17 NOVEMBER 1928

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News of the Week

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rr HE speech which President Coolidge delivered to the American Legion last Sunday has been a shock to those Englishmen who have not been carefully noting the signs in America....

When in her time America annexed, or intervened in; the

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Philippines, Cuba, Hayti, San Domingo, Panama, Nicaragua and elsewhere, . she did so either because events left her no alternative or because she had to keep order at her doors...

We are unable to follow President Coolidge's figures about the

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relative strength in cruisers of Great Britain and America. He said that if the existing programmes were carried out Great Britain would have sixty-eight - cruisers to America's...

Mr. Coolidge's figures of America's financial sacrifice in the War

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also puzzle us. He said that America had spent £20,000,000,000. No doubt such a sum is accurate in some sense or Mr. Coolidge would not have quoted it, but we are left wondering...

Not that such figures cause any alarm in-Great Britain: The

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idea of competitive building has simply passed out of the public mind here. It is generally felt that naval competition is the one way of heightening the risks of war and that...

EDITORIAL AND PITRLDMING OFFICES : 13 York Street, Covent Garden,

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London, W.C. 2. — A Subscription to the SPECTATOR costs Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The...

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The debate on unemployment was continued last Saturday. Mr. Snowden

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followed Mr. Clynes in making his criticism purely condemnatory. Indeed, he frankly declared that it was not business of the Opposition to . make any constructive suggestion. In...

The debates on the Address in the House of Commons

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continued during the week. On Thursday, November 8th, the Labour amendment on unemployment was moved by Mr. Clynes. He would have been at some disadvantage in any case, as he...

On the whole, Mr. Coolidge's speech means that his Government,

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who at one time were thrusting a hand out across the seas, have drawn it back. They think that the old policy of isolation was after all the safest. And this brings us back to...

Of the registered total of 1,374,000 unemployed, Mr. Churchill explained,

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224,6603 were women, and women were not counted before the War, and 500,000 were intermittently unemployed persons who were not drawing more from the Fund than they paid into...

Mr. Churchill laid it down that the remedies Must be

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both general and special. The main general remedy was the scheme for rating relief to industry. Neit came alleviation by Empire settlement. The Government would soon announce a...

The Liberal amendment to the Address which was moved by

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Mr. Lloyd George in the House of Commons on TuesdaY aroused arguments on the Anglo-French compromise which are so familiar that we need not follow them closely. Mr. Lloyd George...

The debate was concluded on Monday. Mr. Boothby asked' for

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a larger expenditure on telephones and on the supply of electricity, and suggested the stabilization of the value of gold whereby the mean between inflation and deflation could...

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With part of what Mr. Lloyd George said about France

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we can agree, but we should be shirking the problem as it really is, in order to deal with a problem which does not and may never exist, if we followed him in arguing as though...

. When Mr. Lloyd George on an English platform makes

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similar accusations of obliquity and reaction against the Government, allowances are made for his party spirit ; but in America an ex-Prime Minister is taken literally. This is...

The eruption of Etna, which began on November 2nd, has

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been unusually prolonged, and the toll of destruction is one of the heaviest on record. Catania has not been destroyed as in the great eruption of 1698, but several villages...

At Kyoto, last Saturday, the Emperor of Japan entered upon

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his enthronement ceremonies with all the long, strict, and ancient rites of his dynasty. In the morning he announced his enthronement to the spirits of his one hundred and...

M. Poincare has succeeded in forming a new Govern- ment.

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Although there will be no Socialist-Radical Ministers, some members of the Socialist-Radical Party who were disgusted by the manoeuvre at the Angers Conference (by which the...

Mr. Baldwin embedded in his speech at the Lord Mayor's

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banquet on Friday, November 9th, a charac- teristic passage, in which he prophesied an immense usefulness for wireless in bringing about understanding between nations. He...

The loss of the Lamport and Holt liner Vestris,' which

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foundered in the Atlantic on Monday, the day after leaving New York for Buenos Aires, shows that science, though it has made the seas much safer, cannot always bring rescue. The...

Bank Rate, 41 per cent., changed from 5 per cent.,

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on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Tuesday 101 fr. ; on Wednesday week 101f t ; a year ago 1001x.d. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Tuesday 891 ; on Wednes-...

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President Coolidge ' s Speech IF President Coolidge's speech to the American

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Legion -11- was generally acceptable to Americans it must be taken as a regrettable sign that Anglo-American relations are less favourable than they were. This, we fear, is a...

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The Derating Problem

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T HE Government are being treated with less than loyalty by some of their nominal supporters. Professing Unionists are complaining that certain towns and distriets will be...

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The Future of Roads

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T HE road problem in Great Britain is becoming acute. Already at week-ends most roads near London and other big cities are so congested that the speed of motor vehicles is...

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The Week in Parliament A S I write, the debate on

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the Address is drawing to its somewhat uninspiring close. We have had three days on unemployment, and the figures on the live register are not likely to be affected as a result...

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Herbert Hoover : A Personal Impression M Y knowledge of Herbert

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Hoover, like that of many Englishmen who have met him, dates back to those pre-War days when he lived in London in a biggish house in the West End. My recollection of the first...

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Health—The First Wealth

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N OTHING has been more remarkable in recent years than the increase in popular interest in health. That interest is still chiefly concerned with individua . well-being and does...

Physics Declares Its Independence

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S OME years ago Huxley de fi ned science as organized common sense. This definition is valid enough in the early stage of scientific development, but a period is fairly soon...

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[THE ARTS AND CRAFTS EXHIBMON SOCIETY. BUR- LINGTON HOUSE.] THOSE

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who feel that they are suffering from an overdose of picture exhibitions may find relief in a visit to the Arts and Crafts show at Burlington House. In a foreword it is stated...

Art

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[THE MACPHERSON COLLECTION. THF. GUILDHALL ART GALLERY.] IT is stated in a foreword to the catalogue of the paintings and prints from the Macpherson collection at the Guildhall...

Mu sic

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SCHUBERT. IT is already evident that the Schubert centenary is being observed with more discrimination than was shown during the Beethoven celebrations last year. On that...

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Correspondence

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A LETTER FROM TOKYO. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin, — The most intense excitement prevails among us over the arrival of the • Europa,' the Junkers Monoplane of Baron...

A Hundred Years Ago

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THE SPECTATOR, NOVEMBER 15TH, 1828. INDIAN GOVERNMENT—THE ENGLISH THE FIRST CIVILIZERS OF ASIA WE had the other day a gratifying instance of the progress of English...

°Wing to the great demand for the Centenary number of

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the SPECTAT011, Of TrhiCh 35,000 copies were sold as soon as published, we regret that many persons have been unable to buy copies. We have ordered a reprint of this issue, and...

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The Literary Pages of the " Spectator

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[In our last twq numbers we described the literary contents of the SPECTATOR from 1828 to 1900. The, concluding section brings the account to our own days. —ED. Spectator.] A...

We have, unfortunately, had to hold over the article :

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" The League of Nations and Reparations," by M. William Martin, Foreign Editor of the JOURNAL DR GgNi•VE.

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The Diary of Tolstoy's Wife—V

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By arrangement with I' iclor Gollanc.-_, Ltd., who will publish the complete book on November 20th, we are this to print a series of extracts from " The Diary of Tolstoy's...

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"Spectator" Conference for Personal Problems

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The Work of the Conference [The SPECTATOR Conference offers to readers a service of advice on personal problems in which they would like impartial help. The Editor has...

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The B.B.C. itself is anxious to discover how the idea

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will be received and what sort of " talk " would be most useful and stimulating. The pioneer experiment in a Hertfordshire village, not yet selected, though it may prove to be...

A EIRD'S INSTINCT.

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A queer example of the perfection of instinct in one direction and its deficiency in another is given by the behaviour of a certain thrush in Oidord. A young bird, saved as a...

Scores of examples suggest themselves. How fruitful in rural Canada

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(whence sprang the Women's Institutes) is the amalgamation of the churches. It is leading even to the establishment of a real school of native architecture. What co-operative...

Country Life

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SALVING ENGLAND. The organized endeavour to preserve. or salve, rural England has begun to show a number of conspicuous successes in many counties, especially in the rather...

POISON PLANTS.

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The instinct for the right foods is generally precise in animals, but not always. In my neighbourhood the other day two fine horses were killed by eating from a bough of yew...

A TRAVELLING LESSON.

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An admirable model for defence provided by Leicester was discussed in last week's Spectator. Since then a scheme has been prepared for giving other counties an opportunity of...

A R.B.C. EXPERIMENT.

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In the same town from which the travelling chamber of horror is probably to start, a new scheme for rural revival was set afoot last week by the Hertfordshire Rural Community...

DOGS AND WIRELESS.

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A favourite spaniel's reactions to the service on Armistice Day interested a group of observers. A loudspeaker had just been installed ; and was set in action for the broadcast...

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ENGLAND'S GREEN . . BEAUTY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In

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your Centenary number Mr. John Galsworthy advises those who wish to preserve England's beauty to be active and even unpleasant. How should one proceed towards a Government...

CAMBRIDGE HOUSLNG SOCIETY

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,— In view of the correspondence on slum conditions, and on the attempts through voluntary associations to supple- ment the work of the...

Letters to the Editor

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THE SLUM PROBLEM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Townroe replies in your issue of November 10th to certain criticisms of ours on his book, The Slum Problem. The first, and...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In your issue of November 10th Captain Townroe makes the admission that the incorrigible slum makers, who loom so largely in his book, are not numerous after all. Mrs....

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THE LIVERPOOL SYNOD AND THE PRAYER BOOK [To the Editor

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of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,--The dramatic vote in the London Diocesan Synod hag rather obscured the action which was taken on the same day by the Synod called by the Bishop of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Two articles by Sir

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J. C. Stamp and John Galswoithy in the excellent Centenary number irritate me : " To clear away what Irving Fisher calls the money illusion is the first necessity of thinking...

THE DEMAND FOR DUTY ON IRON AND STEEL [To the

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Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Your correspondent, G. D. McGrigor, says he disputes my statement that Safeguarding results in increased prices to the British consumer, because...

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THE BOOK REPORT

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Board of Education report of the Consultative Committee on Books in Public Elementary Schools is, like the curate's egg, good in...

THE FUTURE OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.) am not surprised at reading Dean Inge's pessimistic account of the future of our Public Schools. It must be at least ten years since Alec Waugh's Loom of Youth...

THE COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE CHURCH [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Sra,—It is very little consolation to the laity to be told, as Professor Helton has told us in your last issue, that the Church of England is comprehensive, if, as...

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HUMANE SLAUGHTER

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —There are many indications that public opinion would strongly approve of the passing of a Bill making the use of the humane killer...

Poetry

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Pall Mall and Piccadilly UP and down Pall Mall, and then back to Piccadilly, educated gentlemen, exquisitely silly, sit about and lounge about talking, eating, drinking, and...

UNITED STATES DOMESTIC POLICY [To the Editor of. the SPECTATOR.]

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Sia,—It is not generally understood in this country that the • Republican Party in normal times comprises the vast majority of the United States electorate. An eight years...

PUBLIC BATHS FOR VILLAGES

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With reference to the letter in the Spectator of October 20th, in the village of East Quantoxhead, Somerset, midway between Bridgwater...

POINTS FROM LETTERS " A CYCLE OF REVIEWING."

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I feel constrained to ask you to correct by a small paragraph in your next issue the paragraph which • is the pivot of my whole article. In it I say :- " And all the while, I...

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Since Sir John Fortescue's The Empire and the Army (Cassell,

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10s. 6d.) is written primarily, as the author states, to serve as a.text 7 book for soldiers, we must content ourselves with doing'little more than registering the book's...

The appearance of the first part of the fortnightly publica-

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tion, .1 See All, a pictorial encyclopedia edited by Mr. Arthur Mee, is indeed an event in the world of journalism. I See AU is the first pictorial encyclopedia in the world. In...

For some time it was suspected that the chemical treatises

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attributed to Geber were not authentic ; but since an original Arabic text has been found for one treatise, it becomes possible to believe the whole corpus is genuine. An...

Mr. E. V. Lucas's " County Songs " have been

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appearing in Punch for so many weeks that some readers may suspect him of having eulogized certain counties twice or thrice over. Now that they really do appear for a second...

As the late Clerk of the Privy Council, Sir Almerie

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Fitzroy is naturally interested in its origins and progress through the ages, and his short History of the Privy Cvincil (Murray, 21s.) reflects his liking for the subject. His...

Some Books of the Week

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Da. VERNON BARTLET, introducing Professor C. J. Cadoux's monumental work Catholicism and Christianity : a Vindi- cation of Progressive Protestantism (Allen and Unwin, 21s.),...

The Competition

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AT one time or another every one of us has either mistaken the identity of some one else or has been mistaken for some one else—a contretemps which generally resulted in an...

("More Books of the Week" and " General Knowledge Com-

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petition" will be found on pages 746 and 749.)

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Our Railways and the New Outlook

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The Economics of Rail Transport in Great Britain. Vol. I. History and Development. Vol. II. Rates and Service. By C. E. R. Sherrington, with a Foreword by Sir Guy Granet....

An Englishman Looks at America

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The America of To-day. By J. A. Spender. (Ernest Berm 12s. 6d. net.) MR. SPENDER has written the best book about the United States which we have 'read for a very long time. In...

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A Saint Without Wisdom

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The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. By Sophie Buxhoevenden. (Longman. 28s.) TUE writer of this sad and charming book was for years a...

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Samuel Richardson

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Richardson. By Brian W. Downs. (Routledge; tis.) THE least remarkable of all great novelists was Samuel Richardson. He was an industrious publisher and a good business man. He...

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A Student of Prague

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My War Memoirs. By Dr. Benesh. Translated from the Czech by Paul Solver. (Allen and Unwin. 218.) ONE of the most urgent tasks confronting the present genera- tion is the working...

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Fiction

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EARTHQUAKE. By Henry Walsworth Kinney. (Nash and Grayson. 7s. 6d.)—An ironic situation is well handled in his carefully written and somewhat unusual novel. Sage Smith is an...

GET ALONG ALONE. By L. W. Vedrenne. (Allen and Unwin.

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7s. Od.)—" The over-production of potential wives " is Mr. Vedrenne's theme. He introduces us to Jane Lade, who, despite - beauty; wealth, and every other apparent advantage, is...

THE LAY CONFESSOR. By Stephen Graham. (Bern. 7s. 6d.)—The first

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part of Mr. Graham's novel almost reads like a translation, not because of deficiency in English style, but because the naïve, dreamy, all-accepting narrative, with its sudden...

A Scientist at Eton

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Eton and Elsewhere. By M. D. Hill. (Murray. 125.) THERE must be thousands of Old Etonians who carry with them vivid and pleasant memories of science " divisions " under Mr. M....

INSPECTOR WILSON'S HOLIDAY. By G. D. H. and M. Cole.

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(Collins. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. and Mrs. Cole have given us another excellent volume of detective stories. The adventures of the leading private detective of England while on his...

THE BISHOP'S WIFE. By RobertNathan. (Gollancz. 6s.) ,--This is a

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tender little fantasy, perhaps slightly lacking in :definition. The harasserIbishOp says _ that only an abgel could ;serve him as his archdeacon ; and a passing seraph takes him...

THE HINGE OF HEAVEN. By Stephena Cockrell. (Chatto and Windus.

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7s. 6d.)—The tasteful binding and decoratiOn-rd !ilia novel iggelit that it. possesses the Cranford type, f charm and though the Seale is far away Virginia, expectations are not...

:display genuine powers of description and . But the writer's vision

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is unpleasantly _warped. I is one thing to reveal the hidden splendour in squalor ; but Miss Salt, in these little studies of a neurotic woman or a young actress eager for...

HUMDRUM. By Harold Acton. (Chatto and Windug. 7s. 6d.)—Sophistication and

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a modern smartness, sometimes degenerating into vulgarity, are the distinguishing qualities of this study of two sisters. Brought up in a provincial, puritanical home, Linda...

UNMARRIED LIFE. By John North. (Jarrolds. 7s. 6d.)—This is a

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comedy of cross purposes, in which the chief characters are a widow, anxious to marry her daughter to a supposedly rising financier, and a group of young people whose...

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- . Mr. R. L. Megroz makes his contribution to

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Rossetti litera- ture with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Painter Poet of Heaven in Earth (Faber and Gwyer, 15s.). The first part is " mainly biographical ; and, quoting most of the...

Creative love is the impulse of life and of the

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universe, says Mr. E. W. Hirst, and in the first part Of his bOOk, 'Ethical Love (Allen and Unwin, 7s. 6d.), he sets out to substantiate this view from a survey of modern...

ROSE THE DANCER. By Winifred Carter. (Alston Rivers. 7s. 6d.)-This

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novel shOuld be immensely popular with very young women. It is a simple; naive tale of a girl dancer who, having passed from triumph to triumph upon the stage, marries a budding...

Mr. Keble Chatterton, in his beautiful Old Sea Paintings (John

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Lane, £2 2s.), has inquired into the origin and develop. ment of marine painting. The book would not have been what it is had he not been allowed to take many illustrations from...

THE HAND AND DAGGER. By F. Frankfort Moore. (Nash and

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Grayson. 7s. 6d.)-The Hand and Dagger is a country inn, around which much of the action of this original and first-rate mystery tale revolves. A murder in a theatrical company...

More Books of the Week (Continued from page 738.) Mr.

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Haldane Macfall, in Aubrey Beardsley, the Man and his Work (The Bodley Head,. 15s.), tells us, in a simple and readable way, of the life and death of Aubrey Eeardsley, The book...

THE HAMMER OF DOOM. By Francis Everton. (Collins. 7s. 6d.)-This

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is a cleverly conceived and well executed mystery story, having for its setting the town of Castlefield in Derbyshire, near which are the engineering works of .Coulson Bros.,...

A Library List

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MISCELLANEOUS :-Alma Mater or the Future 4 Oxford and Cambridge. By Julian Hall. (Regan Paul. 2s. 6d.) Wages. By Maurice Dobb. (Nisbet. 5s.) The Works of Sir Thomas Browne....

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One can hear an unregenerate modern child on reading Miss

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Thornton Cook's Royal Elizabeths (Murray, 7s. 6d.) exclaim, at least over some of the early parts of the biographies, " Did children ever really talk, write or act like that ? "...

Finance—Public & Private

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The United States Election and the London Stock Markets IN considering the outlook for public securities, both investment and speculative, what amount of attention should the...

In The Tramp's Anthology (Davies, 6s.) Mr. Stephen Gra.ham- -himself

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a walker who has considerably enriched the lighter literature of the road—has made a collection of poems and prose passages which everyone who has not permanently substituted...

General Knowledge Questions

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OUR weekly prize of one guinea for the best thirteen Questions submitted is awarded this week to Mrs. Marjorie Binnie, Findoglen, Naboomspruit, N. Transvaal, South Africa, for...

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A RECORD PRICE.

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Whatever the cause, however, - the strength of the 5 per cent. War Loan in particular has been an outstanding feature, for, allowing for the fact that the stock is quoted...

Finan cial_ Notes WAR Lo. STRONG.

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IN a separate article I have dealt at some length with the general effect of the Presidential Election upon the stock markets, and upon the intimate connexion which still exists...

LORD BIRKENHEAD AND THE CITY.

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It would seem that Lord Birkenhead is beginning to fill up his appointments to the Boards of various concerns, the most noteworthy of those at Present announced being, of...

COSTS OF PRODUCTION.

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At the same time, Mr. Williamson emphasized the need for the control now exercised by the Loan Council over the bor- rowings of all the Australian States, while he drew...

A NOTABLE SPEECH.

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The excellent character of the annual Report of the Directors of the English, Scottish and Australian Bank prepared share- holders for the satisfactory statement which the...

BETTER TRADE FIGURES.

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I have so often to write in terms of pessimism with regard to trade, and especially with regard to our export trade, that it is pleasant to be able to record that, so far at all...

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SPIERS AND POND SHARE SPLITTING.

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In announcing an interim dividend - .of 5 per cent. on the ,Ordinary shares (the same as .last year) the Directors of Spiers and Pond state that they will be recommending to...

Motors and Motoriti

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The Modern Motor Car.—I. The Gear-Box I HAVE written an article on simpler gear-changing with special reference to - free wheel devices both as to their advan- • tages in the...