minority of British South Africans treat General Hertzog'S statement as " mere hypocrisy." But the vast majority have plain reason on their side when they point out that his...

tone and made a profound impression. He describes it as the knell of the old Kruger (read that the Dutch - were the real South Africans, and that the others were interlopers—a...

South Africa on Monday made a memorable speech. It proved that Mr. Tielman Roos, the acting Prime Minister, did not speak incautiously last week when he predicted that General...

remedy will be demanded, and it may then be possible to persuade the Chinese to distinguish between the good sides of nationalism and the bad. The bad sides are mostly due to...

armies are advancing towards Shanghai. The province of Chekiang, which stands in the way, has evidently yielded of its own free will to the invaders. General Sun Chuan-fang is "...

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

of the Balkans," has removed an extraordinary personality. His death was sudden and his strength was almost unabated to the end. Although he was eighty-folk years of age, it...

of Commons on Friday, December 10th, winning its race against time with a very small margin. It went through all its stages in the House of Lords on Tuesday. Several Peers...

unwholesome thing for party headquarters to be dependent on a fund supplied by one person. That was a new situation " disturbing to the politics of the country." Again, he did...

unsavoury reports of legal cases in the news- papers—a Bill which has frequently been before Parlia- ment under other sponsorship—has been passed by both Houses. We have long...

those Liberals who agree with him. He has not feared to say things which must have been extremely distasteful to him, because he felt it to be a public duty to do so. Most...

Secretary, received a deputation from the Labour Party, the Trades Union Congress and the Miners' Federation, who requested an amnesty for the prisoners convicted under the...

his methods were severe and frigid he never lost the devotion of his followers. He was in many ways an inscrutable and sphinx-like man. Criticism and even abuse, though his...

Mr. Vivian Phillipps made an extremely outspoken speech on his position in the Liberal Party. He said that in 1924 there were very unsatisfactory negotiations about the party...

Surrey, is one of the strangest affairs of its kind on, record. Mrs. Christie's motor-car was found abandoned near Newlands Corner, and for eleven days not only the local...

is said that she is suffering from " a complete loss of memory." This affliction has taken an unusual form, as most people who lose their memory wander aimlessly for a time. If...

so long at Harrogate, as she had actually written a letter to her brother-in-law saying that she was going to a Yorkshire spa. At the hotel she passed under the name of a...

the influential Labour leaders in the deputation that some day presumably they would themselves be members of a Government, and they would then be grateful for the security of...

a devoted public worker and a sound Free Trade economist and anti-Socialist. His writings and speeches on such questions as State trading were admirably clear and sensible. He...

from Sir Valentine Chirol and others protesting against the speech in which Lord Inchcape at the recent meeting of the P. & O. Company said that anti-foreign feeling in China...

on December 3rd, 1925. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 109* ; on Wednesday week 99 {1 ; a year ago 100}. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 84} ; on Wednesday...

T HE League of Nations is nowadays taken so much for granted that it seems to occur to nobody to point out that but for the 'League the agreement of last week at Geneva could...

y AST Sunday's papers contained an announcement L that " a Million red herrings and a large quantity of sprats were lately destroyed in a fire at Lowestoft.' , Could there be...

T HE controversy over the South African flag has been an unfortunate one, for it has stirred up racial feeling and reawakened among British and Dutch old memories which...

J'HE debate on the vote of censure last week practically brought the session to a close. A few days of cleaning up remained, and members found themselves free to go home on...

VII.—Birth Control and National Well-Being B IRTH control is not a cure for all national ills. A Britain with a sharply declining population would be a decaying Britain. Any...

(Dr. Rendall, ex-Head-Master of Winchester, continues the discussion.) 1 AM largely in agreement with the admirable articles by the Head-Master of Harrow and the Head- Master of...

VI.—Are Sheltered Markets Necessary ? C A N British farming be made to pay without giving the British land some shelter in its home markets ? Can reasonably skilful and prudent...

notify The. SPECTATOR Office BEFORE MIDDAY ON MONDAY of EACH WEEK. The previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt number should be quoted.

[Dr. Hu Shih is Professor of Literature at Poking University and was recently appointed a member of the British Boxer In - demnity .Committee. He is not himself a Christian.—En....

" H AVE you seen our Museum ? You have ? But you haven't seen our Dance Hall yet, I think." That is the way of it. A small town museum is a sight- s sad sight sometimes—a show,...

[A LETTER FROM VIENNA.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Austrian politics, society, literature and public life are still under the influence of a post-War phenomenon...

r _IKE many other atomic hamlets that speck the endless wastelands, Utne lies as a little speck on the bleak expanses of India. Men, women, children, cows, goats, buffaloes and...

[" GRANNY," BY GRAHAM MOFFAT, ROYALTY THEATRE.--.. "THE FIRST YEAR," BY FRANK CRAVEN, APOLLO.] IT doesn't matter whether you accept at this season the Bergsonian theory of...

A SPANISH GUITAR RECITAL. THE first appearance in London of Senor Andres Segovia, the Spanish guitarist, provided quite a little oasis for the critics on their journey through...

[TILE MULTI-NATIONAL EXHIBITION AT THE CHENIL GALLERIES, CHELSEA.] THESE excellent Galleries in the King's Road hold an enter- taining and enjoyable collection of work by...

What everyone chiefly noticed about the dog (who is an invariable companion of his distinguished and easily dis- tinguishable owner) is the extreme woolliness of his coat. His...

A PENLAND PARADOX. The local details of events concerned with the soil of England are " a thing imagination boggles at." They are certainly never so much as imagined by most of...

An ardent defence of the sport of hunting the carted stag comes from a correspondent who has hunted in the West Country where, as he says, wild stag hunting is " deeply rooted...

In one respect the experiences of this year have most cheer- ingly enhanced the value of our Fenlands, especially in the neighbourhood of Ely. One single farmer grew a thousand...

An iinportant,artkle ty Sir &tett Hc•dfrrld en "Goodwill iri Inchistry."-

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Mr. Mackenzie's cures for 'our ills may be perfectly correct, but I venture to think that his method of house purchase is only possible...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—A good deal has appeared recently ir your columns about Public School education, its high cost and the danger of " class consciousness "...

CAPTAIN CORAM'S GRAVE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Governors of the Foundling Hospital have given notice that they intend to apply to the Home Secretary for...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In connexion with this subject it is necessary to consider the case of the man who through hereditary taint, or acciden- tally acquired...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Your issue of December 4th contains a letter from Miss C. E. Ellington Wright, dealing with " the prospects of a Franco-German...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In view of the fact that the Annual World's Fair at the Agricultural Hall will shortly be open to the public, I shall esteem it a favour...

[To the Edit or of the SPECTATOR.] Sni,—In regard to books of Reminiscences I was told of a Maid of Honour to whom a friend said : " What an interesting book you'll be able to...

[To the Editor of the FPECT tTOR.] Sm,—Schemes for turning the House of Lords into a Second Chamber which would be a Senate cr Huse of Notables will surely produce many dangers...

[To the Editor of the SrzersTon.] Sm,—Now that Sir Frank Fox is getting into his stride with definite proposals, I crave a little space to put the Liberal point of view. There...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—Although I know that the Spectator is differently disposed towards the matter, I hope you will allow me to express in its columns the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Will you grant me space for some observations on the article on Singapore in your issue of December 17th inst. ft fell to my lot, as...

[To the Editor of the Sencrsroa.] Sin,—I read with much interest Lord Coleridge's letter in the Spectator, November 13th, 1926, with reference to Falstaff's babbling of green...

letter in the Spectator of the 4th inst. seems to show that there is some misapprehension as to the identity of Herr Professor Hermann Pagenstecher, now practising in Wiesbaden....

Sra,—If Mr. Ervine had lived in America as long as I have he could not have written more accurately of the " debasement " of the English language in this country. I have lived...

see that Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, himself a Scot, has been attacking Scotch oatmeal porridge and saying that better Scotsmen could be produced if we gave up our national...

SPECTATOR.] Sin,—There is a balanced account of this " miracle " by Father Thurston in the (Roman) Catholic Encyclopaedia. He admits that the saint, who died about 805 A.D., was...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Rather to my surprise (delighted surprise !) I have received, in consequence of my article in the Spectator (on Trapping), quite a large...

Atmouon the incandescent filament Glows steadily in the bulb, and all is bright About them in the room, and snug content Seems theirs as by the cosy hearth they sit— With eyes...

the SPECTATOR.]_ Sra,—At the luncheon held on December Oth at the Hotel Cecil, the new Church Extension Fund was inaugurated, and the Chairman (Mr. L. G. Sloan) intimated that...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The host of letters which of recent years have appeared in the Press, either praising or abusing the Zoo, discourages addition to their...

The Cathedral Tnou art a princely dream, a swelling psalm Graver than adoration of a Nun, Richer than bells that stab a Sabbath calm, Cooler than fount or palm in Syrian sun....

Mn. SYDNEY A. KEEBLE, School of Agriculture, Claresholm, Alberta, Canada, rrrites asking whether readers of the Spectator could send him any leading English periOdicals such as...

WE think that it may be of some service to our readers, at this season, if we consider the best books of the year instead of reviewing, as is our custom, the more ephemeral...

The Editor offered a prize of £5 for an essay in prose or verse on The Character of an Ideal Friend. WHAT a quarrel of opinions this competition produced Some demanded great...

Stoll, Kingsway.—THE COHENS AND THE KELLYS. Laughable farce of Jewish and Irish " characters " in a New York tenement. Well acted. Plaza.--PETER PAN. Matinees commencing 2 p.m....

THE books published this year for quite small children are a disappointing collection. From amongst the twenty or thirty which hive been sent to us, not one has illustrations...

THERE arc more precious books for children than annuals, but few are more comradely. Often they get badly treated. They are scrawled over with crayons. They are banged about...

told me feebly that he was sure he had got a hole in his side and that he was bleeding through that hole." There followed a ghastly and nerve-wracking wait before Elliott could...

IT is with South Africa that the name of Sir Rider Haggard will be chiefly associated. If the great Boer Trek was the most vital event in the history of that country, the...

The Third British Empire. By Alfred Zimmern. (Oxford University Press. 6s. net.). Jr might be expected that Professor Zimmern's lectures on the development of the British...

Philosophy in the University of Liverpool. (Allen and Unwin. 7s. 6d.)—The aim of this book is "to prove the real existence of a supreme self in the universe." But it is not in...

Daniel. 7s. 6d.), announced as Mr. I. C. Isbyam, is presumably a mathematical physicist who has been impelled by the meta- physical perplexities so obviously confronting the...

The Elizabethan Zoo. Selected by M. St. Clare Byrne. (Ffasle- wood Press. 32s. 6d. net.) THESE extracts from the zoological works of Edward Topsell make one of the most...

The Psychology of the Thinker. (University of London Press. 7s. 6d.)—Dr. Ida Saxby, Lecturer in Education at University College, Cardiff, has written this book for students to...

net.)—Great financiers seldom give definite expression to their views on politics and trade, and still more rarely have anything to say about the arts. Mr. Kahn is an exception...

Translated by C. H. Payne. (Routledge. 12s. 6d.) —Alcbar and the Jesuits is a translation of the Histoire pub- lished at Bordeaux by Father Pierre Du Jarric in the early...

A. S. Turberville. (Clarendon Press. 10s. net.)—Here is a fascinating pictorial history by a competent scholar, whose text and choice of illustrations are alike excellent. Mr....

Hall-Edwards. (Cornish Bros. 2s. net.)—Cancer : Control and Prevention, is a little book by the late Dr. John Hall-Edwards written for the 'purpose "of explaining to the general...

A YEAR AMONGST THE PERSIANS. By E. G. Browne. With a Memoir by Sir E. Denison Ross. (Cambridge Univer- sity Press. 25s.)---It is good to meet" again a great book in a comely...

6d.)--This little _ book _will, prove a handy and useful companion to the study of English social history ; though it cannot compete for interest and variety with Mr. G. G....

G. Le Strange. (Routledge. 12s. 6d.)—This old travel narrative, with its account of Shah Tahmasp's reign, is not without interest, although better historical accounts exist....

is not the work of a very young writer, precedents count for nothing. It is three-quarters talk— talk about Time and Space and Eternity, the meaning or meaninglessness of life,...

THE FIELD OF MUSTARD. By A. E. Coppard. (Cape. 7 s , 6d.)—It is hard to consider other short stories when Mr. oppard publishes a new volume of his extraordinarily brilliant...

plainly Mr. Sykes is the literary child of Mr. Buchan, " Sapper ' and Mr. Victor Bridges. With- out possessing all the dash and ingenuity of these writers, Mr. Sykes has...

New Mototing Laws A BILL which is now before the Ulster Parliament regardirig new traffic regulations possesses a great interest to British -motorists, because it is commonly...

Sunday, December 19th.—Great Poems I. Browning's " Childs Roland, read by Raymond Trafford (5.15 p.m.). Carols from Tonbridge School Chapel (7.45-8.10 p.m.). Monday (9.45 p.m.),...

IF Christmas came more than once a year, how good it would be for our souls ! There is nothing like giving to enlarge the . spiritual horizon—it is an expansion of...

Home Railway Outlook [N . view of the fact that something like one thousand pillions of money is invested in our English railways and that this capital has suffered severe...

ARMSTRONG, WHITWORTH. IT is not often, fortunately, that'shareholders of big industrial concerns are presented with so disastrous a statement as, that recently' issued by the...

Because, however, of .the firm's well-deserved reputation in the past, because of the skilful advice which they are now leoeiving and the better administration which seems...

And again, while it would obviously be unfair, with the Amall amount of information available, to place the blame indiscriminately upon each member of the old Board of...

Moreover, the need for some such arrangement is clear from the fact that the statement is made that the company .has approximately £10,000,000 invested in undertakings foreign...

In his address to shareholders of the Bank of London and South America, on Tuesday, the Chairman (Mr. Beaumont Pease) gave a really valuable up-to-date summary of condi. tions...

The scheme and proposals are recommended to the Deben- ture and Noteholders' acceptance by the Advisory Committee 'Already referred to, the standing of- which is of a character...