7 JULY 1939

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• • • • • • • • ,• • . • : : INDEX FROM JULY' 7t h ' TO' 1:5ECEMBat 29th, 1939, INCLUSIVE. NEWS OF THE WEEK t IR Raids on Britain .. 531 . I Afforestation .. • • • 239 America...

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NEWS OF THE WEEK

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T HE Anglo-Franco-Soviet discussions of the proposed pact of alliance were resumed in Moscow at the week-end ; but it is still impossible to predict a speedy conclusion to the...

Russia and the West The new difficulties that have arisen

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are surprising. In return for the guarantee of the Baltic States, Great Britain appears to have asked for a Russian guarantee of Holland and Switzerland ; Russia is unwilling to...

Danzig Danzig, under the control of the Senate, continues to

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live up to its role as the well dramatised danger point of Europe. Guns, machine guns, and tanks continue to be imported by sea or over the East Prussian frontier. Men are still...

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The South Tirol Occasionally Herr Hitler seizes an opportunity to

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show that, after all, he is capable of keeping his word ; the South Tirol has offered him one. Herr Hitler has repeatedly stated that the Italo-German frontier is inviolable ;...

Bulgaria's Claims The Bulgarian Prime Minister, M. Kiosseivanoff, accom- panied

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by a staff of Foreign Office officials, arrived on Wednesday in Berlin, where he will meet with every temp- tation to throw in his lot with the Axis and thus secure early...

The American Embargo on Arms President Roosevelt's Neutrality Bill has

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suffered drastic amendment in the House of Representatives and has now to come before the Senate. In its original form it provided that the embargo on arms, munitions and...

Tientsin and Tokyo The Anglo-Japanese discussions of the Tientsin dispute,

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which were to have opened at Tokyo on Thursday, have now been postponed because the arrival of Japan's military representatives from Tientsin has been delayed. Already the...

Reserves of Food and Materials A pamphlet published by the

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Air Raid Defence League on " Food in War Time " is a valuable reminder of our dependence on imported food and the urgent necessity of accumulating reserves on a large scale....

Labour Broadcast to the German People There are some who

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hold the view that since we have protested against the German and Italian use of wireless for stirring up trouble in Palestine and elsewhere we should not ourselves broadcast...

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The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: Will Mr.

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Churchill be invited to join the Cabinet? On the whole M.P.s are less sanguine than the political correspondents of the London dailies. If Mr. Chamberlain were disposed to...

In recent weeks there has been a noticeable increase in

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the number of questions to the Colonial Secretary. Several Members have become alarmed at the encroachments on the liberty of the subject in various parts of the Colonial...

The Bressey Report and the conclusions of the House of

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Lords Select Committee on Road Accidents formed the principal stock-in-trade of those who took part in Wednesday's debate on the Ministry of Transport vote. Miss Megan Lloyd...

Tuesday was given over to the annual debate on the

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work of the Department of Health for Scotland. Scottish Members frequently complain of the inadequate time and attention devoted by Parliament to Scottish affairs. But they show...

The Thetis ' Inquiry Though it is impossible to forecast

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the future course of the ' Thetis ' inquiry, there are several points which emerge from the evidence given by Captain Oram and Lieutenant Woods which suggest the topics on which...

Unity of Command in France Lord Gort's contemplated visit to

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Paris, coupled with Mr. Hore-Belisha's recent conversations there with General Gamelin and others, show how close • at the moment is Franco-British military co-operation. The...

The Criminal Justice Bill The postponement of the final stages

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of the Criminal Justice Bill until after the Summer Recess is a matter of the greatest regret. If the delay is due, as it may well be, solely to time-table considerations and...

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HOW HITLER CAN BE CONVINCED

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T HE questions that before all others dominate the European situation at the moment are : What are Herr Hitler's intentions in regard to Danzig? and Are our intentions...

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EMPLOYMENT AND ARMS

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T HE latest unemployment returns show with the greatest clarity the effects of the Government's rearmament programme. In the current year over £600,000,000 is to be spent on...

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I am a very infrequent listener to the B.B.C. news,

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but such criticism as I have seen of their supposedly alarmist tendencies has always appeared to emanate from the same people who are regularly taken aback by each European...

Colonel Peake, otherwise Peake Pasha, has retired to England after

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thirty years of magnificent public service. In 1922 he raised the Arab Legion, which he has commanded ever since. In 1923 he became Director of Public Security in Transjordan,...

At Oxford station on Saturday morning at least a hundred

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passengers got off the train. They surged along the platform towards a huge notice " Way Out," to find a locked gate. They surged back to a point many yards away, where a single...

The National Service rally in Hyde Park is represented In

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the German Press as an act of aggression, occurring in an interval between paroxysms of abject panic. Whichever it was, aggression or panic, the participants would have been...

" Unlike most pretty girls," writes Mr. Godfrey Winn, "

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I never caught her once during the whole week-end looking at herself in a mirror. Does that strike a bell in your mind?" Not immediately, I must admit, having never been a...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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O NE hesitates to disagree with Mr. Harold Nicolson on any aspect of foreign affairs ; but it is really very hard to understand his comparison of Nazism to " a hoop which...

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GAPS IN CIVILIAN DEFENCE

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By SIR RALPH WEDGWOOD [Sir Ralph is Chairman of the Formation Committee, Air Raid Defence League] N INE months have passed since this country awoke from its dream of security,...

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THE CLAIMS ON RUMANIA

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By A. R. LINDT II UMPTY-DUMPTY'S face, the perfect circle, is strate- gically the ideal shape for any country. By the Peace Treaties Rumania acquired almost exactly this...

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WHAT IS EMPIRE ?

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By SIR WYNDHAM DEEDES A SUCCESSION of crises has limited our vision. We have become so dominated by the thought of immediate danger that we are losing sight of the distant...

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A THIRD TERM FOR MR. ROOSEVELT ?

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By ERWIN D. CANHAM Washington. NV HETHER or not President Roosevelt opens and con- ducts a campaign for a third term in. the White House is by no means an exclusively domestic...

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FORD MADOX FORD

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By GRAHAM GREENE T HE death last week of Mr. Ford Madox Ford was like the obscure death of a veteran—an impossibly Napoleonic veteran, say, whose immense memory spanned the...

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DEADLOCK

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By BASIL COLLIER M R. PROTEUS was an old man with a long white beard and a pink check flannel shirt. At the age of seventy-five he fell into an error he had hitherto avoided:...

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Herr von Ribbentrop, during his unfortunate tenure of the post

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of Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, proved un- able to see the wood because of the trees; today he fails to believe in our armour because of the chinks. He is well aware...

A hush of preparedness is descending upon this island, yet

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from the hedgerows still come some chirps of appease- ment. I received this morning a letter dated from the Langham Hotel and signed " Mother of a Wykehamist." In this letter I...

PEOPLE AND THINGS

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By HAROLD NICOLSON T H ERE occurs in Man Kampf a passage which every British statesman should learn by heart It has often been quoted, but it deserves to be quoted again. It...

Our national tendency towards opportunism, which is thereby exploited, finds

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expression in a phrase, which fre- quently occurs in speeches and State documents: " Let us judge each case as it arises and on its merits." We like that phrase since it...

I doubt whether the British public will be deluded by

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any such stratagems. They remember that, at the time of Munich, they were similarly assured that self-determina- tion was the only principle which the Fiihrer desired to invoke....

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Commonwealth and Foreign

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THE CASE FOR NATIVE EDUCATION By SIR DONALD CAMERON EVEN in circles keenly interested in colonial affairs it is not generally realised that education is the one branch of...

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THE CINEMA

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" Boy Slaves." At the Rialto—" Captain Fury." At the London Pavilion THE summer doldrums are here at last, and the reviewer is faced with such dubious high-spots of...

STAGE AND SCREEN

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THE THEATRE The Lantern. Wiener Kleinkunstbane in London. WE should be grateful to Herr Hitler for the Lantern: Austria's loss has been our gain. The Lantern is the new Little...

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ART

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Cezanne THE centenary of Ckzanne's birth has produced the expected crop of documentation for all periods of the master's activity. First came the pure enjoyment of the famous...

DEUTSCHLAND - FRANKREICH

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[Von einem deutschen Korrespondenten] EINMAL, fast klingt es wie ein Marchen, waren Deutschland und Frankreich eine Einheit. Das war aber vor elfhundert Jahren. Der...

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Farmers' Week

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Whatever may be said of British fanning, the Royal Show is and always has been the best of its sort the world over. The Centenary celebrated in the Windsor Great Park through-...

In the Garden

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A low rough bank in.a garden too spacious for much close cultivation is very lovely at this date with a commixture of dwarf Martagon lilies and yellow Loosestrife. This Loose-...

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The Flower Cult The continuous increase of the flower show at the Royal has gone step by step with the growth of flower-farming and glasshouse farming in England. One single...

There are over four thousand animals of the highest quality

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in the Great Park, but it would be easy to spend a day within the grounds and be scarcely aware of the presence of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, though horses are much more in...

Photographers make hundreds of birds abandon their nests. Now many

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birds desert very readily in the early stages, but are bold as brass in the later. In general, photographers prefer the photography of the young. Eggs make a poor picture as a...

A number of bird-lovers, including that prince of sanctuary- keepers,

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Mr. Jim Vincent, have been raising a lamentation about the destructive fondness of oologists, photographers, and even inquisitive ornithologists. Mr. Vincent, in his bitterness...

COUNTRY LIFE

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A Fruitful Season The country is really a very cheerful place at the moment. The hay crop is very large, whether of grass or clover. The grain crops look singularly strong and...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

THE MILITIAMAN'S START

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Stu,—In an article, " The Militiaman's Start," in your issue of June 23rd, Major B. T. Reynolds refers to the figures for the first 17,865...

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—I have been reading

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with great interest the correspond- ence on "The Gospels Re-read," which appeared in your issue of last week. Perhaps you would allow a modernist Christian to add some words on...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, —In your issue of

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June 30th there appeared a note on Right Training in the Militia, and in this note a paragraph to the effect that instructors in future will not indulge " in the bullying...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

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Sta,—Major Reynolds makes the statement that the figure of 84.5 per cent. of the first 17,865 Militiamen placed in Grade I can be compared with the report of the War-time...

THE GOSPELS RE-READ [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

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Sta,—Where, may I respectfully ask Mr. Joad, do the Gospels speak about " God% eternal punishment of sinners "? The Gospels, re-read, seem to point in another direction. " This...

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THE PURPOSE OF PRCPAGANDA [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

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Sta,—May I, as a journalist who, by education and training, has some knowledge of German mentality, add a short com- ment to the excellent article on " The Purpose of Propaganda...

THE OXFORD GROUP CO., LTD.

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[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sra,—Your journal, and others similar to it, and a large number of daily newspapers have been made aware of the opposition which is being felt...

THE COMRADESHIP OF CONSCRIPTION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

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SIR,—I notice that a number of headmasters and distinguished visitors at recent public school speech days have welcomed conscription, because it will give public school boys a...

GERMAN MENTALITY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—That much-maligned

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diplomat and political scientist, Nicolas Machiavelli (b. 1469), bequeathed to us his thumb- nail Picture of Germany in that momentous Renaissance century which saw the fall of...

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ABRAM'S BOX AND CANCER TREATMENT

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SIR,—In reply to your correspondent, Dr. Abram's apparatus is not in the ordinarily accepted sense of the term an electrical apparatus at all. The eminent medical practioner,...

LORD ALLEN OF HURTWOOD [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

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SIR,—Friends of the late Lord Allen of Hurtwood are anxious to collect material—including personal letters—with the view to the possible publication of a memoir. May I use the...

ENCIRCLEMENT [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—There are certain

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beliefs, demonstrably untrue, in which large numbers of people have unshakable faith. It would appear that to the splendour of the Southern Cross, the beauty of Paris midinettes...

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-It would

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be interesting to read the comments of Sir Chartres Biron on the following extract from Ian Colvin's Life of Lord Carson. It deals with an outburst in Northern Ireland of...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sta,—Those whe were actually

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in statu pupillari at Oxford in 1921 are perhaps the best judges of Mr. F. Buchman's pretence that Oxford was the centre of the religious movement launched by his groups in that...

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BOOKS OF THE DAY

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PAGE The Building of a Nation's Health (W. T. Wells)... ... 22 The Needs of Youth (The Headmaster of Stowe)... ... 23 National Reserves (Honor Croome) ... 24 Poems and Dramas...

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THE YOUTH OF ENGLAND

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IN his preface to this book Lord Portal says " King George's Jubilee Trust was founded to advance the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of the younger generation." At the...

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THOUGHT-BOUND

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A FACE all in oval lines, with features of delicate refinement, the eyes arched to a grave surprise ; the whole presented by an immense ruff, as if on a plate, and set off below...

TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

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National Reserves for Safety and Stabilisation. By L. St. Clare Grondona. (Allen and Unwin. 7s. 6d.) AMONG the many anxieties overhanging the economic policy of this country...

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CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY

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FEW lines of scientific inquiry have been pursued with more passionate ignorance, more obdurate inattention, than that which concerns itself with the criminal and his ways. The...

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THE DUKES OF PORTLAND

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A History of Welbeck Abbey and Its Owners. Vol. 2. 1755-1879. By A. S. Turberville. (Faber and Faber. 25s.) IN a previous volume Professor Turberville traced the fortunes of...

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FICTION

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By KATE, O'BRIEN dventures of a Young Man. By John Dos Passos. (Constable. Sr. 6d.) hilct of Misfortune. By C. Day Lewis. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) easonett Timber. By Dorothy...

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For Canon Lloyd the golden middle age is the twelfth

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century, and his new book (Longmans, ros. 6d.) is concerned with its social rather than its political life. After a brief note on the revival begun by Charles the Great, he...

CURRENT LITERATURE

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The " Splinter Fleet " was the name given to the little U.S. submarine chasers that did such effective work in the Mediter- ranean during the later stages of the last War. The...

THE JULY MAGAZINES

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THE Nineteenth Century opens with Mr. Harold Nicolson putting the question that is at the back of all our minds- " Is War Inevitable? " He would qualify its inevitability with...

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MOTORING

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The H.P. Tax The refusal of Sir John Simon to reconsider the new taxes cannot have been unexpected even by the most sanguine of optimists. When all is said and done the extra...

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FINANCE AND

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INVESTMENT ONCE again the stock markets have run into bad political weather and once again they have demonstrated their resisting power. Whenever tension becomes really acute...

GENERAL ELECTRIC PROSPECTS

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It is good to find instances of big British industrial under- takings combining an increasing contribution to the nation's defence needs with steady progress in the export...

* * * * NEW ZEALAND'S PROBLEMS

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If any doubt remained about the seriousness and urgency of New Zealand's financing problems it must surely have been dispelled by Lord Balfour of Burleigh's frank review at the...

UNIT TRUST DEVELOPMENTS

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Regrettable as it undoubtedly is that the financial position of the British General Fixed Trust has become impaired, there is no cause here for any worrying on the part of unit...

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COMPANY MEETING

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GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., LTD. FURTHER RECORDS ACHIEVED THE annual general meeting of the General Electric Company, Limited, was held on June 29th at Magnet House, Kingsway, W.C....

COMPANY MEETING

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THE METAL BOX COMPANY, LTD. SATISFACTORY RESULTS IN A DIFFICULT YEAR INCREASE OF CAPITAL THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT THE annual general meeting of the Metal Box Company, Limited,...

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OIL CONSUMPTION TRENDS

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Mr. H. C. R. Williamson, the chairman of Lobitos Oilfields, feels no doubt that the trend of oil consumption must in the long run be upwards, notwithstanding the check to the...

ANGLO-DUTCH RESULTS

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Rubber companies are now showing results which reflect the low prices and severe restriction of last year. Profits and dividends in general are sharply down. Anglo-Dutch...

FINANCIAL NOTES

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TOWARDS FULL EMPLOYMENT AT just under 1,300,000 the total numbers of the British un- employed are now back to roughly where they stood at the peak of the 1937 boom. The fall...

Venturers' Corner The speculative investor who does not mind holding

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shares in small companies might do worse than consider the merits of Manganese Bronze and Brass ordinary is. shares at today's price of 8s. This old-established under- taking...

METAL BOX COMPANY The Metal Box Company, as manufacturers of

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the con- tainer which the canning industry uses, has an important role to play in the economics of national defence. Mr. F. N. Hepworth, the chairman, showed at the meeting last...

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LOBITOS OILFIELDS

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INCREASED NET PROFIT THE thirty-first annual ordinary general meeting of Lobitos Oil- fields, Limited, was held on July 4th at Winchester House, London, E.C. Mr. H. C. R....

COMPANY MEETINGS

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NATIONAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, LIMITED THE 67th ordinary general meeting of the National Bank of New Zealand, Limited, was held on June 29th at 8 Moorgate, London, E.C. The Rt....

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FINAL A.W. PAYMENT

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The liquidator's report on the A.W. Second Stock Trust is the final chapter in the history of the two A.W. Trusts. The Second Stock Trust is being closed with a distribution of...

SANGERS' GOOD PROGRESS

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Mr. Frederick John Smith, the chairman of Sangers, the manufacturing chemists, told the shareholders that he was not sorry that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had refrained...

RICHARDSONS WESTGARTH DIVIDEND

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It is pleasing to see Richardsons Westgarth, the marine engineers of the North East coast, resuming ordinary divi- dends. The payment of 71 per cent. now announced is the first...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 17 SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner

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of Crossword No. 17 is Miss A. Chester Terrace, S.W. r. V. Pike, 56

" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD SECOND SERIES-No. 18

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[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 marked...