practically completed two of the eight studios which he proposes to erect near Elstree. In December, Mr. Ormiston, the president of the C.E.A., speaking at Sheffield, said that the Government was prepared to guarantee the interest on half of the 300,000l. necessary for a central studio, if the trade could raise the other 150,000l.

The position at the close of the year was that the C.E.A. were still seeking a scheme which would be agreeable to the industry as a whole, while the F.B.I. were waiting with some impatience to bring forward their own proposals.

In September the import duty on British films into Australia was abolished, and in October the Victorian Legislative Council agreed that a thousand feet of British film must be shown in every programme. The provision will be enforced as from June 30, 1926.

As an attempt to interest the general public in their own films, the "British Cinema League" was inaugurated in November. The members are to be kept advised, through a periodical, as to British film activities. Through this medium the public will be strongly urged to express their point of view, which, it is felt, should be a real guide to producers.

Designed especially to appeal to an intellectual public, another organisation, "The Film Society," was started in October. Their object is to show uncommercial films, unlikely to be seen in the ordinary cinema. Monthly performances are given on Sunday afternoons.

In December the London County Council proposed to increase the powers which they hold under the Cinematograph Act of 1909. It was suggested that they confine the issue of picture-house licences to British subjects, or to British representatives of capital, whereof the major part has been subscribed and is owned by British subjects. This was an attempt to check the increasing number of cinemas owned by American producing concerns, which they use as "shop-windows" for their goods. No decision had been taken on this question at the end of the year.

Among the best British pictures of the year were "Owd Bob," a Henry Edwards production, and "The Happy Ending," a George Cooper picture starring Fay Compton. Betty Balfour made three pictures, of which the most successful was George Pearson's Satan's Sister." "The Only Way" was a good contribution from Herbert Wilcox, and gave Sir John Martin-Harvey a fine opportunity. Of British "interest" films the most outstanding were " Ypres," a war picture made in conjunction with the Army Council; "Livingstone," Livingstone," a screen biography; and the Mrs. Rosita Forbes travel picture, "From Red Sea to Blue Nile.”

From America there came a very fine version of "He Who Gets Slapped," produced by Victor Saestrom; D. W. Griffiths brought over "Isn't Life Wonderful? an artistic, though not a commercial success; Eric von Stroheim contributed the realistic "Greed," and the frivolous Merry Widow." Pioneering days in America were well depicted in North of 36" and "The Iron Horse." Mary Pickford returned to her child roles in "Little Annie Rooney," and Douglas Fairbanks gave his customary acrobatic display in "Don Q. of Zorro." Among the comedians Charlie Chaplin led the way with "The Gold Rush; Harold

Lloyd was seen in "Hot Water," and "College Days;" Syd Chaplin made a big success in Charlie's Aunt; and Buster Keaton scored heavily in "The Navigator."

From France we had "The Miracle of the Wolves," a stupendous historical picture; and the best German import was "The Last Laugh," starring Emil Jannings, who, at the close of the year, accepted an offer to go to America.

In February, the Capitol, a large cinema at the top of the Haymarket, was opened, and the Plaza, at the corner of Jermyn Street, is expected to be completed early in 1926.

On the technical side, C. Friese-Greene still further improved his colour pictures. In May the De Forest Phonofilms were demonstrated at Wembley, and it was found that the syncronisation was perfect. In July A. S. Cubitt showed a "stereoscopic " film at the Red Hall, Walham Green, and in August, at the Coliseum, a " plastic Cromatic film," the invention of an Italian, was shown.

IV. MUSIC.

As in several years past, while musical activities have been great, they have produced little or nothing to make the year 1925 memorable. The rage for music of extreme newness and of native composers seems to have gone the way of all such crazes, and in its place we have now a marked return to the classics. Mozart and Haydn, and perhaps even more Bach, are the most popular composers of the day from the point of view of the general public. But even so, though they may be considerably less expensive to produce because of the comparative cheapness of the actual music, and of the fact that no author's fees are required, audiences have increased not at all in number or in numbers. The situation throughout the musical world was of peculiar interest. For while in England there was hardly a trace of curiosity among the public for new works, in the U.S.A. orchestral concerts so abounded that there was a grave danger of the decay of orchestral music owing to the excessive repetition of the usual repertory. Conductors there were hard driven to find new works pregnant with a new and worthy idea. Here it was precisely those new works that failed to attract. It is true that during the year one solitary composition created an unusual impression. Gustav Holst's Choral Symphony, produced at the Leeds Festival under Albert Coates with the Leeds Festival Choir, and repeated a few days later in London with the same choir and conductor, was pronounced to be of the character that marks an epoch. But no further performance was given or even announced.

All this, however, does not indicate that music was at a standstill. The Royal Philharmonic, the New Queen's Hall Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and several more or less amateur orchestras gave concerts in series as usual. But the programmes were of a somewhat stereotyped order. Herbert Howell's pianoforte concerto, produced early in the year in Queen's Hall, brought forth from a certain section of the audience a verbal protest. But for the rest, nothing came to a hearing that created the least stir. On the other hand, there were several revivals

of neglected older works. A newcomer, Paul von Klenau, was responsible for a brilliant performance of Delius's "Mass of Life." Eugene Goossens introduced us to Honegger's " Pacific, 231" (the title of a new railway engine), about which there had been some discussion; Joseph Szigeti played for the first time a violin concerto by the neo-Russian composer Prokofieff; Sir Hamilton Harty, whose new Irish Symphony was produced in Manchester, where he conducts the Hallé Orchestra, brought the work to London, where it was played under his direction without striking a very deep note; Vaughan Williams's "Flos Campi," done at a Queen's Hall Symphony Concert, also proved a disappointment, beautiful though some of it may be; Baron Frederic D'Erlanger's Symphonic Concerto for pianoforte had a slight but momentary success at a London Symphony Orchestra concert when played as to the solo by José Iturbi; and Arnold Bax's choral work, "St. Patrick's Breastplate," was interesting. The British Women's Symphony Orchestra made considerable progress under the direction of Dr. Malcolm Sargent, and the British Broadcasting Company gave a series of orchestral concerts in Covent Garden with Sir Landon Ronald and Bruno Walter as conductors. A visit from the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra was most unduly timed for the summer, and unfortunately met with something like disaster.

In the realm of chamber music there was much to our credit, not, however, in the creative sense. We were visited by many foreign quartets, several of which were of first order of merit. Among them were the Lener from Buda Pesth, the Buda Pesth, the Rosé from Vienna, the Brussels and the Copenhagen, which played string chamber music. In addition there were concerts of high quality, also chamber concerts, but not restricted to string players, organised by Gerald Cooper, E. J. Moeran, and others. At these several new works were produced, namely, Van Dieren's Quartet, in which a double bass takes the place of the usual violoncello; Vaughan Williams's Concerto Accademico, played by Jelly d'Aranyi; and Herbert Howell's third violin sonata.

Choral societies were fully occupied, but generally in the revival or repetition of old and more or less familiar works. The Royal Choral Society revived Dame Ethel Smyth's "Mass in D" at one concert; the London Choral Society performed Elgar's "The Kingdom"; and the Alexandra Palace Choir, under Allen Gill, revived the same composer's "The Apostles." The Bach Choir, the Handel Society, the Westminster Choral Society, all did good work, as did the recently founded Civil Service Choir under Rutland Boughton. Much of the music of Orlando Gibbons was heard in the summer during the celebration of that musician's tercentenary.

As usual, many instrumentalists and vocalists visited this country from abroad, among them Paderewski, who early in the year gave several recitals in gratitude to the British nation, the proceeds, which amounted to many thousands of pounds, being given to the fund of the British. Legion. He received a knighthood from King George.

Opera played a considerable part in the summer season, but the British National Opera Company again flew signals of very considerable distress.

Perhaps it would be right to say that there was more talk about potential opera than of actual performance. Many schemes were mooted for the mitigation of the present sad condition of opera in English, and for the propagation of opera in any language. Dame Ethel Smyth offered a scheme that was to bar "grand" opera and confine itself to opéra comique in the strict sense; further, there was the vast scheme for an Opera Trust, which, if successful, was to settle all differences by doling out sums required to make both ends meet to such companies as failed in that desirable object. The De Lara scheme of the previous year was also occasionally mentioned. The British National Opera Company confined its London visit to a short period at Golders Green. Here they repeated Holst's "At the Boar's Head," which just previously the company had produced at Manchester. The Carl Rosa Company had a very successful season at the Lyceum Theatre in the summer. But the chief operatic interest rested with the London Opera Syndicate's two months' season at Covent Garden in May and June. The season began with a very successful series of performances of opera in German, followed by an almost equally successful season of opera in Italian. Again, Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier" proved a genuinely potent attraction, the house being sold out more than once. "Elektra" was completely unattractive from the public point of view, but there were heard fine performances of " Die Walküre," "Der Fliegende Holländer," "Lohengrin," "Die Meistersinger," and "Tristan," the last of which celebrated its hundredth performance at Covent Garden during the season. Most of the more distinguished singers of the previous year were again at Covent Garden in 1925-Lotte Lehmann, Gertrud Kapell, Delia Reinhardt (who made quite a sensation in " Aida," which she sang in Italian), Elizabeth Schumann, Olczewska, Richard Mayr, and Friedrich Schorr; while Bruno Walter again conducted. In the Italian season, Maria Jeritza appeared with success in Tosca," "Fédora," etc.; Toti dal Monte in "The Barber" and as Lucia; and Margaret Sheridan, an Irish girl from the Scala in Milan and a prime favourite in Italian opera houses, sang "Butterfly" and in "Andrier Chenier." The Norwegian Norena also reappeared as Gilda. The Royal College of Music revived Stanford's Shamus O'Brien" and Nicholas Gatty's "The Tempest; while at Cambridge Handel's Semele," and at Oxford Monteverde's "Orfeo," were performed.

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FINANCE AND COMMERCE IN 1925.

TAKING the world as a whole, a further improvement occurred in economic conditions in 1925, following the great depression which was caused by the European War of 1914-18. In some respects it was the most notable of the post-war years, for events of the greatest importance happened in Europe to mark the progress of economic reconstruction. The outstanding event was the restoration of the gold standard in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Holland, and the Dutch East Indies. The return to gold in Great Britain was made at the end of April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Winston Churchill) making the announcement in his Budget speech on April 28. He explained that since the spring of 1919, first under war legislation and later under the Gold and Silver Export Control Act of 1920, the export of gold coin and bullion from this country, except under license, had been prohibited. The Act was due to expire on December 31, 1925, and the question at issue was whether or not it should be renewed. Acting on the advice of a Treasury Committee, consisting of Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Lord Bradbury, Mr. Gaspard Farrer, Sir O. E. Niemeyer, and Professor Pigou, the Government decided to allow the Act to lapse and to permit exports of gold without license or restrictions of any kind. As the sterling exchange with American gold dollars had been steadily improving for months, and was within a few points of gold parity at the time of this announcement, it was decided to give a general license to the Bank of England for the export of gold and bullion from April 28. As, however, the issue of Treasury currency notes was uncovered to the extent of over 200 millions, Mr. Churchill explained it would not be possible, even after the system of license came to an end, to permit the full and unlimited convertibility of the note issue such as Great Britain practised before the war. Accordingly, a Bill was passed providing that Bank of England and Treasury notes should be convertible into coin only at the option of the Bank of England, and that the right to tender bullion at the Mint to be coined should be confined in future by law, as it had long been confined in practice, to the Bank of England. The Bank, however, was placed under an obligation to sell gold bullion in amounts of not less than 400 fine ounces in exchange for legal tender (currency notes and Bank notes) at the fixed Mint price of 31. 17s. 10d. per standard ounce. The country thereafter did not, in actual fact, return to a full-blown gold standard; it was, in effect, a kind of gold exchange standard, since there was no obligation to give gold for domestic purposes but only for payments abroad and in minimum amounts. The Government, to some extent, followed historic precedent. It was on February 1, 1820,