formed the real substance of his speech) of housing and unemployment. The Government had decided to continue the subsidy policy for housing, and their ideal was to build houses...

parties in the House of Commons. This new balance inevitably involved a change in the habits of the • House, and he declared that the Government would not be alarmed by such...

said that the resolutions of the Conference would be placed before the House. The Government would indicate their views regarding each, but they would leave it to the House to...

T HE political situation at home may be briefly described by saying that though Mr. Ramsay • MacDonald continues to maintain a condition of public confidence by studiously...

so far the question had only been nibbled at. The purpose of the Government was to provide work, but, alternatively, if work could not be provided, an effective income....

of the recent General Election was expressed at Manchester last Saturday at a large meeting of Lancashire and Cheshire delegates, presided over by Lord Derby. The meeting...

Port of London Authority's permanent men had earned on piece-work during the last three months of 1928 an average of £4 10s. 5d. a week, of which 12s. 5d. was represented by...

fight unemployment Unionists must be able to safeguard the country against unfair competition by utilizing such powers as those provided bythe Safeguardingof Industries Act--an...

seriously considered because the Debt caused a high cost of production. The Unemployed Grants Committee would be encouraged to continue its work. He saw openings especially for...

very happy form, and chaffed Mr. MacDonald on the vast discrepancy between good intentions and hard realities. The surprise of the debate came from Mr. Asquith, who evidently...

held in London at the Hotel Cecil. The result of the meeting was just -what had been expected, and what we had feared. Mr. Baldwin was unanimously reappointed leader of the...

had nothing to fear. Reparations and the question of the Ruhr must be considered from the point of view not of France alone, but from that of Great Britain and the whole of...

Monday which had been hoped for. At a Con- ference between the employers and the Unions a half-way offer by the employers was rejected. The same night, however, the Ministry of...

Clyde Socialist who is the new Minister of Health, to the extravagant Poplar Guardians. He promised that he would rescind the Mond Order, which fixed a maximum amount of relief,...

been a misunderstanding about which or what rules Mr. Wheatley is altering and not about his general intentions, which still seem to us most ominous. Poplar, as an outrageous...

Lynd, of the Daily News, as "by birth an Ulster Roman Catholic." Several correspondents have pointed out our error in this respect. Mr. Lynd is the son of a Belfast Presbyterian...

French have agreed to ratify the Coblenz Agreement of last December, which authorizes a through goods and passenger service between the British, French and Belgian zones and the...

was lifted. The coffin, which is of anthropoid form, was then revealed. It is of great size and is made of wood and gesso gilt. The head, is of pure gold with eyes of crystal...

July 5, 1923; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 100 lir : Thursday week, 190 ; a year ago, 100g.

anti-social act, and they naturally went away rejoicing, claiming a "great victory." The whole tone of his statement to the deputation was quite different from the tone of the...

THE UNIONIST PARTY. T HE Unionist Party at their meeting decided to drop Protection as a plank in their platform. That this decision was a reality, not a sham, and was made in...

BY REGINALD BERKELEY, M.P. T HE Liberal Party, in spite of the reverses to three of its most important members at the polls, and the withdrawal to the City and subsequent...

PALATINATE. [We have received the following communication from a correspondent who has first-hand experience of all the events of which he writes. He was indeed the first...

BY DEAN INGE. F IGHTY years ago Malthus on Population was one of the text-books of political economy. Mill accepted his conclusions ; Darwin started from them in the researches...

K AMPEN is a small seaport on the eastern shore of the Zuider Zee, celebrated not only for its great church of St. Nicholas, whose magnificence witnesses to its commercial...

none but the two or three million well-informed Americans who frequently visit Europe, and we are apt to accept the views of leading Eastern papers such as the New York Times,...

ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD. BY EVELYN WRENCH, T 11ERE has been much speculation as to what Labour's policy concerning India will be. Will Labour give full Swaraj, or...

in the Legislative Assembly at Delhi last week. Mr. Rangachariar, moderate, advocated the, appointment of a Royal Commission for the revision of the Government of India Act in...

cautious, but at the same time sympathetic, with India's aspirations for a further instalment of self-government. Labour will, I believe, uphold the Montagu-Chehnsford reforms...

Britain and America" from California, a letter which should be pondered by all who are interested in the problem of English-speaking rela- tionships. Mr. Wingate, the...

Mr. Gandhi. Will he take the hint given by the Prime Minister in his recent message to India, or will he, when he has sufficiently recovered from his recent ill-health, embark...

"THE WAY OF THE WORLD" (LYRIC THEATRE, HAMMERSMITH). CONGREVE'S Way of the World is apt to strike a modern audience, as do so many Restoration comedies, as a play of reaction....

in South Afiica listens to a commendation of General Smuts from General Hertzog, and yet this is what happened Last week when the Nationalist leader informed General Smuts that...

the Commonwealth of Australia held its first meeting at Canberra, the new capital of Australia. As the Government buildings are not yet complete, Ministers met in an old and...

ol The Playboy of the Western World, is perhaps the best acted, best produced, and most amusing play of the new season. It is entirely - unpretentious, and Messrs. C. B. Fernald...

myself, let me assure him on one point. No English- man of average intelligence has the slightest desire to minimize the patriotic achievements of any American. All we desire is...

implied in the heading of these weekly notes, "English-Speaking World," for which the Spectator has so consistently worked, is continuing the campaign of friction-mongering in...

the years an ever-increasing number of persons are learning to appreciate what a wonderful cause that of English- speaking co-operation is. The realization that sooner or later...

SIR,—There is one point in the articles by the Bishop of Norwich on the new proposals for the revisiontf the Prayer-. book which must appeal to many of your readers to whom that...

THE ENGLISHMAN'S PRAYER- B 0 OK. Many distinguished laymen have written to us expressing general agreement and sympathy with the Bishop of Norwich's articles, though they are...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—With reference to your leading article in the Spectator of February 2nd, headed "Mr. Baldwin's Leadership is Socialism's Opportunity," I...

Dear Mr. Strachey,—I am sure readers of the Spectator will remember the article you wrote last spring on the Portmadoc Players, and I expect many will have seen the very...

to the Spectator for giving us the statesmanlike articles of the Bishop of Norwich. The Memorial to the House of Bishops which I am promoting has brought me correspondence...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—On February 17th the Swiss people will be called upon to give their verdict on a question which is of a thorny and important nature for...

the Bricklayers' Union ? "Restrict the output and keep up the price" is their policy. Mr. Baldwin would apply the same on a national scale. Such a policy may pay the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Colonel Fraser has, one would gather from his letter criticising your most able article on "Gold and Sir Charles Addis," apparently fallen...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sur,—As a regular reader of the Spectator I am very much interested in the above article. I cannot understand the foundation upon which Mr....

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sza,—In a lecture on "The Constitutional Evolution of the Civil Service," recently delivered by Lord Haldane, he related the following...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have read with considerable interest Mr. Stefansson's articles under the heading of "Popular Errors," and in most of his assertions I have...

• [To the Editor - of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The cordial reception which has been given to the Fellowship of the British Empire Exhibition shows that a great field of Imperial...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Surrey hills have become to so great an extent a playground for Londoners that the fate of any notable beauty spot in the county is...

FAMILY INSURANCE.—" B." writes :—" Family Insur- ance—if you would so call it—has, I believe, been introduced in to New South Wales. The idea is this. As in the National Health...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—In answer to the letter of your correspondent, Mr. A. F. Wallis, on the above - subject, the authorities of the British Empire Exhibition...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It has been said that" the only people who can command the best medical service are the Duke and the Dustman," and if " Duke " means a...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As no other explanation has been offered of" N. B. D.'s " jig-saw picture, "The Grasshopper's Revenge," described in the Spectator of...

DESERT. No hawthorn spray For the robin's red-rust throat ; No green gloom of hillside cell To darken the note Of the home-come nightingale ; No thicket for shy voiced wren And...

A SOLDIER'S LETTERS. Letters Written During the Indian Mutiny. By Fred Roberts, afterwards Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G., with a Preface by his daughter, Countess...

THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. THE present year, 1924, will doubtless produce a large number of books on Byron. One of such, Byron, the Poet, has reached us from Messrs. Routledge. It is...

Mrs. Montagu, " Queen of the Blues " : Her Letters and Friendships from 1762 to 1800. Edited by Reginald Blunt. 2 V ols. (London : Constable. £2 2s. net.) "WHO is Silvia," who...

The Life of Alexander Whyte, D.D. By G. F. Barbour. (Hodder and Stoughton. 11.) Tim subject of this biography was probably the greatest religious force of his generation in...

Journal of the Printing Office at Strawberry Hill. By Horace Walpole. Edited by Paget Toynbee. (London : Constable. 42s. net.) A READER, uncharitably inclined, could bring...

Naval Operations. Vol. III. By Sir Julian S. Corbett. (Longmans and Co. 21s. net.) IT is fortunate that Sir Julian Corbett lived long enough to add his weighty tribute to the...

Medieval Craftsmanship and the Modern Amateur. By Newton Wethered. (London : Longmans. 10s. 6d. net.) AN amateur is the happiest of mortals ; he does things because he loves...

TKE various colleges and learned societies that have invited Mr. John Bailey to address them have chosen well, for the lectures on widely different literary subjects that he...

Mr. Masterman, discussing "The Political Situation" in an optimistic spirit, anticipates "a Parliament full of interest and energy. He foresees "a session of almost non-contro-...

deals with the Great War from the conscientious objector's point of view. The scene in the French dressing station is ghastly. So, in a different way, is the return of Michael...

DEFEAT. By Geoffrey Moss. (Constable. 6s.) Some months ago Major Geoffrey Moss produced a very able first novel, Sweet Pepper, which was reviewed at length in these columns....

having advanced a good deal since she wrote Balloons. There is something enjoyable, as well as naive, about the atmosphere of beautiful houses, exquisite clothes and "chief...

frankly in "An Inside View of India," which differs very widely from the optimistic statements of high officials, and of Mr. Montagu and his friends. He notes that, as the...

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The first article, by the Prime Minister of Australia, is a very pointed and concise argument for Imperial Preference from the point of view of the...

This month's Blackwood contains a long and uncommonly interesting narrative of one of those adventurous expeditions which British officers made into Central Asia during the last...

The interest of this number is confined to three items. Mr. Murry justifies his exhumation of Katherine Mansfield's unpublished manuscripts by giving us a short story which is...

Hughes. 7s. 6d. net.) This is an excellent record of the four" City" battalions raised in Manchester within the first month of the War. Formed of the admirable material which...

Mr. J. H. Thomas, in his article "Labour's Opportunity in Office," is careful to point out that the opinions are his own and in no way bind his party. "Labour," he says, "is...

12s. 6d.) A rambling and pleasant account of many sojourns in the heart of France. As a guide-book it would prove invaluable. The author's romantic antiquarianism, love of art...

independent record of the events which take place in and tht movements which influence these bodies is a real need. Party organs there are in plenty ; rational criticism and...

Fisher Unwin. las. net.) There ate many things to recommend this book, even to those who are not expert mountaineers. Mr. Jeffers has the simple faith that made high places...

Mr. Walker, it appears from his explanation, is preparing a catalogue and bibliography of Aubrey Beardsley. The pre- sent volume is a preparatory supplement to compete "with an...

[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] JAPAN AS A BORROWER. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — There are one or two reasons why it would be unwise to over-emphasize the dullness of the...

The City liked the speech made by Mr. Beaumont Pease at Lloyds Bank meeting last week. Especially did his remarks concerning that vexed question of Monetary Policy find favour...