I\Uiy 25, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
The Overseas Club 
65 
THE OVERSEAS CLUB is the work of a dreamer of 
dreams who at the same time happens to be a man 
of business and affairs. Hence it has succeeded be- 
yond the wont of dreams. The central idea was 
to it- to practical use some of that fine spirit of fellowship 
wliich the scattered Britishers feel for each other, for the old 
flag and the old country. Here was a great thing not less 
real because intangible and imponderable. It needed a 
conduit. And there were difficult days coming for the 
Empire not only in war,' which was not explicitly in the 
\ ision, but in peace. The Club was to.be a band of 
brotliers that should know and appreciate something of the 
privileges and responsibilities of British Citizenship. 
It was inaugurated in 1910, on August 27th, Trafalgar Day. 
It found a patron in Lord Northcliffe, to whom the severest 
critic would not deny the faculty of imagination. He made 
\'cry generous donations wliich saw it through the first 
critical days of struggle, put the Overseas Edition of the Daily 
Mail at its disposal as a velucle of propaganda, and remains 
a generous and interested supporter. It now counts over 
138,000 members. It has formally won its spurs ; for the 
King has become the Patron-in-Chief — an honour only 
accorded, very properly, to proved and stable institutions 
whose record is absolutely above suspicion. 
The club has roomy and beautiful premises with all the 
amenities, in that imperial centre, Aldwych- These have been 
constantly used by overseas visitors, especially during the war. 
It has corresponding Secretaries all over the Empire, or, as 
wo are now learning to caU it, with a truer insight, the British 
Commonwealth, and a machinery for welcoming and introduc- 
ing members in their travels. 
The war brought it the opportunity of provmg its practical 
value. It has done amazingly good work. Its msmbers have 
presented an Overseas Club's Imperial Aircraft Flotilla of no 
less than 69 aeroplanes at a cost of £103,000, and it is an open 
secret that others not reckoned in this register were inspired 
directly by its propaganda. It only needed such an oppor- 
tunity to prove the substantial value of the organisation and 
the capacity with which it has been guided and controlled. 
On its more friendly and human side it has raised the sum 
of £125,000 for tobacco and comforts for the troops. It has 
distributed many thousands of pamphlets in various languages 
in neutral countries by way of presenting the case of the 
Allies as a counterblast to the extremely active German Press 
Bureau. Its Members have sent several hundreds of cases 
of clothing for the Belgian refugees. In a word, it is " doing 
things." Most notably its Central Committee has used to 
excellent eftect, principles and methods of business which are 
so often wanting in such idealistic ventures. The Central 
Committee of the Overseas Club do not think merely in terms 
of " flag- waggery," though the flag means, as it ought to 
mean, a great deal to them. They work for " an Empire 
without a slum," for a change in " England's green and 
pleasant land " quite Blakeian in its breadth and splendour. 
Naturally as practical men they have to keep such visions 
largely to themselves ! But perhaps the war is making an 
atmosphere about us in which such prudences will be no 
longer necessary. The point for the ultra-realists to remember 
is that the Overseas Club pays its way and does what it does 
promptly and with gathering momentum. T. 
Chambers's Journal, one of the oldest and still one of the 
best of monthly periodicals, maintains its standard of merit to 
the full in recent numbers. A noteworthy item is a new serial 
by " Taffrail," entitled "Pincher Martin, O.D.," a vivid 
narrative of naval hfe in the present day — Marrj'at up-to-date, 
with the joj's of coaling ship added. Breezily written, this 
story of Pincher is worth reading— as, in fact," Chambers's is 
throughout. In addition to giving a number of sidelights on 
the war and its various fronts, a notable feature of the 
magazine is its monthly review of science and arts. 
Broken Music, by Helen Key (Elkin Mathews, is. net) is a 
Uttle collection of poems of more than average merit, mainly 
based on the war and its incidents. Fully half of the contents 
bear the impress of Browning study, though there is enough 
originality in the matter to justify' the manner even of the 
" Grammarian's Funeral." Here and there banal sentiment 
is expressed in banal phrase, but for the mo,st part the work 
is distinctly original, and more than ordinarily attractive. 
EDWARDS & SONS,161S159 Recent St.. London, W. 
(of Regent Street), Ltd. 
By Appointment 
to 
H.M. THE KING 
H M. THE QUEEN. 
Lady'i Finest PoHshed IWorocco Dressing Case, lined Rich Watered Silk, completely fitted Solid Tortoiseshell, Inlaiu Sterling Silver. 
A large selaction always In Stock rrom £S to £200. Catajogue and Batlmatea poet freo on application.] 
