The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 4

4 THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6. 1949 SOME CHRISTMAS BOOKS For Grown-XTps "CURRENCY RACKET IN DIAMONDS" If Stopped the Country Will Lose 15 Million Dollars a Year Ex-Diamond Controller certainties such as Sir Kenneth Clark's there appear to be any doubt hi Sir Charles Hambro mind about the legality of the transaction. Mr. G. D.

Roberts? It is -vour ense. ai I THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PO CHTI-I ARTHUR WALEY. The first full-length biography of -Chinese poet to appear in English, and the first study of lite and politics in gthcaioiiy China. The book includes 100 newly translated poems. i8j.

net ICELAND YESTERDAY AND TODAY HORACE LEAF, author of Under Southern Cross, gives a favoured eyewitness's account of Iceland as it is today in the light of its colourful and romantic past, Witb photographs. 15. net SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR THE COLONIES W. R. CROCKER, author of On Governing Colonies etc.

A fair, ob-jective discussion of a question of the greatest importance to Britain by an acknowledged expert on Colonial affairs. 12. 6 J. net LANCASHIRE TALES DORA. M.

BROOME. In these broadcast stories of Lancashire life, we meet a number of lovable and unforgettable characters, full of the humour and good sense that is typical of their county. 7. 6d. tut UNDER THE BARBER'S POLE T.

THOMPSON, author ofLantasbireLurt etc More stories from Mr. Thompson, full of the shrewd humour and sanity, we have come to expect from him. They have also been broadcast, 6s. net JOIN OUR CHRISTMAS CLUB CHARLES GREAVES, contributor to the Manchester Guardian, has written for his first' novel a realistic, picaresque tale of Lncashire family life. 10s.

6d. net GEORGE ALLEN UNWIN LTD Everybody's Boswell 54 full-page illustrations bv E. H. 8HEPABD Being the Life of Samuel Johnson abridged from the complete text and from "The Tour to the Hebrides." One of the year's most charming gift-books. There could be no more delightful illustrated Boswell.

I It is," said the Observer, a book to take all hearts and open all purses." 630 paces. 15s. net 1 Colours How We See Them by H. HART RIDGE, F.R.S. The first book to be based on a post-war series of the famous Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

A popular science book on I a superb subject by a scientist of world-wide repute. Profusely illustrated, largely in colour. I5i. net I FOR BOYS AND GIRLS The Model Shipbuilder bv Commanders HUTCHISON and PORTCH Probably the best book yet on building simple working ship models. Complete with plans, diagrams, photographs.

Age 13 up. 12s. 6d. net Voyage of the Indian Brig by WINIFRED HOLMES An exciting sea story, in which three children sail on an adventurous voyage in the Indian Ocean in search of an ancient treasure. Fine illustrations.

Age 10-13. 8s. Gd. net 6. BELL SONS, Not so long ago it was no easy task to set for oneself or a friend that badly wanted book (there always seemed to be plenty of the others but things have changed, and- now the hours may be agreeably frittered away in any bookshop.

Especially at this season is: it pleasant to see so many reprints and translations there are still gaps on the shelves, but they have been much reduced, thanks in large part to those younger publishers who entered the business during or just after the war and have contrived to stick in it. Bioeranhv and autobioaraohv are safe choices if you are seeking something for a inena you Know well, -he frank memoirs of that powerful and' disappointed man Lord Reith, for instance, Into the Wind (Hodder and Stoughton, os.j, nave mucn to teach about ambition the austerer, nobler sort, and something about the forces which may combine to frustrate it. Or J. G. Lock-tart's lile of Cosmo Gordon Lang (Hodder and Stoughton, 25s.) here is the portrait of a complex character, greatly liked and greatly hated.

Your, amoiuous inena may study this also with profit. The ambitions of artists are of a different kind and more delicately balanced, and from the piles on the crowded counters one mav nipu- up The Four Brontes, by L. and E. M. Hanson (Oxford University Press, or Paul Nash's sensitive autobiography Outline (Faber.

There is also Peter Quennell's Ruskin (Collins. i'lvei uuoks nave to De pretty bad to be really tedious and although one may doubt whether Christopher Isherwood's undoubted talent is being employed to best advantage, his account of a six months' iournev in A Condor and the Cows (Methuen, is very far from bad. It has, besides, many excellent photographs by William There is poetry in plenty to be had, and one mav mention pqnpninilv Tsmic MacNelce's Collected Poems. 1925-1948 (Faber, 12s- It is true that MacNeice seldom flies very high but then, even more seldom does he riunep -i "no me lurgia aeptns to send up only bubbles of incoherence. He knows what he wants to do and he does it he is urbane and pleasant, and these are virtues.

Besides, one is endeared hv his honesty in not excluding certain verses which show him at his bathetic worst. There are also Stephen Spender's The Edee Of Seine- (Faber. 7s fir! 1 and Kathleen Raine's The Pythoness (Hamish Hamilton, The Common Asphodel, Dy Kooert uraves ttiamish Hamilton, is a first-rate collection of essays by a poet and critic of sharo and corrective intelligence, and Norman Ault's New Light on Pope (Methuen. 30s.) is the very thing to press on someone who still considers that the romantic attitude is essential to a tjoet of the first rank. There are art books of all sizes, tin to those monsters which will fit no book case, no drawer, and are destined to collect dust or to be stained hv the coffee-cups of unimrjressed euests.

Let us pick a wary patn. However, were are PHAIDON In these expert-ridden days it is perhaps no bad thing, that British art criticism should be relatively unspecial-ised and even amateurish. But it might have been intolerably so if it had not been for the new blood and the tradition of solid learning which it gained as a result of the Nazi persecutions. The Warburg Institute is one example of such- a gain; another is the Phaidon Press. Suitably timed for Christmas, the latter has now issued four books which give a good notion of its Qualities: its intention 'to make art plain and easily accessible its wealth of carefully reproduced illustrations and its relatively low prices the compressed scholarship of its chiefly Central European experts and their skilful inclusion of so much that is relevant.

Ludwig Goldscheider's Ghiberti volume (pp. 153, which has the advantage of being clearly and closely limited, with the Florence Baptistery doors as its main subject, is a model example ot this approach. Besides a short and clear introduction It contains Vasari's life of Ghiberti, the artist's own autobiography (for the first time in English), a full catalogue of his work In the form of notes to the plates, a bibliography, and an index locating the works. Grete Ring's smaller but fatter book on French fifteenth-century painting. A Century of French Painting (pp.

251, is an attempt along the same lines to deal with much more intricate material. Its one disadvantage is that it does not convey to the inexpert that sense of unity which the writer herself feels in fho atihieritr but otherwise it is very well done, relating the painters to their patrons In a closely written introauction THE DUKE OF YORK The Noble Duke of York. By A. H. Burne.

Staples. Pp. 350. 25s. It is a curious fact that the subject of the famous nursery rhyme who was Commander-in-Chief for over thirty years during.the Napoleonic period and whose imposing monument thousands of Londoners pass daily should have had to wait until now for a biographer.

Colonel Burne makes out an impressive case for the historical reassessment of his subject. The tall, handsome, second son of George III, having served a military apprenticeship in Germany during which he had an opportunity of watching Frederick the Great's autumn manoeuvres, was well qualified to command the expeditionary force that was sent to Belgium in 1793, since few of the experienced English generals had enhanced their reputation in America. Within two years the French revolutionary armies had driven the Allies out of the Netherlands it is -the old Dathetic story of allied divisions and divided command, the Duke of York was recalled and, as a sop, made Commander-in-Chief at home. Colonel Burne perhaps scarcely realises the full constitutional significance of this decision: the Cabinet had invaded a cherished sphere of oreroeative. There is a useful chapter on the Duke work at the Horse Guards, the equivalent of the modern War Office.

The author is disposed to give him the credit for the Martello towers and the whole defence arrangements during the invasion crisis ana lor me setting up oi a school for Army cadets, the forerunner of Sandhurst This chapter should have included some reference to the changes the Duke made in War Office regulations cuuucrmuK tne purcnase oi Army commissions, a subject which provided a first-class political scandal in 1809, the Mrs. Clarke affair, which the author discusses in a later chapter. There are some excellent illustrations and maps (a slip has crept into Man IV). The King's advice to his favourite son on his recall is worth repeating: "Keep up your spirits, remember that difficulties are the times that show the energy of character; and as the rest of Europe seems blind to the evils that await the tmprosDerous conclusion of this business, it is mv duty and that of mv country by the greatest exertion to attentat to save Europe and societv tselt" E.H. SIR HARRY BRITTAIN C.M.G., OXu.

UJ. HAPPY P1LQR1MAQE An Empire editor once said If there were a thousand Sir Harry Brittains the world would be a million times better off." 20- The Very Rev, W. R. INGE K.C.V.O.. FJ3 DD.

DIARY OF A DEAN A record of men and affairs in Church and State as interpreted by one of the deepest and shrewdest minds of our age. With 21 Illustrations 21- The Rt. Hon. MARGARET BONDFIELD IXiD. A LIFE'S WORK Miss Bondfield tells her personal story, which ranges widely over many personalities and vicissitudes with its unique pilgrimage from shop assistant to England's first woman Cabinet Minister.

With 26 Illustrations 20- THE MARQUESS of QUEENSBERRY in collaboration with PERCY COLSON OSCAR WILDE and THE BLACK DOUQLAS By far the most important book yet written on the Wilde tragedy, including important and hitherto unpublished letters and other new material. With Frontispiece 20- HUTCHINSONf Largest of Book Publishers FABER BOOKS gift suggestions ANTHONY EDEN Days for Decision An invaluable guide for those in any doubt about the alternative to the present political regime." Evening Newt. 96 MAURICE COLLIS The Grand Peregrination The first biography ot the most extraordinary of all sixteenth-century adventurers. "Pinto was amazing and unique his biography is both pleasurable and of value." Time and Tide. illustrated.

25- MOIRA SHEARER Miss Pigeon Crowle's biography of the famous ballet dancer, star of The Red Shoes, is distinguished by its exclusive photographs. 21- NEIL M. GUNN Highland Pack A truly wonderful book of Highland reminisaences scenery, birds and beasts, crofters, fishermen, set down with intimate knowledge, exact precision, and a poet's sensibility. "Sunday Times. Illustrated by Keith Henderson.

HENRY WILLIAMSON 128 Scribbling Lark "A lark Indeed! Preposterous but the whole crazy gang will endear themselves to animal addicts of all aees." Sunday Times. 76 ROM LANDAU Personalia The well-known author's autobiography through studies of the interesting people who have influenced his development as a writer. "Most readable, entertaining, and wise." Belfast Telegraph. Illustrated. 21- The Art of T.

S. Eliot Bu HELEN GARDNER Felloiu of St. Hilda' College Oxfqrd Miss Gardner's book should take first place among the studies devoted to the work of our greatest living poet." Manchester Guardian. 126 net The People of Great Russia A Study of the Character of the Russian People By GEOFFREY GOKER author of The Americans Recommended by the Book Society 106 net The Story of Jerusalem By JAMES PARKES author of A History of Palestine WITH TZH MAPS Cloth-bound. 26 net in paper-board.

16 net CRESSET PRES! Landscape into Art (Murray, This is a work to extend one's understanding of painting besides (and this is by no means inevitable in books of this sort), the prose is a pleasure. In history there is the first illustrated volume of Trevelyan's English Social History (Longmans, Meaie's tuizaoeinan House of Commons Carre. and Aspinall's Letters of Princess Charlotte (Home and van Thai. Books to rouse intemperate laughter. Here's another knotty problem.

Let us nause to remember tne "runny- docks which we ourselves have received and which have scarcely been glanced at But' he is a curious person who will not derive some pleasure from Osbert Lancaster's brutal treatise Drayneflete Revealed (Murray, 8s There are those, one has heard, who remain ainte unmoved Dy the signt ox ue trains which Emmett polls out oi peculiar "reeions." Let nbt such unfortunates be-presented with Fax Twittering or tinners taut (faber, ius. do. ana 12s. to. respectively).

Novels are also tricky if you are not buyinz them for personal consumption but these, for their various merits ot wit and humour, may be recommended Joyce Carey's A Fearful ley (Michael Joseph, 12s. Love in a Cold Climate, by Nancy Mitford (Hamish Hamilton, as. ecL), and A speu zor urn nones, Dy Eric Linklater (Cane. 9s. 6d.) in which are displayed the disagreements between two gigantic, fantastic totautarians 01 voun? Caledonia.

On a Dark Night, by Anthony West (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 10s. has virtues of anotner variety and it eoes without saying that devotees of Simenon (and how faithful they are!) will fall hungniy upon A Wife at Sea (Routledge, 9s. 6U). un to this noint we nave Been xairiy orderly in our perambulation of the bookshop, looking now in this section, now in that, humming and hawing the while. But system breaks down.

We begin to clutch here, there, and everywhere. We stagger under the weight of a mixter-maxter. What better for someone who should learn how a frame may be clearly set and clearly filled than the novels of Jane Austen (Oxford University Press, in five volumes, 8s. 6d. each).

Charles Dickens and Early Victorian England, by R. J. Cruikshank (Pitman, 20s.) has the most tempting illustrations. Here is J. B.

Priestley's Delight (Heinemann, 10s. 6d.) and there is Highland Pack (Faber, 12s. by Neil Gunn, the best guide through the Gaelic temperament that one can imagine. To the pile add Somerset Maugham's A Writer's Notebook (Heinemann 12s. 6d.) and learn how a writer learned to say exactly what he wanted to say.

And do not forget Ivor Brown's Shakespeare (Collins, 12s. 6d.) or The Origins of Modern Science. 1300-1800, by Herbert Butterfleld (Bell, 10s. 6d.) or The Woman in Fashion, by Doris L. Moore CBatsford, And quick there is just room for Frank Smythe's Mountains in Colour (Farrish, Now, having spent a great deal of money, we may, unsteadily, push our way through to the pavement.

1. H. BOOKS and a useful genealogical table, and giving a full reasoned catalogue, with biographies of all the painters and, as before, an index to the location of the pictures. Both books are the fullest treatments of their subjects available in English, and for their price they are astonishingly authoritative and complete. E.

Gombrich's Story of Art (pp. 462, 21s.) seems to have less clearly defined objectives. Although it covers its vast subject with much information and many suggestive ideas it is never really plain for what sort of audience it is written, and many of the points made are obscured because of the need to cram so many different arguments and so much essential information into one chronologically arranged narrative. The result of this remorseless ploughing ahead is that Oriental art gets very per- functory treatment Indian art none at all and that, in spite of a routine section on architecture at the beginning of each chapter, the concentration is almost entirely on painting to the exclusion of the other arts. Where he writes more freely and generally, as on artistic taste or the artist's social position, the author is so sensible that one regrets his adoption of this rigid scheme of work.

The reprint of The Life of Benvenuto Cellini (pp. xiv. 425, 10s. in J. A.

Symonds's translation, is auite admirable. Mr. Pope-Hennessy has picked illustrations of nearly all Cellini's works and of many relevant contemporary portraits, paintings, and buildings. The background is filled out further by an admirable short introduction and postscript and by notes on the pictures. There is a bibliography and an index, and the whole book is very pleasantly produced in much the same style as the companion Burckhardt.

J. W. IN SOUTH AMERICA The condor is an emblem of the Andes, cows of the Argentine plains. Christopher Isherwood and William Caskey travelled from Colombia along the Andes to Buenos Aires Caskey's photographs and Isherwood's diary together form The Condor and the Cows (Methuen, pp. xvi.

196, with 94 photographs, One puts the photographs first because they seem the more successful product of the journey. For South America tends either to the rhetorical or to the inarticulate the rhetoric dissolves in Isherwood's unassuming prose, and the inarticulate is more readily caught in pictures than in words. Caskey has made here some masterly records of the Andean scene, sombre and sullen, magnificent and shoddy, the enigmatic Indian face louring like a stormcloud over the cold landscape. He is hardly less successful with his portraits of the writers and artists whom they met, and there is a fine series masked dancers of the Diablada, a symbolic dance performed at the carnival of Oruro, in Bolivia. Isherwood's diary is always readable and occasionally penetrating one gets the impression that just as he is getting on terms with a place he is always being plucked out of it by the inexorable Caskey, who has got his pictures and wants to move on.

One would be glad if he could some day return to, say, Peru or Ecuador, give himself time to acclimatise, and let his gift of luminous sympathy play over this queer juxtaposition of cultures. He has a keen eye for fine shades in social relations, and all through this diary one sees glimpses of situations to be explored like country seen from the window of a fast train. p. j. The two volumes of Bo swell's Johnson were the first Everymans in 1906) they are now reprinted (Dent, 4s.

6d. per volume), with an introduction by Mr. S. C. Roberts, who usefully summarises the great Boswell discoveries of the last twenty years, and an enlarged index by Mr.

Alan Dent. (But what a pity that Boswelrs binding should be pink. The colour hardly fits.) An important new Everyman is the substitution for Ladv Charlotte Ruost'a version of The Malnnogion of the fine translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, published last year bv the Golden t-ocKerei tress, incidentally, the tales move out of the children's corner in which they were put in 1906 into that of full scholarship. Mr. Frederick Albert Mathias, of Capetown, war-time Diamond Controller at the Board of Trade, giving evidence at Clerkenwell, yesterday, referred to "a currency racket in the diamond trade," which if stopped would cost the country fifteen million dollars a year.

He was a witness in the. case concerning alleged illegal export of diamonds. When Mrv G. D. Roberts, K.C., prosecuting, said that they would see whether the law was strong enough to stop the racket, Mr.

Mathias declared, "If you do you will lose the country fifteen million dollars a year." The Magistrate (Mr. Frank Powell) Are you saying that if these defendants are convicted the country will lose fifteen million dollars a year? Mr. Mathias That is a conservative estimate. Any attempt to restrict exports from this country will kill the industry here. Vessrs.

I. TTAnrty XiUL, dljunond brokers, of Hltton Q-rdeii; (Horse Frederick Prim, director, na Harry Br soke, minster of the cemnsiiy. mre accuMtf of peine knovioslr coaceracd In tno ImuUmlent evasion of tn lev and restrictions ot the Customs ralitlnf to the exportation of approximately 19.451 carats of rough diamonds estimated, to be worth 75.254 and export! the diamonds, their export btlna prohibited by the Exchsnie Control Act, 1947. A farther summons scslnit Ifesscs. Hfnnlg sUetes that they made and subscribed to falsa Customs declarations Uut the ultimate destlnstkm of Xbc roagn diamonds was Tangier.

Uessrs. Hennlc. A.O. Parser, Inc. of Hew York and London, and tfce International Bank.

Tangier and Tjondon. are summoned to snow cause why tnere should not be a forfeiture of a parcel containing 10,65134 carats of rough diamonds consigned to the International Bank, and seized bj Customs offlcen at a London post office on January 28 on the grounds that the were goods prohibited from being exported snd tiiat they had been brought to the post office to be exported. There are similar forfeiture jnmmonsei against Messrs Bennlg and Harry Winston. of Mew York and London, respect or a parcel oi iu3 carats of rouxh diamonds seized at the same post office on the same day, snd against Messrs. Bennlg, Q.

Parser, ana tne international isau-. Mwet of rreel 5.000 carats Of TOneh diamonds seized on the same occasion. -ACCIDENTAL" Mr. Harry Vos, of Hurstpierpolnt (Sussex), a director of Hennig and said in evidence that he also held an executive position with Hambros Bank, which had a 45 per cent holding in Hennig, in 1945. Sir Walter Monckton, K.C.

(defending) Did you know that Hennigs were shipping diamonds to Tangier? Yes. Did you know on whose orders they were doing it? Lamon, Parser, and Winston's. Mr. Vos, in reply to Sir Walter, said he would certainly not have allowed the transactions to so on if he had had the slightest doubt of their legality. Nor did RECORDER'S 'ERROR' AT TRIAL Conviction Quashed Because of an Irregularity in the trial the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday quashed the conviction at Bolton Borough Sessions and sentence of three years imprisonment passed on Samuel Green on a charge of receiving 61,000 yards of stolen cloth worth 7,700 at Bolton.

The Lord Chief Justice. Lord Goddard, said there was no doubt from the evidence that the conviction was amply justified, but the Recorder had made an error. After the jury had been absent for about an hour considering their verdict they sent a communication to the court. The Recorder received it in his private room and sent an answer to the jury. He did not come into court and say what the question and answer were.

He had since informed the Court that he did not remember the exact terms of the question. It was so simple, and having been dealt with in his summing up he did not deem it necessary to have the jury brought back into court. "This Court," continued Lord Goddard. "has said more than once that any communication passing between jury and the presiding judge must be read out In court so that both parties prosecution and defence may know what the jury ask and what the answer is. Very likely in this case it was immaterial and if the Recorder had been able to tell us what the question was we might have been able to consider it.

although nothing I say now should be taken in any way to be an authorised departure from the well-recognised rule that these matters must be done openly in court." Green had not the advantage of knowing, as he was entitled to. what the was and the Court felt there was no option but to allow the appeal. The Court directed that a second indictment against Green be proceeded with at the next sessions at Bolton and granted Greea bail pending the trial. LIGHTNING FELLS 100ft. CHIMNEY Power Supply Cut Off Only the stone foundation remained standing when lightning yesterday struck a brick chimney almost 100ft.

high at Furness Vale, Derbyshire. The chimney, built in 1866, formed a part of the old Lady Pit Colliery Which was last worked about forty years ago. Bricks were scattered as far as 300yd. over surrounding nelds. Lightning also damaged a power cable, cutting supplies at Whaley Bridge, Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Hayfleld. New Mills, and other places in the neighbourhood. In Manchester trolley-bus passengers were held up for ahout twenty minutes in Ashton New Road and Great Ancoats Street. Trouble at the power station was the explanation given by the Transport Department. SWEDISH CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO BLACKBURN As the- Ministry of Agriculture will cot allow a Swedish Christmas tree to be sent to Blackburn, which has suggested a liaison of friendship with Malmo, Sweden, Inena in Sweden nave onened a fund and are to send Christmas food parcels.

The parcels are expected to arrive next week BOOKS RECEIVED From Jonathan Cape, SZEELTON. TJk. Life and Tlir-ea ot ao Sarly Tudor Poet. By H. L.

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or chxllon. Andr inrtminn understand, that it is purely accidental that uie existence or tne American buyer is never disclosed in any one of these twelve cases Absolutelv. a suggest mere are too many mistakes ue wj os accidental- 1 cton agree. I suggest that all this was an obvious Breach of the Exchange Control Act devised by the Americans in order that they will make an additional profit at the expense of this country. It was not a oreacn or tne Exchange Act.

Mr. Frederick Altiprt Mathin- Xfrrosil in evidence, that Prim's reputation in the uiauiuuu worm was oi tne nignesu Mr. Roberts read Ipttar written hv UTr Mathias to Mr. W. A.

Chappie, a director ul we uamona iTaains company, on ociiieuuwr it, woica siatea: with the exception at direct exports of tha Diamond Trading Cbmoanr. Is deTeloptng Into a currency we scnjCTBro oi ue oiamozia trad in bott, mh Ann Ont of one principal channels through which gunnels is peine dona at the moment is Tangier. Depreciated iteruns is Durchased on the American market and transferred to Tangier Is payment of sua uncus auunonas saippea zram London. "It is alio suggested" (said the letter) "Out diamonds an 'being exsorted bom the tinned State miu man we. exact aame parcel as wen returned to America, showlna a nroflt of nar ent.

41 T'ha ftfUHMd 1nriirv with an bsue demanding an Iniestlgstloa by all parties concerned In my opinion carry action la necessary. with Ooyernment support, not oruy to protect tbe assu-curTcacy earnings oz ue. united Kingdom out un uiwucai oi too aiamono interests as a wnoie. SIR CHARLES HAMBROS EVIDENCE Sir Charles Hambro. director of Hambros Bank, Limited, and of the Bank of England, said that about the middle of 1948 Priiu and Vos saw him about Tangier operations.

Sir Walter Monckton: Did you think there was the faintest illegality in their carrying out their customers' instructions My first thought was that there was nothing illegal according to the instructions of the bankers in sending diamonds to Tangier consignees. My second thought was was it possible lor a firm in their position, exporting to these jobbers in New York somewhere in the region of fifteen to sixteen million dollars' worth of diamonds every year? Was it in the interests of anybody, if it was not illegal, to refuse the order of a customer so valuable to British interests so long as the bank said it was not? Sir Charles said of Vos and Prins: "I would have thought it quite impossible for either of them to entertain anything dishonest or underhand." Prins's work in connection with diamonds was instrumental in saving a great number of lives and assisted the prosecution of the war quite The hearing was adjourned until to-morrow. BRITONS' RUSSIAN WIVES Appeal Court's Decision After hearing of the difficulties experienced in serving notice of divorce petitions in Russia the Court of Appeal yesterday granted an application by Mr. Edward George Kenward, of Yeading Lane, Hayes, Middlesex, for leave to dispense with the service of notice of appeal on bis Russian wife. Mr.

J. E. S. Simon explained that Mr. Kenward was one of four British subjects who went through ceremonies of marriage with Russian women during tne war and tnat on 9 bis petition for divorce was dismissed bv Mr.

Justice Hodson. The grounds of the petitions were that the marriages as unaerstooa in the U.S.S.K. did not com ply with the essentials of marriage under English law, that there was want oi consent Detween the Darties to each ceremony, and that the marriages were irustratea Dy tne action oi the Russian government. There had been considerable mrr-px. pondenee with the Foreign Office about service of tbe petitions on Russian subjects, said counsel, and the advice given was that the best mode of service was by LcguLcca tetiei- 10 uie last Known addresses of the respondent wives.

Inquiry as to the possibility of nnticp hv arivorfico. ment showed that only one Russian newspaper, an evening journal, took that kind of advertisement, and there wn waitino .1.3 wmui wumu luvuive a aeiay or aoout a year. It was not even certain that such an advertisement would be accepted from Mr. Kenward' wife llvoH Vninmig aoout half-way between Moscow and Archangel. The necessary papers, with translations, were sent to the Foreign Office and dispatched to the Moscow Embassy.

They were then sent by a special sort of registered post to addresses of the respondents. Only one acknow ledgment of service was received. That was irom a woman employed by the British jL All tXU uujumuig Duiia- ing. xne papers in two cases were returned marked AddreiM itnlmnwn hut Mr. Kenward's papers were not returned.

ana nothing had been heard of his wife. Lord Justice cnM the mirr were reluctant to grant decrees of divorce against persons wno naa not had notice oi the proceedings, but he thought that this was a case in which they could properly dispense with the service of notice of appeal, as every possible step had been taken, without success. Lords Justice oomerveu ana uenning agreed. WATCHES IN HEELS OF BOOTS Three Men Fined It was stated at Uxbridge yesterday that when a pair of boots was found under a railway carriage seat at Euston it was seen that the outside layer of leather on the heels had been wrenched off and that the heels were hollowed out as it to form a hiding place for small articles. The boots bore a Service number and were traced to Philip Fisher, an man living at Colwyn Bay.

As a result Fisher and other ex-RAF. men, Adin Hurley, of Hubber-ley Road, Blackheath, Birmingham, and Harry Campbell, of View Mount Drive, Glasgow, were charged at Uxbridge yesterday with attempting to evade Customs duty on three watches. They pleaded guilty. Mr. P.

J. Sutton, prosecuting, said the inree men naa Deen serving in the EAF. in Germany and on Februarv 10 flew to Northolt. Seen by RAF. police, Fisher maae a sraiement aomitung that he had bought a watch for 300 ciearettes from a German.

He took the watch and two others, one for Campbell and the other ior nuriey, to a cobbler, who hollowed out the heels of his bnnts and nailed leather over the holes with the watches inside. At Euston Hurley took his watch and the other was sent to Campbell fiancee. Fisher left the pair of boots under the seat in a train Fisher and Hurley were each fined 10 and Campbell 15, the alternative oemg one month 's imprisonment. EXERCISE "JOHN BULL" Northern Command is holding exercise "John Bull" from to-day until Thursday to examine the tasks of the Army in support of the civil authorities. The exercise is being attended by all senior officers of the command, as well as representatives of civil authorities and.

the Home Office. The programme will include a visit to the Civil Defence training establishment at Easingwold, Yorkshire. LORD HOLDEN PURGATORY REVISITED A Victorian Parody A sensational work by this well-known Catholic in which he pays imaginary visits to the seven circles of Purgatory, starting from Brompton Oratory and crossing the Styx, where he interviews forty-nine eminent Victorians guilty of one or more of the seven deadly sins. With illustrations by PHILIP GOTJGH. Publication Dm IS.

Demy Svo. 118 Mt DESMOND CHAPMAN-HUSTON THE LAMP OF MEMORY Author of The Lonely King Ludwig II of Bavaria," etc Entertaining reminiscences of the glittering Edwardian decade, enriched with unforgettable sketches of prominent men and women of all sorts. 31 beautiful illustrations. Now Ready. net WINIFRED GRAHAM THAT REMINDS ME England's most prolific authoress This is the third revised and entertaining edition of Winifred Graham's first book in her trilogy of Reminiscences.

Those who have read OBSERVATIONS and I INTRODUCE should not miss this volume which contains many interesting accounts of notable and well-known people. II illustrations. Demy 8vo. Publication Dto. 15.

12g net SKEFFINGTON I Columbus Sails written and illustrated by C. WALTER HODGE8 H. E. Bates I should back it with my shirt for a boy of 10 to 14." A wonderful book. Maffnitcently illustrated.

9s. net Marooned in Du-bu Cove by EVELYN CHEESMAN A "Robinson Crusoe" story, packed uU of adventures, about children marooned on the New Guinea Coast, by a well-known naturalist. Fine illustrations. Age 10-13. 8s.

6d. net LTD. LONDON William 3Morrim edited and introduced by WILLIAM GAUNT Satnuet ohnson edited and Introduced by JULIAN 3YMOM8 THotnam Babingtm EiOtrd JMtacanlaf edited and Introduced by Vermon larll-BeiHr East of the Iron Curtain Tbe Falcon Prose Classics Genera! Editor: Leonard Russell The Falcon Prose Classics are a series of selections from the works of the great masters of the English language. The purposes of this series are, firstly, to give new readers the opportunity of reading the best of writers whose works are often out of print and secondly, to answer the demand for classical writing, in a well produced edition at a reasonable price. Robert Smith Surtccm edited and introduced by CYRIL RAY Edmund edited and introduced by SIR PHILIP MAGNUS Mtenfamin Ifasracli edited and Introduced by ERIC FORBES-BO YD Each Volume 5s.

net A sptctat gift bo containing four vourms now avaHabh at lit. nt. THE FALCON PRESS 11 1 aa mmam "BtBi West of the Rockies by ERNEST YOUNO A journey on foot and by bus, by a much-travelled author, over a part of the world rarely traversed purposefully. Mr. Young's shrewd observations and amusing anecdotes give master touches to his excellent descriptive writing.

24 pages of illustrations. 33 maps. 250 pages. Published Yesterday. Sic.

mt The Middle Sea by L. Q. PINE Managing Editor of Burkes Pteragt A story of the Mediterranean lands of to-day and of those farmer civilisations that form such a fascinating background to those who now live in tbe Kglon. Mr. Fine combines marked descriptive ability and personal knowledge of tbe Mediterranean within a work both factual and rtrmanuc.

32 illustrations. 8 Over 200 pages. To be published January, 195a iaa.ea.nat, EDWARD STANFORD LIMITED 12-14 LONG ACRE, LONDON, W.C.2 Mr. Barriett's invaluable report on an extensive fact-finding tour which took him recently from Yugoslavia up to Finland. It is the most up-to-date and complete account of life in Eastern Europe.

Cr. 8vo 212pp. index. 8'6. Latimer House Ltd, 33 Ludgate Hill, E.C.4.