy play around an idea with which many, of her ders will themselves have toyed. Supposing one had lenty of money and time, would...

THE GEORGE EUMORFOPOULOS COLLECTION. Catalogue of the 'Chinese, Corean, and

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Persian Pottery and Porcelain. By R. L. Hobson. Volume IV. The . Ming-Dynasty. (Ernest Benn. £12 12s.)—The wares made in' China under the rule of the Ming emperors had lost the...

ULYSSE AND THE SORCERERS. By Marius-Ary Leblond. (Allen and Unwin.

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7s. 6d.)—The scene of this story, translated from the French, is laid at Saint-Pierre de la Reunion. Ulysse, a Kaffir, is cook to a European family. His wife deserts him, and...

THE SAVING CLAUSE. By " Sapper." (Hodder and ughton, 7s .

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ad.)Vigour of narrative; facility of invention, d a broad, charitable humour again cliaracterize "Sapper's" ork. He leads us into a very pleasant world, in which the ighty, such...

THE INDECISIVENESS OF MODERN WAR. By J. Holland Wise. (G.

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Bell and Sons. 10s. 6d.)—Professor Holland Rose opens his new volume of historical essays with two challenging papers on the indecisiveness of modern war, whether by sea or by...

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PLUTARCH'S MORALIA. Translated by F. C. Babbit. Loeb Classical Library.

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(Heinemann. 10s.)—Plutarch, especially when, as in this little volume, he is most readably translated, is one of the best of bedside companions. In the Moralia he rambles...

THE CATHEDRALS OF FRANCE. By T. Francis Bumpus. (Werner Laurie.

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31s. 6d.)—This is the reissue in one volume, revised and edited by Mrs. E. M. Lang, of the late Mr. Burnous's original two-volume edition. This issue has eight illustrations in...

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN : THE FIRST CIVILIZED AMERICAN. By Phillips Russell.

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(Ernest Benn. 25s.)— Benjamin Franklin was a great man in whom both America and England may take pride, and there was plenty of room for a new biography of him. Mr. Russell has...

RECOLLECTIONS OF SIXTY YEARS. By Allan Fea. (Richards. 12s. 6d.)—These

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scrappy memoirs of what the author calls a " reminiscenta/ recorder , ' contain a quantity of kindly gossip about mid-Victorian London during the era of the ' knife-board '...

Insurance

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THE NATURE OF LIFE ASSURANCE. FROM one point of view I sometimes regret that people know what little they do know, about the nature of life assurance, and the advantages it...

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Financial Notes

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MARKETS REACT. Fon the first time for some while investment securities have suffered a fairly general set-back, and the main explanation is to be found in the unexpected...

RECEIPTS IN LIEU OF CHEQUES.

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Quite a stir has been created in banking circles during the past week by the announcement by the Midland Bank of a plan foi escaping the irksome twopenny stamp in the case of...

Finance Public and Private

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An Unsettled Outlook DeRING the past week thc.attractions of Epsom and the Whitsuntide holidays may very well have accounted for much of the stagnation noticeable in Stock...

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* * * * A ROYAL BI-CENTENARY.

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Even in the banking world bi-centenaries are not everyday occurrences and the Management of the Royal .Bank of Scotland has been the recipient of many congratulations upon the...

FORESTAL LAND.

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Not the least interesting feature of the recent annual meeting of the Forestal Land, Timber and Railways Company was the account given by one of the members of the Board, Mr....

PROS AND CONS.

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The Midland Bank expressly state that the plan has been submitted to the Board of Inland Revenue and that no objection whatever to it has been raised. I think, therefore, that...

EMPLOYEES AS STOCKHOLDERS.

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I am glad to note the steady growth in the co-partnership movement in our big industrial concerns. The Southern Railway has not only just recently been inviting participations...