A DISORDERED SUNDAY By MICHAEL LANGLEY PCOLITICALLY Mosley's Sunday afternoon meeting in P Bermondsey was ineffectual. Forestalled at West Lane by the local Labour Party,...

TRAVEL NOTES SOUTHERN RHODESIA To the majority of people in this country Southern Rhodesia means little more than the name of a British colony somewhere in Africa. Actually,...

But those who have been at Geneva during the Assembly I that has just ended will be the least inclined to intone dirges over the League. Not that the Assembly has achieved...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK I IT is curious, in diplomacy as in private life, how many events that seem due to malignity are in fact the results merely of accident or incompetence....

Having been out of England for a week or two I cannot judge how far the Press generally have done justice to the League of Nations' new Assembly Hall which was taken into...

One more word in connexion with Geneva. Mention has 11 been made in one of the, reports before the Assembly of something that even in these dark times might be hopefully...

Everyone who has in the past week seen films of the reception of Signor Mussolini in Germany (I myself had three separate doses of it in the course of a single performance at a...

BIG GAME IN ANTARCTICA By Erich Dautert The big game of Herr Dautert's book (Arrowsmith, I2S. 6d.) are whales and sea-elephants. The author went to the Antarctic island of...

THE FACE OF THE EARTH By J. H. Curie In less than two hundred and fifty pages Mr. Curle scurries about the globe in rather aimless fashion, so that The Face of the Earth...

HOT STRIP TEASE By Geoffrey Gorer Mr. Gorer's book (Cresset Press, 6s.) is spoilt by an unnecessarily pretentious introduction. He there emphasises that he is relatively a tyro...

CURRENT LITERATURE WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM By Richard Heron Ward This study (Bles, 8s. 6d.) is published under the aegis of Mr. Maugham, who has allowed the author to examine...

I THE MELTING POT By Hakon Morne The Melting Pot (Hodge, 8s. 6d.) is another book about the Balkan countries, but the originality of-the author's outlook, his eye for unusual...

Two useful handbooks have just reached me, all of which are well illustrated. The first is called Winter Sunshine and is full of suggestions for winter holidays abroad. The...

Spain This week again there has been little fighting in Spain, except in the Asturias, where the insurgent advance continues slowly, impeded by the bad weather and by the...

Hitler's Renewed Demand for Colonies Whilst Herr Darr6 last Saturday was congratulating a Berlin audience on Germany's reduction of imported foodstuffs, and was exhorting the...

Alberta -- '-I. __ I After two years of office, in which little of his programme has been fulfilled, Mr. Aberhart, the Social Credit Premier of Alberta, appears to have reached...

The Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference succeeded in gettingf round the most controversial issue which had threatenei its harmony by concessions arranged by the...

The Terrorists in Palestine The action taken by the Government in Palestine to stop terrorism at its source was long overdue. It has now declared the Higher Arab Committee and...

Punishment in the U.S.S.R. The ruthlessness of the " purge " which has been taking place in the U.S.S.R. has antagonised many people who cannot believe in the justice of the...

* SHEEP OR STAGS ? [ To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.} Srn,-Mr. -George Blake's article on this subject can seldom have beeen excelled in the way of inaccuracy of statement and...

THE IRISH INVASION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Mr. L. T. Fleming apparently believes like Macaulay that every historical problem can be solved by statistics....

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [Correspondents are 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...

THE AGE OF GENERALS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-May I, an elderly man, say how entirely I agree with your sensible remarks in " News of the Week " of your issue of...

NEWS OF THE WEEK PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S speech was timed perfectly to obtain its maximum effect on those nations who are anxious at least to attempt to exert a restraining...

The Franc Despite the declaration of policy issued after Sunday's Council of Ministers, the franc this week fell to the lowest point in its history. The Cabinet had declared...

Protests in London and Chicago The spirit of the great mass meeting at the Albert Hall list Tuesday, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, V- Is undoubtedly...

FINANCIAL NOTES UNSETTLED MAKETS. I WITH the war in the Far East, with all its horrors, still proceeding and with the financial situation further disturbed by the French...

THE INWARDNESS OF THE FRANC CRISIS To recite the numerous causes responsible for the recent debdcle of the franc, or even to discuss the various measures which have been...

FINANCE THE HALF-YEAR'S REVENUE AT a moment when the National Expenditure is rising steeply by reason of rearmament outlays, it is encouraging to note that the Revenue itself...

THE CINEMA ';}Knight Without Armour." At the London Pavilion-" The March of Time." At the Cameo NEITBER the irresponsibility of the scenario nor the richly comic performance...

STAGE AND SCREEN MUSIC Miss Baylis Asks for More I SuPPOSE I am not unique in having forgotten that a project for a National Theatre existed in a concrete form-that is upon a...

W E - -- . ._T . . I -WISE- IVSTME3NT STOCK markets keep trying to -throw off their fit of the :blues ,but only with limited success. The trouble is that the patient has not...

RAILWAY NET REVENUE ESTIMATES They injunction to speculators to buy home railway ordinary stocks on the strength of the coming rise in the published weekly traffics seems to me...

MALAYALAM RUBBER It is discomfiting to rubber-share speculators but inevitable in present conditions that market dealers are following the course of prices in Mincing Lane...

Venturers' Corner One cannot help being impressed by Argentina's recovery. Internal trade, to judge from banking, production and employment figures, is not merely improving but...

ATTRACTIVE PREFERENCE STOCKS What do these estimates imply in relation to the companies' preference and ordinary stocks ? London, Midland &,Scottish would earn 2j per cent. on...

" PETITES ELECTIONS" [D'un correspondant parisien.] LES electeurs iront aux urnes dimanche dans leurs cantons. Huit jours plus tard ce sera le scrutin de ballottage dans les...

ART Picasso Unfrocked THERE is something pathetic in the sight of a talented artist struggling to cope with a problem entirely outside his powers. This is the feeling aroused...

THE VOICE OF UNDER THIRTY THE future is in the hands of the post-Waf generation. - . That is a safe generalisation, for in some future, near or far, the men and women born...

UNITED STEEL. The favourable impression created by the preliminary profit statement of the United Steel Companies was certainly not in any way diminished by the full report...

A GOOD DIVIDEND. The condition of the stock markets during the past fortnight has not been favourable to good dividend announcements having their usual effect upon the shares...

INVERGORDON Tho Mutiny at Invergordon. By Lt.-Commandtr Kenneth Edwards, R.N. (Putnam. ios. 6d.) THERE is in human nature a tendency to forget events which have been painful...

THE RAPE OF ETHIOPIA Italy Against the World. By George Martelli. (Chatto and Windus. 12S. 6d.) "IN his capacity as correspondent to the Morning Post," we are informed, " the...

- EUROPE DIVIDED AFTER prolonged discussion and much compromise, A the League Assembly was this week presented with the resolution on the civil war in Spain. The resolution was...

THE DOCTORS' DILEMMA [To the Editor of THE SPFCTATOR.] SIR,-Amongst the many reviews of Mr. A. J. Cronin's novel The Citadel no one, so far as the writer is aware, has-drawn...

RELIGIOUS REPRESSION IN RUMANIA [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-In the middle of last April a ministerial decree was published in Bukarest by the Ministry of Cults....

VERBAL INSPIRATION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Janus is certainly right in contending that belief in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures is not " a question by...

PHEASANTS AND FOXES [To the Editor of THE SPECTATORj SIR;-In the Country Life notes in your issue of October ist, Sir William Beach Thomas says that the intensive preservation...

A COLONIAL ARMY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-I have been reading with much interest the various schemes to stimulate recruiting. It seems to me that even if the Army...

" BOYHOOD CHANGING INTO MAN " Peter Waring. By Forrest Reid. (Faber and Faber. 7s. 6d.) MR. FORREST REID, though his work is not very widely known, is a novelist of the first...

CHILEAN ADVENTURE Revolt on the Pampas. By Theodore Plivier. (Michael Joseph. 8s. 6d.) A BOY of fourteen whose father has been killed by the Nazis stows away with a friendly...

THE CASTLE WoRDs fa&l, words fail, like rocks, like falling stones; Out of the towered clouds and the dark air, Words fail, and a tree of blackness falls: There is nothing at...

THE PARIS EXHIBITION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-In the interesting article on the Paris Exhibition in your issue of September 24th the writer says, " the peoples of...

MORE LATE THAN SOMEWHAT. [To the Editor of THE SPECrATOR.] SIR,-It is maybe a matter of two or three months ago that I am reading a most unusual item in the daily bladders and...

The Wisdom of Whipsnade How very wise an act it was to double the Zoo and give the animals a country as well as a town house becomes more and more evident. Whipsnade is proving...

A London Bee The other day I made some allusion to the number of hover-flies and imitation bees to be seen in London gardens, where there were no bees, which it might be of...

Mushroom Superstitions In a discussion on edible fungi (on which subject the Ministry of Agriculture issue an illustrated guide) it has Been queried whether the Morel is an...

Late Daisies Those ingenuous persons who call themselves phenologistn should be interested in the general complaint among gardeners that their Michaelmas daisies are abnormally...

COUNTRY LIFE Capricious Migration We all watch our swallows and are consciously aware of their departure, the more so as they are never so obvious ts when they gather in...

Courage of the Partridge Instances of the courage and resource of the parent partridge -me to the notice of most country dwellers. Here is one as reported to me. A lady out for...

Freedom and Disorder The Fascist march turned out as had been expected by everyone but the Home Secretary, who in the name of political liberty tolerated a procession...

The Growth of Cities The Royal Commission appointed last July to enquire into the geographical distribution of the industrial population held its opening -meeting'this week,...

Cost of Living Inquiry The index figures of the official cost of living issued periodically by the Ministry of Labour are of immediate practical importance since many scales of...

Prison Reforms Some interesting information is now available about the prison reforms which Sir Samuel Hoare, having completed his tour of the prisons, proposes to bring before...

Holidays With Pay . Evidence from representatives of a number of important trades has been heard this week by the committee which is considering the question of holidays with...

SOME COMMENTS ON CAMBRIDGE By ALAN MORAY WILLIAMS HAVING just come down from Cambridge after three Ht very enjoyable and, I hope, not altogether wasted years, I have naturally...

SCIENCE AND THE SNAKE [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-While I have no intention of questioning Mr. Trobridge's -knowledge of the anti-venom serum and its possibilities,...

MAGISTRATES versus MOTORISTS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-" None of us is infallible not even the youngest " (excepting barristers ?). The Bench has faults but not...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-May I put four questions to " Utter Barrister," who has twice filled space in your journal with bitter attacks upon lay magistrates ? (I)...

BY TOPHET FLARE By Louis Magrath King When an imperturbable British Consul meets an inscrutable Chinese war-lord, this sort of story is the result. The action of By Tophet...

THE OCTOBER MAGAZINES THE Fortnightly gives first place to an article by Mr. Thomas Johnston on "Scottish Home Rule "; he will disappoint the Nationalists by asking for no more...

THE GIFT OF THE GAB Silver Tongues. Compiled and edited by John Hayward. (Michael Joseph. 7s. 6d.) A BOOK of this sort is very welcome. Anthologies of speeches have, indeed,...

THE MEDIAEVAL PEASANT Life on the English Manor. A Study of Peasant Conditions 1150-1400. By H. S. Bennett. (Cambridge University Press. i6s.) NEARLY half a century has...

FICTION By KATE O'BRIEN Coming From the Fair. By Norah-Hoult. (Hein-emann. 7s. 6d.) To Have and Have Not. By Ernest Hemingway. (Jonathan Cape. 7S. 6d.) Closed Frontiers....

A PLEA FOR MORAL EDUCATION Education as a Social Factor. By M. L. Jacks. (Kegan Paul. 5s.) HALF a dozen headmasters have lately published autobiographies or testaments, ml...

IMPLICATIONS OF ECONOMICS Political Economy and Capitalism: Essays in Economic Tradition. By Maurice Dobb. (Routledge. Ios. 6d.) WHERE does the economist stand in relation...

A SHORT CUT TO VAN -GOGH Dear Theo: An Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh from his Letters. Edited by Irving Stone. (Cons5ble. 12S. 6d.) SOME years ago, in writing of the...

MAN AND HISTORY The Human Comedy. By James Harvey Robinson. (Eodley Head. ios. 6d.) THE author of this book, who died a few months ago, shared with F. J. Turner of the...

Motoring COMFORTABLE MOTORING THAT is an easy word to use, comfortable, a word which might imply much or little. When you say you have a comfortable car you may mean either...

Commonwealth and Foreign RIVAL FORCES IN AUSTRIA By E. LINDT THE slogan " Autarky within the frontiers of the present Germany " gives a false impression of the objects and...

DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE: IV. SCANDINAVIA By T. G. BARMAN [This is the fourth of a short series of articles on the prospects of democracy in Europe. Next week's article wSill deal...

BOOKS OF THE DAY PAGE Daylight and Champaign (E. L. Woodward) .. ..590 The Mediaeval Peasant (Prof. F. M. Stenton) .. *- 59r Law and Other Things (Hon. Cyril Asquith, K.C.) .....

THE BRITISH PRISON: II. ITS SERVANTS By LAWRENCE ATHILL [In view of the interest created in the British prison system by a variety of factors, notable among theni the visit of...

JUDGE AND PHILOSOPHEP Law and Other Things. By Lord Macmillan. (Cambridge University Press. 8s. 6d.) THIS volume is a fresh reminder- of Lord Macmillan's versatility. He is...

SCIENCE AND SOCIAL ETLUCS By SIR RICHARD GREGORY, BT., F.R.S. DURING the past few years a decided change of attitude D has been presented by men of science towards the social,...

MARGINAL COMMENTS By MONICA REDLICH THIRTY thousand families are this week considering T the Ministry of Labour's invitation to fill in what must be one of the most...