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SHEFFIELD'S LORD MAYOR. I HAVE previously noted the fact that the new Lord Mayor of Sheffield is a pro- minent Churchman (Councillor S. Roberts). His chaplain, the Rev. E. P. Blakeney (Vicar of St. Matthias), is his uncle, and a son of the famous Arch- ieacon Blakeney, a former Vicar of Sheffield. His lordship is announced to welcome the C.M.S. Congress at its )pening session, which he will do with special -interest, since he himself is treasurer of the for Sheffield. )

ALLIES AND RUSSIA. -+-- INTERVENTION AT AN END. (By 0. Parliamentary Correspondent.) A BUSlr and interesting week in Parlia- ment hra had as its most notable feature a debars on Russia, which brought defi- nifo arm important pronouncements from tvfb 04vernmeilt against the policy of Mrthsr intervention. The Enabling Bill. An effort is, being made to secure agreement on the Church Enabling Bill, which will then have little difficulty on the report stage and third reading. A strong Committee, largely composed of moderate men, has been set up, and un- officially some of these, representatives of both sides, have been in conference this week endeavouring to arrive at an agree- ment. Really, the need for a change in Church legislation procedure is agreed on every hand the only real effort which is being put forward by what may be de- scribed as the Nonconformist element is being directed to the retention of more control in the hands of Parliament than is proposed in the Bill. The idea is that instead of the Committee of the Privy Council being the body to which the pro- posals of the National Assembly shall be submitted, it should be a joint com- mittee of Lords and Commons-fifteen members of each House—appointed at the commencement of each Parliament, and to serve for the duration of that Parliament. This will be called the Legislative Committee, and one other proposed. amendment is that if either House of Parliament shall have amended any measure submitted by the Commit- tee, it -shall thereupon stand referred to the Legislative Committee, and shall not be further proceeded with unless at the instance of that Committee. Debate on Russia. Seven hours were spent on Monday in discussing the foreign policy of the Government. The adjournment of the House was moved after questions in order that every phase of foreign affairs might be discussed, but naturally atten- tion was chiefly concentrated on Russia and the Government's past and present policy. It must be confessed that until now there has been much confusion as to what the Government's policy exactly was. Sit Donald Maclean made this point in opening the debate from the Front Opposition Bench, remarking what everybody has felt—that there were two master minds at work on the problem, the Prime Minister and the Secretary for War. Sir Donald Maclean added that he agreed with the Prime Minister's policy of non-intervention, and here again he interpreted what most people have been thinking. The Prime Minister spoke early in the debate. Amid a silence that seldom prevails in the Chamber, he announced that he would no longer take the responsibility of restoring order in a country which was a continent and of financing civil war indefinitely. Our own burdens were too great. He denied that there was any blockade but the ioe. As to our Russian policy, it was, first of all, that we should not send armies there to conquer the Bolsheviks, and, secondly, that the men who had been invited to risk their security and their lives in the attempt to reconstruct the eastern front, and so prevent the Germans from obtaining the necessary supplies to break the blockade, should be equipped with sufficient material strength to enable them to hold their own.' That was an obligation we were bound to discharge. It was perfectly certain that our coun- try, with the enornftus burdens cast upon it by the war, could not go on financing civil war in Russia. In concluding, he said the Germans were still in the Baltic provinces. That was full of menace, and they must be cleared out. That was why the Conference in Paris decided to take action in that respect.. Mr. Balfour, winding up the debate on behalf of the Government, said it was quite impos- sible that we should continue to bear on our shoulders alone the excessive burdens of inter ventioir in Russia. The policy with regard to Turkey must be an Entente policy, and until that was settled it "would be unfair to our Allies and our friends if we were to map out the Turkish Empire in the precise form which we should like to see that great area assume. As to Egypt and the Soudan, England did not mean to give up any of her responsibilities. British supremacy there was going to be main- tained. The Peace Treaty. Lord Robert Cecil, speaking early in the debate, dealt with the holding up of the Peaoe Treaty by America. The Senate has put in so many reservations as to nullify the Treaty from their point of view. Repudiation of the Covenant of the. League of Nations means the repu- diation of the Treaty, in the view of Lord Robert Cecil. This would mean, of course, that Germany will have to make a separate peace with America, though this would not affect the validity of the Treaty so far as Germany and the other associated Powers are concerned. At best, nothing better can be expectcd than a long period of discussions, with the possibility of final rejection of the Covenant. Lord Robert pleaded/ elo- quently that the League of Nations should go forward whatever America did. J

jij LITERARY LIGHTS OF THE >: NINETEENTH CENTURY. X.—GEORGE ELIOT. BY MORICE GERARD. JUST a hundred years ago, on Novem- ber 22, 1819, Marian Evans, who was to achieve fame under the pen-name of George Eliot, was born. She came of that yeoman class which has ever been the backbone of England. Character, sturdy and strong, not literary achieve- ments has been its hall-mark. No one in the world, with the possible exception of Thomas Hardy, knew how to draw the class from which she sprang with more absolute faithfulness than did Marian Evans; but hers was not the spirit to submit for long to narrow limits. With maturity came a launching out into a wider and fuller world. Yet the store of her childhood's experiences remained in the after years a rich possession to be drawn from, when her reputation as an authoress was in the making. She pos- sessed a keen and accurate observation, a retentive memory, a wide sympathy with life, and a sense of humour. These formed an equipment of the most valu- able order for the work of life lying ready to her hand. She added to these inherited attributes considerable learn- ing. She sought the society and im- bibed the influence of the foremost thinkers of her day. George Eliot owed not a little to what they gave her, yet it may be doubted whether she did not lose more than she gained. The simplicity of her earlier books was ex- changed for the metaphysical subtleties-of those that caane later from her pen, peep- ing out in Middlemarch, assuming com- plete sway in Daniel Deronda and The Impressions of Theophrastus Such. The last, a, volume of essays, which few people have read, was published the year before she died. Three Periods., George Eliot had practically three periods in her literary life. The first lasted from 1844 to 1855, during which Miss Evans did translation work and essays in the Westminster Eevieio, of which she became assistant editor in September, 1851. It was not until 1856 that she tried her hand at fiction and found her true metier. These were the great ten years of George Eliot's life 1856 to 1866. Scenes from Clerical Life and Adam, Bede placed its authoress on a pinnacle of fame in spite of some detraction; The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Romola, and Felix Holt increased her great repu- tation. Then followed the period in which the author found the philosophical bent overmastering, and in spite of the brilliance of Middlemarch the old glamour had departed. A certain grim humour and- an inti- mate knowledge of human nature, much of it derived from the far past of her youth and upbringing, elldracterise those great books of the Middle period, which most of all we connect with her name. By six o'clock they were all at break- fast with Lis'beth" (Mrs. Bede) "in a kitchen as clean as she could have made it herself. The window and door were open, and the morning air brought with it a mingled scent of southernwood, thyme and sweetbria-r from the patch of garden by the side of the cottage. At last, after tasting the porridge, she" (Mrs. Bede) broke silence——" "Ye might ha' made the par ridge worse," she said to Dinah; I can ate it wi'out turnin' my stomach. It might ha' been a trifle thicker an' no harm, and I allays putten a sprig o' mint in mysen; but how's ye t' know that? The lads arena like to get folks as 'U make their partridge as I'n made it for 'em; it's well if they get onybody as '11 make parridge at all. But ye might do, wi' a bit o' showin,' for ye're a stirrin' body in a mornin', an' ye've a light heel, an ye've cleaned th.' house well enough for a ma'shift." Makeshift, mother! said Adam. Why, I think the house looks beauti- ful. I don't know how it could look better." Thee dostna' know? Nay; how's thee to know? Th' men ne'er know whether the floor's clean or cat-licked. But thee'lt know when thee gets thy parridge burnt, as it's like enough to be when I'm g.i'en o'er making it. Thee'lt think thy mother war good for summat then." Shrewd Wit. The shrewd wit of Mrs. Poyser is also worthy of the double meaning inherent in that fine old Anglo-Saxon word. What dare I what the men 'ud run after ? It's well seen what choice the most of 'em. know how to make by the poor draggle-tails o' wives you see, like bits o' gauze ribbon, good for nothing when the colour's gone." Ah," said Mrs. Poyser, an' it's poor work allays settin' the dead above the livin'. We shall all of us be dead sometime, I reckon—it 'ud be better if folks 'ud make much of us beforehand, instid-o' beginnirr when we're gone. It's but little good you'll do a-w uteri ng the last year's crop." # Say! answered Mrs. Poyser, with dangeroufs fire kindling in her eye. Why. I sav as some folks' tongues are I like the clocks as run on strikin', not to I tell you the time o' the day, but because there's summat wrong i' their own in- side. Position of Silas Marner. Adam Bede, Bomola, and Middle- inarch have been selected by the higher criticism as the most perfect specimens of George Eliot's art; but for a. book to be read again and again, a book to share the love and intimacy of the hearts of men and women, Silas Marner holds the unchallenged place. No shadow of tragedy broods over this story of the weaver of Raveloe and of the child who comes to him as a veritable gift from heaven, such as lingers in the recollection of readers of The Mill on the Floss, Adam Bede, and Bomola. There is a tenderness about it which is lacking in her other books. The description, too long to quote, of the child's punishment and her reception of it as she emerges for the second time from the teal-hole'' shows that George Eliot, with all her philosophy, had a woman's heart, and an understanding of a child which is part of the equipment. It may be said of George Eliot, in the words of one of the greatest of English poets, as we celebrate the centenary of her birth — And when the stream Which overflowed the soul was passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed."

REDUCTION OF LICENCES. COMPENSATION FIGURES. OBJECTION is being made in interested quarters that the draft Licensing Bill of the Liquor Trade contains no pro- posals for speeding up the reduction of licences. The central cause of the delay is, according to a Central Board official, the absurdity of existing compensation provisions. « Under the Act of 1904," this gentle- man told a Press correspondent, "a Compensation .Fund was formed by a yearly levy on licensed houseS, based on the annual value of the premises, irre- spective of the business done. When a licence is extinguished for reasons other than misconduct, compensation is paid from this fund; but that compensation is based, not on the value of the prem- ises, but o-n the trade done. This leads to some scandalous anomalies. A miserable house in the Liverpool district, for instance, which without a licence would let for 5s. a week, paid C4 yearly to the Compensation Fund. When the justices decided that the licence ought to be cancelled, they found the average weekly takings were £ 47, which meant that by the existing system of calculation compensation of zC6,000 would have to be paid. Of course, the licence was allowed to continue. Obvi- ously the present system retards the re- duction, by making the process too ex- pensive for the Compensation Fund to stand. Surely, by all the laws of equity, the basis of levy and of compensation should be the same. But that is not all. By the Kennedy decision, a brewer who has let his prem- ises to a tied tenant, is entitled to claim as compensation the loss of his brewery profits on the intoxicating liquor sold1 at the premises, in addition to a capital- isation of the tied rental. This ruling has been stretched by the brewers to cover the case where the tenant of the house is their own paid servant, a tied rental, being assumed to exist. The consequence is that the tied house pays the levy at the same rate as the private owner, but receives a much larger sum for compensa- Hon. Take two examples. The Liverpool justices suppressed two licences. In one case the house was the property of a private owner; in the other of a. brewer., The annual value of the former house was R47, and the weekly takings £ 14 9s. 2d. The compensation paid was £ 600—an equitable amount. The value of the brewer's house was P-40, and the weekly takings £ 13. Yet the brewer re- ceived £1,630 compensation. In Hyde, Cheshire, an inn and four cottages were bought by a firm of brewers for £ 835. Fourteen months later the licence was ex- tinguished, and the compensation awarded amounted to the enormous sum of L2,255, the house and four cottages, of course, remaining the property of the brewer. Similarly, in Newcastle-on- Tyne, a licensed house, purchased by a brewing firm in 1907 for 095, brought them four years later £1,988 "mp, tion. Repeated efforts to obtain the same basis for levy and for compensation have failed. The only guarantee for adequate reduction is to take the whole trade out of private hands, and place it under tihft direct control of the State"