5 NOVEMBER 1937

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NEWS OF THE WEEK

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T HE Spanish situation is unchanged on the military side and little changed on the diplomatic. The seat of .government has been definitely transferred to Barcelona, which may...

The Fighting in China While the Brussels delegates discuss, China

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continues her courageous resistance. In the Shanghai area the Japanese have concentrated on crossing the Soochow creek, which separated the two forces, but they have so far only...

The Brussels Conference The speeches at the opening session of

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the so-called Nine Power Conference (actually nineteen States are represented) were mainly formal in character, though Italy manifested, through her delegate, the usual...

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" Straight " News for Foreigners The decision that special

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programmes are to be broadcast from this country by the B.B.C. in certain foreign languages represents what is on the whole a regrettable necessity. For many years this practice...

North African Unrest The violent anti-French agitation in North Africa

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has compelled the French Government to take severe repressive measures ; the consequences of its continuance would have been alarming. The three French administrations in...

Germany and the League In a speech which he delivered

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at Munich last Sunday the German Foreign Minister defined the attitude of Germany towards collective security at the League of Nations. It is all to the good that such a...

Front Populaire Strains The annual Congress of the French Radical

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Socialist Party, which met at Lille last week-end, came very near to making a final breach with the Front Populaire ; the situation on Saturday was serious enough to bring M....

Provision Against a Slump The debate on the Address this

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week concluded with the discussion of a Liberal amendment asking that the Govern- ment should prepare measures to combat a possible reces- sion in trade ; and it is to be...

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On Friday Sir Samuel Hoare pointed out that the unem-

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ployed man who got 28s. in 1929 gets 32s. today, and Major Tryon pointed to exports up from 365 to 44o millions since 1932. Sir John Simon, winding up on Monday, quoted J. A....

On Tuesday's Liberal amendment, in spite of the able and

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moderate opening speech from Major Lloyd George, in spite of the fiery eloquence of Sir Archibald Sinclair, pride of place on the Opposition side must go to Sir Arthur Salter....

Taking the week as a whole, however, top marks go

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to Mr. Anthony Eden—not for the first time. Everyone had been shooting at him for the last many days. Noel Baker proved he was destroying the League, Lloyd George proved he...

The Municipal Elections In the municipal elections held last Monday

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Labour in the London Boroughs has obtained substantially the same measure of success which it achieved in the L.C.C. elections in March. In the Metropolitan area it gained 57...

Brains and the Birth-Rate The Manchester Guardian this week has

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published an interesting survey of the numbers of students at the univer- sities, with particular reference to the possible effects of the falling birth-rate. Though the figures...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : The

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House has spent most of the current week amending—or rather refusing to amend—the humble Address of Thanks for the Gracious Speech. The Labour Party, on Monday and Friday,...

Next Week's " Spectator " Among other articles in next

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week's Spectator Sir Arnold Wilson, M.P., will write on War Graves as a bond of inter- national sympathy, and Dr. J. J. Mallon on the Carlisle Liquor Control system and its...

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GERMANY AND PEACE

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T HE warmth of the reception given by the House of Commons to Mr. Eden's speech on Monday was less a tribute to its form, though it was that, than an endorsement of its content....

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THE RIGHT WAY WITH DRINK

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T HIS month the coming-of-age of the Carlisle system for the control of the liquor traffic is being cele- brated—or rather, since little in the way of publicity or ceremonial...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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P ERHAPS after all there was justification for the mis- givings felt, though not always expressed, in various quarters regarding the Duke of Windsor's visit to Germany —not by...

I am accused by a well-known ecclesiastic of being guilty

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of " a dogmatic negative," and I am constrained to admit that it was so. Writing last week of the pomp and circum- stance that attended the funeral of Private McGowan at...

It seems a sensible thing from the French point of

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view to re-open the Paris Exhibition next year ; a great part of it was only ready this year months after the official opening, and the immensity of the crowds that have been...

The simplest tributes to Dick Sheppard are the truest. "

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I feel that I have lost a personal friend, though I never met him " someone wrote to me, and thousands of people must have been using precisely those words in the past week. The...

* * * The Law Report page of Wednesday's Times

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forms a rather grim reminder of the perils amid which newspapers have to navigate in these days. The first case reported hinged on damages and costs which the Daily Mirror...

Hic and Hoc " In the report of Monday's hearing

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of the case against Miss — it was inadvertently stated that Mr. Cartwright Sharp, for the prosecution, alleged that during dinner at a club before the accident Miss — ' had...

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THE BRITISH PRISON : VI. HOW TO EVIPROVE IT

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By LAWRENCE ATHILL [This is the last of six articles in which Major Athill has embodied the conclusions he has reached as a result of a personal investigation into British...

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DICK SHEPPARD

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BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK O NE of the most remarkable figures of our time has been removed from the religious and public life of England by the sudden death of Canon Sheppard....

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AGRICULTURE AND DEFENCE

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By COLIN CLARK T AST May The Spectator published a rather gloomy IA article of mine, which was originally entitled " Agri- culture and Defence." By changing its title to "...

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THE VOICE OF UNDER THIRTY IV

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[Sufficient indication of the age and experience of the writer of this article is contained in the article itself.] I FEEL that these articles, in order to be a serious...

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AIR RAIDS AND THE PUBLIC

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By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT W HILE the Home Secretary and the local authorities are still arguing about who shall pay the cost of anti- air-raid measures the common citizen is...

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SHAKUNTALA

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By AHMED ALI I H E was consumptive and ill. The whole day he coughed and lay on his bed. At last one day he died. Shakuntala became a widow at the age of thirteen. Her...

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MARGINAL COMMENTS

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By MONICA REDLICH T HE superiority of Art over Nature is nowhere more clearly to be seen than in the advertisement columns of our newspapers and magazines. Wars and rumours of...

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Commonwealth and Foreign

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JAPAN'S WAR ECONOMY By GUENTHER STEIN TOKYO, September Mt. Two and a half months of military victories over China have already raised serious economic problems in Japan, and...

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STAGE AND SCREEN

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MUSIC " Ein Deutsches Requiem " A German Requiem — the emphasis is on the adjective. This, the second of Brahms's larger compositions, has nothing in common with the Latin...

THE CINEMA

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" Oh, Mr. Porter." At the Gaumont—" Keep Fit." At the Paramount " He haunts the hill He haunts the mill And the land that lies between." So chants the sinister village...

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INSTRUCTION ET ORIENTATION

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[D'un correspondant parisiend Las problemes economiques et politiques demeurent si angois- sants qu'ils en eclipsent d'autres non moins importants, celui de l'instruction...

ART

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The London Group IF the New English Arts Club is dull and middle-aged this year, the London Group provides the exact contrast to it, by showing both the failings and advantages...

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COUNTRY LIFE

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A Cottage Census It is much to be hoped that everyone who can will help forward the new proposal for a survey of old or historic cottages. Some local surveys of the sort have...

* * * * Bird Poets

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On the subject of birds and birds'- song, no poet in our day, perhaps in any day, has written so well as Ralph Hodgson ; and his total omission is one of the only faults I have...

The" Richmond Sanctuary ,The activities of man in the neighbourhood

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"of London have proved singularly attractive to some of the very wildest birds. To take , a personal experience or two—I have watched plover, duck and snipe in many parts of...

Autumn Sowing

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The extreme mildness of this autumn, which permits us still to pluck rosebuds and already to enjoy the scent of viburnum fragrans, may persuade more people to trust seeds to the...

48 Cubs

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The humanitarians, who make periodic complaints about the dates for the close seasons, have perhaps some grounds against those packs of foxhounds which begin cub-hunting in late...

A Triumph of Photography

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Co-operation between a great German naturalist, Rudolf Zimmermann of Dresden, and an English, Miss Barclay Smith, has produced the most beautiful series of photographs of birds,...

London Birds Many of our naturalists, not least W. H.

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Hudson, have wondered at the number of birds In London. In the very latest book of birds thanks are 'offered to H.M. Board of Works for special facilities given to listeners to...

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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Sra,—I have been reading, with ever-growing bitterness, the series of articles which you have been -printing: I refer to those written by Mr. Athill on prison conditions.....

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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Sm,—The sardonic amusement which I have derived from reading Mr. Athill's series of " praise-with-faint-damns " articles on the English prison system has now, as the articles...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [Correspondents are requested to keep their

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letters as brief as is reasonably possible. . The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those...

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your young director—Under Thirty

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No. III—giving expression to his views on youth's present discontents, and incidentally revealing generous impulses which do his heart credit, lays himself open to certain...

THE VOICE OF UNDER THIRTY

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is difficult to guess whether the young twenty-four- year-old director of a London business firm intends your readers to take him...

1. Does he not understand that the apathy of a

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congregation is the result of the attitude of those like himself, who attend church, not in a spirit of humility, worship, and thanksgiving, but from convention or in order to...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] • SIR,—" The youth

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of Great Britain and other civilised non- totalitarian countries is awaiting leadership." And yet the article penned by the young man aged 24 fills me with a kind of despair....

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INDIA UNDER CONGRESS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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do not think Mrs. (or should it be Miss ?) Barr strengthens her argument by misrepresenting mine. I did not write about Prohibition with a big P but discussed the reasonableness...

PICASSO UNFROCKED [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In his letter Mr. Read defines the types of people with whom the contemporary artist associates so clearly that he exactly confirms the point which I had been trying to...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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have followed with interest this discussion, and it seems to me that in the tilting of lances some important issues have been overlooked and other points obscured by referring...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—If Mrs. F. M. Barr had spent the last eighteen years in India she would have learned that previous experiments in prohibition in that country have led to indignation,...

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NATIONALISM AND GOD [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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Sta,—In your leading article " Nationalism and God " in your issue of October 22nd, based upon the Provost of Eton's recent letter to The Times, you refer to the desirability...

A LIBEL ON THE REFORMATION [To the Editor of THE

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SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The misquotation of the Church Catechism which Lady Brooke so sternly condemns is undoubtedly a somewhat serious matter, as it is the principal ground upon...

FREDERIC BLAYDES [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

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am anxious to put together as many facts as I can get concerning the life-work and activities of the late Frederic H. M. Blaydes, who died, at an advanced age, early in this...

ITALY AND OURSELVES [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—British

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newspapers. display seductive advertisements of the attractions of Italy for the British tourist. He is assured of " a warm welcome." Meanwhile the Italian Press continues its...

WILL GOLD DEPRECIATE [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —In

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her review of my book Will Gold Depreciate? appearing in your last issue, Mrs. Honor Croome reproaches me for having failed to answer a series of questions which she poses...

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BOOKS OF THE DAY

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In the Valley (Goronwy Rees) . . China and Japan (Prof. N. Skene Smith) .. A Pacifist in the Khyber Pass (Christopher Sykes) The American Third Chamber (D. W. Brogan) Frederic...

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CHINA AND JAPAN

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AT long last, progress is being made in the West with research into Far-Eastern social problems, with materials collected by indigenous scholars. In spite of the pioneer work...

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THE AMERICAN THIRD CHAMBER

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The Supreme Court and the National Will. By Dean Alfange. (Hodder and Stoughton. I2S. 6d.) THE shirted past of Mr. Justice Black and the presidential assault on the palladium of...

A PACIFIST IN THE KHYBER PASS

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The Challenge of the North-West Frontier. By C. F. Andrews. (Allen and Unwin. 6s.) THIS book is an exploration of and an optimistic insistence on the feasibility of pacifism as...

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FREDERIC MISTRAL

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MR. C. M. GIRDLES - DONE has written the first adequate account • of Mistral's work in English ; it is, at least from the English reader's point of view, more adequate than...

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BUNYAN , DR. MARX AND DR. FREUD

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John Bunyan. By Jack Lindsay. (Methuen; los. 6d.) MR. LINDSAY has placed Bunyan squarely upon the anvil of what has come to be called " dialectics " tout court, meaning...

WYNDHAM LEWISITE

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IT is difficult to catch what Dr. Richards might call Mr. Lewis's attitude in this book. For the most part it is a plain tale—" I am not writing for other highbrows like...

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GLORY OUT OF SHAME

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OTHER authors of autobiographies have debunked themselves. But few have done it so thoroughly and so cheerfully as Mr. Vernon Bartlett. He positively revels in assuring us that...

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BOTTICELLI

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THIS is unquestionably the technical triumph of the Phaidon Press, whose books Messrs. Allen and Unwin are publishing in this country. It has the advantages of the van Gogh...

FROM GEORGE IV TO EDWARD VII

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Old London. Four Stories. By E. F. Benson. (Appleton. 2 I S.) MR. BENSON, who has the art, rare in a novelist, of being as interesting as an historian, and who has given us...

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FICTION

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By KATE O'BRIEN The Education of Hyman Kaplan. By Leonard Q. Ross. (Constable. 5s.) FICTION reviewing has its vogues and period-catchwords which may be supposed to bestow on...

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PRESS GANG ! Edited by Leonard Russell

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About a year ago Mr. Leonard Russell edited a book in which the works of fourteen eminent writers were most agreeably parodied. This successor to Parody Party (Hutchinson, 8s....

THE DESERT POOL By G. A. Chalkley

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The nineteen-year-old hero of this story (Longmans, Green, 6s.), who has been accompanying his father on a big-game hunting expedition in Bechua- naland, is left alone in the...

CURRENT - LITERATURE

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THE NOVEMBER MAGAZINES THE Fortnightly gives first place to a vigorous defence by Mr. Robert Boothby of " The Government's Foreign Policy." " Mr. Eden," he says, " is the first...

THE ZODIAC BOOKS

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Anything published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus is sure to be agreeablypro- duced, but they have really excelled even themselves in their latest venture. Nothing could be more...

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GRAMOPHONE NOTES

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BRUNO WALTER'S recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic of the Brihms First Symphony (H.M.V. DB3277-81, 3os.) and Mozart's Prague Symphony - (11.M.V. DB3112-4, 18s.) should both...

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BRITISH INDUSTRIAL YIELDS Last week I expressed the view that

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leading American equity shares were better value for money than most British industrials ; in the meantime Wall Street has rallied roughly 20 per cent. and the discrepancy has...

WISE INVESTMENT

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RATHER earlier than I anticipated, President Roosevelt has played his first card in checking the business recession and frankly he has played the card I least expected and least...

Venturers' Corner

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Here is a preference share, for the venturesome, which is now paying its regular dividend and holds out some promise of gradually clearing off its arrears. The 7f per cent....

RUBBER'S RECOVERY PROSPECTS

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I hope the International Rubber Regulation Committee will not yield to the clamourings of the speculators and do anything hasty in the way of quota amendments to stimulate a...

A PREFERENCE SHARE LIST Industrial ordinary shares are for those

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who can afford to take the brunt of the risks of business. Investors to whom safety, as distinct from appreciation of capital, is important but who are also seeking an income...

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Motoring WHAT MOST PEOPLE. WANT IT is probably assuming a

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good deal to say that a motor-show gives any but a vague indication of the public taste in motor- cars. It certainly shows the trend of design and, in that it displays new ideas...

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FINANCE

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THE STOCK MARKET OUTLOOK — THE AMERICAN FACTOR THE course of prices of public securities continues to be dominated by two main factors, the first being developments in...

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* * * * E .M.I . RESULTS.

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These for the past year are quite excellent, the net profit f Electrical and Musical Industries having risenfrom £266,789 £363,964. The Directors, however, have merely main-...

CELANESE PROFITS.

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The market had anticipated some reduction in the profits of the British Celanese Company and the recent statement of accounts fulfilled. expectations, the trading balance being...

FINANCIAL NOTES

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MARKETS QUIET BUT STEADIER. APART from British Government stocks and kindred securities, the Stock Markets have been quiet during the past week. On Monday and Tuesday business...

ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES TRUST.

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Some interesting figures have recently been published of the Electrical Industries Trust, of which the Chairman and Managing Director is Mr. Hartley Withers, the Managers for...

THE TIN POSITION.

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Although the latest tin statistics were a surprise to the market in the sense that they showed a decrease in supplies of 204 tons, whereas a substantial increase had been...

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RHOKANA CORPORATION.

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At the recent annual meeting the Chairman, Sir Auckland Geddes, was able to announce the very satisfactory dividend of 371 per cent. less tax on the Ordinary and A shares. Sir...

* *

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BREWERY PROFITS. The profits of Mitchells and Butlers continue to expand, the net total for - the past year of £722,000 showing a gain for the year of nearly £35,000. The...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD NO. 266

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SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner of Crossword No. 266 is Elborough Street, Southfields, S.W. 18. W. White, 5o

" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 267

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BY ZENO ACROSS You'll get in trouble if you make this your address. (Two words.) to. This connoisseur is more than extravagant. 12. " I, thus neglecting worldly . . , all...