I The Minister of Labour introduced in the House of Commons on Monday the Industrial Courts Bill, which has the twofold purpose of promoting arbitration or conciliation in...

| Though we hear of Ireland's prosperity, we hear little of Ireland's refusal to bear her share ot the burcen 01 Mne war, or of her cynical determination that if the world was...

ThA whAlA nrineninlA of self-determination disannears under I such a scheme. The proper area for self-determination in Ulster is that North-Eastern part where the population is...

We are most anxious not to be unfair to the Times, and we understand its desire to avoid politics and not to touch on debatable ground; All the same, what an untrue picture is...

I Sir John Du Cane, who has been appointed Master- General of Ordnance, is one of those Generals whose names were less familiar to newspaper readers. Nevertheless he has long...

But we cannot Draise too highly the invigorating and chival- rous spirit of Colonel Ward's speech. It really does one good to read such language as his. He is a straight...

The "Irish Number" of the Times published on Tuesday-a| perfect mine of interesting reading, be it said in parentiaesisis one of the most resilient political boomerangs we ever...

The Parliamentary correspondent of the Times on Wednesday I described the principles which he said are guiding the Cabinet Committee on the Irish question. The coercion of...

Most of the larie advertisements with which the number I is crowded belong to Belfast and North of Ireland firms. We have the Port of Belfast, Harland and Wolff, the...

THE "LONDONT MERCURY." W [TE congratulate Air. J. C. Squire and his colleagues most NV 8 heartily on the first number of the London Mercuiry (The Field Press, Windsor House,...

A LESSON OF ARMISTICE DAY. [COMMUNICATED.] THE League of Nations Union, under the leadership T of Lord Robert Cecil, has set on foot the idea of celebrating November 11th, the...

PISE DE TERRE AND THE PUSEYITES. T HERE is no better test of the greatness and attractive T quality of a religious movement than its all-embracingness. Wesleyanism became not...

THE PAINTINGS OF POPE. (To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Since drawing attention to Pope's portrait of Betterton, I have been enabled to refresh my memory by viewing...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 0- [Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more, read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.]...

NATIONALIZATION AND THE LIQUOR TRADE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR,-So illuminating and convincing has been the correspondence, of which I wrote the first letter,...

NEWS OF THE WEEK. A GREAT deal of fuss has been made in some of the newspapers about the visit to London of German and Austrian representatives for a Conference organized by...

To sai, therefore, that Germany and Austria should not be heard on the subject of famine is silly. They know more about their own conditions than we do, and in any practical...

On the whole, wve should doubt whether the aggregate of sufferingg in Germany is equal to the aggregate of suffering in France. What an error of tact on the part of those who...

One of the questions chiefly in dispute is whether the Germans I should be required to give up the milch-cows which they are said to have stolen from the French. -No decent...

In the House of Commons on Wednesday the debate on the vote on account of 118 million pounds for Arm)y Services turned almost entirely on our policy in Russia. It was...

Whatever the exact truth may be, we believe that nowhero are the conditions worse than in the devastated areas of France. There countless children are in peril from...

The fortunes of the Constitutional forces in Russia arc a series of swift vicissitudes. Both good and bad have to be placed on record this weck. A wireless message from General...

THE WELFARE OF THE EXPECTANT -11OTII1EJ.* MRS. SCHAELIEB has written a hook well worthy of indwiei'ii in the ' English Public Health Series," calling attention as it does to a...

The Labour Party made a concerted effort to gain seats in I the Borough Council elections last Saturday, and it achievea a considerable amount of success. In London, where the...

The Labour success in London was due in the main to theI profound apathy of the London ratepayer, who will grumble at the rates, but cannot be induced to take an interest in...

I It was M~r. Morgan, again, who took the chief part in placing on the American market the Anglo-French loan for 100 million pounds-a loan unprecedented in the history of...

We are very glad to see that when Mr. Balfour was inaugurated as Vice-Chancellor of Uambrndge university lie remarked that, though it was " the business of the community to do...

On Tuesday the London County Council decided after a long I debate to adopt the recommendations of the Highways Committee and to seek Parliamentary powers to make new tramways...

I We hope that Englishmen will come to recognize, if they do not do so already, how extraordinarily well deserved was the honorary degree conferred by Cambridge University on...

The miners' Members in the House on Tuesday attacked the I Board of Trade for appointing Mr. Duncan, a young Scottish lawyer, as Coal Controller and for not reducing the price...

We do not grudge the Labour Party their victories. On the contrary, we are glad to see them devoting their energies to a legitimate purpose. So long as they seek to extend...

W We greatly regret the decision of the London County Council, and can only hope that Parliamentary sanction will be refused. We imagine that if internal-combustion engines had...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-I was much interested in the article published in a recent number of the Spectator dealing with the proposal to start a " middle-class...

CARLISLE AND TIHE LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SiB,-Your correspondents on this subject have all treated this highly interesting experiment from...

A MIDDLE-CLASS FACTORY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. "] SIR,-I was much interested in an article in your issue ef October 25th entitled "A Middle-Classlaetory." It is...

LTO THE EDITOR Of THE " SPECTATOR."] SiR,-In the Spectator two or three weeks ago there was a letter advocating a "middle-class factory." In the daily Press this week reference...

SOCIAL UNREST. [To TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-It appears to me that the preaching of class war by the more violent Trade Unions is having the inevitable result of...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] I SIR,-As I happen to be one of those wicked railwaymen who went out on strike recently, and am guilty of the crime of calling forth the "...

TIE SCOTTISH CHIUPIIC ]ENAB3LING BILL. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECrATOR.'j SIR,-Dr. Gordon 'Mitchell has twice ar(lle.ised you-on August 23rd, and again on October II h-on...

AFGHAN ISTAN AN D BRITAIN. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIP,-Whenever I have been successful in approaching the British public through my articles and lectures, it has...

I The Cov'enant E.xplainfg. With an Iutroduction by Professor I Gilbert Murray. (Educational Publisling TCompany. Is.)- This useful pamphlet, published for the League of...

I A SkepLrd anwng WVolvs. War-Time Letters of Cadinal I Mercir (mith IPress. 5s. net.)-Mr. Arthur Boutwood h1 traniated the more important of the lettm and addresses I...

I Our lesser Brcethren. By William Brown. (iHcadley Brothcr.s. .2s.)-This is an attractive and kindly book on man's relations to animals. Mr. Brown, who is a veterinary...

I Europe in the MJitiig-Pot. By R. W. Seton-Watson. (Mac. millan. 4s. 6d. net. -Dr. Seton-Watson has reprinted from the New Europe, the Round Table, and other reviews a number...

The Aalo-FremcA Revietc for November contain aaimDortant I article by General Pilat on " Lord French and General Lanrezac " in August, 1914. Lord French in his unfortunate book...

I The Under Dog. By Montague T. Hainsselin. (Hoddler and Stoughton. 6s. ueti-The author of In the Northern MiJW4, pained by the contrast between the harmonious life of the...

" NO THOROUGHFARE." THIS is the motto inside the doorway of many minds. TSometimes it is the literal truth. The door leads into a blind alley. More often the notice is placed...

PUZZLED.-THE PRICE OF THE " SPECTATOR." I [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-There is a matter which is puzzling me, and probably others of your more thoughtful readers....

THE CITY CHURCHES. [To TE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-The Union of Benefices Act (London), 23 and 24 Vic., I c. cxlii., provides in Sec. 24 that, in order to give...

EAGLES AND FOOD. [TO TILE EDITOr OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-May I implore the aid of the Spectator, as the only scholarly liaper of wide circulation, to undo and set night a...

IN DEFENCE OF DE QUINCEY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Your correspondent appears to be totally unaware of De Quincey's strictures on Pope's famous lines upon...

A DONKEY FIGHTING TO SAVE A DOG. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."j SiB,-Lately a boy near here caught a badger (those are used by a " gentleman " for baiting with terriers)....

THE PLUMAGE TRADE. (TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-llaving read Mr. H. J. Massingham's article on the above subject in your issue of October 25th respecting the...

THE PENSION SCANDANDL. THE Ministry of Pensions has sent us the following remarks:" With reference to the letter signed ' J. W.' appearing in the Spectator of the 18th October,...

WERE THE RAILWAY HORSES LEFr TO STARVE? [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOB."] SIR,-" The iHon Supervisor of the Birmingham Branch, R.S.P.C.A.," complains that I " sign " my...

SECURITY FOR THE FARMER. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] par.,-The Spectator, apparently charmed with the Corn Production Act, tells us, among other surprising things,...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. PREMIUM BONDS. T HE Covernment have announced that they are T ready to reconsider their refusal in 1918 to issue Premium Bonds; and this is not surprising...

FICTION. TAM ARISK TOWN.* Wfiss KAE-SmTH'S new novel is the life-history, romance, and tragedy of a mid-Victorian town-planner. A Sussex landowner in the immediate...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK. I [Notice in this column dona not mceasarily produde subeequea review.] I TVE NonsMEu MoYMMs.- -The Ninefeenth Centary is largely concerned with...

I READABLE NOVELS.- -The Silrer Bag. By Thomas Cobb. (John Lane. '7s. net.)-Mr. Cobb writes his new drawing-room comedy with his usual detachment and accomplishment. Tho...

UNCLE PHIL. UNCLE PHIL is regarded by those of us who are privileged U to be related to him as a huge joke; the selfish section of the ratepayers of his own town call him a...

LORD FISHER'S MEMIORIES.* LORD FISHER, with a rare burst of modesty, imagines that his literary style is inadequate to express the vigour of his conVictions:" Why I so hate a...

THE MYSTICAL POETS OF THE E-GLISH CHUHE* I Mu. OsmosD modestly describes his work as " little more than an Anthology compiled from the mystical poets of the English Church with...

BOOKS. THE ISLAND OF SHEEP.* THis is a very clever, very amusing, and, low be it spoken, very useful book. Indeed, we are not sure that we ought not to withdraw that phrase at...

POETRY TIHE NEWV COLUMBUS. AMID the booths and shows, Full in the naphtha-glare, alad Christopher arose, The prophet of the fair. Wild-eyed and beetle-browed, A figure gaunt...

THE RIDDLE OF TIE RUHVENS.* MR. A?NDEW LANG is no longer hre to guide us down the byways of Scottish history, but he has a worthy disciple in Mr. Roughead, whose new book is of...

AMERICA'S LABOUR TROUBLES. W LE can sympathize with America in her labour VV troubles because we have had a similar experience. It is most unfortunate that, just as the...

THE LAST FOUR MONTHS.* SiB FREDERICK MAthICE has written an admirable little book on Marshal Foch's campaign which brought the war to a glorious end. Like The First Forty Days,...