24 OCTOBER 1931

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A Brightening Outlook Whatever the cause or causes may be

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held to be, there are definite signs that the country is looking up. The pound is rising in terms of foreign currencies, and has all but touched four dollars in New York....

India The Round Table Conference has inevitably lost, during the

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election campaign, much of the attention that it deserves. The Federal Structure Committee has been labouring at finance, and has begun to discuss a Federal Court. Sir Geoffrey...

(Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the

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SPECTATOR.)

This tariff issue, Irnpoitant though it is, may easily divert

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attention from greater questions still. Mr. MacDonald's' address puts the three essentials—stabiliza- tion of the pound, the conclusion of international agree- ments regarding...

News of the Week

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The Last Lap T HE dosing week of the election campaign has been conspicuous for a great deal of vigorous cross- swearing, of which the public is extremely tired, between members...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Cower Street, London, .C.

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I.—A Subscription to the SPECTATOR coats Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a 1%. ewspaper. The Postage on...

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* * * *

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The League and Manchuria The" latest messages from Geneva, suggesting that the League Council is proposing simply to leave Japan and China three weeks in which to come to terms...

The future is altogether obscure. Germany has a critical winter

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before her, though the unemployment figures have, so far, not reached the expected level. If Dr. Briining can carry on he may still be able to maintain a normal civil adminis-...

Messages inspired and uninspired as to what M. Laval will

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discuss and refuse to discuss with Mr. Hoover have come in daily like a kind of political log from the ' Ile de France ' westward-bound from Havre. Now the French Prime Minister...

Meanwhile, the appearance of a fully accredited delegate of. the

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United States at the Council of the League is an event of immense importance. It is quite true that Mr. Prentiss Gilbert was instructed . . to join only in discussions on the...

Dr. Br uning's Reprieve • Dr. Briining's victory in the

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Reichstag has given his government- one more reprieve. A majority of 25 on a vote of confidence is small enough, but it serves, and with the Reichstag now in recess till...

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The Spanish Republic and the Church The new Spanish Cabinet

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under Senor Azana has encouraged the Cortes in its anti-clerical campaign, which caused the resignation last week of Senor Zamora and Senor Mama, the only experienced Republican...

* * * * Bank Rate 6 per cent., changed

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from 41 per cent. on September 21st, 1931. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 99; on Wednesday week, 901; a year ago, 10431. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 871...

Ireland The Constitution Amendment Bill passed through the Dail last

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week. Introduced on Wednesday, it reached the report stage on Friday, was approved by the Senate on Saturday, and immediately made law by an Order in Council. The haste with...

Foreign Goods and British • Whatever the merits of tariff

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protection for British trade, there is no question that too much talk about it induces a spirit of fatalism. The British manufacturer decides that without protection the dice...

* * * * The Right to Die The Medical

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Officer of Health for Leicester has drafted a Bill to make voluntary euthanasia legal. The subject is far too important to be thrust on one side by the political controversies...

Signor Grandi's Travels Signor Grandi's visit to Berlin this week-end

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is some- thing more than - a mere return , of courtesies. The Italian Foreign Minister -has become increasingly a European personality since he took over the portfolio of...

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The Test of Unity .

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I NTEREST in the election campaign is quickening as it nears its close. The result, so far as all the indications go, is not in doubt, though the Stock Exchange estimate of a...

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Thomas Alva Edison

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By W. E. GARRETT FISHER T HE death of Mr. Edison in a ripe and honoured old age deprives the world of one whom newspaper plebiscites have often declared to be the foremost...

The " Spectator

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and the Election A N old friend of the .Spectator said last week : " I am much disappointed in the position the Spectator is taking up in this . Election ; it seems to me you...

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How to Right the Trade Balance

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BY LIONEL ROBBINS. T HE plain fact about the so-called problem of the Trade Balance is that the problem no longer exists. That the belief that it exists still continues, and,...

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Problems of the Christian Conscience

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[We publish below the third article of a new Theological Series, which we hope will throw light on some of the inoet disputed questions of conduct. Mr. McDowell is the author of...

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An Evening With Mr. Gandhi

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[Last week Mr. Gandhi spent an evening with the Editor of the "Spectator." The following is a record of the conversation.] M R. GANDHI had promised to come round and sec me at...

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Personal - Economy and Public Welfare

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BY HAROLD COX. T HE widespread appeal for personal economy in expeOiture, to help the country in its Present needs, has provoked from many quarters the opposing plea' that by...

English Cookery

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BY F. Want. T O pit French cuisine against English cookery in a battle for supremacy is quite unnecessary. For there is room in the world for both, and both schools of cookery...

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DIRECT subscribers who are changing their addresses are asked to

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notify the SPECTATOR Office BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The precious address to which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted.

* * * *

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SIDELIGHTS ON LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE. Witnessing the discomfiture of those in authority is a plea- sure which, for the majority of the human race, never loses its charm. It is,...

A Playing Pack

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THE TRADE REVIVAL. A certain prominent business firm has, we note with approval, suggested that in the present crisis the idea of industrial co-operation should be extended to...

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: OR THE FUTURE OF SILENCE.

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In the next column we publish a comment on Oxford's campaign against noise. We fear that the battle is lost before it is joined. An age whose password is the shrilling of a...

The Theatre

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"Cavalcade." By Noel Coward. At Drury Lane Theatre. NOTTING, surely, but the irresistible Cochran-Coward partner- ship could persuade enormous audiences—half hoping for another...

Correspondence

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[A LETTER FROM OXFORD.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Michaelmas term has opened in a blaze of unusually fine autumn weather which has lasted without a break for...

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Country Life

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MORE ELEerare FARMS. A new venture is to be made, is being made, at Rothamsted, known the world over as the first of agricultural research stations, the place where Gilbert and...

The more mechanical application of electricity to a number of

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farm processes is in a much more advanced state. To give one, perhaps, minor example, the influence of light, and sometimes graded light, on the health and laying capacity of...

MULTIPLYING WATER BIRDS.

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Why is it that so many water birds have multiplied? Sonic of the reservoirs (notably by Staines) arc almost black with coot, and attempts to reduce the numbers to a moderate...

THE BEST OCTOBER ROSE ?

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The chief glory of this October in our gardens has been the late blooming of the roses. The flowers are as fine now as they ever were, and not much less numerous. Which is the...

The new venture covers both these obligations : an electric

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farm is to be established, where the use of electrical apparatus will be both demonstrated and investigated : the present needs of the British farmer and research on behalf of...

* * * *

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DECADENT BIRDS. Birds of this or that species seem to change their habits very greatly in response to new conditions ; and sueh• changes are not always welcome. The moorhen is...

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HOW TO RIGHT THE TRADE BALANCE

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] was greatly interested in the article in your last issue, Row AO. Right the Trade Balance," by Sir Arthur Steel- Maitland, which I think gives...

THE GOLD STANDARD, AND UNBALANCED TRADE •

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Everybody will soon have to face the question of the gold standard. It may assist in clarifying the issue, if one asks where a foreign...

Letters to the Editor

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[I».-view of the lengthof many of the letters which we receive, we would reining correspondents that we often cannot give space for long letters and that short ones are...

" ON THE VERY EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY "

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Even in the midst of an election I must protest against your use of the words " on the very edge of bankruptcy," as applied to this...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sin,—Your correspondent Mr. Herbert W. H. Green has hit the nail on the head when he says that tariffs are bad if they increase the price of commodities in our factories....

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THE SPECTATOR" AND SIR HERBERT SAMUEL [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.' SIR,—However regrettable the opposition to Sir Herbert Samuel may be it hardly deserves the expressions of contempt in which the Spectator has indulged. Sir H....

WINTER AT HOME [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —The

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rather indiscriminating appeal to all our country- men who habitually winter abroad to come home for this winter is patriotically intended, and is applicable to some cases but...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.) SIR,—That the average individual

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does not appreciate the importance of natural whole-mflk as a single food is only ton obviously demonstrated in England to-day by the dairy farmers' - complaints, and the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.'

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Sm,—As a constant reader of the Spectator, and like yourself a life-long and convinced Free Trader, and sincerely regretting the opposition to Sir Herbert Samuel, I cannot but...

PUBLIC CONTROL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.) Sm,—Your financial

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expert last week tried to frighten your readers with the old tag " Socialism." Are we not all Socialists nowadays ? However, Mr. Arthur W. Kiddy is right, I think, when he...

RICHES AND POVERTY [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Canon

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Donaldson says that " wealth is only tolerable when it is the just result of personal service." Is not the con- verse also true—that poverty is only tolerable when it is the...

FOOD REFORM Sin,—As one who has tried to practise what

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is sometimes called Food Reform for many years, I was much interested in the article on diet. One thing, however, struck me as curious. After stating that certain hill tribes in...

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WATER DIVINING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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have been most interested in reading Mr. Fleming's article on water divining. I wonder if your readers would be interested in our experiences with water finders down here in...

THE COLOUR BAR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Respecting

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your correspondent Mr. Hubert Cartwright's question as to the possible hereditary mental distinction between the Nordic White and the Bantu, and experimental tests for such, the...

FORGIVENESS

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[To the Editor of the SPECrAroR.] Silt,—There was a recent reference in the Spectator to Mr. Bernard Shaw's declaration that he " could not believe in a God Who forgives." Is...

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POINTS OF STYLE

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SIR,—My pocket dictionary gives, under " practically," the synonym " virtually," which means " such in essence, though not nominally." True, you cannot " virtually " miss a...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sta,—Mr. Richard Jennings objects to the use of the word practically " in the sentence " the man practically missed his train." The concise Oxford Dictionary, however, gives "...

TORTURING A SILVER FOX

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have just received a report from Canada of a piece of trapping cruelty which seems unbelievable : " A trapper, in the region of...

ARTISTIC SWALLOWS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The swallows mentioned by Sir W. Beach Thomas's correspondent in South Africa certainly appear to have been highly endowed with artistic...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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was much interested and a little disturbed by your contributor's note on the use or misuse of the word " practi- cally." He appears to deny that it can ever be " practically...

THE EXMOOR RED DEER

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[To the Editor of the SPEc-r_cron.] Sin,—I fear your suggestion that a certain number of Exmoor red deer should be preserved in a " National Park," after the extermination of...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—I am much interested in your contributor's note on " Points of Style " and I much look forward to further notes in the series. But surely " practically " may sometimes be...

R.S.P.C.A. AND STAG-MINTING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your correspondent " Land Agent " would seem to have been singularly unfortunate in his experience of deer parks. The fallow deer are...

SIR THOMAS LIPTON

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I feel that it is necessary for me to say just . a few words in behalf of the American sportsmen concerning the recent tragic death of...

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WANTED—BOOKS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—May I appeal to your readers for books for the library of the Jerusalem Girls' College in Palestine ? Recently I visited this College, and...

HINTS TO THE SEDENTARY.

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Speaking, reading aloud, and singing, are useful kinds of exercise, and it is supposed that this is at least a cause of the great longevity of clergymen, public speakers,...

HAND-SPINNING AND HAND-WEAVING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Six,—May I ask, by means of your paper, whether there is any lady—with some independent means—who would care to help in the reorganizing and...

Poetry

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Introspection THE supporters of Protection At the General Election Voice a positive conviction of its absolute perfection, And with passionate inflection They insist on the...

" WHAT INDIVIDUALS CAN Do FOR PEACE."

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On reading the article entitled " What Individuals Can Do for Peace," I wonder that we are asked for so small a thing. Here in Denmark I find youths who are plucky enough to...

POINTS FROM LETTERS

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TITHE BARNS. In your issue of the Spectator for October 9th, M. Y. Awdrey states that there is a tithe barn at Glastonbury still put to its original use. As this must be...

DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE IN PARIS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am requested by Lord Cecil of Chelwood and the members of the committee to express to readers of the Spectator their high appreciation...

A Hundred Years Ago

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TEE " SPECTATOR," OCTOBER 22ND, 1831. NEWS OF THE WEEK. Thus considered, the session of 1831 may be regarded as one of the longest, while the high subjects to which its labours...

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"Spectator" Competitions

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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 and...

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LITERARY SUPPLEMENT.

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TO No. 5,3914 WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1951 GRATIS.

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A Biography of Ben

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Ben Jonson and King James. By Eric Linklater. (Jonathan Cape. • 10s. 6d.) Ma. LINKLATER calls his book Biography and Portrait, thus anticipating the criticism that it is chiefly...

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August Strindberg

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Master Olof and Other Plays. By August Strindl erg. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) I II-4D read nothing by Strindberg when I went to sec him, one day in 1908, in the city of...

Is Common Sense Enough

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Science and Common Sense. By John Langdon Davies. (Hamish Hamilton, Ltd. 10s. 6d.) TuE purpose of this book is excellent ; it is to make clear the relation of science to common...

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William Shakespeare, Defendant

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" By God, I wish you had arrived a little sooner ! Why, ii isn't a fortnight since I destroyed several baskets-full of letters and papers in order to clear a small chamber for...

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French Painting

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EASY as it is, or should-be, for anyone to write entertainingly about the art and life of an individual painter or a particular period in the history of art, it is quite...

Ambrosia

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SINCE Brillat - Savarin remarked, " Animals fill themselves : man cats ; but it is the man of Intelligence alone who knows how to eat," there is no need to apologize for that...

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All Sorts

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No commonplace is either more trite or more true than the saying that it takes all sorts to make a world. These five books contain diverting proof of it. Here are five men, as...

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The Discreet Ambassador De Maisse : A Journal. Translated by

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G. B. Harrison and R. A. Jones. (Nonesuch Press. 7s. 6d.) IN November, 1597, an Ambassador Extraordinary from Henry IV of France to Elizabeth of England was put ashore at Dover....

A Student's Manual of Bibliography

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A Student's Manual of Bibliography. By Arundell Esdaile. (Allen and Unwin, and the Library Association. 12s. 6d.) Mn. ESDAILE'S work, and Dr. McKerrow's Introduction to...

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London: Printed by W. SYEAIGHT AND SONS. LTD.. 98 and

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99 Fetter Lane. EC. 4. and Published by THE SPECTATOR, LTD., at their Offices. 2o. 99 Gower Street, London, W.C. 1.—Saturday, October 24, 1931.

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The Poet Laureate

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MASEFIELD has often insisted, with genuine humility, that he is just a story-teller. He has, again, described himself as " one who is fond of stories and interested in all ways...

Women, Motors and Maleficence

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Women and Crime. By Cecil Bishop. (Chatto and Windus. . 10s. 6d.) -- . TIIE lay mind has always a sneaking appreciation of the adage that " there is nothing so false as facts...

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A Whiff of Sanity

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To most English people, Dostoevsky stands, as the symbol of the " Russian novelists," for all that is insane, lustful, incoherent, and morbid in fiction. Most critics writing...

The Rhyming Farmer

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Thomas Tusser. Edited by Dorothy Hartley. (" Country Life." 21s.) THOMAS TOSSER has always been reckoned an attractive figure, though his name is now better known than his...

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Fiction

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Underdogs THERE is no common denominator that will reconcile these four books. A gulf separates the spark of genius in M. Istrati from the absence of it in the other three...

The Politics of Gradualism

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Politics and the Younger Generation. By A. L. Rowse. (Faber and Faber. 10s. 6d.) M. ROWSE has written an important little book. It is important in that it is one of the first...

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New Novels

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CAT AND FIDDLE. By Nancy Morison. (Sampson Low. 7s. fid.). An undistinguished but well managed tale about two Chelsea artists, written in the shadow of " The Constant Nymph."

THIS OUR EXILE. By David Burnham. (Peter Davies 7s. 8d.)—Apparently

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veiled autobiography done in the laborious American manner, chiefly concerned with the effects of illness and death on a Chicago family. Well - observed and good stuff in it.

Crimes !

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Club. 7s. 6d.) The Dope Ring. By John Hill. (Methuen. 3s. 6d.) FAR from being on the wane, the craze for detective stories seems to be attracting writers from other fields at...

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Current Literature

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BRIGADIER-GENERAL C. BA.LLARD'S Smith-Dorrien (Constable 15s.) is well worth reading, both as a memoir of that able and much respected soldier and also as a defence of his...

Dull must be the imagination of anyone who has not

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felt the fascination of Roads. Because they lead somewhere, because they represent intelligence and industry, because they are an index-number, as it were, of civilization, they...

Here is a book of short stories which are quite

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unlike any other animal stories we have ever read. In Dwellers of the Silences (Chapman and Hall Ltd., 7s. 6d.) Mr. Alexander - Sprunt writes his stories purely from the point...

The Rev. Dr. Robert H. Murray's Edmund Burke (Oxford University

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Press, 15s.) is a serious attempt to supply the full biography which has long been needed of that remarkable man. He clears up some of the obscure points in Burke's life ; he is...

* * * * No book about boxing, if it

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recall the great battles of old, can possibly be dull. The plan of Lord Knebworth's Boxing : A Guide to Modern Methods (Seeley, Service and Co. ; Lonsdale Library, 12s....

In a sixpenny pamphlet, The Crisis, by Ernest Bevin and

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C. D. H. Cole (The New Statesman and Nation), we have a lucid explanation of why we were forced off the gold standard, and of what it cost us to remain on so long. It is shown...

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* * * *

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One man, emulating Cromwell at home and Bismarck abroad, has conjured up in the modern Turkey a portent of nationalism that is the best answer to those who pooh-pooh the...

Last week The Queen celebrated its seventieth birthday. The birthday

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number contained, in addition to a general survey of women's life and letters during the years of its existence, an interesting article by Mr. Geoffrey Harmsworth tracing the...

If the new series of " Library Manuals " maintains

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the high standard set in the first volume, A Student's Manual of Bibliography, by Mr. Arundell Esdaile (Allen and Unwin, 12s. 6d.), it should be most useful to all...

Travel

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[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in making their plans for travel at home and abroad. They are written by correspondents who have visited...

Those who imagine that by reading Mr. David Devant's My

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Magic Life (Hutchinson, IN. 6d.), they may learn to become conjurers and illusionists, may be disappointed. True, the author does give away a good many of his secrets and...

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Finance—Public & Private

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Looking Ahead ELECTION results are often - full of surprises both as regards the main result - and as regards details. It may be, therefore, that the confident expectations...

It is unnecessary to emphasize the fact that all-these cruising

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vessels offer a life of luxury at an extremely reasonable cost. Swimming pools, squash courts, dance rooms, cinemas and the like are provided for the use of passengers....

THE *FISCAL CONTROVERSIES.

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Recent events, including the prolonged industrial depression culminating in the financial crisis and the abandonment of the gold standard by Great Britain, have for the moment...

POLITICIANS AT A DISCOUNT..

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I am afraid that as the election proceeds there is one prominent fact which can scarcely fail to impress all thoughtful and unbiased observers, namely, that our politicians,...

A Cruise in the ' Orford '

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Is there any happier holiday, I wonder, than a three. weeks' Mediterranean cruise in the late summer , if you have an " Orient " liner as your temporary home ? - Sailing from...

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COMMON SENSE NEEDED.

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During the election, however, there has been a mad struggle in places on the part of bigoted (I am afraid there is no other word that can be used) Tariff Reformers and bigoted...

Financial Notes

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ELECTION MARKETS. PRICES on the Stock Exchange during the past week have for the most part fluctuated each day in accordance with views concerning the result of the General...

* * * * " DEMOCRACY ON ITS TRIAL."

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A very striking address was delivered last Monday evening by Mr. Hugh Lewis, the well-known insurance expert, before the Insurance Institute in London, on the subject of " World...

* * * * B.A.G.S. REPORT.

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Following upon the announcement by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway Company that there would be no final dividend, the full accounts make a somewhat better showing than...

CENTRAL ARGENTINE RESULTS.

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As in the case of the Buenos Aires Great Southern, so with the Central Argentine Railway Company the directors have had to face a huge loss on the exchange. So far as gross...

FIRST THINGS FIRST.

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When the election is over, and again assuming that a National Government is the result, we shall once more have a test applied to the sincerity and ability of politi- cians and...

A PROSPEROUS CONCERN.

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In these days of financial and industrial depression the annual report of the United Dairies, Limited, is a distinctly cheery document. The directors recently announced an...

_ RETRIEVING POLITICAL REPUTATION.

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What might have been advisable in the way of tariffs, but for the sickly condition of other countries and for the abandonment of the gold standard by many countries, might not...