foreign questions; (d) pronouncements by the Foreign Secretary in the country.

Mr. Ponsonby's pamphlet is largely concerned with highly debatable issues, but it will be read, perhaps, with the greatest interest by those who differ from, rather than by those who agree with, his opinions.

National Insurance Act, 1911. (Manchester: Policy-Holder Journal Co., Ltd.) Price 6d., post free 74d.

The full text of this Act in a cheap and handy form.

The Magazines for February.

THE NINETEENTH Century and AFTER gives the place of honour to Recent Changes in Admiralty Organisation by Sir William H. White. There are two articles on the Irish question-Justice to Ireland by Mr. Ian Malcolm, M.P., and Is Home Rule for the Good of Ireland? by Mr. P. Anderson Graham-and two on Foreign Affairs-Eleven Years of Foreign Policy by Mr. C. S. Goldman, M.P., and The True Story of the Morocco Negotiations by Mr. E. D. Morel. Sir H. Seton-Karr writes on Some British East African Problems, Mr. W. H. Renwick on The Coal Crisis, and Mr. J. Castberg on The Legal Position of Women in Norway, while Commander Carlyon Bellairs puts forward A New Imperial Preference Scheme.

THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW opens with King George in India by Sir William Wedderburn. There are two articles on Disestablishment in Wales-I. by the Bishop of St. David's, and II. by Mr. Llewelyn Williams, M.P. Mr. W. M. J. Williams deals with Imperial Funds Spent in Ireland, Mr. Joseph King, M.P., with The German Reichstag Elections, and Mr. Norman Lamont with The West Indian Recovery. Other articles are Charity Up-to-Date by Canon Barnett, and Foreign Affairs by Dr. E. J. Dillon.

THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW opens with two articles on the prospects of the Opposition-The Turn of the Tide by "Curio " and Is a Tory Revival Possible? by Mr. A. A. Baumann.

Excubitor' " writes on The Naval and Economic Triumph of the Dreadnought Policy, 1905-12, Sir J. D. Rees on The Coronation Concessions in India, Mr. Sydney Brooks on Aspects of the Religious Question in Ireland, "G." on Strikes, and Mr. Walter Sichel on Prince Proletariat. Mr Robert Machray deals with The Fate of Persia, Mr. H. Charles Woods with The Internal Situation in Turkey and the Effect of the War upon it, "H." with Said Pasha, and Mr. Laurence Jerrold with French "Patriots" and English "Liberals."

THE ENGLISH REVIEW contains The Breakdown of Turkey by Dr. E. J. Dillon and The France of M. Caillaux by "Verax."

A series of superb photogravure portraits of Liberal Leaders, embracing W. E. Gladstone, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, Mr. Asquith, Lord Morley, and Mr. Lloyd George, is now issued by the Liberal Publication Department. The size of each Print is 22 in. by 153 in., and of each Portrait 10 in. by 8 in. Full particulars may be had on application to the Department, 42, Parliament Street, S.W.

We again draw attention to the announcement elsewhere of the LIBERAL YEAR BOOK for 1912. It has been generally welcomed as a complete up-to-date political work of reference, indispensable to all Liberals, and, indeed, to all politicians.

The Annual Bound Volumes for 1911 of the LIBERAL MAGAZINE, LIBERAL MONTHLY, and PAMPHLETS AND LEAFLETS are now ready (see page ii. of cover).

We particularly call attention to the publications of the Liberal Publication Department on the Insurance Act, full details of which are given on page iii. of the advertisements.

THE DIARY OF THE MONTH.

(1) Sir John Simon on Home Rule.

"He understood the principle of Home Rule to consist essentially of a policy of setting up in Ireland a system of full self-government in regard to purely Irish local affairs, subject always to the undoubted supremacy of the Imperial Legislature. He used the expression full self-government,' and by that he meant that in respect of Irish local affairs the object of the Government was to give Ireland at once a local Legislature with an Executive responsible to that Legislature, and that Executive would devote itself alone to those matters which were Irish as distinguished from matters which concerned the United Kingdom or the Empire at large. On the other hand, it was essential to Home Rule that the indefeasible and undoubted supremacy of the Imperial Parliament should stand and remain. What they proposed to do was not, properly speaking, a repeal of the Union, but a modification of the terms of the Union, by means of which they thought they could do what was good for Ireland, England, and the Empire.'

(2) Mr. Churchill on the British and German Navies.

"You all realise, but it is still our duty to affirm, that the purposes of British naval power are essentially defensive. We have no thoughts, and we have never had any thought, of aggression-and we attribute no such thoughts to other Great Powers. There is, however, this difference between the British naval power and the naval power of the great and friendly Empire-and I trust it may long remain the great and friendly Power-of Germany. The British Navy is to us a necessity and, from some points of view, the German Navy is to them more in the nature of a luxury. Our naval power involves British existence. It is existence to us; it is expansion to them. We cannot menace the peace of a single Continental hamlet, nor do we wish to do so, no matter how great and supreme our Navy may become. But, on the other hand, the whole fortunes of our race and Empire, the whole treasure accumulated during so many centuries of sacrifice and achievement would perish and be swept utterly away if our naval supremacy were to be impaired. It is the British Navy which makes Great Britain a Great Power. But Germany was a Great Power, respected and honoured all over the world, before she had a single ship. Those facts ought clearly to be stated because there is no doubt that there is a disposition in some quarters to suppose that Great Britain and Germany are on terms of equality so far as naval risks are concerned. Such a supposition is utterly untrue.”

(3) Mr. Samuel on Boy Labour in the Post Office.

"It seemed probable that in the near future the problem would be very nearly solved. If the suggestion were adopted that men should be employed in considerable numbers, the question would at once become simple, but he was sure that neither public opinion nor the House of Commons would approve the payment of adults' wages for work which always had been efficiently done by boys and which was recognised to be suited to their physique and general capacity. Before various measures which had been suggested by the Committee were adopted, 4,400 boys were dismissed each year at the age of 16. When the new scheme was in full operation, which would be towards the middle of next year, the number would be 400."

THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE.

1912.

THE DIARY OF THE MONTH.

February 1.-Mr. Hobhouse at Bristol on Home Rule.

Sir John Simon at Bradford on Mr. Bonar Law and Free Trade.

Mr. Lyttelton at Banbury on Welsh Disestablish

ment.

2.-Sir E. Carson at the Holborn Restaurant on Mr. Churchill's Belfast Meeting.

East Edinburgh By-Election consequent on the death of Sir J. P. Gibson (L).

Number of Registered Electors-12,491.

5,064 4,139-925

3. Mr. Lloyd George at the City Liberal Club on Liberal Finance. (See pages 12 and 94.)

6.-(1) Sir John Simon at Dewsbury on Home Rule. Mr. F. E. Smith at Exeter on Current Politics.

8. Mr. Churchill and Mr. Redmond at Belfast on Home Rule. (See page

92.)

Mr. A. Chamberlain at Birmingham on Mr.
Lloyd George and Finance.

9.-(2) Mr. Churchill at Glasgow on the Navy.

10. The Master of Elibank at Edinburgh on Home Rule.

12. Mr. Lloyd George at the Opera House on the Insurance Act. (See page 88.)

Sir E. Carson at the Memorial Hall on Home

Rule.

13. (3) Trade Union Deputation to Mr. Samuel on Boy Labour.

(1) Lord Lansdowne on Britain and Germany.

"It is lamentable that these misunderstandings and these apprehensions should exist, and it is the duty of all right-thinking people to endeavour to dispel them. In any effort to do this his Majesty's Government will, I am convinced, have the support of those who oppose them in regard to other questions. And may I be permitted to say, seeing the Secretary of State for War in his place, that, if his genial presence at Berlin on a recent occasion has at all contributed to so desirable a result, if he has come back with anything in the nature of an olive branch in his button-hole, we shall congratulate him on this side as warmly as he will be congratulated by his friends on the other side of the House?"

(2) Mr. Asquith on the Osborne Judgment.

The Government so far agreed with them in regard to the Osborne judgment that they thought the limitation it placed upon the action of the trade unions was not a politic limitation, nor one that was contemplated at the time of the legislation by which the present status of the trade unions was conferred upon them. They had therefore put forward proposals which unhappily they had not time last Session to discuss, but which showed the lines upon which they thought the re-construction or the re-definition of the law should take place. He could not quite agree with the construction which had been placed upon their proposals for legislation. They gave a very wide power to trade unions by resolution to apply their funds as they had been hitherto applied, and in their view the precautions and safeguards they had suggested for the protection of minorities were not excessive and in practice would not be found burdensome."

(3) Mr. Churchill on the Abolition of the Premium Bonus.

"There was, however, one thing he would like to say upon the premium bonus system in dockyards. The Board had given their attention to the system in regard to present circumstances, and he had found that though that system was continued it was continued on a very small scale indeed only in two dockyards-Chatham and Sheerness. The Board must always reserve to themselves the power of accelerating work by every means in matters which concern the defence of the country, but they did not think such a course was necessary at the moment, and for the present it would be entirely discontinued."

4) Sir Edward Grey on the Mortgages on Tariff Reform.

"Tariff Reform is heavily mortgaged already. It has to raise wages, it has to raise the profits of employers, it has to find work where no work exists at present, it has also, if it increases the cost of living on any of the necessities of life, to make up for that by reducing the cost of something else. These are four heavy mortgages on Tariff Reform already, and if anybody thinks that Tariff Reformers are going to provide better terms for workmen's insurance, I say they could only do it by a fifth mortgage, at least, on Tariff Reform, and I never heard of a fifth mortgage being accepted as a security worth anything. For myself I would not take even 8 first mortgage on Tariff Reform as good security."

And on a Referendum on Woman Suffrage.

"I cannot say what the Government as a Government on that point will do. Personally, I do not think it would be fair to submit the question of votes for women to a Referendum of an electorate of men, and I should oppose such a Referendum.”