31 MARCH 1923

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In England people are more and more beginning to ask

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whether the Government's policy of inaction is so very masterly after all. Lord Birkenhead raised the whole question of security (British security, not French, on this occasion)...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE very uncertainty of the Franco-German situation seems to be gradually making some things clear. And this by a sort of process of elimination. For instance, it is becoming...

Again, it is very clear that the French object is

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not the demilitarization of the Rhineland. Such compara- tively moderate opinion as is represented by M. Philippe Millet is irrevocably opposed to the League guaranteeing the...

Meanwhile, the Ruhr occupation is increasingly dis- turbing the trade

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of the world. This country is the greatest sufferer, but now the Netherlands, and to a less degree Scandinavia, are feeling the effects of the dis- location of the greatest...

The French state that German resistance is weakening. This may

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or may not be so. At any rate, one may say that it certainly will weaken. But there arises the question, What will the French do when it has weakened and indeed broken down ?...

In Germany a dangerous Monarchist plot has been discovered, and

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the plotters have been arrested or dis- persed. Hittler, the Bavarian Fascist, and Ludendorff are both involved. Unquestionably Germany might have been plunged in civil war...

The Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal of Soviet Russia has condemned the

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Roman Catholic Archbishop Ciepliak and Mgr. Butkevitch to death. Hitherto, the Soviet has not interfered much with the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Russia, but the present move...

Here, then, we are arriving at a truer picture of

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French aims. But we might not have realized how extensive and how remarkable they are had it not been for the article in the Figaro of last Saturday. This article, 'which is one...

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The prospects of the Budget become rather brighter in the

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last days of the financial year. Up to date, there is a surplus of about 1180,000,000 as compared with a( anticipated surplus of just under 21,000,000. The surplus, • it is...

The strike of Norfolk farm hands reminds us of "the

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other England." We are too apt to think only of our towns and the fortunes of their factories, to forget that agriculture is still the greatest single industry that we have. But...

But on Friday the 23rd the men's leaders had held

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a meeting in the Keir Hardie Memorial Hall, and had in that less mellow atmosphere refused to state what decision they had arrived at. Last Saturday morning their secretary...

In the House of Lords on Tuesday, Lord Islington opened

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a discussion on Palestine describing the bitter discontent of the Arabs and asking for papers. We notice with much satisfaction that Lord Grey of Fallodon seems to be very far...

That there is need for Liberal reunion is agreed by

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all parties. But at present the fact does not seem to come any nearer. A deputation of five members of the two wings of Liberalism visited both Mr. Asquith and Mr. Lloyd George...

Another cause for irritation and misunderstanding between Great Britain and

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America has just been removed. In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Hughes has announced officially that an alleged proclamation signed by Queen Victoria and Lord...

It is hard to find fault with Mr. Asquith's attitude.

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His optimism with regard to the future of Liberalism may be excessive, but he cannot lose sight of the fact that his views have not changed since 1915, whilst Mr. Lloyd George...

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The Irish Free State Government has issued Estimates for the

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coming year amounting to 142,000,000. This exceeds by £10,000,000 the highest cost of Government under British rule. Moreover, the cost of British rule was for the whole of...

Mr. Mellen, the Oxford Stroke, who is an American at

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Brasenose,. rowed with admirable judgment and coolness. He gave the men behind him time to finish each stroke, and this is a large part of the secret of winning the Boat Race....

With the death of Mme. Sarah Bernhardt perhaps the last

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of a very special kind of life has been lived out. We of this century, in whose first two decades Sarah Bern- hardt indeed lived, but always as something of a stranger, shall...

Mr. Baldwin, dining with the London Press Club last Saturday,

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explained what would happen to the Budget if he accepted all the suggestions made by his hosts. All taxes would have to be reduced, save those on aerated waters. Thus if we...

The fact that Oxford beat Cambridge in the Sports last

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Saturday by seven events to four will not be remem- bered so long as the individual performances of Mr. H. M. Abrahams, the Cambridge President. In a sense he beat four records,...

The Boat Race last Saturday was one of the best

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struggles there have been. Cambridge were slight favourites, but under the coaching of Mr. Harcourt Gold Oxford had come on more rapidly in the week before the race than most...

We wish to thank all those readers who have shown

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their confidence in the Spectator by becoming "Life Members." Also those readers who have shown their interest by applying for the Questionnaire. We repeat that a Questionnaire...

- It is a matter for unstinted congratulation that the

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top of Leith Hill with the five adjoining acres has been secured for the public. The gratitude of the nation is due to Mr. W. J. Maandrew, of Reigate, who has pur- chased the...

The Battle of the British Museum having ended in victory,

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the London Art Students have turned their attention to the National Gallery. There are now four paying days at the Gallery, and students' tickets are only issued to those who...

Bank Rate, 8 per cent., changed from 3i per cent.

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July 13, 1922; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 101* ; Thursday week, 101i ; a year ago, 98i.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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TIIE NATIONAL DEBT. T ILE problem of the Budget is "How much or how little money shall be employed in reducing the National Debt ?" It is probable that Mr. Baldwin will make...

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THE PROGRESS WITH HOUSE OF LORDS REFORM.

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T HE debate in the House of Lords on Thursday, March 22nd, was a milestone in the controversy about reforming the Second Chamber. Progress is being made. We admit that it seems...

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THE REVISION OF THE PSALMS.

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M OST of the objections which one hears raised to the revision of the Psalms would disappear if the extent of the revision and the use which is to be made of it were properly...

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AN EYE FOR AN EYE.

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[COMMUNICATED.] 1 1 HE principal lesson which is presented to us by the operations in the Ruhr is that the policy of an eye for an eye, whatever its other merits may be from...

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" - EMI ARCANO DEL" I T is customary for a new Pope

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to publish an Encyclical indicating the lines on which he proposes to act ; and so, as it were, to give the key to the distinctive character of his Pontificate. The delay of...

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THE

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ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD. BY EVELYN WRENCH. T HE' agenda for the next Imperial Conference, which will probably be held in the autumn, is growing. There will be a formidable...

MARRIED WOMEN AND WORK.—III.

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I F a woman has to choose between work and starvation, no one questions her good sense in working. The young women who live on public doles rather than become cooks and...

THE PAGE MEMORIAL FUND. rrHE following is the list of

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donations received by -- 1 - the English-Speaking Union and the Spectator for the Page Memorial Fund :— , NINTH Mrs. Stephen G. Wheat- land (41001 Vica-Admiral Sir Drury and...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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MARRIED WOMEN AND WORK. [To the Editor of the SrEcxxroa.] Snt,—In my opinion married women should not work. A great many unhappy and disappointing marriages could be avoided,...

In emphasizing the importance of a frank and full discussion

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of the matter, the Times urges the need for the early summoning of the Imperial Conference. At the same time, it rightly points out that the problem pre- sented is "formal...

The extraordinary extent to which the motor industry has developed

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in recent years in the United States has been mentioned several times in these notes. Here are some further statistics for those interested in motoring and motor problems. The...

The Canadian Government, as the debate showed, hold that, as

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the Treaty was an arrangement between the Dominion and the United States, with which nobody else was directly concerned, no other signature was necessary. The Canadian Prime...

A well-deserved tribute was paid at the meeting of the

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Governors of the Sulgrave Institution, in a letter from the American Ambassador, to the services rendered by Sir Charles Wakefield to the cause of Anglo-American friendship and...

A very important conference opens at Toronto on Easter Monday,

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when the National Council of Education meets to discuss "Education and Citizenship" for a week. Leading educationists from all parts of Canada are taking part in the...

The National Council of Education was called into being at

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Winnipeg in October, 1919, and it is now pro. posed to form a Canadian Bureau of Education which will keep the Governments of the Canadian Provinces in touch with each other and...

It is interesting to recall the fact that the famous

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flight of Wilbur Wright at Kittyhawk took place in 1903. Thus the aeroplane celebrates its twentieth birthday this year. How long it seems since those spring days five or six...

Every school-child in the United States is being invited to

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contribute his or her mite towards the restoration of the Library of Louvain University, which is to constitute America's War memorial to Belgium. On the eve of launching the...

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] think they should not

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do so while so many men are still unemployed.—I am, Sir, &c., FRANCESCA. M. STEELE.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—English people have always

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prided themselves on liberty of action and freedom from grandmotherly legislation. Mar- riage is a desirable institution in a country aspiring to a high moral standard and...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sra,—As your correspondent, Mary Reid, points out, there is a difference between being a wage-earner and having a career. To my mind the difference is great. Leaving apart the...

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MIDDLE-CLASS MEALS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—We have survived four years of war and waded through four years of peace, and now find ourselves in a much modified world ; but we have...

LABOUR AND THE MILLENNIUM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Labour Party, if Mr. Philip Snowden may be' taken as a fair representative of its policy, entertains a strong confidence that, when it...

THE BLOCKING OF LUNACY ACTIONS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Will you permit me to correct an error in my letter under above heading on February 24th? It has been pointed out to me by one well versed...

NATIONAL FARMERS' UNION.

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[To the Editor of the SpEcTaTon.] Sirt,—My attention has just been drawn to the following statement which appeared in your issue of the 3rd inst. :— "It is often said that the...

LIFE MEMBERSHIP OF THE "SPECTATOR."

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am delighted that your " lifer " scheme has "found " itself. I believe that it is a good egg and that events may prove that you builded...

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THE IRISH DEPORTATIONS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Referring to the protracted discusiion of the " Deporta- tion to Ireland" episode in the House of Commons on 12th inst., one cannot but...

ECONOMICAL RUNNING.

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[To the Editor cf 'hit SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Lord Montagu of Beaul:eu's article on petrol consump- tion in a recent issue of the Spectator encourages me to ask a question to which...

LECTURES AND COUNTER-LECTURES.

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[To the Editor . of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—A novel series of eight lectures and counter-lectures on a variety of topical subjects is being arranged for April and May in aid of the...

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THE " RAPPROCHEMENT " BETWEEN BRITAIN AND ITALY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—It may interest some of your readers to know that from the literary as well as from the political standpoint there is at present an...

THE CHURCHWARDEN DETHRONED.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Under the new Act the ancient and honourable office of churchwarden ceases to have any power or responsibility, financial or otherwise,....

THE BRA.HAN SEER LEGEND.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt, — The recent lamented death of Lord Seaforth, at Brahan Castle, Ross-shire, has given to sensation-mongering newspapers the opportunity...

BIRTH CONTROL.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Please permit a distant admirer of your paper to congratulate you on your sane and courageous stand in the matter of birth control. Public...

PULL DEVIL, PULL BAKER.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin—The origin of the proverbial phrase, "Pull baker, pull devil," is confidently stated by a correspondent of Notes and Queries (April 18th,...

BOOKHAM COMMON.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It may be of interest to your readers to know that the manorial rights in Bookham Conunon, near Leatherhead, have been conveyed to the...

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" YET IF HIS MAJESTY, OUR SOVEREIGN LORD."

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] should like to believe with Mr. J. St. Loe Strachey that most of your readers know by heart the beautiful poem beginning, "Yet if his...

POETRY.

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THE ROAD. Our beyond Aldgate is a road, And a broad, Clean, noble thing it runs, For the sun's And wind's and man's delight, And the high stars at night. There go Jewesses And...

THE LATE MAJOR IL HESKETH PRICHA_RD.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have been entrusted with the task of writing a memoir of the late Major H. Hesketh Prichard, D.S.O., M.C. ; and I should be grateful for the...

CENTRAL BUREAU FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—We shall be most grateful if you will let us inform the public that we have moved to 54 Russell Square. With a correspondence amounting to...

1FOTICE. — When "Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's name

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or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode of...

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THE THEATRE.

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THE NEW YORK STAGE OF TO-DAY. TIAD only a week in New York, so that I did not see all the plays that I ought to have seen, nor all that I wanted to see. It is difficult to get...

(The usual "Recrealious of Lowlon" will be found on iiav

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z763)

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BOOKS.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. Tam WEER has not brought quite so many books as did the week that preceded it, but, though the quantity is not so great, there is plenty of reading for the...

THE RETURN OF THE MIDDLE CLASS.*

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THE title which Mr. John Corbin has chosen for his book does not quite explain itself. He does not mean that the middle class in America, which seems to be as hard hit as the...

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ROME AND THE BARBARIANS.*

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PROFESSOR BURY has written a book of great interest and importance on the Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries—the troubled age which saw barbarous German tribes...

THE FOUNDER OF QUAKERISM.*

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THIS book—" A Psychological Study of the Mysticism of George Fox" is its sub-title—was written by a leader among the younger members of the Society of Friends in America and...

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ISLAND MAGIC.*

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FOR most people, perhaps for everybody, an island has a profound emotional significance, the meaning of which is unfathomable. If the thought of visiting strange lands is...

MEMORIES OF TRAVEL.?

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ON the first page of this remarkable book Lord Bryce says :— " All I desire to do here is to give some sort of notion of the kind of impression which the scenery and the people...

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THE AGE OF ELEGANCE.*

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WIIEN such an authority as Miss Jourdain writes a book on decoration and furniture of the later eighteenth century, and Messrs. Batsford publish it at a price of three guineas,...

FICTION.

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MEN LIKE GODS.* Ma. BARNSTAPLE, sub-editor of The Liberal, "that well- known organ of the more depressing aspects of advanced thought," decided that he must take a holiday. He...

THE OLDEST NORTHERN POETRY.f

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Tun precious parchment in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, dating from the thirteenth century according to Kiss Clarke, though Powell and Vigfusson say twelfth century, is the...

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Dismiss. By Hilton Brown. (Methuen. 78. 6d. net.)

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Though Mr. Hilton Brown is obviously well acquainted with Civil Service conditions in India, he does not know how to write a novel. As a report on the anti-Montagu case, Dismiss...

" The Red Queen" is Queen Elizabeth, of whose life Miss

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Wilmot-Buxton writes with a great bias to the Roman Catholic religion. The story is neither a novel nor can it be taken as authentic history ; and, although it is impossible to...

In the middle of the Free Trade controversy of the

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first years of this century a small boy remarked : "What splendid smugglers' stories my children will hear if Tariff Reform is passed!" The Man in the Box is an example of these...

THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1922.*

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THE modern short story, it seems, is fated to be either minutely solemn or wittily superficial, and still awaits that alchemy— humanity, humour, what vague term you choose—to...

Men, Maids and Mustard-Pot. By Gilbert Frankel'. (Hutchin- son. 7s.

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6d.) Of the three sections of short stories in this volume the first, "Men's Tales," is unquestionably the best. The stories are told with Mr. Gilbert Frankau's accustomed...

It must be confessed that we consider an author is

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playing with loaded dice when he writes a detective story in which. the close resemblance between twins is an essential part. If this can be overlooked, the novel, from the...

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A useful little handbook of scientific and aesthetic facts about

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colour, primarily addressed to the teacher of infant schools, but containing a great deal that is not general knowledge.

The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War,

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1914-1919. Military Mining. Published by the Secretary, Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham. (Chatham : W. and J. Mackay. 12s. 6d. net.) The monographs on R.E. work in the...

Contains enough information about the country, ancient and modern, to

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satisfy a voracious appetite, but it is not well arranged. Over one hundred illustrations, taken from photographs, have been admirably chosen, those of the colossal ruins being...

A Summer in Greenland. By A. C. Seward. (Cambridge University

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Press. 7s. net.) Professor Seward obtained nearly a thousand fossil plants from the Greenland rocks for Cambridge and the British Museum besides lichens, mosses, liverworts,...

MILITARY RECORDS.

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Historical Record of the Buffs, 1914-1919. By Colonel R. S. H. Moody, C.B. (Medici Society. 7s. 6d. net.) Colonel Moody has written an admirable record of the work done by his...

THE ARTS.

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Places. By Paul Nash. (Wm. Heinemann. 10s. 6d. net.) The interest in book production is rapidly spreading from the rare specialist to the publisher and through• him to the...

hloltke's Military Correspondence, 1870-71. First Section.

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Professor Wilkinson has done a service to English military students by translating the Prussian General Staff's edition of Moltke's correspondence relating to the...

In this readable and instructive little book Sir Percival Phillips

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reprints the series of articles which he wrote for the Daily Mail as a result of his mission on its behalf to Mesopo- tamia last summer. He devotes himself mainly to giving...

Mrs. Challaeombe has gathered from the older inhabitants of Farnborough

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their reminiscences of the village as it was in the middle of the last century, when many quaint old village customs still survived. This information she has set in order and...

Unimpeachable and thoroughly up to date as a guide book,

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Mr. Aspinall's solid little volume will repay the most casual browsing. It has the detail of a Baedeker, and is sometimes as interesting as a good travel book. From .much buried...

TRAVEL AND TOPOGRAPHY.

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Bath. By Constance Spender and Edith Thompson. (William Clowes and Sons. 4s. net.) This book, as one of "The Story of the English Towns" series, follows the history of Bath...

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Elements in Thought and Emotion. By George B. Campion. (University

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of London Press, Ltd. 7s. 6d. net.) Mr. George B. Campion, the author of Elements in Thought and Emotion, is rather like the man who set out for a walk to nowhere in particular,...

Is the Bible True ? By Rev. Richard Free. (Robert

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Scott. 2s.) These three outspoken sermons, addressed to a Branch of the Church of England Men's Society, are a model of what the Scriptural teaching in our churches and schools...

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION.

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The author of An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion is to be congratulated on having written a work of value on a vast subject within the small compass of 282 pages. The...

This well-written and admirably illustrated book is designed to show

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the Western, and especially the American, public what Japanese enterprise has accomplished since 1905 in Manchuria. The trade returns and the photographs of stately buildings in...

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Catholicism and Roman Catholicism. By Bishop Gore. (A. R. Mowbray.

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Is. net.) Bishop Gore's attitude towards Anglicanism is one—to put it mildly—of detachment. Its history fills him "with profound humiliation " ; he finds its continuous...

The First Forty Years. 1881-1920. With a Foreword by the

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Bishop of London. (S.P.C.K. 5s. net.) A history of the Church of England Waifs and Strays Society in the form of yearly reports. Mountains of statistics weigh down the text and...

After Life in Roman Paganism. By Franz Cumont. (H. Milford.

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15s. net.) When the Catholic missionaries Hue and Gabet visited Tibet in 1844, they were startled to find how close was the parallel between the religious conceptions of Lhassa...

Conversion, Catholicism and the English Church. By the Bishop of

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Bloemfontein. (A. R. Mowbray. 2s. net.) Father Tyrrell used to illustrate the right order of our religious beliefs by the figure of a triangle, the base of which was Theism, the...

ROADS AND THEIR USERS.

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ECONOMICAL RUNNING.—III. BY LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU. T HE second great branch of economy that can be practised in driving is carefulness about tyres. It may seem impressive...

LIGHT FICTION.

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PONGA BAY. By Sophie Ostmnd. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d. net.) . The Maoris are one of the finest and roost intelligent of native races ; they approached most nearly to the idealized "...

ERRATUM. —We regret that the publishers of Miss Cynthia Stockley's Ponjola,

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which we reviewed on March 24th, were given in error as Messrs. Hutchinson. Ponjola is published by Messrs. Constable and Co.

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FINANCE—PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[By OUR CITY EDITOR.] MARKET PROSPECTS. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — The firmness of the Stock Markets has been main- tained right up to the eve of the Easter...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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There is a human element with regard to the forthcoming Budget which I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer will do well to remember. With his determination to set redemption...

MATERIAL REVIEW.

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MESSRS. STORY'S FURNISHING FABRICS. IN criticizing the materials shown-in Messrs. Story's Catalogue of Furnishing Fabrics, the fact which strikes the appreciative faculty at...