any means removed in this way. In the autumn Germany might quite well consent to the inclusion of Spain, though she would not accept Poland. Yet if once we depart from the...

T HE Controversy about the League Council has twisted back to the original position. When the proposal to increase the pernianent members of the Council Was first made Spain was...

by the abdication of the Maharajah of Indore. The Government offered him the alternative of abdicating or accepting an inquiry into the Malabar Hill murders. Our readers will...

Samuel Hoare in presenting the Air estimates stated the general lines of the Government's policy. Home defence, he said, must come first and then the provision of defence in...

Indian Budget which shows a surplus. Five yeirs ago the finances of India were in such a state that the intervention of the Inchcape Committee was necessary. The credit of India...

London, W.C. 2. — A Subscription to the " Spectator " costa Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. Registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on...

ments• •are thrown• over without notice industry will lapse into chaos. The employers presumably would not have posted the notices of a national lock-out if they had not felt...

Saturday. - The estimates in detail are not yet ready. It is unusual, if not unprecedented, for the Explanatory Statement to appear before the estimates themselves. The...

possibility: If 'it happened it might mar the industrial prospect which has been 'steadily improving in all directibhs. The decision one way or the other Will not be taken till...

of Health Insurance has returned on the whole a favourable verdict. It is agreed by all that the compulsory and contributory principles must remain, but both the majority and...

support for a Ministry of Defence. It was not urged that the time had actually arrived for such a Ministry, but the insistence on the need for a joint Staff With executive...

period of safety for the world as we are going through now. All nations are too exhausted to fight. Why should we not use this period for trying to build up an interna- tional...

said that he expected to get the surplus of £1,000,000 for which he had budgeted. That, of course, would be without allowing for the coal subsidy which would cost '17 or 18...

letters we have received about the series of articles called " Specimen Days." Apparently it is the wish of a large number of busy persons to describe in detail a specimen day...

asked to describe their lives pour out bitterness and resentment and make hopelessly inaccurate statements. To the scientific observer it is an important clue to many things...

and healthier site has given Lord Rothermere an opportunity for an act of magnificent generosity. He has bought the fifteen acres and has given them as a park and playground to...

of a Specimen Day' it is evident that A Gas Fitter' refers to the Gas Light and Coke Company. There is scarcely a true word in his statements. The Company is proud of its...

received a protest from the Gas Light and Coke Company. Here we pass from the general to the particular, and we admit that the Company has very good cause to feel aggrieved. The...

Lord Newton in support of the policy for the taxation of betting which we have recommended in the Spectator—the policy of taxing credit betting (and if possible race-course...

on December 8rd, 1925. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 1011; on Wednesday week 10114 ; a year ago 1001. Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 871 ; on Wednesday...

COLONEL HOUSE T HE picture of a memorable and original man is presented to us by The Intimate Papers of Colonel House, reviewed to-day in the Spectator. It is a book full of...

M R. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN, in an answer to a question in the House of Commons, has renewed his assurance that he will bring in a Smoke Abatement Bill during the life of the...

I. BY JOHN BUCHAN. T HE" spirit of Locamo " may turn out, as everyone hopes, to be a continuing mood of the world, and the chances of war may be infinitely decreased. But till...

BY NEW MEMBER. I T has been on the whole a stirring week. On Monday the breeze began to blow around Export Credits. On the face of it not a very exciting theme, but, as it...

write under a similar title of the Middle West and the Pacific Slope ? But my mood shall be less complacent and less self-centred than his. I . pity myself most sincerely for...

ACADEMY OF MUSIC. O NE of the most interesting points which arose during the proceedings of the committee of inquiry into questions connected with the future of broadcasting...

of the Spectator, Mr. Gabriel Wells, generously offered, a prize of £100 for an essay on. " Unemployment : its' Cause and Remedy." We left the competition open fl an unusually...

from which we have suffered since the end of 1920 is not in its essence abnormal, although it differs in many particulars from the cyclical depressions to which the world was...

A T half-past three on a mid-January afternoon the six plane trees on the north side of St. Paul's Churchyard were empty. I came back to the , church- yard at a quarter past...

Many persons have reported during the past few weeks that they have been unable to buy a copy of the SPECTATOR at the bookstalls or newsagents owing to the stock being sold out....

asking them to define their attitude; Five replies favoured a modification of the Volstead Law but eighteen were against modification. Dr. Manning, the Bishop of New York, has...

[The title which we .have borrowed from Walt Whitman. to stand at the head of these articles well enough expressei their purpose. They are simple accounts of the daily life of...

American CardinalsSardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York, and Cardinal O'Connell, of Boston, who• since : the death of Cardinal Gibbon, of Baltimore—one of the most charming old...

THE question of Prohibition continues to occupy much space in the American Press. The distinct revival of interest in the subject is'partly due'to the appearance of the Report...

to enter the new Ministry as Minister of Railways, Mr. Dunning left his native Leicestershire twenty-three years ago as an emigrant lad. A farmer by' profession, he has a great...

will be surprised to find what an early seas - on it is. r cannot recall having seen such a variety of flowers out simul- taneously in the third week of February. Among those I-...

Sunday afternoons. On a recent Sunday I went there, hoping to spend a profitable afternoon—truly within its " hospitable walls," for outside it was r a inin g with tropical...

defeated in his own constituency of North York, Ontario, last October, has returned to' Ottawa by the somewhat circuitous route of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In the last...

Although the number of people who have installed gas and electric heating in their houses is steadily growing, there remain tens of thousands of coal fires in London that might...

than the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, a lonely outpost of the British Empire whose nearest neighbour is St. Helena, thirteen hundred miles away. Mr. Martyn...

reviewed recently in the Spectator, has a fine record of service to the Empire. He is one of the greatest living authorities . on. the constitutional development of the Empire,...

LESSER GLORIES THE more intelligent cinemagoers seem to be divided into two ; those who go seldom and only when they can be sure of seeing an exceptionally good picture, and...

"JOANNA GODDEN " ON THE STAGE IF only the enthusiastic playgoer will have the courage of his convictions, it is astounding how much adventure can be found off the beaten track....

GENUINE melodrama—the real thing ; there still exist two theatres in London where it can be seen twice nightly, and where plays with such engaging titles as Redeemed By Love,...

Moms racing is commonly regarded as either a sport, in which case _it appeals-- to the adventurous, or a form of advertisement, in which ease it, is certainly a weapon with two...

PROBLEM [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—The effect upon general American opinion of the dis- covery that the price of rubber is practically under British Government...

A LETTER FROM OXFORD [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Oxford has suffered a great loss in the deaths of Professor Sir Paul Vinogradoff and Professor Francis Edgeworth....

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt,—In the discussion in the Press on the important problem of sterilization in connexion with mental defect, the questions involved appear...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The attitude of the North Country Banks in regard to the question of unsecured overdrafts is undoubtedly a con- servative one. In the...

SPECTATOR.] Sin,—May I be allowed to comment on Mr. K. M. Ashe's letter in your issue of February 20th ? As I see the case, it is this. The railways are public servants,...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have read the article on Concrete Building, by Majoi Douglas Wood, in your issue of February 27th. He says : `.` Before the Great War concrete...

Sta,—I see from your issue of February 27th that Lord Buckmaster thinks that I am wrong about the law of contracts in U.S.A. I may be, but from a practical point of view I am...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Your correspondent, in his letter from Montreal in your last issue, is very mistaken in his figure of the frontage held by the British in...

SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The article by Mr. E. Guy Dawber published by you calls timely attention to the wastage taking place in the beauty of our contryside as the result of building...

Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have followed with great interest the article about " An Unrecorded Revolution in Manners " in Paris, and the answers of your readers, which appeared...

an error in your note, with reference to Mr. Rosslyn Mitchell in your issue of February 20th. It is incor- rect to say that he " formerly as a Liberal defeated Mr. Asquith." Mr....

SIR, —In the interesting article on " Geordie Pitman " in your issue of February 20th I was very glad to see a reference to The Pitman's Pay. I wonder if this book is obtainable...

of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I have read the " Specimen Day of a Parson's Wife in your issue of February 27th. Perhaps you would consider the letter of another parson's wife equally...

WRITE me no epitaph—or only this : " Here Heine lies, who lived, and wrote, and died. They said he touched the height of earthly bliss, Who loved and was a poet—hut they lied."...

has been called to a letter signed " Engineer " in the current issue of the Spectator, in reference to the article I wrote, " A Day in the Life of a Miner," in which it is...

the SPECTATOR.] Sin, — In the Spectator of February 27th you have a para- graph on the Report of the Food Council, in which you say " The trick of weighing the paper wrapper...

DEATH'S HERITAGE ALL men are heirs to riches. They inherit A vast estate the day that they draw breath. They by the right of Eve, and Adam's merit, Assume the feudal policies...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — Pilloried before your public as a " happy-thought " person, permit me one last word. Mr. Davey, somewhat upset, it seems, by the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—We were all much struck by the imagination of the small niece of " Patruus " in the Spectator of February 20th. It almost surpasses that...

the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With the desire to honour the life and work of the late G. F. Watts, a Committee has been formed in order to erect a memorial in an open space adjacent to...

COLONEL HOUSE The Intimate Papers of Colonel House. Arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour, Professor of History at Yale University. (Ernest Benn, Ltd. £2 2s. the set of...

night. into Reading with his father, he looked into the mouth of a long sack which they were carrying for two strangers. " The moonlight shone clearly . . . and I saw a naked...

been " on the trail of the anthropoid apes," living in Cuba with a colony of chimpanzees, whose habits, feelings, intelli- gence and language he describes. " The care of the...

come to life in these vivid volumes of Signor Corrado Ricci, about that " beautiful parricide " Beatrice Cenci (Heinemann, 2 vols., 32s.) and her death, on one of those "...

received Volume VI (St. Catherine Press, £3 13s. 6d.) are to be congratulated on this carefully planned and interestingly written production. Outwardly this volume looks like an...

on London's Latin Quarter (Bodley Head, 15s.). But there are also some stupid stories and an occasional slicing-off of nar- rative at the most interesting part, which...

task of making an exceptionally useful vocational guide, as well as a mind receptive to the stir of new ideas in the fas- cinating world we live in. Careers for Boys and Girls...

THE State Library at Berlin has long been known to collectors of Mogul miniatures, but a new album of the Emperor Jehangir is indeed treasure trove. Messrs. Kulmel and Guetz...

Platonism and Its Influence. By Alfred EdWard Taylor. (Harrap. 5s. net.) THE most imposing cenotaph to Plato that we possess in England was reared by Dr. Benjamin Jowett,...

THERE are several things which we like about this exposition, at once outspoken, informed and charitable. Canon Darwell Stone rightly recognizes that " during the last year a...

• Issues of European Statesmanship. By B. G. De Montgomery. (Routledge and Sons, Ltd. 10e. 6d. net.) Beyond Hatred, the Democratic Ideal in France and America. By Albert...

As interest in birds grows new subtleties of observation come into' favour. The French are content as a rule to describe small birds as " moineaux " or " fauvettes," and for the...

Aucassin and Nicolette. A Translation by Laurence Housman. (Chatto and Windus. Be.) IT is more than twenty years since Mr. Laurence Housman gave us this version of Aucassin and...

to that strange political adventurer in their two substantial volumes, which, if somewhat flippant in style, are based on considerable research and contain some new letters and...

WHEN the late Professor Burney was collecting - material for his Aramaic Origin of the Fourth Gospel, the frequent resem. 131lance of all four gospels in style to the books of...

popular rhymes of Italy, in their various dialects, and she has made a brave attempt at translating them all. Some are mere catches and trifles ; others (especially among the...

The Letters of Anton Pavlovitch Tchekhov to Olga Le ona rd ovna %nipper. Translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett. (Chatto and Windus. 15e. net.) ANYTHING less like the...

three reprinted for the first time. Dekker was a journalist. Only those who worship the Elizabethans indiscriminately could find anything of greatness in him that was more than...

W. Flinders Petrie. (Williams and Norgate. 25s. net.) THESE treasuries of information upon racial customs and beliefs are invaluable to the student of history, sociology, or...

net.) TRANSLATORS still argue viciously over the metre into which Homer would be best translated. Sir William Marris's choice of blank verse as his medium seems to us the most...

MAKING FUN OF SPIRITS Summer. By Ladislas Reymont. (Jerrold. 7s. 6d.) FATHER KNox's novel, Other Eyes than Ours, is frankly a satire, and pursues its purpose as undeviatingly...

congratulated on publishing Lord Apsley's Why and flow I went to Australia as a Settler (price 3d.), and the author is to be doubly congratulated on the scheme he so...

7s. 6d. net.)-It is always interesting when the child of a distinguished man follows in his or her father's footsteps, and in this feminist age the pronoun seems as fre- q...

middle-class family durin g the years 1914-1924. Sir Edgar Renner, his wife, Zina a grown-up daughter, her fianc5 John an eighteen year old son, and Wendy a precocious child of...

7s. fid. net.)-Although this is a country story, it can by no means be called idyllic. The first chapter opens with the heroine, Nancy Fallow, runnin g with a shiver through a...

TEE GOLD Rusa.-Charlie Chaplin in a masterpiece. It would be a tragedy not to see this. TIME THE COMEDIAN.-When American producers try to be " artistic " . . THE BLACK PIRATE...

BIOGRAPHY.-The Diary of a Country Parson. By James Woodforde. Volume II. (Oxford University Press. 12s. 6d.).-Verdi. By Franz Werfel. Translated by Helen Jessiman. (Jarrolds....

BANKING PROFITS AND BANK SHARES i- BY ARTHUR W. KIDDY.: IN our special 'Banking Supplement accompanying the present issue, an itterupt has been made to show the connexion'...

As with the banks, so with the railways, it is striking to note the increasing interest of the public in the annual meetings. Nor , is the development surprising. Just as in...

The public is becoming so accustomed to fresh records in the matter of the Prudential Assurance Company that the latest annual Report seems to have been received almost as a...

I was able to congratulate Selfridge & Co. last week upon the general excellence of the Annual Report and also upon the commendable manner in which it was presented, the share-...

In the case of the Southern Railway, the chairman Brigadier- General the Hon. Everard Baring, was able to give a good account of progress on the part of the company, especially...

HESITATING MARKETS. There has been little in external influences to help the Stock Markets during the past week or two, and it says much for their fairly sound technical...

Not the least interesting point made by Sir George Lawson Johnstone at the recent meeting of Bovril Limited was his .reference to the heavy charges of local transport as...

At the meeting of the Underground group, Lord Ashfield once more made a very forceful statement of the great services rendered by the group in the matter of passenger transit in...

and 94 Fetter Lane, E. 4, and Published by Tim SPECTATOR, LTD., at their Offices, No. 13 York Street, Covent Garden, London,'W.C. 2. Saturday, March 6, 1926.

FINANCIAL SUPPLEMENT BANKING AND INSURANCE No. 5097.1 WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1926.

THE ordinary observer may be excused if he finds in the banking results for 1925 a good deal that is perplexing. In common parlance, it has been a year of industrial depression...

LONDON : MARCH 6th, 1926.

VARYING CONDITIONS WHAT I have said concerning the connexion between the fall in investments and the decline in deposits does not, however, entirely explain the interesting and,...

By WIT T.Tam F. SPALDING, Author of Eastern Exchange, Currency and Finance, &c., &c. THE man who elects to follow the profession of banking in the Far East chooses, if not an...

has not been possible to include in the Supplement the article dealing more directly with banking profits and bank shares, but it will be found on another page of the current...

BY GEORGE M. WYATT. IN the first instance it will be of interest to examine as closely . as possible the total expenditure on_Life Assurance in the United Kingdom, as compared...