Assembly to go to war, for instance, with the United States, even though we thought that some Latin Republic of the New World which had secured the sympathy of the League was...

/THE Eighth Session of the Assembly of the League ended on Tuesday. There are now two distinct camps of opinion in the League—the camp of those who believe, or pretend, that the...

has cleared the air and performed the invaluable function of helping all to understand exactly where they stand and what they can and cannot do in the immediate future. Last...

we see nothing but good in the courage and inde- pendence of the smaller Powers. It would be fatal to the League if the .Assembly- were ruled-by a few-dominating - •...

But this is not to say that we must not make good every inch of ground as quickly as possible when it has been won. There must be no halt in the steady advance. It is...

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...

has opened hopefully with the announce- ment of a surplus of £2,635,000. Income Tax is to be reduced by 10 per cent. and Land Tax by 10 per cent. The Joint Committee on Public...

of the Hejaz and Nejd have at last been exchanged. Great Britain recognizes the independence of the Wahabi dominions, and each Government pledges itself to prevent its territory...

Council in remedying the defective Ordinance_ which made it possible for a recent judgment to recognize salvery in the Sierra Leone Protectorate. There is, of course, no slavery...

to France have caused a good deal of bewilderment, as in the true Muscovite fashion they have been mixed up with the discussions about Franco- Russian relations in general and...

Germany to secure a reconsideration of the " war- guilt " declaration in the Peace Treaty. We willingly admit that the insertion of such a statement in a treaty was a mistake....

_ new industrial policy of conciliation which is bringing masters and men together. An excellent sign of the times is the election of. Mr. Ben Turner to the chairmanship of the...

up the President's protest, apparently do not contemplate any diplomatic movement in the matter of war-guilt. The President, we imagine, intended simply to get the subject " off...

of the League idea. Herr Stresemann, the German For- eign Secretary, has been listened to with the greatest respect and attention. It is universally acknowledged that he and his...

the birth of Bossuet, and it has been deeply interesting to observe how vigorously the memory of the eagle Bishop of Louis XIV. survives and with how intense a curiosity the...

Hamilton, at the age of eighty-one. His Parliamentary record takes us back a long way as he was one of Disraeli's " young men." His excellent work at the Admiralty and when he...

H. B. Champain, who were convicted of " street offences," but who " entirely vindicated " their characters on appeal, have excited uneasiness about the nature of the evidence...

by the death of Sir Arthur Shipley, the Master of Christ's. He began studying zoology under Balfour and Sedgwick at a time when the Cambridge School of zoological research was...

on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 102f; on Wednesday week 102f; a year ago 101f. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 851x.d.; on Wednesday...

displayed than in his management of the dispute with Rome when he was practically under orders from Louis to bring about a break with the Papacy, but contrived to break neither...

was between nations rather than between private persons. The resources of Great Britain and Italy were behind their representatives. Great Britain was determined to win from...

say that British industry is still organized for war—internal war—and not for peace. Its condition resembles that of Europe before the War. There is a balance of power ; there...

which the Jews have rendered to mankind is the high standard of humane Conduct which they have inculcated. Christianity itself is of • Jewish origin, and the ideal of mercy is...

F ROM to-day, the subsidy given by the Government to encourage the building of small houses will be seduced in England and Wales. In Scotland, where the 3eficiency of houses...

VI.—Latvia and Lithuania T RAVELLING through Latvia and Lithuania you are constantly reminded of pre-War Russia ; the same slow trains—and how resting they are ; the same...

T HE Italian literary world is proud of possessing is real Art-theatre, which has existed for seven years, constantly changing its programme, and producing hundreds of the best...

[In this article an Indian explains what the East thinks about the West and why it does not want Western ideas thrust upon it.— En. Spect ator.] T HE East has revolted against...

miles of sea, and upon these waters and in the lands sur- rounding them the ships of England and her soldiery have fought the enemies of our Kings for many hundreds of years....

[SIR THOMAS BEECHAM'S SCHEME] AFTER a long delay due to illness, Sir Thomas Beecham has at last announced his scheme for the establishment of Opera in this country. The details...

THE BRITISH ART ENULIBITION IN VIENNA] Ix no other capital of the world could a more delightful welcome have been accorded than has been given this week to our English pictures...

A LETTER FROM LIVERPOOL. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The opening of the annual Autumn Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery usually coincides in Liverpool with a...

The most unsatisfactory feature about the League at the moment is its finances. This year for the first time work definitely planned, and the desirability of which is...

That has been one encouraging symptom. Another has been the steady swing from disunion to unity. At the end of the Assembly's first week Sir Austen Chamberlain's speech seemed...

An Assembly Balance-Sheet CN one point everyone in Geneva seems to be agreed— that the League of Nations Assembly, which as I write is in articulo mortis, has been remarkably...

Another proof of the Assembly's vitality was its resolve to press forward the work of disarmament, undeterred by the failure of the League's own Preparatory Commission to reach...

THE ECONOMIC CONFERENCE IN RETROSPECT. One other evidence of solid purpose in the League was the discussion on the conclusions of the Economic Conference held at Geneva in the...

What the purpose of the Eighth Assembly amounts to (for an Assembly does not achieve things, it only plans them) is lower tariffs and lower armaments. The lower tariffs are...

ALmosT the last of the old country mills within a wide district of the Home and Eastern Counties has just been dismantled. I know only of one that continues ; and its activities...

A sparrow with a completely white head (mimicking a bald-headed eagle) has been seen by a correspondent, who asks whether such things happen, or whether he should consult an...

a disaster to local farmers, and consummates a movement that gives imported grain a very heavy preference over British. The biggest and most efficient mills are nearly all found...

The grim excesses of weather under which we have suffered have influenced the local movements of birds more than the general migration ; or so it seems to me. The swallows and...

A mill that has inspired a hundred artists stood the other day across the water from a little island in the Ouse at Godmanchester. It lasted for a long while after its proper...

Something was said in this place last week about the arti- ficial drying of crops, especially by a landowner and farmer in Cheshire. The British experiments are, I understand,...

necessary, or was due to a wrong conception of the value of local, of parochial wealth. Village people still need a local mill to compound their chicken and pig food, and small...

Colour is a freakish thing. On one Welsh hillside this year great numbers of white blue-bells made a surprising appear- ance ; and the white hare-bells on a Hertfordshire common...

attitude towards Aviation resembles closely that of the Editor of the Quarterly Review of 1825, writing about RailwayS : " What can be more palpably abiurd and ridiculous thin...

THE AVIATION BOOM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Sir Leo Chiozza Money may not like progress with or without a capital " P." He may prefer a quill pen and a brougham to...

the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your article on this subject makes one invoke the spirit of J. S. Mill. Would that he and his like were here to remind a forgetful world of the dangers of...

right ; man is slow to reform his clothes, but not hopeless ; for holiday purposes he has begun to discard collars and he is beginning to exchange trousers for shorts. Last...

have read your representative's graphic article on Finland with much interest. Amidst the turmoil of nations it is pleasant to contemplate a small community with but few natural...

SIR,—It may interest Mr. Bridgland to learn that, in Japan, where the professional and commercial men have fallen to the craze for Western frock coats, &c., the very first act...

you will allow me, as one who knows Switzer- land and the Swiss intimately, and who has much reason for gratitude to both the country and the people, to reply to what I consider...

Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—I am not sure that I clearly understand the nature of the charge of disloyalty to the League of Nations made against Conservatives and apparently...

India grow indignant when pictures are put on the screen depicting sides of Western life which are likely to damage in the East the prestige of European people and Western...

Sin,—In your notice of the John Rylands Library Bulletin on September 10th, your reviewer writes :—" Dr. Harris makes an interesting philological point when he states that...

article on nightingales in your issue of September 10th tempts me to tell how we have heard the nightingale sing in August. We did not tame our nightingale, he tamed us. In...

The Silent Time SINGING of birds is over : the curlew only Out by the bog-pools bids his mate to beware. Long sweet whistles under the rushes lonely Set to listen the dew-wet...

Sm,—On July 28th last while repairing the tiled roof of this house, the builders, having stripped off the old tiles, found close to the eaves in the space between two rafters...

SPECTATOR.] SIR, —With reference to the "discovery " of the Memoirs of Monsieur d'Arlagnan, in a book box on one of the quays along the Seine, mentioned in B. D.'s article,...

Sm,—Why must we unfortunate farmers so constantly have " the wonderful efficiency of the Danes " thrust down our throats ? If the writer of the article on Scandinavia would do...

and Running, re- viewed in last week's Spectator, is published by The Bazaar, Exchange and Mart, Ltd., Link House, Greville Street, E.C. 1, not by Messrs. P. S. King. * * * *

inte- rested in archaeology Mr. 0. G. S. Crawford's admirable quarterly, Antiquity, the September number of which has just appeared (Gloucester : John Bellows. 5s. 6d. post...

Mr. Arthur Henderson, a barrister and a son of the well- known Labour leader, has written a compact and useful book on Trade Unions and the Law (Berm, 85. 6d.), to which Mr....

Scotsman is the saddest spot in all broad Scotland, for it was there that Sir Walter built that half stately, half incongruously absurd house that helped to ruin him, but the...

The Editor awards the prize of one guinea offered weekly for the best thirteen general knowledge questions and answers to Miss Osborne for the following :- Old Testament...

DURING the past month the books" most in demand at the Times Book Club have been :— FicrroN.—The Kingdom of Theophilus, by W. J. Locke ; Gallion'S Reach, by H. M. Tomlinson ;...

recently published Blue Guide to Scotland was given as 2s. 6d. The correct price is 12s. 6d.

taken this year by the Duke and Duchess of York should produce a crop of books, and part of the harvest is represented by Mr. Ian Lucas's The Royal Embassy (Methuen, lOs. 6d.)...

or no. It is to Jamaica this time, and on numerous little journeys as well. • Although the excursions to A Fronded Isle (Methuen, 6s.) are not quite so delightful as others have...

a ruffian, as Carlyle said in his forthright way, whether or no his autobiography contains errors and exaggerations, does not very much matter, for there is in it a living...

The . Garden of Adonis. By Al. Carthill. (Blackwoods. 15s.) DID we know a young Englishman who is eager on an Indian career, and did we wish to test his enthusiasm, we could not...

MR. J. A. SPENDER, who has written his reminiscences in two agreeable if somewhat portly volumes, was for a quarter of a century (1896-1921) editor of the Westminster Gazette,...

of Lord Birkenhead's massive, but masterly and eminently readable volumes, we notice there is no "Finis" but only " End of Volume Two." We trust he will continue these...

The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. (Constable. 63s.) Tats collection of letters by the great painter Vincent Van Gogh will be received with delight by his devotees in this...

of finance, nobody can question their courage in the presence of danger and difficulty. In this review of the lives of seven pioneers of finance in the United States at the...

The Next Chapter the War Against the Moon. By. Andre Maurois. (Regan Paul. To-Day and To-Morrow Series. 2s. 6d.) WE welcome M. Andre Maurois among the prophets. The publishers...

Many Waters Tales of S.O.S. and T.T.T. By Bennet Copplestone. (Black. wood. is. 6d.) • THESE three books, each remarkably good in its own way, will grip all readers who love...

the Rhssian by Natalie A. Duddington. (J. M. Dent and Sons. 7s. 6d.)—This is a sensi- tive and well-written translation of another of• the great historical evocations of...

TWILIGHT. By Count Keyserling. (Robert - Holden. 7s. 6d.)—The three carefully translated tales contained in this volume introduce us to the pale and mournful wcrld of the Baltic...

curiously disjointed novel. New characters frequently appear, only to vanish completely from the scene ; and the various phases through which the hero himself passes have little...

6d.)—Only the most rigid high-brows will refuse to unbend under the solicitation -of - these engaging and preposterous narratives. Those who are suffering from mental fatigue...

THE HOUSE OF FEAR. By Robert W. Service. (Fisher Unwin. 7s. 6d.)—Characters and incidents are so plentiful in Mr. Service's novel that only the broadest outline of the plot can...

(Cassell. 7s. 6d.)—Again there moves, across the stricken scenes of mysterious wrong, the grotesque and thril- ling little figure of the priestly detective, who explains a crime...

SHAKEN BY THE WIND. By Ray Strachey. (Faber and Gwyer. 7s. 6d.)--In religious fanaticism there always lurks the danger of sexual vice ; and around this peril Mr. Strachey has...

as Oldham decidedly succeeds in making the reader, as well as the families who unaccountably endured her, experience a creepy aversion now and then. The idea of the book is that...

have here a book that is neither quite a novel nor quite a volume of short stories, but a very subtle and intriguing blend of the two. A certain young man is invited by...

Bodley Head. 7s. 6d.)—Few novelists are successful short story writers and Mis3 Muriel Hilie is no exception to this rule, though undoubtedly she has excellent stories to tell....

clear from the start that it was Mary Whittaker who, while acting as nurse, stealthily murdered her aunt, Agatha Dawson. Agatha was over seventy and suffering from cancer. But...

CHINA AND THE POWERS. By H. K. Norton. (G. Allen and Unwin. 15s.)—Mr. Norton, a well-known American authority on Chinese affairs, gives a lucid and temperate account of the...

3s. f3d.)—One - of the - - most necessary qualities in a detective story is that it should carry the reader from puzzle to puzzle without ever breaking the thread of the...

By A. W. Lawrence. (Jonathan Cape. 25s.)—The title of this very able essay may deter some readers from looking into it. For it is often assumed that sculpture later than Phidias...

21s.)—Mr. Henderson has filled the gap between his well-known monographs on Nero and on Hadrian by this valuable and uncommonly readable account of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian,...

Historical Associations of Buildings and Monu- ments. By George H. Cunningham. (Dent. 21s.)—It is recorded that Dr. Johnson said on occasion that whoever wishes to attain a good...

1. Is. xxxi. 5-1x. 8.-2. Is. xl. 22.-3. 2 Kings vi. 17. 4. Ps. xxiv. 7-9.-5. Is. id. 26, Ps. cxlvii. 4.-6. Job xxxviii. 31. — 7. Dan. i. 12 and 15.-8. Gen. xiv. 18.-9. Gen....

GEORGE UNWIN. Edited with a Memoir by R. H. Tawney. (Macmillan, for the Royal Eco- nomic Society. 15s.)—The late George Unwin, Professor of Economic History at Manchester from...

LECTURES. Monday, October 3rd, at 3.30 p.m.—Dineacilie Dr humor Nov- micas : nr THEORY AND PitA.cricE. By Mr. Sachchidananda Sixths. At the Caxton Hall, Westminster. Under the...

THE IMPORTANCE OF SURRENDER VALUES. THE principal object I have in view when writing about insurance is to explain the advantages which it offers, and the way in which...

University Press. 6s.)-Historical Atlas. Pre- pared by Prof. William R. Sheppard. 6th edition. (University of London Press. .18s.) The British West Indies Settlements,...

This, unless the City is mistaken, is the point which has been pressed upon the attention of all grades of service in the L. M. & S. Railway by Sir Josiah Stamp, and it is...

The Spirit of Industry Fox the reasons which I will state presently, the City is disposed to attach no small importance to the con- ferences between the management and...

Having briefly epitomized these very interesting developments in connexion with the L. M. & S. Railway undertaking, let me indicate why in the City considerable importance is...

The difficulty in many of these key industries—at all events, so far as the situation is comprehended in the City—is that there is a disposition to set up artificial standards...

And so, in some other key industries, where the still more serious element of foreign competition is added, costs of production are being maintained in a manner which is handing...

Aurtnstri ACTIVITIES. Tun Stock Exchange is accustomed to anticipate a renewal of activities at about this period of the year which, with an occasional break round about the...

The latest half-yearly Report of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a very encouraging one, the profit having risen from £210,000 to £318,000. The Report gives evidence of...

By the time that this number of the Spectator appears in print the time will virtually have elapsed for accepting the proposals made by the Government to holders of the 31 per...

Meanwhile, whatever may be the position as regards existing securities, there seems to be little doubt that the near future will be characterized by - activity in the matter of...