14 FEBRUARY 1931

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The Australian Financial Crisis The confusion introduced into Australian politics

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by the reinstatement of Mr. Theodore, the Commonwealth Treasurer, has been gradually spreading. Public disap- pointment is all the greater because when Mr. Scullin, the...

Last Saturday the Premiers pressed Mr. Theodore to produce the

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financial scheme which to the common know- ledge he had been. working at for a long time. He then described it in outline. It proved to be an extremely " viewy " piece of...

The centre of the controversy was the Premiers' Con- ference

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at Canberra. On the opening day,. Friday, February 6th, Mr. Scullin revealed how far he had fallen away from the Niemeyer plan—which, though simple, is, of course, extremely...

News of the Week

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Mr. Snowden's Warning U R. SNOWDEN'S grave speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday gave such an emphasis II to the necessity for economy that the Government's programme of...

EDrronisi. AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.1.—A

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Subscription to the SPECTATOR coats Thirty , Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on this...

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India The intentions of the leaders of civil disobedience in

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India are still doubtful. The Government of India has stretched every point it can to convince the law-breakers that Great Britain earnestly desires to set up ,a responsible...

It is obvious that if Mr. Theodore's theory was applied

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primary products could not be sold outside Australia at the fixed price so long as they were in competition with primary products of other countries offered in large enough...

The anxious curiosity excited by Mr. Theodore's scheme last Saturday

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gave way to alarm on Monday when Mr. Lang, the New South Wales Premier, submitted a scheme of his own which was a new version of his doc- trine of repudiation. Let it be said at...

The situation now is that Mr. Theodore's scheme holds the

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field. Banking opinion on it has not been made known when we write. Later interpretations of Mr. Lang's intentions attribute to him a willingness to fall in with Mr. Theodore's...

Spain King Alfonso seems to have burnt his boats. Last

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Sunday he signed the decree authorizing elections for March 1st and 15th, according to plan, and convoking a Cortes for March 25th. He disregarded the refusal of the majority of...

Pandit Motilal Nehru On Friday, February 6th, Pandit Motilal Nehru

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died at the age of sixty-nine. Before the War he was known as a highly successful lawyer who had, as the Times says, a passion for entertaining in his beautiful home. After the...

• Lord Bessborough is to be the new Governor-General of

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Canada. The position was offered first to the Duke of Abercorn, who felt that it was his duty to 'complete his second term of office in Northern' Ireland. Lord Bessborough, who...

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The Report on Primary Education The Report on Primary Education

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was issued on Tuesday, and completes the scheme of education pro- jected in the Hadow Report of 1926. It is the work . of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education,...

The problem of " more looms to a weaver "

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cannot possibly be solved by the determination of the operatives neither to work the new system nor to discuss it. If the operatives have got a good case—if they can prove that...

of the technical equipment that is necessary for a "

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career." They are to be acquainted with things of beauty and with canons of seemliness ; to be imbued with the physical self-respect which makes for fitness, and encouraged to...

The Cotton Lock-Out • The calamitous dispute in the cotton

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industry con- tinues. It.had been said that the employers were anxious to make a grand attack on the existing arrangement of hours and wages throughout the industry, but a...

The main proposal is that primary education between the ages

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of seven and eleven shall be conducted separately from the infant schools. There would, of course, be a carefully guarded continuity through all the stages of education, but the...

Bank Rate, 8 per cent., changed from 3/ per cent.

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on May 1st, 1980. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 104; on Wednesday week, 10814 ; a year ago, 1014. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 94 ; on Wednesday week,...

The Observance of Sunday On Tuesday the London County Council

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discussed the desirability of appealing to the House of Lords against the last legal decision about the Sunday opening of cinemas. The feeling of the majority was that...

Unemployment, the Government and the Liberals A meeting between Ministers

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and some of the Liberal leaders in Downing Street on Tuesday signified a more formal Labour-Liberal arrangement. The Liberals, of course, desire a large loan for development to...

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Disarmament and Public Opinion

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T HE most noticeable thing in Mr. Henderson's speech about disarmament at the Albert Hall, on Monday, was his insistence upon the importance of public opinion. " As an old...

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The Colour Bar in Great Britain W E print in our

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eorrespondence columns this week a letter from the chairman of the executive of the recently formed " Joint Council to Promote Under- standing between White and Coloured People...

Next Leek

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A CARICATURE OF LORD CECIL OF CHELWOOD : by MAX BEERBOHM. TILE NOTION OF SURVIVAL : by GERALD HEARD. REFORM OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS : by the DUKE OF MONTROSE. OPTIMISM : by SIR...

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The Week in Parliament

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T HE attention of the House of Commons during the past week has been almost exclusively occupied by what the Conservatives irreverently dub the " Land Futilization Bill." We...

Wanted : A New Reform Bill

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BY MRS. SIDNEY WEBB. F ORTY years ago Joseph Chamberlain unhesitatingly condemned the constitution and working of our existing Parliamentary Government :- " The enormous...

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The Notion of Survival

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BY SIR OLIVER LODGE. T HERE is nothing really perturbing in the fact which has so far been disinterred and is being rendered more and more probable by the investigations of...

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Psychology and Religion

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I.—The Influence of Psychology on Religion By THE REV. A. E. BAKER. [This is the first article of a new series dealing with the psycho- logical aspects of religious...

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The Agricultural Situation and the Government Proposals—I

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BY CHRISTOPHER TURNOR. [Mr. Tumor, a large landowner and one of the leading agricul- turists in Great Britain, has written three articles for the Spectator on the general...

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The Art of Max Beerbohm

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BY DAVID Low (of the Evening Standard). O NE day many years ago, when I was a very little boy who should have been studying The Babes in the Wood, I came across a very funny...

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The Gentleman and His Tie By BERNARD DARWIN A LITTLE while

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ago a gentleman of my acquaintance visited a famous exhibition of waxworks, which I will call Mrs. Jarley's. He naturally wanted to look at the murderers, and in particular at a...

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February Crocuses

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BY ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE. I N February the constellations of the crocuses shine forth in their firmament of green. They are amongst the loveliest and most gladsome of spring...

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Mr. H. G. Wells

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BY AMICUS. H E is sixty-four. His father, a celebrated Kent bowler, played cricket for the South of England : the son has inherited the physical energy and the love of sports,...

The Pathway

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By RABINDRANATH TAGORE. [Translated . from the Original Bengali by Bhabani Bhattacharya.] T HIS is the pathway trodden by many feet. Through a forest it reaches the meadow,...

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The Theatre

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f" STRANGE INTERLUDE." BY EUGENE O'NEILL. AT THE LYRIC THEATRE. " AFTER ALL." BY JOHN VAN DRUTEN. AT THE CRITERION. 66 WHO GOES NEXT ? BY REGINALD SIMPSON AND JAMES WEDGWOOD...

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Art

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[SCULPTURE AND PAINTING.] THE most important event of the . month is Mr. Jacob Epstein's show of new sculptures at the Leicester Galleries, where he has had the temerity to "...

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[SUFISM IN PERSIAN ART.] A CRITIC, writing of Persia and

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her influence upon Islamic art, recently suggested that " few of us know anything about Sufism." He went on to express his gratitude to Edward Fitzgerald that most of us have...

Ballade de l'Evolution Creatrice

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STRANGE beasts have died : the mastodon, The minotaur, the hippogriff, And Argus also, and that swan Who doffed his godhead in a jiff : Time even gave a final biff To Herbert...

A Hundred Years Ago THE " SPECTATOR," FEBRUARY 12TH, 1831.

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BELGIUM. The Duke de Nemours is King of Belgium, as far as the votes of the Congress of Brussels can confer that dignity. The election took place on the 4th instant. The new...

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THE REAL INDIA

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Hirst in his letter on the real India propounds a policy which many Indian administrators will cordially approve. In the early days of...

LIBERIA

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Since the Slavery Commission's Report to the Liberian Government speaks for itself, there has seemed no necessity for me as President of...

Letters to the Editor

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THE COLOUR BAR IN ENGLAND [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The facts of colour bar which Mr. J. S. Aiman brings to your notice in his letter printed in a recent issue of...

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SCIENCE AND GOD [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I

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have only space to take up one point in Mr. Farmer's interesting rebuttal. His last paragraph seems to me so important that to have called it forth justifies, I feel, my own...

ELECTORAL REFORM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I

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invite your attention to a point in constitutional law which seems to have been overlooked ? It is an unwritten law of the Constitution that any Act of Parliament changing the...

THE ROUSE TRIAL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—The writer of the article on " The Rouse Trial," in your issue of last week, doubtless intended, in all good faith, to offer the public some philosophical advice on this...

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ST. PANCRAS HOUSE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—The sixth anniversary of the St. Pancras House Improve- ment Society, Ltd., was celebrated on January 29th last by a service at St....

THE CALL OF THE CHURCH

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I get my Spectator a week late, so have only just read Jethro Sable's letter on the Call of the Church. May I, as a layman, suggest that...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—My friend Longtown came

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to see me the other day. He is some brand of scientist—a Christian Scientist I fancy, judging from his views. " Hullo," he said, " I've not seen you about for a long time." "...

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THE R.S.P.C.A. AND THE DOGS' PROTECTION BILL [To the Editor

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of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I be permitted through the medium of your columns to draw Sir Robert Gower's attention to the fact that not a few people are of opinion that " the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sue,—As Sir Robert Gower,

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Chairman of the R.S.P.C.A., has seen fit to criticize, in what I consider a most unjustifiable way, what I said about the Society, and affirms that there is " not a shred of...

"HOW DID ANDREE DIE ? "

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The well reasoned suggestion as to the cause of the death of Andree and Fraenkel in your issue of February 7th seems to dispose finally...

" THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT " [To the Editor

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of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--I write to protest against the outrageous unfairness of the review of my book The Development of Local Government appearing in your last week's issue....

WILLS AND INTESTACIES (FAMILY MAIN- TENANCE) BILL (ENGLAND AND WALES)

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, We believe that many of your readers will be interested in the above Bill which is being introduced by Miss Eleanor Rathbone and, as you...

PIT PONIES [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Pit

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Ponies' Protection Society publishes many illuminating facts, some of which are probably unknown to your readers. I will quote four. At the present time there are over 56,000...

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POINTS FROM LETTERS SUNDAY OPENING OF CINEMAS. '

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Whilst not in a position to express any view as to • the feelings of the Governors of this hospital on the question of Sunday performances- in cinemas, we shall much deplore the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sut,—In your issue of February 7th appears a letter from Miss Juliet Gardner on the subject of pit ponies in which the definite statement is made that " thousands of ponies are...

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Senility of Detective Novels ?

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I SOMETIMES wonder, with the mild surmise proper to one who has long since lost the cap teity for astonishment, why those who jo not like reading detective novels get so cross...

Recent English Fiction

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So, relieved of the burden of cowardly hypocrisy, I will say at once that no year of English literature is quite a real one to me if there has been no novel either by Virginia...

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The Education of the Whole Man THESE Harrow Lectures are

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a portent in more ways than one. Sixty-four years ago Harrow produced a similar book under the editorship of F. W. Farrar, afterwards Dean of Canterbury, entitled Essays on a...

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Votes for Women !

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The Suffragette Movement, an Intimate Account of Persons and Ideals. By E. Sylvia Parildmrst. (Longman. 21a.) IT was time that the history of this remarkable movement should be...

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A Multitude of Marvels

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JUDGING from contemporary " best-sellers," it would appear t hat the branches of science which chiefly interest the layman are those which are richest in profound, and perhaps...

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Capital Punishinent

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The Death Penalty Enquiry. The evidence reviewed by E. Roy Calvert. (Gollancz. N. 6d.) IF anyone feels doubtful about the case for abolishing Capital Punishment, this little...

DIRECT subscribers who are changing their addresses are asked to

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notify the SPECTATOR CO* BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted.

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Clay-footed Coleridge

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AT the moment there is a great deal of cant prevalent about the transcendental nature of Coleridge's genius as a critic. This may be due partly to the vagaries of fashion, and...

" The Rackets

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Man," is very neat. It is an accurate indication of the biographer's whole treatment of his subject : the book, throughout, being a coolly ironic, racily entertaining pro-...

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Donald Hankey

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The Story of Donald Hankey. By K. G. Budd. (Student Christian Press. 48.) ONE of the chief literary joys of Mr. St. Loe Strachey was to discover a new author. When he discovered...

2,000,000,000 Years Hence

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Last and First Men. By W. Olaf Stapledon. (Methuen. 7s. 6d.) THIS is a sort of cosmic detective story. At any rate it proved quite as exciting to the present writer as Chicago...

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Fiction

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An International Batch 7s. 6d.) WREN Jack became as good as his master the novelist was obliged to abandon one of his most accommodating conven- tions—that one in which the...

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'a pretty predicament for the has been done before and

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will be done again, but seldom better than by Mr. Beresfordrs practised pen.

PROLOGUE TO FREEDOM. By Michael Romain. (Nash and Grayson. 7s.

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6d.)-A clever first novel of the shabby smart set. Wit coruscates on every page ; so much so that 'the half-witted hero is a welcome relief, 'and becomes almost lovable.

MILORD AND I. By Anthony Richardson. (John Lane. 7s. 6d.)-A

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stable boy whose refined impulses suggest a mystery, wins the hand of Milord's niece. A pleasant, rather colourless romance. " Jeffery Farnol " without the costume, and less...

THE IMITATION MAN. By John Hargrave. (Gollanez. 7s. 6d.)-One is

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uncertain whether the life story of this passionless laboratory-made man is intended as a satire on our mechanical age or is an exercise in highly original ingenuity.

DREAM, OR THE SIMIAN MAID. By S. Fowler Wright. (Harrap.

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7s. 6d.)-Its pedigree is by-The Time Machine out of Blue Lagoon. Two modern lovers, transformed by a magician (the Wellsian scientist is now dertiode), woo one another as...

One can, of course-Mr. Chesterton has told us so-go to

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Birmingham by way of Beachy Head, but it is not the ordinary route. Nor in these days of expeditious travel is it customary to make a journey to China by way of Transylvania,...

" I have a theory that however much you rebuilt

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it, you can never eradicate from any part of London the influence of its past associations." The words occur in St. John Adcock's posthumous London Memories (Hodder and...

HEYDAY. By Anthony Gibbs. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d.)- Mr. GibbS' latest

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- novel has all the recognized ingredients of the high-class magaZine ronianee-the stage, the War, cocktails, fond parent, part Miss, and gallant aviator.

NUMBER FIFTEEN. By David Whitelaw. (Nash and Grayson. 7s. 6d.)-Margery

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Glyn becomes involved in a mystery in the attempt to pay her brother's debts, and extricates herself by pluck and general attractive- ness. A simple story simply told.

SAUL. _PEPYS, _LISTENER By IL M. Freeman. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d.)-This

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amusing diary of an up-to- date, radio-struck Pepys offers sonic good entertainment to those of its readers who do not shudder at the sacrilege.

TWO FAMILIES. By Archibald Marshall. (Collins. 7s. 6d.) -One English

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family went up, the other down, till after fifty-five years they had changed positions. A full and absorbing story.

LETTY LYNTON. By Mrs. Bellew Lowndes. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.)-More than

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an exciting murder story, more than a subtle portrait, this book shows Mrs. Bellow Lowndes' unusual powers at their fullest and happiest extent. A really excellent novel.

THE SHORN LAMB. By William .T. Locke. (The Bodley Head.

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7s. 6d.)-All the qualities which won Locke his immense following are here : the ease of manner, the human sympathy, the humour, and the very personal blend of daily life with...

THE DOGS. By Ivan Nazhivin. (Allen and Unwin. 7s. 6d.)-

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' The story of the Russian Revolution seen through the eyes of dogs. A brave but ultimately wearisome attempt at a canine tour de force which looks to lose much in translation.

Certainly a sadist and probably afflicted with religious mania as

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well, Gilles de Retz or Rais, who was a comrade-hi arms of Jeanne D'Are's, was hanged and burned at Nantes in 1440 for the alleged murder of some 140 children who fell victims...

ANOTHER MAN'S POISON. By Nerina Shute. (Grant Richards. 7s. 6d.)-This

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futile story of domestic crises at home and in boy-crazy " Hollywood ends senti- mentally in a Bloomsbury fiat. It is not everyone's meat.

New Novels

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RAGGED BANNERS. By Ethel Mannin. (Jarrolds. 7s. 6d.) -Miss Mannin forces her voice to so unnatural a pitch that she has only herself to blame if the rags of her story are more...

AT THE BACK 0' BEYOND. By Richard Remnant.

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• (Chambers. 7s. 6d.)-Tired of sitting " soberly but exquisitely dressed ' in a Piccadilly flat, Captain Reginald Rymington swears a manly oath, quotes Kipling and goes off.to...

AUGUST. By Pansy Pakenham. (Duckworth. 7s. 6d.) -A brief but

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searching Odyssey among the intelligent- sia, enlivened by easy, terse, and natural dialogue.

DWARFS BLOOD. By Edith Olivier. (Faber and Faber. 7s. 13d.)- . -- - A

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novel of unusual distinction on an unusual , theme which it would be unfair to divulge. A delicate tragedy of heredity and temperament.

Some Books of the Week

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Tan very great soldier and administrator, who is known as Constantine the Great, was as- treacherous and as void of scruple as any of his contemporaries or predecessors. But he...

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General Knowledge Questions

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OUR weekly prize of one guinea for the best thirteen Questions submitted is awarded this week to Rev. F. P. Gent, 23 Chiltern Road, Hitchin, Herts, for the following :- Biblical...

Travel

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[From time to time we notice in this page travel books and pub- lications sent to tar by travel agencies and shipping companies which ive think may be of interest to...

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Finance—Public & Private The Austrgian Ctisis Fnoiu time to time

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I have felt it necessary in these column s to draw attention to the serious character of the financial and exchange crisis in Australia, and have been obliged to emphasise the...

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Financial Notes

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IRREGULAR MARKETS. Ax irregular tendency has characterized the Stock Markets during the past week. Among trustee stocks a feature, of course, has been the heavy slump in...

GAS AND MUNICIPAL COMPETITION.

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It is scarcely surprising that the leading Gas undertakings which have served the community well over a very long period (Continued on page 252.) Financial Notes (Continued...

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DICKINS AND JONES.

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What is true with regard to Maple's applies also to a firm such as Dickins and Jones. Moreover, it should be noted that the past year's results follow two years' profits at an...

Lt.-Col. Sir Reginald Rankin, in The Inner History of the

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Balkan War (Lane, Vol. II, 12s. 6d.) retells the story of how in 1912-13 all Balkan Slavdom turned against the Turk, and then, having defeated him, against itself. Much of the...

More Books of the Week

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(Continued from page 244.) - Mr. Thomas Moult has had the happy idea of starting a present-day series of biographical studies, and, except in the mere matter of length, he has...

PRUDENTIAL DivmEsrn.

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During the past week the Prudential Assurance Company has announced a dividend for the past year of 18s. aid. per share, free of Income Tax, on the ' A " shares, and of ls. per...

MAPLE'S DIVIDEND.

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Having regard to the wide area covered by the trade depression, it was only to be expected that profits of a company such as Maple and Company should have been somewhat...

No CHARTERED Bosrus.

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The recent announcement by the British South Africa Co l mpany of a repetition of last year's dividend of Is. 3d. per share, less tax, but minus any bonus, was disappointing to...

Answers to Biblical Questions on Preachers and Preaching

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1. Noah is called a preacher of righteousness in 2 Peter 2. Ecclesiastes " or The Preacher."-3. Eutychus. Acts xx, 9.- 4. To the spirits in prison. 1 Peter iii, 19.-5. Asia...