LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C. 
Telephone: HOLBORN 3828 
THURSDAY, APRIL 6th, 1916 
CONTENTS 
On the Way to Verdun. By T^ouis Raemaekers 
South Pole and Mount Erebus (Pliotos) 
Tlic King's Gift. (Leading Article) 
Enemy Object at Verdun. By Hilaire Bclloc 
Cicrmany and the Neutrals. By Arthur Pollen 
Sortes Shakespeariana; 
Position of Holland. By John C. Van der Veer 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer. By James Dougla 
Agony of Serbia. By Alfred Stead 
Shackleton's Expedition. By Herbert G. Ponting 
Map of McMurdo Sound 
Chaya. By H. de Vcrc Stacpoole 
Town and Country 
The West End 
Choosing Kit 
P.\GE 
I 
o 
■1 
.1 
-1 
lO 
II 
13 
s 14 
1 6 
17 
19 
20 
26 
xviii. 
xxi. 
THE KING'S GH T 
Privy Purse Office, 
Buckingham Palace, S.W., 
^ist March, 1916. 
Sir, — / have received the King's commands to inform 
you thai His Majesty has given instructions for the 
sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds (£100,000) 
to be placed at the disposal af the Treasury. 
It is the King's wish that this sum, which he gives in 
consequence of the ivar, should be applied in whatever 
manner is deemed best in (he opinion of His Majesty's 
Government. 
I have the honour to be, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
F. E. G. PONSONBY, 
Keeper of the Privy Purse. 
The Right Honhlc. H. H. Asquilh, K.C., M. P., Prime 
Minister. 
" ^ ^^""^ deserve acts, not words in their honour." 
/% This aphorism of the famous Greek orator was 
/ — % never more applicable tlian to the King's gift. 
It is easy to praise its munificence and to 
commend its spontaneous generosity, but the true honour 
of this kingly act, as announced in the letter at the head 
of this article, lies in the manner in which the example 
will be followed by all classes throughout the Empire. In 
placing of his own free-will this large sum at the 
disposal of his Government. His Majesty has once 
again testified to the solidarity of the nation and 
of the Empire in its fixed determination to carry the 
war through at all costs. The willing spirit in which 
the Buc'get has been received with its Pelion on Ossa in 
the way of new taxation must further impress Neutrals 
and foes alike that Britain is not to be daunted by any 
demands upon her purse. The riches she has often 
boasted in the past are a reality, and she is willing to 
jiour them out ungrudgingly as the , purchase price oi 
liberty and freedom. 
Mr. McKenna had his task made easier for him on 
Tuesday in that he was able to announce a reduction 
in expenditure and an excess in revenue over his estimates 
of last summer, and as he has no doubt framed his 1916-17 
estimates on the same lines, it is not unreasonable to 
expect tliat his anticipations will be more than fulfilled. 
There is to be another Budget in July primarily for the 
purpose of continuing the additional duties on tea and 
tobacco imposed by the Finance Act of last September, 
duties which would otherwise expire on August ist. 
The opportunity will then be taken to review again the 
financial situation and also, so every one hopes, for a 
definite decision on the question of fiscal duties. In the 
course of his lucid speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
brought forward a very potent argument in favour of 
the earliest ])ossible decision on this point. He said, 
" W'c must not overlook the fact that after the war many 
of our traders will have to compete with neutral rivals 
who have been able through war prices to build up 
immense reserves of capital which have not been subject 
to taxation." British traders have the right to know 
to what extent they may receive protection from their 
own Government against this new rivahy, a perfectly 
lawful rivalry but which nevertheless will have been 
created by the very circumstances which will have 
crippled their own powers of resistance. 
Among the features of the new taxation which are to be 
commended is the tardy recognition that all fluid re- 
freshment other than spring water is a luxury, lemon- 
ade just as much as champagne, gingerbeer as much as 
gin and cocoa equally with tea. This principle we trust 
has now been accepted for all time at the Treasury. 
Table w'aters are as legitimate a source of revenue as 
table wines, and it was a scandal even before the war 
that the overflow of German wells should be admitted 
to this country free, while the produce of French vine- 
yards should be substantially taxed. Another good fea- 
ture )s the tax on amusements. Surely there is no form of 
tribute that can be rendered more gladly to the State 
than this. Henceforth we may amuse ourselves with an 
easy conscience knowing that every stall we buy at a 
theatre is another clip of cartridges against the Hun. 
Seeing that race meetings have now come within the 
purview of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, let us hope 
he may be tempted to go a step further into the betting 
ring and there set up the public totalisator. As for the 
tax on railway tickets, its results will be watched with 
considerable interest and some anxiety. On whom 
will the extra burden fall — on the railways or on the 
travelling public, which has been considerably reduced 
already by mar^y causes connected with the war ? 
Mr. McKenna had a word of sympathy for the income- 
tax payer. He evidently knows how heavily the burden 
already falls on many, more particularly on the pro- 
fessional classes, who are not only endeavouring to 
maintain " the standard of life necessary in their circum- 
stances for efficiency," but also to bring up and educate 
children so that they shall be fitted to carry on to the 
best of their abilities their duty in the state of life to 
which they have been called. In the delightful character 
sketch of Mr. McKenna from the pen of Mr. James 
Douglas which appears on another page, stress is laid on 
the fearlessness of his character, and he touched the 
right note in the concluding sentences of his brief and 
business-like Budget statement when he said : " Civic 
courage is as important in its sphere as military courage 
and we may justly claim in this time of stress that we 
have not been found wanting in either of those great 
virtues." This being so we appeal to Mr. McKenna to 
use his influence to put an end to those fatuous " Don't " 
posters and other banal emanations that disfigure the 
hoardings to-day. Their appearance brands us as a 
nation of either imbeciles or cowards. We are neither. 
The Government would do well to adopt a more restrained 
tone in such advertising as is still necessary for the busi- 
ness of the country. Much good has no doubt been done 
in the past by these methods but there is a limit to every- 
thing. This attempt to regulate private expenditure by 
public posters at the present time when everyone is 
shouldering tlieir burden bravely is deeply resented. 
