19 SEPTEMBER 1931

Page 1

News of the Week

The Spectator

Parliament O N Thursday, September 10th, the House of Commons received the official statement of the Treasury on the successful arrangement for British credits in the United...

By ceasing to borrow for those Funds a deficit arises

The Spectator

on them of £34,000,000. By losses of revenue from taxes £29,000,000 disappear. The net result of the operation of President Hoover's plan is a loss to us of about £11,000,000....

The New Finance Resolntions How stern is the purpose of

The Spectator

the Government is better realized now that we know the details of the new emer- gency Budget. The. Chancellor of the Exchequer, sup- ported largely by the representatives of...

EDITORIAL AKD PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.

The Spectator

1.—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 Postage on this...

Mr. Snowden then spoke of his plans for converting the

The Spectator

5 per cent. War Loan on which comment is made in our finance columns. Mr. Graham opened the criticism but it was party criticism rather than financial. Mr. Snowden had made the...

[Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the

The Spectator

SPECTATOR.]

Page 2

The Economy Bill On Friday, September 11th, the Prime Minister

The Spectator

moved the Economy Bill, details of which had been circulated. Again there was a great deal of self-justification by the Opposition (Qui s'excuse, s'accuse!), and Mr. Thomas...

The Budget Again The second reading of the Bill was

The Spectator

carried on Monday by 310 votes to 253. Again there was the unprofitable attack and defence of the ex-Cabinet Ministers for their part in working out the necessary " cuts." Sir...

The Round Table Conference Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy, at Simla,

The Spectator

on Monday, addressed the Council and Assembly on the importance of co-operation in face of India's economic and political difficulties. While all eyes were fixed on the London...

* * * * Disarmament Signor Grandi, the Italian Foreign

The Spectator

Minister, suggested last week that the Powers should agree to a complete armament holiday till after the Disarmament Conference. The suggestion was favourably received in...

The Navy On Wednesday the Admiralty announced that the Lords

The Spectator

Commissioners had approved of a temporary suspension of the exercises of the Atlantic Fleet " while certain representations of hardship under new rates of pay are being...

And now it seems in danger of being cast away

The Spectator

through the folly that has prevailed among us since the War. Nothing will ever persuade us that to hamper trade by taxing it is the right way to increase it, or that tariffs on...

South Africa The Prime Minister, General Hertzog, announced on Tuesday

The Spectator

to the Nationalist Party - Congress at Pretoria, an intention to abolish the Provincial System. He evidently thinks that he can thereby complete the unity of the Union. It will...

Page 3

Come to Britain!

The Spectator

The question of the improvement of British hotels and other facilities for tourists which has been occupying the attention of our correspondents suggests that this country is...

The Schneider Trophy As Saturday was wet and stormy, the

The Spectator

race for the Schneider Trophy over the Solent course was held on Sunday, contrary to English practice. Neither France nor Italy were represented, but Flight-Lieutenane'Booth-...

entirely destroyed by a hurricane on September 10th. The storm

The Spectator

raged through the morning without doing much harm, but a second storm, coming after a half-hour of calm, was so violent that nothing could stand against it. The town was laid in...

known as the Heimwehr, revolted under Dr. Pfriemer and seized

The Spectator

a number of towns. Their leader proclaimed himself Fascist dictator of Austria. They used machine- guns in Kapfenberg, and several Socialists were killed or wounded. The...

Bank Rate 44 per cent., changed from 34 per cent.

The Spectator

on July 30th, 1931. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 994; on Wednesday week, 1001 ; . a year ago, 103*. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 914 ; on Wednesday...

Ministry of Health, is, on the whole, reassuring in his

The Spectator

new report on the health of the nation in 1930. The death-rate and the infant mortality rate were the lowest yet recorded. Sixty out of every thousand children born died in...

* * * Milk Prices The National Farmers' Union, after

The Spectator

negotiations with the milk traders, has been obliged to accept on behalf of the dairy farmers an average price of ls. 04d. per gallon for the coming year. The milk traders...

Page 4

The New Budget

The Spectator

rilHE rapidity with which the events have moved 1 lately in this country has been bewildering, and we must beware lest excitement and lack of time to think should deceptively...

Page 5

Slums and Economy

The Spectator

BY B. S. TOWNROE. M ANY readers of the Spectator no doubt fear that Government economies may impede the pro- vision of better housing accommodation for those now living in the...

Page 6

Federal Spain ?

The Spectator

BY W. HORSFALL CARTER. S OMETHING more than the ebullient joy of a popular fiesta marked the celebration last Friday (September 11th) of Catalonia's fete nationals. Until the...

The Week in Parliament

The Spectator

A WEEK largely of recriminations between men who have been associated during the whole life of the most powerful party in Parliament. Most of the debate on the Economy Bill has...

Page 8

Dmeer subscribers who are changing their addresses are asked to

The Spectator

notify the SPECTATOR Office BEFORE :DAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. 'The previous address to Which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted:

Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian States

The Spectator

BY COL. K. N. HAKSAR. T HE Indian Princes have declared unequivocally that they stand for India's connexion with Britain. Their loyalty is based on their devotion to the person...

Page 9

Tendencies in Secondary Education

The Spectator

BY LORD EUSTACE PERCY. [A new educational year is beginning, and we propose to publish some articles, which deal broadly with current problems of Educa- tion in this country....

Page 10

Incongruities S. T. C.—I BY E. M. FORSTER. T HE workhouse

The Spectator

at Henley-on-Thames has, or rather had, a garden attached to it, in the midst of which stood a solitary hut, reserved for inmates who were suffering from infectious diseases. At...

Page 11

REFORMING THE (DEVIL'S) PRAYER-BOOK.

The Spectator

It is a curious fact that countries who lose their kings always seem, temporarily at least, to lose their sense of humour. So seriously does Spain take her own anti-royalist...

Considered Trifles

The Spectator

A HOLIDAY AT EUSTON. According to a letter in The Times, a Breton paper recently published a photograph of H.M. King George entitled " The King leaving Euston, where he was...

CAN-YOU-BEAT-IT DEPARTMENT.

The Spectator

" The announcements for the autumn publishing season seem to show that novels, like skirts, are to be longer. All the better for their readers.. . . A novel that can be read at...

Art

The Spectator

A New Experiment THE Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, has started an experi- ment which I sincerely hope will be continued there with as much success as it deserves. It is an...

Page 12

The League of Nations

The Spectator

The French and German Cases at Geneva AFTER a lapse of five years the League of Nations has experienced the satisfactory sensation of admitting a new member. The last...

Page 13

THE LAST PATCH.

The Spectator

For a countryman, even if he has no use for a gun, few sights are more interesting than the cutting of the last rectangle of corn, or, indeed, of lucerne or sainfoin, in a...

Country Life

The Spectator

" COMBINE " HARVESTERS. Whether the "-combine " machines will help to bring profit to the grain-grower in England, with its little fields and mixed farmings, we do not know,...

THIS ECCENTRIC YEAR.

The Spectator

it is and has been an eccentric year in many regards as no one has more definitely realized than the keeper of a nature diary. How Gilbert White and those yet more thorough...

What most surprised many of those who saw one of

The Spectator

the Clayton combine harvester threshers operating in South Lincolnshire the other day was the economy of labour. In spite of the size and complication of the machine only three...

A week or so later than the harvesting of this

The Spectator

Lancashire field I watched the cutting of a big field of lucerne in Hert- fordshire. The farmer, with his gun at his side, was enjoying an alfresco tea (until such time as the...

* * * * ARTISTIC ADVERTISERS.

The Spectator

A small example may best illustrate the change of heart among advertisers in regard to the preservation of rural beauty ; and it is well that the names of those who are " on the...

It would seem that the weather has tended to delay

The Spectator

the autumn migration in some species, though it has promoted it in others. Never, in my experience, have the swifts left so early : they are already a dim memory and the cuckoos...

Page 14

Letters to the Editor

The Spectator

[In ritzy of the length of many of the letters which we receive, we would remind correspondents that we often cannot gzSe space for long letters and that short ones are...

OUTRAGE IN INDIA [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR] SIR,—

The Spectator

Referring to the recent deplorable outrages on officials in India, you stated in the Spectator of August 1st : " There is no ground for associating the Congress Party with...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The moment is come

The Spectator

to recall to the British workman the example of his Italian counterpart when, a few years ago, Italy found herself in grave financial difficulties, and the battle of the lira...

THE ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

The Spectator

SIR,—From time to time we hear from the Government and its representatives that something must be done to give India some measure of Home Rule: On the other hand, we have the...

LA SECURITE "

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Dr. R. G. Walmsley states that " the wrongs of a dictated peace " and " the injustices of an arbitrary and unjust frontier " constitute...

Page 15

GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Europe has become spacebound. It has outgrown itself. That is at the bottom of the existing economic impasse. What Europe pressingly...

THE UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt,—While I am always interested in the Financial article by " A. W. K." in the Spectator, there is one thing I cannot at all understand. When...

SELF-HELP IN SOUTH WALES

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The interesting accounts that have appeared in the Spectator have led me to go and see for myself some of the work that is being done...

Page 16

ALIEN RESIDENTS AND THE INCOME TAX [To the Editor of

The Spectator

the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is an unpleasant and perhaps unwarranted task for an alien to criticize the laws of the country in which he is temporarily, and most happily, resident....

ENGLISH AS " SHE " IS WRITTEN [To the Editor

The Spectator

of the SPEc-rxroa.] SIR,—I think that considering the decline in letters that the present century marks so lamentably, the leading articles in the Press maintain well former...

Page 17

CHEAP PHYSIC.

The Spectator

A boy in Perth, who had been sent to an apothecary's shop one night last week to purchase some medicine for the family, and who had received a halfpenny back of the sum sent as...

A Hundred Years Ago

The Spectator

THE " SPECTATOR," SEPTEMBER 17TH, 1831. A meeting took place at day-dawn on . Wedue3day last, on Wimbledon Common, between Lieutenant Claxton, R.N., and Mr. Protheroe, M.P. for...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] • - SIR, — May I

The Spectator

correct an error in my letter which appeared under the above heading in your issue of September 12th. Careless- ness on my part must have been the cause of my statement that a...

Ours is the Sky

The Spectator

ALL day long I.have been Between the blue and the green, Lying where daisies lie, Looking up at the sky, I have seen flowers open and seen Linnets and swallows fly. Thege be...

POINTS FROM LETTERS

The Spectator

AN EXPENSIVE MEAL. The little volume of Original-Poems for Infant Minds from which I quoted was not published by Barton and Harvey, but by Hill, Virtue and Company, 25...

• - TITHE BARNS.

The Spectator

There is a very fine tithe barn at Church Farm, Eddlesborough, Bucks, reached by following the road from Hemel Hempstead to Leighton Buzzard. In Hemel Hempstead is a large barn...

ALOYSIUS HORN ITo the . Editor of the SPECTATOR.] .

The Spectator

SIR, — There seems to be still current a belief, based on wholly insufficient evidence, that the late Trader Horn and his editress, Mrs. Ethelreda Lewis, combined to impose a...

THE PRESS IN THE COMMONS.

The Spectator

The tone in which newspapers are usually mentioned in tho House of Commons—very different from that adopted by Lord ALTHORP—is absurd. Men who cannot breakfast without one, in...

COURT DRESS.

The Spectator

Nothing can be more warlike than our Levees and Drawing- rooms ; instead of being peaceful meetings to pay respect to a peaceful monarch, they have the air of levies en masse....

Page 18

Spectator" Competitions

The Spectator

RULES AND CONDITIONS Entries must be typed or very clearly written on one side of the paper only. The name and address, or pseudonym, of the competitor must be on each entry...

Page 19

Admitted Impediment

The Spectator

" Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment." Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw. A Correspondence. Edited by Christopher St. John. - (Constable. £5 5s.) Tins...

Page 20

The Sickness of Europe HERE are three books about Europe

The Spectator

by men who look on it from very different angles, but are agreed in one thing : that it is mortally sick. None of them makes cheerful reading, but all are worth a glance, and...

The Empire and Mahatma Gandhi Mr. Gandhi the Man. By

The Spectator

Millie Graham Polak; Foreword by C. F. Andrews. (Allen & Unwin. 68.) GANDHI literature is voluminous, and is being augmented fast. Mrs. Polak's charming, unpretentious little...

Page 21

Deer-Stalking

The Spectator

STALKING is a sport with which you cannot flirt. The dilet- tante, who tries it and gives it up, imagines in his heart of hearts that he has been repelled by its austerity. All...

Page 22

Michael Faraday

The Spectator

IT is an odd thing that Michael Faraday, whose single-minded devotion to the search after scientific knowledge for its own sake has led to the manifold applications of...

Hogarth Lectures

The Spectator

ONE advantage in writing in a series of " lectures " is that your title can quite clearly state what your book is about ; there is no feverish searching for a public-catcher....

Page 23

Julie de Lespinasse

The Spectator

The Double Heart : A Study of Julie de Lespinasse. By Naomi Royde Smith. (Hamish Hamilton. 10s. 6c1.) " FEW women need to be loved " observed Julie de Lespinasse, " most of them...

A Most Handsome Compliment

The Spectator

Music at Night, and Other Essays. By Aldous Huxley. (Chatto and Windus. 7s. 6d.) " I HAVE," says Mr. Huxley, near the beginning of Those Personal Touches, " in the course of a...

Page 24

Fiction

The Spectator

Children—and Adults 7s. 6d.) WHEN a novel has real individuality—Miss Mole, for instance, Morning Tide, All Passion. Spent — it is easier to state the quality than to define...

Page 26

" A staid, uninteresting life is here," writes Mr. Gilbert

The Spectator

Coleridge in his rhymed preface to Some and Sundry (Con- stable, 9s.), but he does himself an injustice. He may not have had many exciting passages in his career, but he has...

ADELE AND CO. By Dornford Yates. (Hodder and Stough- ton.

The Spectator

7s. 6d.)—How pleasant it is to meet Berry . again after so many years. He has grown a little older, but is as witty and joyously idiotic as ever he was. He still dashes about in...

New Novels

The Spectator

TO-DAY'S VIRTUE. By Faith Baldwin. (Sampson Low. 7s. 6d.)—First love, disillusionment, second love—in an American setting. The theme is not new, but the story is told with a...

THE SILVER FLUTE. By Lida Larrimore. (Methuen. 7s. 6d.)—This delicately

The Spectator

whimsical novel by an American writer describes how an eighteen-year-old girl, having lost her parents, " mothers ' her young brothers and sisters, and finds an attractive...

MAPP AND LUCIA. By E. F. Benson. (Hodder and Stoughton.

The Spectator

7s. 6d.)—Mr. Benson's readers know by now what to expect from him, and his latest novel—recalling Miss Mapp—will in no way disappoint them.

Pleasant in format and type, the Shorter Poems of Robert

The Spectator

.ridges, which has just been published (Oxford University Press, 7s. 6d.), is a companion volume to the popular edition of " The Testament of Beauty." A few weeks before his...

FIFTEEN RABBITS. By Felix Salten. (Heinemann. 6s.)— An excellent tale

The Spectator

of the woodlands, written in the manner of a Hans Andersen fairy story. The style is too artificial, but some of the descriptions are really exquisite. The author knows his...

To-day it is a little difficult to remember that the

The Spectator

theatre, like the Garden of Paradise, was once a milieu exclusively male. In Enter the Actress (Harrap, 15s.) Miss Rosamond Gilder has appointed herself historian, to the...

Ir KERRELL (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.) " Taff- rail

The Spectator

" administers another dose of " the mixture as before." The period is the War ; and his sailormen are as bold and resourceful afloat as they are bashful and ingenuous on land.

half-baked, emotional story " Irish.' The Irish are a subtle,

The Spectator

cultured people, and prefer the King's English to Mayfair slang.

Current Literature

The Spectator

Shooting with Rifle and Camera (Gollanez, 18s.), by Mr. A. J. Siggins, describes the ingenious and arduous process of filming a hippopotamus herd, - which formed the leading...

AT THE SIGN OF THE GRID. By Horace Annesley Vachell.

The Spectator

(Ward Lock. 7s. 6d.)—Contains a number of stories of magazine type about the adventures and wagers of members of ` The Gridiron,' an exclusive and rather queer club. All make...

Page 28

What Boswell did for Johnson the Burns Clubs, spread worldwide,

The Spectator

do for Burns, and the Burns Chronicle, Vol. V., second series (The Burns Federation, 4s. 6d.) is their organ. Odd bits of unpublished letters, critical estimations of the man...

The 16th Foot (Constable, 5s.), which is a history of

The Spectator

the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, differs in three important respects from the ordinary run of regimental his- tories. In the first place it is the work of...

Sir Charles Callwell's editorship of Campaigns and their Lessons is

The Spectator

well known to students of military history ; and Colonel A. P. Wavell, whose Palestine Campaigns (Constable, 12s. 6d.) has just reappeared in a third edition, is not less...

Professor John Garstang has written a most illuminating book on

The Spectator

The Foundations of Bible History : Joshua : Judges (Constable, 20s.). He compares the older portions of the Biblical narrative with the Egyptian annals and with the results of...

Oxford versus Cambridge is a book compiled by Messrs. H.

The Spectator

M. Abrahams and J. Bruce Kerr, and gives full particulars of every contest that has taken place between our two oldest Universities up to and including 1930. Beginning from...

When he gets on to the present-day conditions in Zanzibar

The Spectator

(Witherby, 25s.), Mr. W. H. Ingrains is interesting and his information is reliable, though his style ("reeking naught " and so forth) is apt to be irritating. His long...

Miss I. F. Grant has firmly established her position as

The Spectator

one of Scotland's leading economic historians, and children for whom her Everyday Life in Scotland to 1603 (Allen and Unwin, 2s. 6d.) is intended will learn much from it. They...

A Library List

The Spectator

WILKIE COLLINS, LE FANU AND OTHERS. By S. M. Ellis. (Constable. 18s.) EVERYMAN REMEMBERS. By Ernest Rhys. (Dent. 12s. 6d.) MEMOIRS OF AN INFANTRY OFFICER. New Edition. By...

Page 30

The Modern Home

The Spectator

The Real Thing By G. M. BourallinRir. I FEEL that in describing and commenting upon the house pictured below I shall be expected by many to adopt a denunciatory or at least a...

Page 32

Travel

The Spectator

[We shall be glad to answer questions arising out of the Travel articles published in our columns. Inquiries should be addressed to the Travel Manager, The SPECTATOR, 99 Gower...

A COURAGEOUS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

The Spectator

But having pointed out the heavy responsibility which rests upon the late Government and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for tardiness in effecting the necessary economies in...

Finance—Public & Private

The Spectator

The Budget and the City BEFORE endorsing the favourable reception given by the City to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's revised Budget presented to Parliament last week, I feel...

A MAKESHIFT BUDGET.

The Spectator

Mr. Snowden's Budget of a few months ago was in every sense of the word a mere makeshift Budget, for he met a prospective , Deficit - of about £37,000,000 by merely imposing...