25 JUNE 1927

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Before Lord Cave spoke, however, the Duke of Marlborough argued

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in a lively speech for leaving things alone and Lord Arran for quite different reasons agreed with the Duke. The Peers could never control finance—the only real road to an...

The broad principles uropovd fof the reform. of the rds

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seem i6 us on the whole to be very judicious. here is no attempt to satisfy the diehards by tilting at h e Parliament Act as . such. Moreover the retention f the hereditary...

The Speaker, Lord Cave went on to explain, would no

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longer be required to decide what was or was not a Money Bill. The decision would rest with a Joint Standing Committee representing both Houses equally. This would prevent grave...

On Monday Lord FitzAlan urged upon the Government the importance

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of dealing promptly with this question. He pointed out that the Liberal Government which passed the Parliament Act had never regarded it as more than a Constitutional...

News of the Week

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NEW and extraordinarily interesting situation has been created by the sudden decision of the Govern- ed to reform the House of Lords. It was well known that he Government were...

EarrostAr.. AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 13 York Street, Covent arden,

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

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We sincerely hope that supporters of the Referendum will urge

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upon the Government the importance of making this perfect consummation of democracy part of their scheme. If the ultimate verdict in disputes of great national importance is...

It is satisfactory that the Speaker is to be relieved

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of the sole duty of deciding what is a Money Bill. Mr. Asquith never pretended that that makeshift arrangement ought to be perpetuated. It is not fair to anyone, least of all to...

Elsewhere we have described and discussed the naval issues which

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have been joined at Geneva in the Conference between Great Britain, the United States and Japan. Here we need only refer to the admirable statements, remarkable for their...

It is reported from China that Feng Yu hsiann, the

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Christian General, has met Chiang Kai-shek, the roll' Communist National leader. If this be true it seems that Feng is really breaking away- from the Hankow Coo munists. At the...

We cannot help joining in the Liberal and Labour objection

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to the proposal that the Parliament Act shall not apply to any change in the status or composition of the Upper House. The plan looks like a definite attempt to reserve a...

What spoiled the effect of this concession was the emotional

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bitterness of General Hertzog's speech to the Assembly. He reiterated his intention to refuse alio. lutely to let the Union Jack occupy a quarter of the flag and to force the...

'Again, the British Admiralty thought-that battleshil could be reduced in

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size by at least 5,000 tons and cruise could be similarly reduced. If the Americanproposal a total tonnage in each class on the 5-5-8 ratio An through, the result apparently...

On Tuesday, in the South African House of Assembly the

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clause in the Flag Bill presenting a new design was carried by a majority of twenty. The new design is horizontal stripes of orange, white and blue—the flag of the House of...

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The later stages of the Trade Unions Bill have been

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very different from the earlier ones. Organized . obstrue- tion has ceased and there has been a general desire for more light, which is certainly needed. On Tuesday the...

On Tuesday Mr. R. 1). Blumenfeld, Chairman and Editor of

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the Daily Erpress, was entertained at luncheon in celebration of his forty years in Fleet Street. Mr Churchill took the chair. Mr. Blumenfeld is a hot . antagonist, but he is...

The result of the Westbury by-election was declared on Friday,

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June 17th, as follows :- Major Long (Unionist)• • .. 10,623 Mr. Harcourt Johnstone (Liberal) .. 10,474 Mr. George Ward (Labour) • .. 5,396 Unionist majority .. The figures...

Last Saturday the remarkable War Memorial Chapel of Charterhouse School

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was opened by the King. It is one of the most satisfying and striking memorials of the War. The architect is Sir Giles Scott, the creator of Liverpool Cathedral, and some judges...

The Attorney-General admitted the vagueness of definition of a trade

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or industry but pointed out that it was actually to the advantage of the unions that they should have the benefit of the doubt. When has " the benefit of the doubt " doctrine...

• * * The Times of Tuesday published a fascinating

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article by Major Walter Elliot - on the offensive against the noxious insects of the Empire by means of " biological control." One sort of offensive is what Major Elliot calls "...

Bank Rate, 4} per cent., changed from 5 per cent.,

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on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 10011; on Wednesday week 100 & ; a year ago 1001. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 85i ; on Wednesday...

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Reform of the House of Lords

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/ 1 HE Government took the Lords by surprise on Monday by announcing the general principles of a scheme for reforming their House. It is true that the Unionist Party has long...

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Naval Limitation

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H IGH hopes are rightly raised by the Naval Conference at Geneva, because it . is inconceivable that the three great Naval Powers—Great Britain, the United States and...

The Slums of Westminster

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A REMARKABLE, indeed a heart-rending report * has just been issued by a" small group of citizens on the housing conditions in Victoria Ward, Westminster, It is a sane and plain...

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The Week in Parliament

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T HE refusal of the Labour Party to participate in the enquiry into methods of conciliation in industry offered by the Minister of Labour last week, is not really so unfortunate...

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Saving Children's Hearts

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IN mid-winter we discussed the dread problem of -I- rheumatism,* principal cause of the fact that deaths from heart disease in England and Wales considerably exceed a thousand...

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"The Heavens" are Telling" .T HE daily papers recently have been

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assisting the Sun with great enthusiasm in his latest venture at publicity. There is no excuse, even for the most casual reader, for being ignorant of how, when, and where the...

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Going to the Dogs

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Taw grass of the race-track glows a bright emerald 1 . under its brilliant arch of lamps—a luminous ribbon encircling an oval of dark turf where there is only- the dimness of a...

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Correspondence

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A LETTER FROM GENEVA. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If you had been in Geneva this week you would have suffered from the heat, a moist enervating heat with thunder in...

Music

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[DIAGIIILEFF BALLET : THE CAT.1 THE Southern Railway was responsible for a great disappoint- ment on the first night of the Diaghileff Ballet season at the Princes Theatre. A...

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A LKTTER PROM FLORENCE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—From the point of view of the tourist industry, upon which the welfare of the city of Florence largely depends, the winter season and the...

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One trapper, who may have no assistant, will put down

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as many as twelve dozen traps. The mere number absolutely prevents him fulfilling the regulation that every trap shall be visited within the twelve hours. More than this, he is...

A CHANGED HAYSEL.

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More than one farmer, engaged in cutting his very thin crop of hay this year, has explicitly rejoiced in its insuffi- ciency ; and the attitude is very significant of the change...

The evidence is less obvious, but I think that a

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good many other species of the rarer birds, both big and small, are more numerous than they were : Montague Harriers, Hen Harriers, kites, choughs, crossbills, woodlarks, and...

* * LEGLESS BIRDS.

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Nothing is safe. It is recognized as impossible to take a dog for a walk in the country unless it is led or kept strictly to heel. Certainly as large a proportion as a quarter...

* *

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There are many stories, from 'Enery 'Omes downwards , of the illiteracy of ostlers ; but no horsey man who ever lived can have much surpassed the Welwyn ostler whose account, of...

WHERE HAWKS FLOURISH.

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It was pleasant to discover in the West of England that in one respect the old " balance of nature " has been restored. Though among mammals especially the so-called vermin have...

ANIMALS IN ECLIPSES.

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A good many strange examples are extant of the behaviour of animals during an eclipse of the sun, and it will be worth the while of observers to take special notes next week....

Country Life

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MORE STEEL TRAPS. Since writing some account of the inhuman prevalence of the steel trap in the West of England I have come upon yet more distressing evidence than before of...

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THE COMING OF THE TOTALISATOR [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Mr. Marsham's contribution is full of interest as showing the actual experience of one who is thoroughly familiar with the subject. Paras. (1) and (2) [in...

Letters to the Editor

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THE MEANING OF THE IRISH ELECTION [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sur,—In your current " Notes of the Week " you comment upon " the unhappy results of Proportional...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have read with

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interest the correspondence in the Spectator on the totalisator. But I have seen no reference to the fact that the institution or apparatus, whichever it is, is in operation in...

RABBIT TRAPPING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As one who has lived for the past twenty-six years in the West Country, I can completely endorse every word written by Sir William Beach...

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THE OUTLOOK FOR THE UNIONIST PARTY [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Confining myself to one point in your admirable article on this subject, I have for long urged that the title " Conservative " should be dropped. We live...

THE PROPOSED GAELIC UNIVERSITY FOR THE HIGHLANDS [To the Editor

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of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Since the correspondence on this subject continues I should like to express my complete agreement with your original correspondent " Highlander," whose...

" SPARE THE OTTER " [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] Stn,•--Lt reference to the letter of Mr. Henry B. Amos, I ant sure all followers of otter hounds regret the death of a bitch otter or cubs in the breeding season,...

THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH • [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] Si u,--Criticisms of the Comniunion Service, whether it be the present Service of 1662 or the proposed Service of 1927, are not always happy. Here, for instance,...

[To the Editor• of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—May I further trespass

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on your generosity for• one last word ? Your reviewer inadvertently misrepresents me. The Sacrifice of the Mass appears to me to be emphasized in the new Canon. The doctrine of...

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SCHOOLBOY SPELLING

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Grenfell's article on " Schoolboy Spelling " interests me greatly, especially because a casual remark seems to support a theory I have...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Snt,—In order to encourage accuracy in his boys, Mr. Grenfell introduces script writing (which is much too slow for use in everyday life), and reasserts the importance of...

MARRIAGE REFORM

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—May I crave the hospitality of your columns in order to commend to your readers the aims and objects of the Marriage Reform League ? It...

THE HUMANE SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In reply to your article on the humane slaughter of animals ; in your opening paragraph you mention that there are reforms much overdue...

WANTED: A FOURTH PARTY

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—What Mr. B. Ifor Evans and others of a similar mind should do—believing in first things first I have no doubt— is to make it possible for...

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CARAVAN HOLIDAYS

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[To the Editorh f 0, t h e SPECTATOR.] Sia,—In your last Travel Notes (I think in April) you asked readers who had caravanned ' . to write concerning their experiences ; hence...

THE BALLIOL PLAYERS' TOUR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,-- Perhaps somt of the following information might be of interest to your readers. The Balliol Players (undergrad- uates from Balliol College, Oxford) are starting their...

THE HABITS OF WATER MOCCASINS [To the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] SIR,- -The bite of the common water moccasin of our Eastern Virginia ponds and streams is not poisonous to man. The snake is none the less viewed with deep...

ENGLISH APPLIED ART IN GERMANY

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is far less widely known than it should be that, owing to the initiative of the Design and Industries Association, and without any...

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Poetry

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A Farewell THE morning wakes across the fields this day that I must go, Washing with gold the mist-grey skies, and the grey tors below, Where the white fingers of a stream are...

A SUMMER CAMP FOR THE BOYS' BRIGADE [To the Editor

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of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The summer weather is causing most of us to think of holidays spent in the open air by the sea or on the moor. No one is looking forward more eagerly to...

HOLIDAYS FOR WOMEN WORKERS [To the Editor of the SPEcTA-roa.]

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Sin,—I appeal once more to the readers of the Spectator to support the Women's Holiday Fund (started in 1879) in their work of sending tired London women workers for a short...

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Miss Trevelyan's Newdigate Prize poem, Julia (Blackwell, 2s.), tells how

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the body of Julia, daughter of Claudius, a beautiful girl of fifteen, was discovered in the fifteenth century by some workmen digging on the Appian Way. Pilgrims came from over...

That maceration is not confined to the monks of mediaeval

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times is one of the interesting points in Dom Louis Gougaud's Devotional and Ascetic Practices of the Middle Ages (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 5s.), for he cites the instance...

Senorita Lili de Alvarez was probably the third best woman

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lawn tennis player in the world until recently, when she was defeated by the young South African " star." And it is still safe to say that there is no more exquisite figure on...

Mr. Dorsey's new book, The Nature of Man, is perhaps

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something of a disappointment, although the amount of information he has compressed into a hundred pages would suffice to enable us to recommend the book, if only as a tour de...

This Week's Books

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MESSRS. Joni.; MURRAY send us Thoughts on the Drink Question, by " An Ordinary Man " (price ls.), which have already appeared in our columns, and therefore need no further com-...

The vehement colours of the jacket of Sutter's Gold, translated

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from the French of M. Blaise Cendrars by Henry Stuart Longan (Heinemann, Ss. 6d.), hit us—they are meant to do so- –as shrewd a blow mentally as do the wood-blocks in colour,...

* * *

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We are much impressed by the little sixpenny pamphlet, Natural Science in Adult Education, which the Stationery Office has just issued. It is a report by the very competent...

In a country of magnificent distances (Canada is as large

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as Europe), when a regiment's members must of necessity be widely scattered, no better means can be found of maintaining esprit de corps than putting its history into a book....

Competitions

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Tim competition for the best philosophy of life written on the back of a postcard, which closed yesterday, k" elicited an enormous response. The name of the winner 01 the prize...

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Good and Bad Communications

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The Post Office. By Sir Evelyn Murray, K.C.B. (Putnam. 78. gd.) " Xo Department of State touches the everyday life of the nation more closely than the Post Office." Translated...

Stendhal in English

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Mussas. Cnierro AND WINDUS have performed a service to the English-speaking world by having commissioned Mr. C. K. Scott Moncrieff to give us the works of Stendhal in English....

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Secrets of Success

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Borst authors will be' relieved to hear—if authors read reviews — -that the two volumes we have put together for purposes of comment have very little in common - . They are...

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Six Poets

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MR. DE IAMARE seems to have invented anew sort of limerick, which he calls a "twiner " Bo doth the woodbine, the sweet Honisuckle Gently entwine," and having thus built himself...

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The Reputation of Proust

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Marcel Proust, His Life and Work. By Leon Pierre-Quint. (Alfred Knopf. 18s.) TfIE reputation of Marcel Proust in this country has followed a familiar course. As usual, London...

Industrial Combination

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- -- Industrial Combination in England. By Patrick Fitzgerald. (Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. 10s. 6d.) • THE modern tendency in industry is more than ever to restrict...

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Two Archbishops and a Great Victorian St. Thomas of Canterbury.

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By Sidney Dark. Archbishop Laud. By A. S. Duncan Jones. Thomas Arnold. By R. J. Campbell. Great English Churchmen Series. (Maunillan. (is.) THREE further volumes of the series...

Mediaeval Lyric

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The Wandering Scholars. By Helen Waddell, M.A. (Con- stable. 21s.) • - THERE came a time in the history of human development when the first fierce rush of Christianity seemed•...

The Whig Demosthenes

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Lord Brougham and the Whig Party. By Arthur Aspinall, M.A., Ph.D. Illustrated by contemporary cartoons. (Manchester University Press. 18s.) ft seems as though we shall still...

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The book that has value in the lower forms of

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secondary schools not infrequently would be found useful in elementary schools. Blackwell's Histories, above mentioned, and the three publications last named are eminently...

Some Educational Books

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Tux fact that the Empire Marketing Board (2 Queen Anne's Gate Buildings, Dartmouth Street, S.W. 1) is prepared, on the application of a head-master or head-mistress, to enter a...

The Medicis' Wives

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The Women of the Medici. By Yvonne Maguire, M.A. Illus- trated. (Routledge. 12s. 6d.). IT would perhaps have been better if this scholarly and living footnote to history had...

. Experienced language masters -who use the direct method will

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find it worth while to inspect German Free Composition, by Mr. A. M. Hayes (Dent, 2s. fld.). The League of Nations and kindred topics are included in the subject-matter of the...

Books of a series, Histories, by Mr. C. H. K.

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Marten s of Eton, and Mr. E. H. Carter (Blackwell, 2s.) are so unusually good as to outdistance all else of the kind for the juniors on the market. This series, whilst not...

• * * - *

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Useful additions to School Libraries can be found in Episodes from Battles with Giant Fish; by Mr. F. A. Mitchell Hedges (Harrap, ls. 6t1.)—an exciting narrative ; Tales of...

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COCK-A-DOODLE. By C. E. Lawrence. (Duckworth. 7s. 6d. net.)--Can fairies

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and the lower middle classes mingle ? As Mr. C. E. Lawrence presents his story it is amusing but extraordinarily unconvincing. It is impossible to suppose that even the weakest...

THESE FRANTIC YEARS. By James Warner 13ellah (D. Appleton and

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Co. 7s. 6d. net.)--The pages of Mr. James Warner Belittles novel are as frantically crowded with events and emotions as are the years of youth. English readers will find the...

MOTHER KNOWS BEST, AND OTHER STORIES. By Edna Ferber. (HeinerMum.

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7s. 6d.)—Terse, vigorous, ironical, and humorous, yet permeated by sincerity and keen imaginative sympathy, these tales—which, strictly speaking, are " sketches " rather than...

THE BLACK PAWN. By Bruce Norman. (Arrowsmith. 76. 6d. net.)---A

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most excellent thriller in which secret societies and the politics of one of those little republics in the Balkans which are invented for the benefit of novelists arc admirably...

Fiction

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" Poor Young People " The Season Made for Joy. By Barbara Blackburn. (Seeker. 7s. 6d.) • People Round the Corner. By Thyra Samter Winslow. (Knopf. 7s. 6d.) I APOLOGIZE for...

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NAVIES AND NATIONS. By H. C. Bywater. (Constable. 12s.)-Mr. Bywater's

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book bears the sub-title A Review of Naval Developments Since the Great War. The burden of Empire defence, the Singapore base, the Washington Con- ference and the Naval Treaty...

Reference Books

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Massas. Sells' Directory of Telegraphic Addresses (8 Johnson's Court, E.C. 4, 45s.) contains some 130,000 names, and is cross- indexed as usual under the name of the firm,...

SOCRATES AMONG HIS PEERS. Three Dialogues by Owen Grazebrook. (Kegan

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Paul. 6s.)-By far the best of these three dialogues is the first, and in Night and the Dream" Mr. Grazebrook attains real distinction both in his presentation of the Platonic...

Mrs. St. Hill's BOOK OF THE HAND (Rider and Co.,

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15s.) is as she claims a complete grammar of palmistry. Those who believe that the past and future are written in the lines and " mounts " of the hand will find much to interest...

-Current Literature

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MINIATURES AND SILHOUETTES. By Max von Boehm, translated by E. K. Walker. 214 pp. , 40 coloured plates and about 200 other illustrations. (J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. 10s. 6d....

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CHINA AND FOREIGN POWERS. By Sir Frederick Whyte, K.C.S.I. (Oxford

The Spectator

University Press. 2s. 6d. net.)- We have already, in a leading article in our issue of June 11th, drawn our readers' attention to this " historical review " of Chinese foreign...

A QUAKER SAINT OF CORNWALL. By L. V. Hodgkin. (Longmans.

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10s. 6d.)-The " Quaker Saint " was one Loveday Hambly, " an ancient widdo " well over fifty, of grave and substantial aspect." She was con- verted to Quakerism about the time...

THE BOUQUET. By G. B: Stein. (Chapman and Hall.

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6d.)-We have all dreamed of a tour in the vineyards of France, but since we cannot all make such an excursion, it is a good thing for us that it was an accomplished novelist...

THE MINORITIES : ROUMANLAN TRANSYLVANIA: HY Zsombor de Sze.sz. (Grant..

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Richards. 16s.)--Mr. de ' YZ4 • 8 ; who before the transfer of Transylvania to Roumania, r i ag a Transylvanian member of the Hungarian Parliament, l ass written a book which,...

FISH, FISHING AND FISHERMEN. By William Caine. (Philip Allan &

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Co. 10s. 6d.)-A propos April angling and a West Country spring fly called the Blue-upright, the late , William Caine writes " Yes, I have heard all that before. I have listened...

General Knowledge Questions

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(Literature) 1. Whose favourite cat was drowned in a tub of goldfish ? 2. In whose verses were the following celebrated ? Delia, Celia, Stella, Julia. 3. Who are or were the...

A Library List HISTORY :-flow Europe made Peace without America.

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By F. H. Simmons. (Heinemann. 21s.)-Germany in Europe. By Augur. (Selwyn and Blount. 2s. (kW-- captain .John Smith. By E. Keble Chattcrton. (The Bodley Head. 12s. 6d.)--Apes and...

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Finance Public and Private The Rubber Position DURING the past

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week, holders of rubber shares have seen both . the price of rubber and the price of shares fall away considerably, followed by a fairly sharp - rally, only to he succeeded by...

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Insurance

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WITH OR WITHOUT PROFITS ? WHEN we are effecting life assurance, one point that we have to decide is whether the policy shall, or shall not, participate in the surplus of the...

HISTORIC FINANCE HOUSES.

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A number of prominent City men attended the Royal Exchange last Monday morning when the Lord Mayor, unveiled two interesting portrait panels, " Sir Francis Baring ' and " Antony...

BANKING AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS.

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To any who may desire to peruse a concise summary of Banking and Economic developments in this country since the War by an expert, I would commend the addresses which have...

Financial Notes

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NEW LOAN ACTIVITY. 'Mime general business in the Stock Markets in existing securities remains stagnant—if exception be made of the few features in the Industrial Market such as...

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The Royal Air Force Display

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Ox Saturday, July 2nd, the Royal Air Force will give its eighth display at Henan 'Aerodrome, and as usual the programme of events is full and varied. Each Year this aerial...