annexation of Czecho- Slovakia is a final demonstration of the impossibility of conducting any normal negotiations in the future with a Germany dominated by Herr Hitler. All...

of Defence in Madrid came to an end exactly a week after its outbreak on March 7th ; the fighting continued, despite daily announcements that the revolt had been crushed, for...

the final downfall of the Czecho- Slovak Republic. Last week the Federal President, Dr. Hacha, made last attempt to save the unity of the Republic by dismissing the Slovak Prime...

labour and industry which were discussed at the conference in the Gloucester Employment Exchange between local inthistrialists and Ministry of Labour officials this week were...

financial as well as a military conflict in China. The assimilation of the North China currency to the yen is a decisive blow to foreign interests, and its result will be to...

of the Bolshevik party in Moscow was remarkable for its moderation ; but its im- plications were further developed by the head of the Russian Section of the Comintern,...

the Indian National Congress and at the Chamber of Princes have had a direct bearing on one another. The immediate problem before India is whether the new Constitution, working...

Attorney-General and Minister of Industry in the Commonwealth Government, both from the Cabinet and from the deputy leadership of the United Australian Party, cannot shake the...

with the Arab and Jewish representatives on Tuesday, before pre- senting the Government proposals which are to be accepted as a basis of discussion. If discussion or agreement...

vided Mr. Hore-Belisha with an opportunity, which he took successfully, of painting in the details of the picture that he had presented to the House the previous week. Mr....

into Anti-tuber- culosis Service in Wales and Monmouthshire is a distressing and alarming document, most of all for Welshmen, who are apt to pride themselves on their ability...

ployment debate, than he has been for some time past. He did not have very much to say, but at least he convinced the House that he is thinking afresh about the problem. Most...

the Government can show very soon that they are fully alive to the German danger and are prepared to take the most drastic steps to meet it, it does really seem that there will...

Sir John Anderson's statement that when sufficient pro- gress has been made with the organisation of the actual civil defence services the instruction of the general public will...

T HE events of this week in Central Europe are a strange commentary on the paean of optimism sounded a week ago by the whole British Press, in unfortunate emulation of Dr....

T HIS week, in the House of Commons, the Minister of Labour, Mr. Ernest Brown, again essayed the task of defending the Government's unemployment policy. This time, however, he...

involve again the relationship between local committees and the Conservative Central Office. A local Conservative, Captain Adrian Hopkins, who has sufficient local prestige to...

true on the narrowest interpretation. The law courts, at any rate, are always bothering about the most inconsiderable trifles imaginable—though no doubt when a case involves a...

return of Independent Members for the Universities—e.g. ; Sir Arthur Salter, Mr. A. P. Herbert, Mr. T. E. Harvey, and Miss Rathbone—is in fashion at present, as it should be. An...

Commons to run a cocktail-party on, I think, the 29th of this month, has aroused a good deal of adverse criticism. and I am not surprised. The idea, it appears, is to popu-...

quietly with a staff of seven domestics, am ouite unable to obtain a kitchen- maid."—Mr. Thursby-Pelham in The Times, March i 3th. JANus.

publicity methods. The " optimism " outbreak of a week ago was on the best Goebbels model. Every London paper had the same story to tell, reproducing with variations, ranging...

recently arrived in this country about the efficiency of German mili- tary aeroplanes. He answered, as I expected, that many of the planes were unreliable owing to the poor...

T HE Prime Minister is 70 on Saturday, and everyone, irrespective of party or of agreement or disagreement with his policy, will combine congratulations with deep sympathy for a...

By DR. HERMANN RAUSCHNING I N the last few weeks public opinion in Britain has become optimistic, and such optimism would be extremely wel- come if it were clear on what it is...

By ERWIN D. CANHAM E CHOE E CHOES of real interest in the Civilian Conservation S Corps are reaching the United States from many different foreign countries. That is but...

By R. C. K. ENSOR F IFTY years ago there came into existence the London County Council, a curious by-product of the County Councils Act passed in the previous year. The general...

By WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN Kunming, Yunnan Province. K UNMING, capital of one of the most remote and back- ward provinces of China, is now a city of amazing contrasts. The...

By PATRICK NVARN T HE boy who, like myself, has been educated at one of the grammar schools, great or small, which are still the mainstay of British secondary education, finds...

By DR. W. B. SELBIE I T is a far cry from St. Augustine to John Bunyan. Yet they join hands across the centuries. In the Confessions of the one and the Grace Abounding of the...

By PETER FLEMING T HE document which I received from Paris two days ago would have given me pleasure at any time ; and today, with Anglo-French understanding so firmly to the...

for Coventry, did suggest to me that national service was not as simple as it seemed. It would appear that the problem is not so much the conscientious objectors (whom we all...

purpose of attending a National Service rally. I was much im- pressed. The proceedings opened with a procession of volunteers. True it is that the majority of the citizens of...

effort or spiritual discomfort ; not only does he refuse to think with lucidity, but he winces away from all thoughts which are either unpleasant in themselves or which (and...

their minds justified, by the wave of optimism which is being created, somewhat artificially, by the party organisa- tions and those who are concerned with stocks and shares. If...

By HAROLD NICOLSON O F Parliamentary boroughs, Coventry is one of the most interesting and attractive. I have myself always disbelieved in the legend of Godgyfu or Godiva, -...

and the town band. The Mayor took the salute, and thereafter we all gathered in the Hippodrome for the National Service rally. Much to my surprise there were two thousand five...

bogeys of compulsion, conscription or fascism were very effective. On the contrary, there are countless men and women who realise that conscription has great social value and...

streets of Coventry, the borough itself appears as a microcosm of all that is most sane in English life. The steeple of St. Michael's raises its rose-coloured finger high above...

SIX MONTHS OF SLOVAK AUTONOMY By ALEC G. DICKSON THE first " autonomous " Government of Slovakia, which was dismissed last week, was set up on October 6th, after the Hlinka...

THE THEATRE e At The Crossroads." By Keith White'. At the Globe. I CANNOT agree with the dramatic critic of the Daily Telegraph, whose notice of this play was headed " Keith...

"Gens du Voyage." At the Academy.—" King of the Turf." At the London Pavilion. Gens du Voyage is directed by Jacques Feyder, but that is a point which—save for a very few...

THE season has not been rich in novelties, and, on that account alone, Ernest Bloch's Violin Concerto, which was played at the Royal Philharmonic Concert last week, made a...

[Von einem deutschen Korrespondenten] WER Deutschlands neue Theorien nicht lieben kann, der muss doch seiner Technik Anerkennung zollen. Was in diesem Lande auf diesem Gebiete...

National Parks Before me lies a copy of the nine-months'-old Case For National Parks in Great Britain, issued, for twopence, by the Standing Committee for National Parks, 4...

scorn the half-hardy annual. We felt above the tradition which planted out stocks and asters, calceolarias and antirrhinums, verbenas and petunias. Then we met an alpine...

What is also needed is a reform which will give the Parish Council itself more direct powers. The common cry of villagers, " What is the Parish Council doing?—nothing! " has,...

The present method by which Parish Councils are elected is one which has troubled rural reformers for a long time. In particular, the Councils of Social Service and the...

As a class farmers resemble sailors. The same struggle against the weather and a single incalculable element makes them fatalists. They are invariably hard-headed and super-...

What is the prejudice against National Parks in Great Britain? For clearly there must be a prejudice, or merely perhaps an apathetic stupidity, when we lag so .far behind other...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—The reason offered by " A German Landowner " for the persecution of the Jews in Germany is that they " arc alien in race and thought," and...

[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...

SPECTATOR] SIR,—Allow me, as shortly as possible, to contradict the claims by which Mr. Horsfall Carter, in a letter published in your issue of March 3rd, seeks to refute my...

" completely fails to realise how impossible it is for us English to make a rigid distinction between the domestic and foreign policy of his country If we find that the German...

" A German Landowner " made me remember a quotation. The second letter reinforces this memory strongly. In the second letter the writer says : " Of course, many Germans, and I...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—The complete answer to the first part of Mr. Powys Greenwood's letter is to be found in General Goering's speech on March 2nd, from which I...

Powys Greenwood's interesting letter, I should like to ask him if he thinks the Jewish pogrom was a " major false step." Whilst agreeing that peace between Germany and England...

appeared recently in three issues on " The Future of Farming " will no doubt stimulate your readers who are engaged in the great industry of agri- culture to a good deal of hard...

SIR,—What does Sir Daniel Hall mean when he says, " But since foreign countries are showing a growing disinclination to take our manufactures, still more to paying their debts,...

SIR,—I have read many articles on the farming question in recent years, but surely the series from Sir Daniel Hall's pen which you have just published cowes a', as we say in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—In your review of Union Now I think you gravely underestimate the number of individuals who " have under- stood how the relations of States...

read Professor Kastner's bare assertions that our leading statesmen are wrong historically and morally when they declare compulsory national service incompatible with freedom...

SIR,—Professor Ernest Barker seeks a new foundation for Liberalism. A good many people will answer that Liberalism has done very well without any foundation, or with none better...

SIR,—Can you please tell me, through the medium of your columns, whether steps have been taken to ensure that house- holders use the A.R.P. shelters only for the purpose for...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—While nobody will question the Government's policy in providing free air-raid steel shelters for those with very small means, there are...

Disgrace Abounding (E. H. Carr) 451 Benjamin Franklin (D. W. Brogan) 452 Hermann Goering (Con O'Neill) The Defeat of Poverty (Honor Croome) 452 453 The Good Pagan's Failure...

IN a sensible preface to this translation of the authorised biography of Field-Marshal Goering, Mr. Bruce-Lockhart writes : " The book must be read. It is of prime importance as...

" GOD is the supreme servant of men who want to get on, to produce. Providence. The provider. The heavenly store- keeper. The everlasting Wanamaker." So Lorenzo at his most...

lire Deteat at Poverty By Hartley W thers. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) Mn. HARTLEY WITHERS is a knowledgeable and fluent writer, combining long practical experience with an...

This book may remind some readers of another beautiful and moving book which was given to the world twenty-three years ago. Like Rosalind Murray, Ernest Psichari had grown up in...

ENGLISH readers will be grateful to Professor Green for this new life of Stendhal. In 1874 Paton published his Henri Beyle, which was the first critical and biographical study...

SIR ROBERT BORDEN, Canada's war-time Prime Minister, once remarked to General Smuts, "You and I have transformed the structure of the British Empire." He spoke little less than...

By injudicious editin g , this book has been allowed to appear in all the familiar trappin g s of a minor royal autobio g raphy. All the clichés are represented—the dear old...

written on the subject of Persia. Certainly a very huge mountain of bosh has risen in the name of that fascinating country, a greater mountain, even, than the excitements of...

By KATE O'BRIEN A Family and a Fortune. By I. Compton-Burnett. (Gam= 7s. 6d.) 7s. 6d.) Miss COMPTON-BURNETT writes, as it were, with a diamond on glass, so that we are...

WHATEVER one may feel about this latest manifestation of Nazi methods, one cannot do less than admire the brave resistance which markets have put up to this unexpected attack by...

Canadian Pacific preference stock has so far proved one of the disappointments in the recovery stakes. Holders are to go without a dividend for 1938, and the £i oo stock is...

In the past two years the Lancashire cotton trade has had more than its normal quota of fluctuations. In the early months of 1937 demand was remarkably good, but there followed...

As usually happens in the early stages of a recovery movement, buying in the past fortnight has been concen- trated largely on the better-known shares. In consequenc, the gap...

STEEL INDUSTRY'S RECOVERY THERE can be no denying that the British steel industry i s now staging a most impressive recovery. Whether it be attributed to the reduction of...

The financial results of two of the leading steel groups in this country do not reflect the recovery in steel production shown in the January and February figures. But they show...

Sir Edgar Home's review of the progress of the Prudent. Assurance Company last week contained two important !tent- of good news for shareholders. The company's motor insu- ance...

Among those life-assurance institutions which have come through a difficult year with credit must also be counted the Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society. Sir Harry Hope...

SCOTTISH EQUITABLE LIFEASSURANCE STRONG POSITION THE annual general meeting of the Scottish Equitable Life Assur- ance Society was held at Edinburgh on March 9th. The Right...

One of the blackest areas from the unemployment angle is, surprisingly, the north of Scotland, and although there are special statistical reasons for this position, it is...

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

Consolidated Mines Selection holds an important portfolio of investments in the gold, copper and diamond-mining industries and draws good dividends on its holdings. Like other...

SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner of Crossword No. i (Second Series) is 1V:: Hart-Davis, 32 Stormont Road, N. 6.