finding out and no better explanation for the wholesale reconstitution of his Cabinet is forthcoming than a belief in the advan- tages of change and a desire to give new men a...

T HINGS have been going from bad to worse in Germany since the Reich Government, as a concession to the Nazis, rescinded the ban on the wearing of uniforms. Last Sunday's...

has at any rate decided something. The measure of agreement recorded is deplorably inadequate. Qualitative disarmament, and the Hoover proposals embodying it, have fared badly....

to the SPECTATOR costs Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on this issue is : Inland...

session at Ottawa, though its opening ceremony fell too late for comment here. Regarding its prospects generally reasonable confidence is justified. The Canadian Prime Minister...

driven a motor- boat faster than one has . ever been driven before, the London and North Eastern Railway has knocked some- thing over a quarter of an hour off the run from...

Canada and the United States over the huge St. Lawrence Waterway plan was signed in Washington on Monday, marking, as President Hoover said, another step forward in the greatest...

the completion of his Commission's labours. He and his fellow-members have reached China from Japan, and after certain final investigations will proceed to draft their report,...

but now demands some wider name, though no one quite knows how wide, continues to awaken more perplexity than enthusiasm. Germany is still hesitating whether to adhere to it and...

Board of Education the Prime Minister has materially strengthened his Cabinet. At the same time—and this no doubt supplies the main raison d'être for his choice—he has...

and letters and as an interpreter between France and the English-speaking peoples, M. Jusserand, who died on Monday, will be widely and deeply regretted. After long service in...

is Plumer of Messines to another he Will always be Plumer of Mafeking. There was nothing in the Great War like the sieges 'of Ladysmith and Mafeking, and no parallel to the...

has taken a long step forward in modernization by appointing a chief commercial manager who is to deal with the public in respect of both passenger and goods traffic. This...

private enterprise can foster employment, the United States Congress, which ended its session last Saturday, has done much to end the trade depression that has thrown America,...

deciding on Monday to raise the maximum height of trade buildings from eighty to 100 feet. Large business firms and architects have long pleaded for liberty to build higher,...

legal procedure by his new rules and he promised, in his Mansion House speech last week, to go further in reform- ing the practice of the law. The right of appeal, too often...

on June 30th, 1932. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 101*; on Wednesday week, 101 1 1 ; a year ago, 1031. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 107 1; on Wednesday...

family of nations gathered at Ottawa stand in a strange relationship to one another to-day. Great Britain, on July 15th, just six days before the Ottawa Conference opened, put...

"UMPIRE trade and economic arrangements will of ./CA necessity absorb the attention of the delegates to Ottawa. As all the world recognizes, those are the governing purposes of...

popular superstition that high military distinction is a disqualification for civil employ- ment. The successful general, it is supposed, is necessarily arbitrary and...

By LIONEL ROBBINS. T " question whether it is better to save or to spend has long been one of the -outstanding issues of economic controversy. It was the subject of acute...

By ANTHONY BUXTON (101111ESPONDENCE in The Times and other paper, kJ . partly from people with experience of bird photo- graphy and partly from people With little or none,...

BY JOHN BERESFORD; • I N the Globe Encyclopaedia,' published' in 1879, in the article on London, you may read the following, among many proud boasts of the Capital's...

"Mutter Krausen." At the Academy Cinema Mutter Krausen is a thoroughly bad film. It is badly made and it is false from beginning to end. If a film of this quality were to issue...

heavy cement used by some makers interfered with the bounce and perhaps damaged the rubber. At first we used to play with the flannelled ball only on fine days and the rubber...

and Mrs. John Heatheote. As a small boy and later—for age did not diminish his interest in games—I played a great deal of lawn tennis with him, and remember very vividly all...

tennis ground in the county, and persuaded one of his neighbours, who was my father, to do the same. This was about the year 1875. The courts we made were narrow at the waist,...

ago by that fine German scholar Mr. J. L. Garvin) said that you could not understand England and the English without looking into the pages of Gilbert White, of Selborne. Nor...

nil: FIRST TENNIS BALL. Many quaint reminiscences, not without historical value, have appeared in The Times on the theme of the early days of lawn tennis ; but in them all I...

one of the chief charms—and difficulties—of that aristocratic game. The ball is heavy and comes off the hard surface at a great pace. The momentum of it is such that it is...

of Mr. Heathcote's sort ! They were nearly all historians ; and many of them lived long enough to be contemporary historians of near a century. One of the most pleasing books in...

court tennis players, whose wrists had been trained to resist the solid cork balls of their favourite game. First it was absurdly light ; secondly it would not take the spin, as...

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

Sin,—In your article "The Old Bailey and the Press," you mention we are entitled to claim that we have the most just and most efficient legal system in the world. But is this...

Sin,—An article about the Press which you published last week calls attention to a tendency on the part of certain daily and weekly papers to abuse their freedom in a way...

Sin,—With most if not with all that your contributor wrote under the above heading I certainly agree, but I find myself asking the question whether his article was not in...

led to believe, a severely practical aspect of this matter upon which you have not touched. A prominent barrister once informed me that the defence of poor persons indicted for...

readers, I welcome your splendid article on "The Old Bailey and the Press," and agree with every , word of it. It is easy but usually inaccurate to explain any . species of...

a vicious or depraved taste that leads the larger part of our adult population to feast every Sunday on the garbage of the week. A little thought will show that the educated...

[To the Editor of the SPECTA'T0R.1 SIR,—The reasonably equitable and wise distribution of new issues of money or re-issues of old money, to increase consump- tion and...

it quite fair to blame the newspapers as you do for reporting the trial of Mrs. Barney as they did ? We have allowed the newspapers (with one or two excep- tions) to become...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As an old subscriber, I trust you will permit me to make an observation on your "News of the Week—Annuities Controversy" of the issue...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Referring to the "Committee of Officials of Local Authorities" appointed to consider economies in expenditure, attention may first be...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In the last issue of the Spectator a paragraph headed "Another Submarine Disaster" occurs amongst the "News of the Week." As a submarine...

[To the Editor of the SrEcrAtoa.] Shrubshall emphasizes my point. It is precisely because the definition of defectives, as given in the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, includes (a)...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] "News of the Week" of June 4th, commenting on the working of the Ordinances in India, the Spectator has committed itself to the pronouncement...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Richard Church, in his review of The Life of George Eliot by Emilie and Georges Romieu, in referring to "her action in living in...

see that Mr. Richard Church, in his review of E. and G. Romieu's Life of George Eliot, says, "The praise she received in her own days was justly given." On minor points I should...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As a fruitarian of thirty-seven years' standing, may I add my testimony to Mr. Spring-Rice's fine experience with a fruitarian diet ? I...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Douglas Goldring has pointed out to us that the account of the People's Theatre Society and the plays for a "People's Theatre"...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your Edinburgh correspondent objects to my use of the word "fan." But he will note that I was careful to add "if the word can now be...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—At the present time civilized communities collect public revenues by means of rates and taxes levied on (1) occupation of property, (2)...

a book issued by ourselves, The Savage Pilgrimage, contains libellous statements concerning Mr. J. Middleton Murry. We exceedingly regret the publica- tion of these statements...

THE "SPECTATOR," JULY 21sT, 1832. MAIL CoNvEvArierNo.—The following paragraph is going the rounds of the newspapers : "Mr. Babbage, in his admirable work on the Economy of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Dr. Sym's letter on sterilization—which is, I take it, a commentary on my article on the same subject—contains so many arguments...

Sin,—Like Professor W. G. Sym I have been criticizing, but on different lines, the sterilization proposals of the eugenists. One of my fears is that, by implication, they...

Now it is time to strike a new pass to the sun, be perilous, a hawk, to fear no one. That shrapnel shell the Spring explodes its mass of flowers, while birds, winged raiders,...

BANKING AND INSURANCE WEEK ENDING SATURD.VY, .1[1,1" 21, 1932. No. 5,4301 OrRATIi

from suggesting that bankers, any more than any other public companies and institutions, should. be immune from criticism. In the first place, as I have already said, there is a...

A Foolish Vendetta Sourth constructive criticism is always to be welcomed, whether it is concerned with the affairs of Governments, individuals or institutions, but a mere...

With a full knowledge of that fact, those responsible for conducting the banks' affairs have to act in such a manner that this faith shall never be shaken for a moment. That can...

From the nature of some of these attacks which have t een made on the banks it might be supposed that in the dourse of.a. year the banks were in the happy position of having to...

But now let us look a little more closely into the condi- tion covering the general conduct of a bank's business, and incidentally the matter of profit earnings. The first duty...

of the total -.banking resources available at least 10 per cent. s hall;be kept unused, or to be more precise, shall be held till" money with large balances on deposit at the...

• Not only, however, is the earning power of banks affected by the large proportion of their funds which has to be employed at very low rates of interest to ensure safety and...

There is, however, another important point which must bp considered when endeavouring to judge fairly with regard to the ..eireunistances affecting bankers' profits. Let it he....

But what of the .remaining balances ? Would it not be safe to employ the whole of them in making long-dated loans and overdrafts ? Assuredly not, for such a system would make it...

anyone who has followed my arguments thus far will see that ,any charge Of bankers' profiteering, based on the present 'apparent 'disparity between deposit rates and the charge...

If those best acquainted with present-day banking methods were asked to say whether there were any directions in which bankers might be charged with any excessive outlays, it...

TuE gross value of the estates upon which death duties were levied during the financial year ended March 31st, 1931, was, according to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue,...

But while in this matter of any temporary excess of expenditure over superfluous branches, or as regards matters of detail, there may be points in banking methods and procedure...

Assuming that the £400,000 of death duties be applied to the redemption of 3i per cent. War Loan at par the State would have cancelled a liability for interest service of...

The most favourable feature affecting balance-sheets . has been the recent rise in security values: At the end of ; last year it became necessary to provide rather substan- tial...

Tin: record of our home banks during a period of un- exampled depression and crisis is one which has not been approached by the banks of any other country. America has witnessed...

Stability of dividends has always been 'an important part of banking policy. For that reason payments have been on a conservative basis and normally unaffected by minor...

Sales of this magnitude could not fail to exert a de- pressing influence on quotations, reducing the total value Upon which death duties were payable and, consequently, the...

Theoretical consideration supports the figures. - With differential taxation the size of individual estates has a twofold significance, nainely, Volume and the Tate of tax...

WAR LOAN conversion sharply emphasizes the difference between life assurance and the commercial forms of insurance. Fire, accident and marine insurance reserves must be kept...

Nothing is so directly detrimental to the welfare of a life office as the decline or loss of interest on existing Investments. The diminution arising from this cause is a...

As between the fully-paid and partly-paid shares receiving the same rate of dividend there is a difference in yield in favour of the latter owing to the uncalled liability on...

99 Fetter Lane, E.C. 4, and Published hy TfiE SCECTATOit. LTD., at their Offices, No. 99 Gower Street, London, W:C. 1.—Saturday, July 23, 1932. .

, C riticism. By Desmond MacCarthy. (Putnam. 78. 6d.) :MR. MACCARTHY is known to his friends, who now number : several millions, as a conversationalist. His voice was at first...

St. Paul. By Wilfred Knox. (Peter Davies. 5s.) THE career of St. Paul is one of those which bring most vividly before us the problem of the nature of those invisible forces...

Wordsworth. The Clark Lectures, 1930. By Herbert Read. (Cape. 4s. 13d.) Tins work, probably the most admired of recent biographical studies in English literature, is now...

WHEN, in the sixteenth century, the pirates of Peter's old ship embarked hopefully in luggers of their own, and threw overboard, among other lumber, Aristotle and his School,...

Theatre and Friendship. Letters from Henry James to Elizabeth Robins: (Cape. 10a. 6d.) MISS ELIZABETH ROBINS has given us a book of double-edged interest. In her sub-title she...

Archaeology in England and Wales, 1914-1931. By T. W. Kendrick and C. F. C. llawkes. (Methuen. 18s.) The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly. By H. O'Neill Hencken. (Methuen....

The True Woman. By C. K. Munro. (Howe. 6s.) "'WOMEN,' said the night watchman "—that phrase of W. W. Jacobs deserves immortality. It is the perfect be- ginning. Anything may...

(Peter Davies. 5s.) MR. BAX disclaims all specialized knowledge of his subject. "I can only speak as the plainest of plain men," he says, though he admits that even the plain...

"REAL memory," says Mr. Mackenzie on the first page of Unconsidered Trifles, " consists of maintaining one's capacity for vital experience at top pitch all the time," and both...

Trus book prompts a passing reflection onthe meagre attention devoted to political science in this country. It has been left to a Japanese to make the first important survey in...

Further Letters from a Man of no Importance, 1914-1929. (Bles. 10s. 6d.) IMPORTANT or not the author makes his letters sufficientl) interesting, and writes in a period...

6d. - ) ' • folly. He is not in any sense a Hardy—but he is a very , good Phillpotts ; and—another misfortune—he-is; with the English writers. The Human Boy (Much of...

Mr. A. K. Wickham has written a useful and attractive book on The Villages of England (Botsford, 12s. 6d.) which will give hints to the tourist in search of the picturesque and...

The private manufacture of arms is a subject on which a good many vague charges are bandied and very little reliable information is obtainable. Cases are no doubt on record in...

Mr. Stanley's approach to the garden (The - Book of the Garden, Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 6s.) is in the spirit of the historian, although.he.-does not claim to have made an...

Mrs. Mordaunt calls Purely for Pleasure (Seeker, 8s. (Id.) "the first book I have ever written - entirely for my - own delec- tation." With so acute an observer, and one whose...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF ESSEX UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND COMMONWEALTH By Harold Smith Antiquaries and genealogists and students of the history of English Nonconformity...

Lord Cranborne's article in the July Quarterly on "Con- servatism and the National Government" is a well-reasoned argument for 'the consolidation of the elements supporting the...

[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help (nu readers in making their plans for travel. They are written by cor- respondents who have visited the places...

The story of a life wholly dedicated to the public service —thus the Duke of Connaught, in a preface, aptly describes Sir George Arthur's memoir of General Sir John Maxwell...

As a storehouse of information about Greater London; past and present, Mr. Harold P. Clunn's substantial volume, The Face of London (Simpkin Marshall, 7s. 6d.), outdistances all...

of the 'Ship and Castle Hotel,' St. Mawes, Cornwall, advises us that the hotel is fully booked for the whole of August.

QUIETER MARKETS. THE Stock Markets have been quieter during the past week, which is certainly not surprising if we consider the excited movements during the last month. Not...

A few months ago many people would have scouted the idea of the Government being able to tackle such a huge operation as that involved in the conversion of the 5 per cent. War...

A point of interest at last week's meeting of shareholders in Covent Garden Properties was the statement by the chairman, Mr. Philip E. Hill, to the effect that the directors...

The past year in South Africa must have been a very trying one for banks owing to the grave disturbance to the exchange caused by this country going off the gold standard last...

(Continued from page 138.) IxFurExcEs OF LAUSANNE. It is only natural that following upon the satisfaction evoked by the knowledge that a general agreement had been reached...