ii6 



REV JEW OF REVIEWS. 



April 1, 1913. 



taiiily a better idea to exempt those 

 whose mothers have done their duty 

 by the State. Such a scheme should 

 work better than a maternity allow- 

 ance ! The Socialists violently opposed 

 this scheme, and also the special vote 

 of ;£^30, 000,000 for immediate expendi- 

 ture on the arm}'. The Briand Ministry 

 survived their attack, but fell over the 

 Electoral Reform Bill, which provided 

 for the representation of minorities. 

 A new Ministry was formed by M. 

 Barthou, who held the portfolio of 

 Justice under M. Briand. Itah^ intends 

 building four more Dreadnoughts ; and 

 little Belgium is adding 10,000 rnen to 

 her arm}' this }'ear. The one comfort- 

 ing thing in the midst of this terrible 

 competition is Mr. Asquith's positive 



declaration that Britain is under no 

 obligation to send an armed force any- 

 where in Europe. It is good to know 

 that none of our alliances call for mili- 

 tary assistance on our part, though it 

 must be a bitter pill for the United 

 Service League and its ilk. Some of 

 our Premiers now at home, by the way, 

 have already realised and admitted the 

 impossibility and unwisdom of intro- 

 ducing universal service into Great 

 Britain. 



Where is the Money? 



Britain is spending the huge sum of 

 ^^^46, 300, 300 on the navy alone this 

 }ear, and ;^28, 220,000 on her army. 

 The civil service estimates, too, are 

 still going up by leaps and bounds, 

 but Britain bears this heavy burden 



ITopicaL 

 King Ferdinand of Bulgaria meets King George of Greece in Salonikar— the town where the 

 latter fell beneath an assassin's bullet a few weeks later. This meeting wae arranged in order 

 to dispel the difficulties which had a.ri8en between tJie Greeks and the Bulgarians. 



