TOPICS OF THE DAY. A ERI L Adventurer, an .. 560 Afghanistan, the King of.. 145 .Afghanistan, King of, Visit of .. 406 Agriculture, Help for 705 Air Age, the .. .. 405 America...

and 99 Fetter Lane, E.C. 4, and Published by THE SPECTATOR, LTD., at their Offices, No. 13 York Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. 2.-Saturday, July 21, 1928.

Congress and of thc group of employers headed by Sir Alfred Mond to open their Conference as soon as possible is an excellent pledge of earnestness. The first Meeting is fixed...

Then the real work will begin and quick results must not be expected. Very delicate work requires very delicate consideration. Presumably all those employers who have allied...

Personally we are convinced that a complete organ- izatiOn of All-in Arbitration Treaties is the first necessary .step. . Will America help ? We have no right whatever to say on...

In a leading article we have discussed the difficulties of the American proposal as they appear to France. It would be the worst possible. service to peace to pretend that...

T HE proposals for_ perpetual peace which the United States Government : has . _ addreSSed _directly to France and indirectly _to. the whole - world deserve all the attention...

London, W.C. 2.—A Subscription to the SPECTATOR costs Thirty Shillings per annum, including postage, to any part of the world. " The SPECTATOR is" registered as a Newspaper. The...

come at an unfortunate moment, as the Pan-American Conference is about to meet at Havana. This Conference is being taken very seriously by the State Department at Washington....

very useful thing in -addressing a message to India about the Commission. He explains that he has nothing to regret in having advised the Labour Party to accept the scheme' of a...

the engineering industry. It is significant that the engineering employers are said to be less sympathetic towards Sir Alfred Mond than the employers of any other industry.. It...

Mr. MacDonald though he is being vehemently accused of treachery by the Independent Labour Party. Mean- while, though there is still much talk about boycotting the Simon...

State, has formally denied the ridiculous rumour that the British Navy has raised the elevation of guns contrary to the Washington agreement. The rumour, of course, had no...

were marching with two hundred Nicaraguan National Guards when they were ambushed in a narrow defile. Englishmen whose memories go back to the Boer War will understand exactly...

naturally will have nothing to say to the plan of boycott. They have much to gain and nothing to lose from the Simon Commission. A definite split has also been revealed in the...

the Parliainentary Commission to India will be devoted to a , general study of the situation. It may yet be possible to convince Indians that such a mixed Commission as they...

came into force.. Money.-lenders are now forbidden to post or distribute circulars and they must no longer pass under fancy names. They generally chose names of distinction. If...

Sierra Leone came into force. Lest there should still be misunderstanding, it is perhaps Worth while to repeat that slavery was never recognized in the Colony of Sierra Leone ;...

issued their Report. These Acts were part of the general working of the Defence of the Realm Acts (generally known as D.O.R.A.), and they were, of course, a necessary...

of rain was expected to cause serious floods, and the expectation has been more than fulfilled. Probably the floods are the worst ever known. Many towns, particularly, of...

be extended for newspapers, for meals to be consumed on the premises, and for newly cooked provisions to be consumed off the premises. A good , side of D.O.R.A. was the...

the Railways Act of 1921 for inaugurating the second of the two stages described in the Act. The first stage was the mere concentration of the railway companies into four...

Councillors, five Baronets and only about thirty Knights. Colonel George Gibbs, one of the new Peers, as a Government Whip and Treasurer of the Household, has been an...

on April 21st, 1927. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wedneaday 1011 ; on Wednesday week 1011; a year ago 100i. Funding - Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 881; on Wednesday week...

T HE hen which has hatched out ducks' eggs has a bewildering moment when her brood swim off upon the pond beyond her reach and indifferent to her complaints. She is a rightful...

WILL BE READY FOR DELIVERY ON JANUARY 21sT, 1928. Readers resident outside the British Isles and Libraries Overseas are asked to inform the SPECTATOR Office in advance as to...

T 4c road to Disarmament requires to be paved, not with those good intentions which proverbially lead elsewhere, but with the good solid cobble stones of Security. When there is...

O VER nine years have passed since the Armistice was signed and there are still many thousands of troops, French, Belgian and British, in the occupied areas of the Rhineland....

of Slavery HULLH ULL, the " City of Wilberforce," very fittingly , a great public demonstration recently to support the almost world-wide effort now being made to abolish "...

W E are told that advertisement is more artistic than it used to be. That may well be true, but it is also more extensive, and the poster is its most obtrusive form. The poster...

to notify The SPECTATOR O ce BEFORE MIDDAY ON MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt number should be quoted.

The Editor has selected the following article as the winning entry for the " New Year Resolution " Competition. " Build thee more stately mansions, 0 my soul." T HE temptation...

IT is difficult in this age of science to foresee how high in the world of literature Thomas Carlyle will be placed by future generations. He was both an idealist and a realist....

W INTER, amid the moors and coombes of the West Country, is a time of happy surprises ; for, thanks to the mutabilities of our inconstant climate, it is the unexpected which...

Period Piece Lowo ago, when Good Queen Anne Sheltered Europe 'Neath her Fan, A modish Fury Swept St. James For India stuffs with Prodigious Names. There were Cherriderrvs and...

A LETTER FROM LIMA : PERU. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Peru, where Signor Mussolini's Gospel of Work would have little acceptance, enjoys in common with most Latin:...

greater. One scientist may make an invention to-morrow that will shatter the health of millions, a single brain may destroy hundreds of thousands of lives. Weapons more terrible...

by security ? •.If a -nation is to be physically secure against attack, it must be strong enough to defeat possible combinations of its rivals. There cannot, in truth, be...

for disarmament. That is the conclusion I came to, after many talks at Geneva with those well qualified to know. None of these conversations, it is almost needless to say, in...

The Prospects of Disarmament UNDOUBTEDLY the thorniest question before the League is that of disarmament. Some go so far as to say that the prestige of the League is bound up...

destruction cannot agree amongst themselves as to the best means -of slaughtering us. We have the tank advocates, the poison-gas professors, the bluff and breezy school (slow as...

ready—especially if the United States and Russia arc repre- sented at the long-expected Conference, as they well may be—for a small limitation of armaments. After that the idea...

as thepiice of pe - 4m. France will have to place more trust in her numerous guaranteps and less on armed force. Germany must suffer under restrictions which only patience can...

impression that we may have to wait for 1929 to see the first successful Disarmament Conference. Very likely it will conclude an unambitious Limitation Treaty, rendering com-...

Only elder people remember other days when traffic was suspended, and roads quite closed ; and even the oldest cannot quite parallel out of their widest memories some scenes of...

FENS IN FROST. Is it because bearing frosts have been rare in this generation that English people are so ignorant of the charm of the Fen country in winter ? Once you have...

of Hereward the Wake, is better known than the Huntingdon- shire Fens, and may be called the H.Q. of Fen skating, because of the frequency of spacious floods. But even a...

Once again " the Christmas rose " has deceived the critics. One of them asks why, if flowers are so much desired and so dear at Christmas, this " rose " is not more freely...

on country life—some of it is quoted in that "best seller," G. M. Trevelyan's History of England ; and I thought I had dis- covered in it an anticipation of Mr. Hosier's...

frequency of poaching, and some of them emphasize the small- ness of the penalties for those caught red-handed. The sporting magistrate perhaps has a certain fellow-feeling for...

No one has skated who has not used skates, on the model of ski as a mode of motion, as a method of travelling pleas- antly from place to place. The dykes are as rectangular and...

Is it possible that successions of mild winters have altered the habits of some of the birds ? One of the more salient memories of winters of a generation ago is the great...

SIR,--In your notes in the Spectator this week you comment with apparent satisfaction on the fact that we are now within measurable distance of every vehicle being compelled to...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Owing to the holidays I have only just seen your issue of December 17th. That you should wish to elicit reasoned opinions on the Carlisle...

SPECTATOR.] Sta,—A few reminiscences of the great snowstorm in Devon of January, 1881, may be of interest at the moment. The snow began one Tuesday night early in January. We,...

A HARD WINTER FORETOLD {To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—On May 16th an old man, a pensioner of my firm, Said to me, " We are going to have a very hard winter." I said, "...

December 24th,headed "Parlia- ment and the Prayer Book," is frankly a disappointment_ We Church-members and Church-lovers are all grieved at what has happened and the aged...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin, 7 -11'hik the venerable Primate wisely counsels moderation in word and act, surely the letter of " W." in the Spectator for December 24th...

after reading the report of the Prayer Book debates in the Upper and Lower Houses, must have felt it to be a great pity that there were no clergy in the Commons to speak upon...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, May I again intrude on this subject ? I do not think that any beneficent purpose would be served by continuing the discussion on the...

December 24th you print a leading article on'Parliament and the Prayer Book. You advocate as a solution of the present difficulty that the Church Assembly should re-enact the...

than one account of the Prayer Book discussion in the House of Commons, and also very many criticisms upon it in various papers, including your own leader in the issue of...

Congress address was noteworthy in that Mr. Coolidge tried to advocate opposing ideals. His tribute to the cause of world peace, and his bestowal of America's blessing upon all...

burning question of naval parity between America and Great Britain, so much bad feeling has been engendered, so many false conclusions have been drawn, so much has the issue...

S PECTATOR.] PECTATOR.] SIR,—With reference to Captain Townroe's excellent article in your last issue, on the Kensington Housing Trust, may I add a word as to the object we had...

to weary you with letters on the subject of British-American relations, but I would like to add a few points to reinforce my previous letter. The Americans were co-guarantors...

the old records Fowey is spelt Foy. It is an example of words, not a few, which have changed their spelling but not their pronunciation. Launceston is another. In the old deeds...

Mr. Lionel James, may I draw attention to four points overlooked by him :— (1) His claim, that foxes owe their continued existence to the sport, is in amusing conflict with that...

[To the Editor of the SPEc-r.vron.] Sin,— Here are two little-known epitaphs :— Here lies poor Tom Parr. What, old Tom ? No, young Tom. Ah. To the Memory of an Honest...

Sin,—Knowing so well your sympathy for those who want work, and cannot find it through no fault of their own, I would ask you to put before your readers an appeal for help from...

the SPECTATOR.]• • •• SIR,—There has been a generous response to my appeal for stamps. May I, through the Spectator, thank the senders, so many of whom have remained anonymous ?...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" A Bookseller's " paper in , a recent issue of . the Spectator reminds me that a few years ago, in a well-known bookshop-library in...

Sibley, says that it should not " pass the wit of modern man to organize a clean sweep [of foxes] by systematic shooting and netting." Simi- larly, it would doubtless' be...

an exquisite tribute to the beauty of one of the English counties as Berkshire Vale (Blackwell, 15s.), by Mr. Wilfred Howe-Nurse and Mr. Cecil Aldin. The book owes its...

the Savings Bank of Airdrie have now reached over £3,500,000. The story of this bank is told in an intimate and pleasant way by Mr. James Knox in The Triumph 'of Thrift. (Baird...

Diary of Thomas de Quincey, published by Noel Douglas, was given as 15s. Od. It should have been £1 ls. Od.

really representative of the songs - they sing in Chelsea—we have no idea whether it is or not—then Chelsea must com- mand our admiration. Here are twenty excellent old songs,...

lovers and fishermen who can secure one or both of its delicious reprints of William Lawson's A New Orchard and Garden (12s. 6d.) and Gervase Markham's The Pleasures of Princes...

revelation of what progress is being made in publishing in Sydney. The beautiful illustrations of the scenic and human loveliness in Australia, the society articles, the Copious...

Guides, Philosophers and Friends whose charac , ters are studied in a kindly and thoughtful book by Dr. C. F. Thwing, the well-known President Emeritus of Western Reserve...

us the first number of a supplement of the Textil - Zeitung, which has been distributed to 50,000 readers all over Central Europe with the object of .promoting co-operation with...

THAT very wise book, Mr. Edwin Smith's Golden Stool, insists on a previous study of anthropology for any white administrator who is set over a non-European people. The...

Indian Questions 1. Which are the three chief religions of India ? 2. Which, and how large, is the largest Native State ? 3. What causes plague ? 4. Which large province of...

COMPETITORS will be interested to hear that there have been an unusual number of entries for the Short Story Competition. We hope to publish the winning story in our issue of...

Portrait of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. By Iris Barry. (Ernest Bann. 158.) " BUT you have dared to have wit joined to beauty," wrote Edward Montagu to Lady Mary Pierrepont in the...

Five Centuries of Religion. By C. C. Coulton, Vol. II. Tho AT a moment in which many view our own ecclesiastical situation with peculiar discouragement, the second instalment of...

The Beginnings of Organised Air Power. By J. M. Spaight. Samuel Hoare. (Longmans, Green. tis. 6d.) All the World's Aircraft. 42s.) We --Pilot and Plane. 7s. 6d.) AT a time...

A sitnv of Robert Louis Stevenson by Gilbert Keith Ches- terton kindles a bright anticipation in the mind. For the champion of the Romantics—of the Fantastics even—should have...

Two months ago the Nineteenth Century published an article entitled " The Vatican, France, and L'Action Fran- caise," by Mr. W. W. Longford. Between the writer of the article...

JOHN MARSUALL, a factor of the East India Company, who made the " Notes and Observations in Bengal," which are the matter of this volume, in the years between 1668 and 1672, and...

Incompatible Novels November Night. By the Author of " The House Made with Hands." (Arrowsmith. 7s. 6d.) Benn. 7s. 6d.) OF these five novels only one is worthy of...

. :HENRY ALKEN. By Walter Shaw Sparrow. The first volume of the series " The Sport of Our Fathers." With an introduction by Sir Theodore Cook. (Williams and Norgate. 21s.). 7...

By Sir Baldwin Spencer and the late F. .1. Gillen. (Mac- millan. 2 vols. 36s.)—Working among the aborigines of Central Australia a generation ago, Messrs. Spencer and Gillen...

an Introduction by T. H. Darlow. (Hodder and Stoughton. 10s. 6d.)-The late John David McClure died five years ago, but his memory is still green, and the uncom- monly readable...

Press. 84s.)-Much work has been done of late on the numerous prehistoric sites in Italy, and the characteristics of the various primitive peoples which Rome was afterwards to...

Coach Work for 1928 [By OUR MOTORING CORRESPONDENT.] Moronism is entering upon several new phases, and it will not be long before the movement expands rapidly in Europe, in...

Kelly's Post Office London Directory with County Suburbs, 1928. (Kelly's Directories. 55s.)-Debrett's Peerage, Baron- etage, Knightage and Companionage, 1928. Edited by Arthur...

REFLECTIONS ON NEW BUSINESS. WITH laudable-.promptness, a - number of Life Offices have already published the amount of the new business which they transacted last year. During...

Outlook for the New Year IF I were to give in a short paragraph the views hastily expressed at the end of 1927 concerning the prospects for 1928, I might say that, in the...

If evidence were required as to the extent of financial activities in the past year it is certainly furnished in the annual statistics of the clearin g of cheques through the...

At first si g ht the Revenue Returns for the first nine months of the current year, which were issued on December 31st, are rather alarming, the statement showin g a deficit up...

GOVERNMENT LOAN SUCCESS. • rin: Government can be congratulated upon the immediate success which attended the cash portion of its new issue of 5 per cent. Treasury Bonds of...