A USTRIA is passing through critical days, and she should not be left in doubt of the interest of this country in her fortunes. Dr. Schuschnigg's speech on February 24th, his...

for the death sentence on the 21 men now on trial in Moscow ; no doubt its lust for more executions will be satisfied. Whether the accused are guilty or not is a different...

attack has continued on the National Mobilisation Bill, which concentrates all power, for the duration of the war, in the hands of the Govern- ment and the armed forces. But...

gave a striking demonstration of how much Frenchmen are united on ques- tions of foreign policy and how much divided on social questions. The important debate on foreign policy...

of endan- gering the public peace and contravening President ilinden- burg's decree " for the protection of the people and the State "; his real crime was to have preached the...

on Thursday, contains good news and bad. But there is this to be said about it, that the bad news—figures of the bill that the taxpayer will have to foot—was inevitable and...

initiated by the Labour Party in the House of Commons on Monday the Government secured a majority of 93, which on the merits of the case it by no means deserved. For a part, and...

India might ultimately have good results, not bad, has in the end been justified. The resignation of the Ministries in Bihar and the United Provinces was not followed by like...

his defiance at Sir Archibald for breaking a tradition estab- lished by . Campbell-Bannerman in 1905, it was unfortunate that Mr. Chamberlain knew, or was informed, that before...

The Minister, aiming at the ultimate removal of all control, proves that conditions are more favourable to the removal of control from B class houses than they were to the...

of minor importance. The Home Secretary wanted more money for more Borstals, and the First Commissioner of Works wanted more money for Government hospitality to princes and...

a new tradition governing the position of Foreign Secretary had just been established, but his quotation from a speech by Mr. Ormsby-Gore in 1919 shows great assiduity on the...

not a very pleasant business and not particularly creditable to anyone concerned, and those who insist that the Colonial Empire exists to extort high profits out of underpaid...

were recently sentenced at the Old Bailey to flogging as well as imprisonment were guilty of a brutal crime, and if the use of the " cat " were either redemptive or deterrent it...

best perfor- mance of the week has been the lively all-star debate on the position of the Foreign Secretary in the House of Lords. The Labour Party continued their performance...

interval between the breaking off of the conversations between Great Britain and Eire and their resumption this week little advance has been made towards a general settlement....

institution, outlined by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Tuesday, marks a yet further stage in the progress which has been effected recently both in the attitude...

T HE leading article in last week's Spectator on Mr. Eden's resignation closed with the words, " It is impossible to think he [the Prime Minister] has made a good beginning, but...

IN recent years the necessity of protecting the beauties of rural and urban England has become more and more apparent ; and much has been said about it but little has been done....

out for him seven years ago. In 193r, as Lord Irwin, he came home after his five-years' tenure of the Viceroyalty of India. A Labour Government was then in office, without a...

mean when he said at Manchester the other day (if; as I assume, The Times reported him accurately) that " when Mussolini invaded Abyssinia the leader of the sanctions movement...

matter of prudence from outside the country, information which confirms rather strikingly what comes to me from other equally well-informed sources. Austria is by n) means so...

be said both for and against the proposed B.B.C. debate on the future of the German colonies, but much more, in my judgement, against than for. I have no belief in burking...

T HERE is no very convincing way of gauging the opinion of the country as a whole on the Chamberlain-Eden question, but all the signs are that the Prime Minister's position has...

the International Athletic Federation at Paris on Tuesday, when only the Norwegian delegate was opposed to the holding of the Games at Tokyo, give, I believe, a quite false...

By VIGILANS W ITH the approach of the Budget the activities of the tax-dodgers are again attracting public interest. '1 here are two types of tax-dodgers, those who lie and...

By SIR FREDERIC KENYON IT has been decided to celebrate in 1938 the four-hundredth anniversary of the preparation of Coverdale's Great Bible, and of the proclamation which...

By M. S. SARKANI T HERE was a time when education in India was supposed to be a luxury and a privilege which only a particular class enjoyed. But with the advent of the British...

IN the turmoil of speeches and counter-speeches, declara- tions and counter declarations, momentous event suc- ceeding momentous event, which filled the month of February, 1938,...

By OUR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT I T is not an uncommonly heard remark, especially when doctors of the older generation are talking together, that the younger doctors and surgeons...

By F. D. MERRALL3 I London I am never persuaded that summer has really 1 come until the first day that the taxi-men put down the hoods of their cabs and their fares assume a...

SAFETY FIRST ? By PHILIP EVANS The writer is a Newfoundlander, aged 27, with a public-school education. S AFETY first seems to be the motto of many of my contemporaries, yet...

THE ALAND ISLANDS QUESTION By JOACHIM JOESTEN THERE is no exaggeration in saying that the Aland group of islands constitutes, together with the problem of the Belts and Sound,...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At the New Gallery. The Film Society's tooth performance THE depiction of the human figure is not Walt Disney's forte. It is, in fact, hardly...

THE THEATRE 4 , No More Music." By Rosamond Lehmann The London In- ternational Theatre Club. At the Duke of York's Theatre A raw English people are staying in a small private...

A New Chamber Orchestra A NEW Symphony by Haydn never before played in England and in all probability never anywhere else since its first per- formance in 1784 until Dr. Alfred...

[Von einem deutschen Korrespondenten] HEINRICH IV. VON FRANKREICH sagte einst : " Ich wiinsche, dass Sonntags jeder Bauer sein Huhn im Topfe hat." Der Herr von Deutschland...

the east and north, both of which have inspired a good deal of public protest, the Forestry Commission now proposes, according to a letter in The Times of February t7th, to...

protests against the afforestation of certain districts is based on something more than love of the area which is to be so changed. To my mind the idea of a forest is becoming...

Yugoslavian Country Life I have always had a suspicion, quite heretical of course, that the English farmer does not know how well off he is. During February I travelled for a...

the most attractive of wild bulbs, T. Fosteriana is magnificent. I would recommend all gardeners to try a few bulbs of this rare, easy and really glorious tulip, the largest of...

When birds and animals are transplanted from natural environment, and so from its natural hardships and natural enemies, to situations where life is easier, we know what to look...

has consistently eluded me. Imported bulbs, home bulbs, begged bulbs have all shrivelled ingloriously in soil which grows L. Regale, L. Henryi, L. Speciosum and others with...

(Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brie] as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed...

hominem quite fair ? As you state the case, it is between an ex-Lord Mayor of Birmingham on the one hand and on the other a man who has for 12 years been immersed in the study...

Sto,—Your comparison between the experience of Mr. Eden and the inexperience of the Prime Minister would be more convincing had Mr. Eden's reign at the Foreign Office been...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — " If the projected conversations fail, the general situation will be substantially worse than before." This editorial statement in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — Your contributor, Surgeon Rear-Admiral Charles M. Beadnell, gives us physiological information which is extremely interesting, but my...

of last week's Spectator you wrote " It may be true that the small States cannot count on the League's effective protection, but when the head of the most powerful State in the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your Editorial comment in last week's Spectator, referring to the political repercussions following Mr. Eden's resignation, you...

one or two misprints in the article on p. 303 of your last issue. In the third paragraph a reaction period is given as 140/000 second. Does this mean 14o thousandths? If so, in...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sta,—Mr. Brogan accuses me of flag-wagging. All I said was that the British ethos should not be prevented by mere economics from playing its...

Ernst Linder's arguments about the inefficiency of totalitarian dosed economic systems for the purpose of modern war may make comforting reading in democratic countries, but...

discussions about the pros and cons of foxhunting, it always strikes me as odd that I find very little written about the principal of the piece—the foxhound. If a dog could...

wants to know if foxes would prefer to be born and to be hunted, or not to live at all. This is an unprofitable query, since foxes, not being self- conscious, cannot prefer one...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I said in my recent article about foxhunting that the English were hard to understand. Evidently I am a true Englishman, for my article...

Stn,—Your correspondent " X " should not ask human beings whether foxes would wish to live to be hunted, but rather ask human beings whether they have the right to encourage...

was naturally very much interested in the letter from Mr. Hall Caine which you published in your issue of Decem- ber 17th under the heading " Isaac Pitman." There must be many...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I was in hopes that some answers would be made to my questions, so I must thank Messrs. Adams and David for their letters, but I am...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] StR,—To accuse a nation of the filthy crime of " sadism " because some young scoundrels are sentenced to receive a slight taste of what they...

of this practice which is usually forgotten, viz., its effect on the officer of the law who has to inflict the punishment. If the judge who orders the cat had himself to wield...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Our attention has just been drawn to the letter of Sir Arnold Wilson published in your issue of February 18th. As we have been...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am interested to read the remarks of your reviewer in your last number in reference to Professor Stebbing's Philosophy and the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sta,—Permit me to protest against Miss Rose Macaulay's assumption that Mass and Communion-Service seem to most people names for the same...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I wonder what the old Irish soldier, of the type of Kipling's Terence Mulvaney, who knew and loved his country, as " Ould Oireland "...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I regret that one misses the fairness one expects of The Spectator in the paragraph headed " Idlers and the Dole," in the News of the...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Stu,—When I was in the Army Class at Wellington in 19or, one hour a week was devoted to " General Knowledge." This consisted of the reading...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Stu,—Mr. Charles W. Ranson, in criticising what I wrote in The Spectator on the relation between caste and religion, appears to regret " the...

By JOHN BETJEMAN SOMEONE looking at the dust-jacket of this book might imagine that it is a practical volume about how to build a house with the latest materials. So anxious is...

A Digest of English Civil Law. By Edward Jenks (Editor?, the late W. M. Geldart, Sir William Holdsworth, R. W. Lee, Sir John C. Miles and William Latey. Third Edition. Two vols....

SIRS I very much regret that as the result of drawing a mistaken inference from two passages in Mr. George Steer's book, The Tree of Gernika, which I -reviewed in The Spectator...

Outlanders : - A Study of Imperial Expansion in South Africa, 1877-1902. By C. E. Vulliamy. (Cape. 12s. 6d.) " WHAT is there, I wonder, in South Africa that makes black- guards...

Ludecke. (Jarrolds. ros. 6d.) HERR LUDECKE has written an interesting and valuable book, though it may disappoint those who hope for sensational revelations. There are none ;...

and Lyall Wilkes. (Basil Blackwell. 5s.) Tins book, written by an Oxford eleven on the contemporary problem of pacifism, claims to mirror the views of some thousands of men and...

Germany. World Empire or World Revolution. By G. Reiman. (Seeker and Warburg. los. 6d.) , THE author of this book is a Marxist who dissented from the official policy of the "...

Vienna : The Image of a Culture in Decline. By Edward Crankshaw. (Macmillan. 8s. 6d.) THE fact that the Habsburg family ruled in Vienna from 1282 until 1918 has inevitably been...

Be Loved no More. The Life and Em;ironment of Fanny Burney, By Arthur Bernon Tourtellot. (George Allen and Unwin. los. 6d.) - • • MR. TOURTELLOT unwisely succumbs to a...

Henderson. (Published for the Royal Institution of Cornwall. 7s. 6d.) WHEN Charles Henderson, Fellow of Corpus (Oxford), died at the age of 34, he had already a more remarkable,...

Unemployment. • .13y- Meade. ((Mufti University Press : Humphrey Milford. 5s.) :CoNsumERs' credits have until lateiy-LtO 'quote Mr. Meade's preface—remained a. close...

British Policy in Kenya Colony. By Mar:orie Ruth Dilley. (Nelson. I2S. 6d.) AT last we have a history of political issues in Kenya free from the rancour that neither apologists...

William Kent. (Heath Cranton. tos. 6d.) HAVING read, some years since, Mr. Kent's London for Shake- speare Lovers, I opened this book with pleasant anticipations, which have not...

By FORREST REID EACH of these five novels is written with a different aim and in a different mood. Roughly speaking, they represent romance, psychology, satire, history and...

WHY FILMS GO WRONG By W. R. AYLING Jr sometimes happens that certain pictures on a roll of film show quite good detail in parts but almost clear celluloid in others. This is...

THE Fortnightly alone has been able to deal with the resignation of Mr. Eden, which the editor in the opening article regards as the work of " panicky circles who have no grasp...

The name of E. H. Wilson stands very high in the list of great nineteenth- century gardeners. Wilson was, how- ever, as the index to this volume (Williams and Norgate. xis.)...

This delightful little book (University of California Press : Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 7s.)-, consists of a journal kept by one Joseph LeConte, a Professor of Chemistry of...

The publication of this famous book (Longmans, 5s.) at a low price and in compact form deserves every commenda- tion. The Gifford lectures of which they were composed were...

TRANSGRESSOR IN THE TROPICS By Negley Farson Mr. Farson remains as entertaining and impetuous as ever. Transgressor in the Tropics (Gollancz, tos. 6d.) is not such a mouthful...

Sullivan John Melly has claims to public interest because of his magnificent work during the Italo-Abyssinian war as leader of the British Ambulance Service in Ethiopia. It is...

Financial Supplement

By PROFESSOR LIONEL ROBBINS THE most conspicuous feature of the history of British Public Finance since the crisis of 1931 is the great growth of public expenditure. In 1931-2...

Rise in Advances—Higher Earnings THE experience of British banking in 1937 confirmed two theories which have long been cherished in Lombard Street : first, that in the later...

Purchase of Medical Practices IT is evident from the fresh high record figures announced by nearly all the leading life assurance offices in respect of last year's new business...

New Developments in the Making ONE of the greatest characteristics of modern life assurance is its facile adaptability to all the various requirements of mankind, a remarkable...

WHEN big political uncertainties 'Lon:bine with an abnormally obscure economic outlook to complicate the stock market equation, an investment adviser will surely be forgiven if...

ANYONE who has read Mr. J. M. Keynes' annual Address to the Members of the National Mutual Life Assurance Society and the articles and comments to which it gave rise has prob-...

Tint behaviour of stock markets is alternately reassuring and disappointing. Nobody could have wished for a more convincing proof of resisting power than the comparative...

MR. R, HOLLAND-MARTIN'S ADDRESS Tim annual general meeting of the Southern Railway Company was held on Thursday, February 24th, at Southern House, Cannon Street, E.C. Mr....

LONDON BRICK COMPANY RECORD DELIVERIES SIR P. MALCOLM STEWART'S SPEECH Tan thirty-eighth ordinary general meeting of the London Brick Company Ltd. was held on March 1st, at...

MORE RETAIL DIVIDENDS. WITH the publication of the preliminary figures of Swan and Edgar, A. W; Gamage and Swears and Wells, a reasonably com- plete picture is available of the...

Shareholders of London Brick Company have for several years regularly received three interim dividends of 5 per cent., followed by a final dividend of 5 per cent. This year the...

By raising its final dividend from 3i per cent. to 4i per cent. the Lancashire Steel Corporation is following the current trend of steel dividends. But the increase has special...

The full accounts of Courtaulds for 1937 show that the gross profit rose by £285,283 to £3,430,204. A very large part of the increase was absorbed in taxation. Taxation,...

The tendency for gross profits to rise much more quickly than net profits is also brought out by the full accounts of Harrods. It will be remembered that the net profit rose by...

BY ZENO [A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be...

141 AI RI E MIMI AI SI Pi RI AZ AIN' AI C 1 LILIITLHIOINTT RI A PHA El LI E . 1 QIU E CILI1101 S HI I I LIL11U1 CI N HIOIMI I 1 L 7 y AI LIE AIN PIGIMI SI I I HI Orr LI A...