A LL that can be said, at the moment when these words have to be written, about the Prime Minister's talks in Rome is that they appear to have begun auspiciously. That is as...

by an envoy from General Franco to Signor Mussolini. He is reported to have carried an answer to the question whether the insurgents could now afford to dispense with their...

has brought considerable relief to the Republican armies in Catalonia. The Nationalist advance has penetrated the Republican defences to a depth of over 3o miles and boo square...

from Sacramento Gaol can hardly right the wrong which has been done to him ; but Governor Olsen has at least done-his best to end the judicial scandal which has disgraced the...

China would be spent on motor lorries has already drawn attention to China's new road from Chungking, on - the Yan g tze, to the Burmese frontier, 1,40o miles away; from the...

mandate over Syria and the Lebanon will terminate ; but the condition of Syria hardly inspires the hope that she is now able to stand by herself. In itself, this is a severe...

has, as many then foretold, entered a period of flux ; and it is difficult to place any confidence in the stability of its existing frontiers. Poland is immediately affected by...

conversa- tions in London will not open on January 18th. The Arab representatives have not yet been chosen, and indeed the choice hangs upon the decision of the Mufti, so often...

Beck was wholly reassured. There is no abatement of Ukrainian agitation in Ruthenia, the nucleus, created by Munich, of the future Greater Ukraine. Last week Father Voloshin,...

of limited areas is illustrated once more by the work which has been done in Bristol. The Colston Research Society financed, and the University of Bristol carried out, a social...

Bank of England to the Exchange Equalisation Fund is striking evidence of the weakness of sterling and the extent to which the Fund has been exhausted in its efforts to defend...

States manufacturers have exported practically no aeroplanes at all in the last six months is significant as regards both the past and the future. It is worth observing that not...

Committee for Refugees, is to be assisted in the specific task of co-ordination by Sir Henry Bunbury, who haS had a long and distinguished career in the Civil Service, is...

inured to it, the world is faced with the problem of having too much wheat. The statistics of the International Institute of Agriculture and the discussions of the International...

has issued / to local authorities a circular setting out in consider- able detail the Government's proposals for evacuation from cities in case of emergency ; the twenty-eight...

Plymouth was a political event of more than ordinary importance. It gave him the opportunity to make an apologia pro vita sua—or, at any rate, a justi- fication of the most...

be congratulated on his appointment as Principal of the new Makerere College in Uganda, I hardly know. It is obviously not promotion. If they consulted their own preferences...

T HE new Parliamentary Group of which Mr. Duncan Sandys, M.P., is the central figure is neither, so far as I can gather, quite dead nor quite alive. The public meeting which was...

desk—the Arrow, bearing no indication of authorship or standpoint—makes me wonder what future this reversion to a historic form of journalism has. I should fancy not much, for...

the unemployed in staging unexpected demonstrations with the assistance of such stage properties as a makeshift coffin appear to be due to a few members of the Inter- national...

historic of German daily papers, the Berliner Tageblatt, provokes melancholy reflections. Ten years or so ago I talked with its distinguished editor, Theodor Wolff, now an exile...

on the Supreme Court of the United States created by Justice Cardozo's resignation will have surprised only those who doubted whether Mr. Roosevelt would have the courage to...

became widely known as publicist . . . twice refused offer of knighthood You all do know how on the Lupercal . . ; gave voluntary assistance of great value to many Government...

By LORD LOTHIAN [This is the second of a series of six articles on the problems that face the constituent parts of the British Commonwealth today. Sir . Donald Cameron's article...

By SIR ARNOLD WILSON, M.P. T HE Canals of Suez and Panama are classic examples of engineering works that have altered the course of history as well as of trade. The Panama...

By FRANK SINGLETON C OUNTRYMEN will note with satisfaction that industry is solving one of its gravest problems by a wise inter- pretation and application of country-life...

By DR. G. F. McCLEARY F OR anything comparable to the refugee problems that now confront the civilised world we must go back to the end of the seventeenth century, when " man's...

By W. E. WOOSNAM-JONES T HERE will be sighs of relief in naval circles this spring when the first two units of our new ' King George V ' class battleships slip down the...

By GRAHAM GREENE Ir CAME on board the German liner at Vera Cruz between 110 detectives. He was a big, pasty man, and his clothes were loose as though he'd shrunk. He had been in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—The Press has made merry over Mr. Duncan Sandys and his Hundred Thousand movement. Indeed, the meeting at the Caxton Hall invited jibes,...

notify THE SPECTATOR office BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY of EACH WEEK. The name, the previous address to which thepaper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted.

By HAROLD NICOLSON W HEN I was a boy, headmasters went on being headmasters until they became bishops or certifiably insane. So pliable has our public-school system been...

I was sitting on a platform some time ago with a fellow-, but infinitely more distinguished, politician. In the course of the proceedings he was observed to seize a pencil and a...

neighbours ! There is something about towns such as Amsterdam and The Hague which I find immensely agree- able. One feels that this civilisation has been moulded through...

is for this reason that I wish we in this country would- follow the example of the Dutch. I was speaking at the Hague last Monday night and had come prepared with a powerful...

gramme. In order to get my audience on my side, my speech had been designed to begin with national self-abasement, whereas the superbia Britannorum part came at the end. I did...

to the persuasive influence, of a single man. When in 1890 young Captain Lugard and his askaris entrenched themselves behind the stockade of their zareba and hoisted the flag...

upon these matters, and to explore the corridors of his memory from that now distant time when he also took part in the scramble for Africa until this present day when his...

LAND FOR THE MEXICAN PEON FROM A CORRESPONDENT IN MEXICO .[" It is reported that 7,5oop00 acres were divided among Mexican peasants last year, and that more than that will be...

"Lone White Sail." At the Film Society — " The March of Time." At the New Gallery Lone White Sail is an adventure story for children, and about children. It is a genre in which...

FOLK-DANCE The Albert Hall Festival IN the early days of the revival of folk-dancing or, to be more precise, of the attempt to preserve the remaining vestiges of these...

Scottish Art at Burlington liMise IN the advance publicity for the Scottish.exhibition at Burlington House stress was laid on the bulk in which the principal painters were to...

[D'un correspondent parlsien] Point cette fois, passons la plume a un ami. Pendant les fetes il s'etait rendu en Angleterre, qu'il a bien connue dans sa jeunesse mais cal il...

Hall, who has held the post of adviser to the Ministry, has been urging (in The Countryman) a scheme for agricultural regeneration that might attract the votes both of all...

since the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took to selling their manorial rights. The rapid increase of building has in many places put the villagers proper in a minority ; and the...

If the inroad of larks into towns is a new phenomenon so is the presence of gulls far inland. Stray gulls always were to be seen inland in or before foul weather ; but this...

Many of our new roads are beautified, so far as such a black ribbon can be beautified, by lines of trees that have been carefully selected and well planted ; but there are some...

idlest moment during January and February ; but there are some things that are best done then and some that can only be done then with any profit. One of these latter duties is...

that is famous for its Zoo, becomes also famous as a sort of pocket metropolis of English gardening. To Queen Mary's roses and to the herbaceous garden, where we may all study...

Clever Birds The delightful saying of Professor Thompson that birds could be much cleverer if they had to be, has been well illus- trated during the recent frosts. For example :...

one paragraph by conceding that I should " be the first to agree that we arc not developing our East African territories as we might," which is an admission that I have been...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

SIR,—Professor Plant's second article makes his plan clearer. The railway rates are to continue to be controlled and the road-haulier's rates to be free ; restrictive licensing...

SIR,—I should like, if I may, to comment on some of the remarks in the two interesting articles on the Spens Report which appeared in your last issue. In " An Educational...

SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Vladimir de Korostovetz is not justified in drawing the conclusion from my article that " the treatment of non- Russian populations in the U.S.S.R. is ideal...

Snt,—In his admirable article on the Spens Report Dr. Terry Thomas has drawn attention to some of the undesirable consequences that may follow an uncritical adoption of the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—In his interesting article on " Educating for Democracy," in the issue of December 3oth, Dr. Derry refers very kindly to the work of this...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. F. J. Bishop makes out a reasoned case for the close connexion between the advertiser and the Press, but there are certain modern...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, Mr. Bauer draws a sombre parallel between the policy of Dr. Bruning and that of M. Paul Reynaud ; in doing so he overlooks the different...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Harold Nicolson, in the first of his weekly talks —which must have delighted very many of your readers and made them look forward...

SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Mander makes an important point which was for want of space, insufficiently covered in my article ; but I think his statement of it is open to criticism. He...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—It was with more than usual interest that I read in my Spectator of December 9th last the letter on foot-and-mouth disease written by Dr....

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—From the fact that, in his letter published in your issue of December 23rd, Mr. Banks does not deny specifically any of the detailed...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—My attention has been called to the references in your issues of December 3oth and January 6th by your contributor " Janus " to myself. He...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sut,—You criticise Sir Reginald Coventry for his remarks— but have you considered the aspects ? There appear to be three classes of persons who...

PAGE Chatham as a Strategist (Christopher Hobhouse) 6o The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard (Herbert Read) 61 Latin America (Professor C. K. Webster) 61 PAGE News from Tibet...

The Journals of SOren Kierkegaard. A selection edited and translated by Alexander Dru. (Oxford University Press. 25s.) THE absence of an English version of Kierkegaard's works...

FOR many years Mr. Kirkpatrick sustained almost single- handed the serious study of Latin American history in this country where it has been so lamentably neglected. He has...

Salween. By Ronald Kaulback. (Hodder and Stoughton. 15s.) MONGOLIA has gone ; and Sinkiang is in a state of anarchy. But Tibet still stands, anomalous in its external relations...

John Skelton. An Account of his Life and Writings. By L. J. Lloyd. (Blackwell. iros. 6d.) WHEN Erasmus came to England in 1499 Skelton appeared to him as the British Homer....

By FORREST REID The Stronghold. By Richard Church. (Dent. 8s. 6d.) " IF a man and a woman decided to strike sex upon sex and delight in the spark they produced, that was their...

Mr. Norris is an English journalist who settled in Douglas in 1894. His lively book of reminiscences (Douglas : Norris Modern Press, 12s. 6d.) is largely concerned with the con-...

SIGMUND FREUD By Francis H. Bartlett Those who combine a dislike of Marxism with a distaste for Psychoanalysis commonly assume that Marxism and Psycho- analysis are...

1600 - 1750 By T. S. Willan Dr. Willan's monograph on our coasting trade between 1600 and 175o (Manchester University Press, 12s. 6d.) is a very sound piece of research work....

Mr. A. J. Mackenzie's Propaganda Boom (John Gifford, ros. 6d.) is a book which contains a great deal of interesting material. It misses being an altogether convincing piece of...

Mr. Williams has collected in a volume eighteen short essays on various aspects of the early monasticism of which he is a well-known student (Manchester University Press, sos....

Lord Zetland, the Secretary for India, justly observes in a preface to Dr. Arberry's interesting little book (published by the India Office) that the magnificent Oriental...

CENTURY By Professor A. Wolf Professor Wolf, who has already written a History of Science, Technology and Philosophy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has now...

You can write travel books either about countries (Marco Polo) or about yourself (Aldous Huxley) ; or you can mix the two methods, which is what Mr. Nigel Heseltine does in...

By Colonel Arthur Crookenden The regimental history of the Cheshires has been intelligently, compiled by the Colonel (Chester : W. H. Evans). As 38 battalions were raised and...

The Real Winter Danger The December blizzard, inexpressibly detestable as it was, served one useful purpose in reminding us how very rash we usually are in neglecting the most...

GREAT things have been happening in the City but Thread- needle Street and not Throgmorton Street is playing the that really significant financial moves have been going on...

Those who had feared that the demand for Woolworth's goods, bearing in mind the growing competition in this field, was approaching saturation-point, will have to adjust their...

Critics of industrial planning often assert that once you begin planning there is no end to it, and the planners gladly agree. One wonders whether the Bank of England, having...

LANCASHIRE COTTON RESULTS I will not pretend to be happy about the results of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation—the outlook was very much brighter when I wrote hopefully of the...

has passed into Argentine law and the company becomes possessed of £8,800,000 of Argentine State Railway 4 per cent. bonds and £7o0,00o in cash, with a further cash sum to come...

BUSINESS MAINTAINED THE thirty-sixth annual general meeting of the British-American Tobacco Company, Limited, was held on January 9th at West- minster House, 7 Millbank, S.W....

Most of the important banks in England have now announced their profits for 1938. With the exceptions of Martins discussed by " Custos " last week, which shows a small increase,...

The winner of Crossword No. 328 is the Rev. W. Robinson, 12 Crossbeck Road, Ilkley, Yorkshire.

GAUMONT-ODEON LINK-UP THE announcement that Odeon Theatres is to make an offer for the Ordinary shares of Gaumont-British Picture Corpora- tion, including the voting control of...

Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen had a reassuring account to give the shareholders of British-American Tobacco Company on Monday. Although " Bats " have important interests in the Far...

and steel production is shown by the full year's figures issued on Wednesday. The 1938 steel production was 10,394,000 tons, compared with the previous year's record figure of...

By atNo [A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be...