B01   1 **[045 TEXT B01**]
B01   2 *<*2EDITORIAL*>
B01   3 *<*4Dilemma of South Africa*>
B01   4    |^P*2RIME *0Minister after Prime Minister speaks out in revulsion
B01   5 against the South African Government's policy of apartheid as we wait
B01   6 for the curtain to rise on the Commonwealth Conference in London.
B01   7    |^Will it end with South Africa's exclusion from the Commonwealth?
B01   8 ^The issue is touch and go.
B01   9    |^There is a possibility that it will not be settled at this
B01  10 conference. ^It may be agreed to wait until South Africa actually
B01  11 becomes a Republic later in the year.
B01  12    |^But if a final decision is to be faced now, on which side do the
B01  13 strongest arguments lie?
B01  14 *<*6A MISTAKE*>
B01  15    |^*4T*2HE *0Archbishop of Capetown has shown that the matter is not
B01  16 clear-cut. ^The Archbishop has long been a courageous fighter against
B01  17 apartheid. ^He must be heard with attention.
B01  18    |^On purely practical grounds he holds that it would be a mistake
B01  19 to expel South Africa, weakening the whites who are working for a
B01  20 change of policy. ^In his view it would also be against the interests
B01  21 of the Africans.
B01  22    |^He holds that more pressure can be put on South Africa while she
B01  23 remains in the Commonwealth than could be exercised were she cut off
B01  24 from it.
B01  25    |^On the other hand, those who favour expulsion, including African
B01  26 leaders, feel that nothing less than the shock of expulsion will
B01  27 weaken the grip of \0Dr. Verwoerd and the Nationalists. ^They point
B01  28 out that \0Dr. Verwoerd refuses to consider abandoning the apartheid
B01  29 policy.
B01  30 *<*6WIDER PICTURE*>
B01  31    |^*4T*2HE *0Commonwealth is a multi-racial society. ^A policy of
B01  32 racial discrimination in any of its countries is surely the one thing
B01  33 that it could not survive.
B01  34    |^Whatever statesmen say at the conference table in London,
B01  35 millions at home would regard as fraudulent a Commonwealth which had
B01  36 room for a racist South Africa. ^And this is a Commonwealth in which
B01  37 five citizens are coloured for every one who is white.
B01  38    |^Seen in this wider picture, a South Africa that clings to
B01  39 apartheid is a menace to the Commonwealth and a liability to the whole
B01  40 Western world.
B01  41    |^A practical solution would be for the Commonwealth to draft a set
B01  42 of principles excluding race discrimination. ^And so leave South
B01  43 Africa to make the grade, or go out.
B01  44 *<*4The Queen's return*>
B01  45    |^T*2HE *0Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh come home tonight from
B01  46 their tour in the East.
B01  47    |^The duke's trigger-finger and the ritual slaughter of beasts have
B01  48 taken the headlines in this country.
B01  49    |^Nevertheless, the tour has been an immense success. ^The Queen
B01  50 has won a triumph.
B01  51    |^It would be pleasanter if such cruel and feudal performances as
B01  52 tiger and rhino hunts were dropped from future Royal programmes. ^But
B01  53 the Queen and the Duke have pleased millions by their visit. ^The
B01  54 warmth of their welcome in India and Pakistan are happy memories.
B01  55 *<*4Becoming a better neighbour*>
B01  56    |^W*2EST GERMANY*- *0followed yesterday by the Dutch*- has made the
B01  57 gesture of a good neighbour. ^She has put up the value of her money.
B01  58    |^Certainly, the rise is very small. ^But it is a step in the
B01  59 direction of live-and-let-live.
B01  60    |^Hopes will now grow brighter of further international
B01  61 co-operation, which is the only way to solve the payments difficulties
B01  62 that upset the Western world.
B01  63    |^Britain and the {0U.S.}, which have problems with their
B01  64 balances, will gain some immediate help. ^What it means in practical
B01  65 terms is that our exports to Germany will now be a little cheaper for
B01  66 Germans to buy, while the goods which Germany exports will be made a
B01  67 little dearer.
B01  68 *<*6UNPOPULAR*>
B01  69    |^*4B*2OOMING *0Germany is deliberately encouraging more imports as
B01  70 a means to curb rising prices at home.
B01  71    |^She is also aware how unpopular she has been growing by failing
B01  72 until now to co-operate as a creditor nation should.
B01  73    |^Germany exports much more than she imports. ^For upwards of five
B01  74 years the world's reserves of dollars have been drained into Germany.
B01  75 ^There they have stayed uselessly locked up because Germany has no
B01  76 tradition of trading abroad.
B01  77    |^In addition the strength of Germany's trading position has
B01  78 attracted speculators to hold marks rather than pounds or dollars,
B01  79 hoping for the mark to rise, as has now happened.
B01  80 *<*6IS IT ENOUGH?*>
B01  81    |^W*2ILL *0the new valuation be enough to correct Germany's massive
B01  82 trading surplus and choke off speculation against dollar and pound?
B01  83 ^That is doubtful.
B01  84    |^If, however, in addition to her new good-neighbour gesture,
B01  85 Germany takes a really big share in giving aid to underdeveloped
B01  86 nations, the world outlook will be brighter.
B01  87    |^What gives rise to optimism is the sign that Germany and the
B01  88 other leading Western nations are at long last moving towards a
B01  89 solution of currency problems by co-operation.
B01  90 *<*4An advertisement*>
B01  91    |^A *2CURIOUS *0advertisement appears on page nine, paid for by
B01  92 that curious body Moral Re-Armament. ^Those who lend their names to
B01  93 this kind of advertisement are worthy people, a little innocent of
B01  94 politics, perhaps, or carried away by the idea that moral regeneration
B01  95 would solve all our problems. ^So it would. ^While we are waiting for
B01  96 the millenium, however, most of us would prefer to put our hopes for
B01  97 earthly justice in instruments of democracy, such as trade unions and
B01  98 our local and national Parliaments.
B01  99    |^Should the *1Herald *0publish such advertisements? ^This is a
B01 100 difficult question. ^It would obviously be wrong to refuse all
B01 101 political advertisements with which we disagree. ^When an
B01 102 advertisement contains statements whose factual truth is doubtful, or
B01 103 where the total content would be deeply repugnant to our readers, it
B01 104 is right to exercise editorial discretion. ^The {0MRA} advertisement
B01 105 falls into neither category, though many readers will dislike it. ^We
B01 106 publish it in the belief that the alert readers of the *1Herald *0will
B01 107 not be beguiled by this kind of soft-soap.
B01 108 *<*4The hard way of peace*>
B01 109    |^T*2HE *0authority of the United Nations has suffered grave injury
B01 110 in the Congo. ^It must be restored.
B01 111    |^A United Nations force composed of 135 Sudanese has been disarmed
B01 112 and expelled from the supply port of Matadi, after being heavily
B01 113 attacked by a much stronger force of Colonel Mobutu's Congolese
B01 114 troops.
B01 115    |^The first reaction of the Sudanese Government was to denounce the
B01 116 United Nations for *"negligence and impotence,**" and to say that its
B01 117 400 troops in the Congo would be taken home.
B01 118    |^The reaction can be understood. ^The Sudan's concern for its men
B01 119 is natural. ^But this could hardly be a dignified exit.
B01 120 *<*6WRONG TARGET*>
B01 121    |^*4I*2F *0the {0UN} is blamed for being weak, it would be more
B01 122 logical to send in more men, not weaken it further by desertion.
B01 123    |^It is unjust to pass the buck to \0Mr. Hammarskjold and the
B01 124 {0UN}'s servants. ^The responsibility rightly belongs to the nations
B01 125 which have undertaken the task of preserving peace in the Congo. ^That
B01 126 is not a ceremonial duty, and the soldiers have every right to blame
B01 127 the politicians unless they see it through.
B01 128    |^When the United Nations instructed \0Mr. Hammarskjold to use
B01 129 force if necessary to prevent civil war, it was clear that new dangers
B01 130 would arise unless it gave him the physical power to comply with the
B01 131 policy. ^That was the first point that \0Mr. Hammarskjold made.
B01 132    |^India has responded handsomely by providing 3,000 men, who must
B01 133 take about a fortnight to arrive. ^If the {0UN} forces were thick
B01 134 enough on the ground, such incidents as that at Matadi would not
B01 135 happen.
B01 136 *<*6{0U.S.} SHIPS*>
B01 137    |^*4T*2HE {0UN}'*0s ability to keep peace depends simply on
B01 138 adequate support by the nations which have set their hands to this
B01 139 plough.
B01 140    |^The big Powers involved in the Cold War must of course keep out.
B01 141 ^The Americans were justified in diverting naval ships in case
B01 142 non-combatant help was wanted; but they stressed that there was no
B01 143 intention to intervene in fighting. ^Yesterday the ships turned away
B01 144 again, satisfied that they were not required.
B01 145    |^It is to be hoped that the {0UN} will be re-established in
B01 146 their port by negotiation and that there will be no more outrages.
B01 147 ^But back, \0Mr. Hammarskjold is determined, they must go.
B01 148    |^The best news for the Congo would be agreement between its rival
B01 149 political leaders. ^Through the patient efforts of {0UN}
B01 150 conciliators they are meeting for the first time, in Malagasy
B01 151 (formerly Madagascar).
B01 152 *<*6ONLY SAFEGUARD*>
B01 153    |^*4T*2HE *0world will sigh with relief when this strife-torn land
B01 154 gets itself a government which all outsiders can recognise.
B01 155    |^Nobody will want to police the Congo when the Congo itself can do
B01 156 the job. ^All the {0UN} contingents will be glad to go home.
B01 157    |^Meanwhile every statesman in Africa must realise that there must
B01 158 be far worse consequences if the {0UN} had to abandon its task.
B01 159 ^Small nations would not remain free for long in this world if the
B01 160 {0UN} was not their bulwark.
B01 161 *<*4The smile on the face of Verwoerd*>
B01 162    |^*4T*2HE *0British public has now had the chance to take a
B01 163 close-up look at \0Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South
B01 164 Africa, the foremost apostle of the pernicious doctrine of *"racial
B01 165 purity.**"
B01 166    |^He has made a strong impression. ^But not, perhaps, quite the
B01 167 impression that he intended.
B01 168    |^For most people the sight of that bland, unctuous, impregnably
B01 169 righteous face, wreathed in smiles, has been enough to make their
B01 170 blood run cold.
B01 171    |^Some misguided people might have a sneaking sympathy for a man
B01 172 who defends a racial policy on supposedly practical grounds. ^At least
B01 173 it would be possible to argue with him rationally.
B01 174    |^But a man who believes, like \0Dr. Verwoerd, that a basically
B01 175 evil policy is good, that it has the sanction of religion and is a
B01 176 bulwark of Christianity, is beyond the reach of reason.
B01 177 *<*6COCOONED*>
B01 178    |^*4O*2NLY *0a man wrapped in the impenetrable cocoon of what he
B01 179 regards as a divine mission could have spoken of apartheid as *"a
B01 180 policy of good neighbourliness.**"
B01 181    |^We may be sure that he is not being hypocritical. ^That is what
B01 182 he really believes.
B01 183    |^A good neighbour to those Africans who, under apartheid, will be
B01 184 forced back to their tribal reserves with no prospect but a cramped
B01 185 and primitive existence.
B01 186    |^A good neighbour to those Africans who will continue to live as
B01 187 hewers of wood and drawers of water in the white areas of South
B01 188 Africa, without rights and without hope.
B01 189 *<*6NIGHTMARE*>
B01 190    |^*4T*2HE *0same sort of good neighbour that he proved to be to the
B01 191 Jews fleeing from Hitler in the thirties. ^It was \0Dr. Verwoerd who
B01 192 led a protest against admitting any of them because they would
B01 193 *"defile**" the national white stock.
B01 194    |^It is impossible to make contact with \0Dr. Verwoerd in his
B01 195 nightmare world. ^It is this that makes illusory any hopes that he may
B01 196 be influenced to change course.
B01 197    |^The Archbishop of Capetown, \0Dr. Joost \de Blank, has pleaded
B01 198 that South Africa should be allowed to stay in the Commonwealth.
B01 199 ^Otherwise, he says, those inside the country who still oppose
B01 200 apartheid will be left even more isolated and alone.
B01 201    |^The views of the Archbishop, who has maintained an unflinching
B01 202 witness to what Christianity really means, must carry weight.
B01 203    |^But what, in fact, can the other Commonwealth countries do to
B01 204 bring support and comfort to this gallant minority?
B01 205 *<*6EXPULSION?*>
B01 206    |^*4T*2HERE *0is no evidence that the policy of appeasement has
B01 207 modified the actions of the Nationalists. ^On the contrary, apartheid
B01 208 is being applied ever more ruthlessly.
B01 209    |^The shock of expulsion from the Commonwealth now seems to be the
B01 210 only way left to try to bring home to the people of South Africa that
B01 211 \0Dr. Verwoerd is leading them to disaster.
B01 212    |^It may be that the Commonwealth Prime Ministers will decide
B01 213 against this final step.
B01 214    |^If that is their decision they should also go unequivocally on
B01 215 record that they regard apartheid as evil and indefensible.
B01 216    |^Unless they do at least that, \0Dr. Verwoerd will be able to
B01 217 return home claiming a triumph. ^His smile will be blander than ever.
B01 218 *<*4The old routine*>
B01 219    |^W*2E *0are in for it again: another Royal Wedding. ^Between now
B01 220 and June, when the Duke of Kent will marry Miss Worsley, hardly a day
B01 221 will pass without a story or a picture or probably both, about the
B01 222 nuptial arrangements.
B01 223    |^Men readers may grow more than a little weary of it all. ^So may
B01 224 a few emancipated women who pride themselves on their commonsense.
B01 225 *# 2010
B02   1 **[046 TEXT B02**]
B02   2 *<*4Time to start talking*>
B02   3    |^*0One of the grim oddities of the Berlin crisis is that everyone
B02   4 is in favour of talking but nobody seems to know how to start. The
B02   5 State Department keeps approving of *"meaningful negotiations**" and
B02   6 so even does President \de Gaulle, though his notion of what makes
B02   7 talks useful or timely is a lot more restrictive than other people's.
B02   8 ^In the intervals of bandying about threats of annihilation \0Mr
B02   9 Khrushchev too sees *"a glimmer of hope**" for talks, preferably on
B02  10 terms that would give him right from the start everything he wants.
B02  11 ^Yet hardly anything is done to bring talks nearer. ^On the Western
B02  12 side the chief obstacles, apart from the stiffening of the diplomatic
B02  13 joints which afflicts everybody, have been two: the West German
B02  14 election campaign and the objections of France. ^When the Western
B02  15 Foreign Ministers meet in Washington tomorrow the first of these will
B02  16 be nearly out of the way. ^It will be time for the Ministers to get
B02  17 down in earnest to the business of working out a common approach to
B02  18 Russia on Germany and Berlin.
B02  19    |^The means of setting talks going are clear enough provided that
B02  20 the Soviet Government wishes to talk at all. ^The session of the
B02  21 United Nations Assembly which opens on Tuesday should anyhow bring
B02  22 together the Foreign Ministers of Britain, the United States, and
B02  23 Russia. ^The French Government largely ignores the *"tumultuous and
B02  24 scandalous**" Assembly. But that might give President \de Gaulle a
B02  25 convenient excuse for keeping out of talks if he still thought this
B02  26 was not the time to start them. ^What seems certain is that those who
B02  27 advocate putting off any approach until \0Mr Krushchev gives evidence
B02  28 of a change of heart (whatever that may mean) would have us run risks
B02  29 greater than the West ought to run*- and greater than President
B02  30 Kennedy's most influential advisers seem disposed to face. ^The real
B02  31 question is what we should put to the Soviet Government as a basis for
B02  32 talks: and that means working out what we know to be the essential
B02  33 interests of the West in Berlin and what we suppose that the Soviet
B02  34 Government may now be after.
B02  35    |^The West needs to make it absolutely clear that the freedom of
B02  36 West Berlin and free access to it are vital interests not to be
B02  37 retreated from in the present state of Europe. ^Yet the question
B02  38 remains, as before: is the Soviet Government interested chiefly in
B02  39 sealing off East Germany and securing some kind of general recognition
B02  40 for it? ^Or is it determined to do away with the freedom of West
B02  41 Berlin and free access to it (on the excuse of keeping out
B02  42 *"revanchists**" and so on) at almost any risk? ^If the first, the
B02  43 signs now are that Britain and the United States at all events might
B02  44 well exchange some kind of recognition for an up to date guarantee of
B02  45 access, perhaps to be supervised by a commission of the four powers
B02  46 and the two Germanies, and that West Germany might well fall in with
B02  47 this, however reluctantly. ^(\0Mr Diefenbaker's proposal of United
B02  48 Nations supervision has the drawback that, like other proposed ways of
B02  49 bringing in the United Nations, it would presumably mean admitting
B02  50 both Germanies to the organisation*- and that would be a lot for a lot
B02  51 of people to swallow all at once). ^If, however, the Soviet Government
B02  52 seems determined to swallow up West Berlin then there is little for
B02  53 the West to do except stand firm.
B02  54    |^This is where many people see with horror the prospect of a
B02  55 nuclear war: if everyone stands firm, they ask, will not the next step
B02  56 be a clash leading inexorably to mutual annihilation? ^After looking
B02  57 upon such a prospect Bertrand Russell has chosen to take the way of
B02  58 civil disobedience and go to prison. ^All honour to him for acting
B02  59 once again on his beliefs whatever the consequences. ^But those who
B02  60 differ with his analysis are not necessarily less concerned at the
B02  61 dreadful risks we all run. ^Nor need they be less concerned than \0Mr
B02  62 Victor Gollancz, who in a letter on this page proposes that \0Mr
B02  63 Macmillan should proclaim his readiness to negotiate *"naked**" and
B02  64 unconditionally for the sake of saving the world. ^Why this should
B02  65 move our allies or \0Mr Khrushchev*- or indeed what it would mean*- is
B02  66 not clear. ^The choice lies not between nuclear war and Soviet
B02  67 domination; it lies between the constant risk that attends the
B02  68 exchanges of human beings formidably armed and the perilous
B02  69 self-dissolution of the West that would come of a surrender of West
B02  70 Berlin. ^On this reading what \0Mr Gollancz calls manoeuvring, and
B02  71 what we should call cool-headed and inventive negotiation, is a means
B02  72 not to destruction but to safety.
B02  73 *<*4Second revise*>
B02  74    |^*0The Government's pompous little statement on Northern Rhodesia
B02  75 does not say much, but it says what is necessary*- that the Northern
B02  76 Rhodesia Constitution is open to revision. ^This is news, however much
B02  77 the Government tries to disguise it by saying that the revision would
B02  78 be *"in accordance with normal practice.**" ^The formula which has
B02  79 caused all the trouble is itself a revision, brought about in
B02  80 deference to Sir Roy Welensky, of proposals which the Colonial
B02  81 Secretary tabled in February; *"reasonable representations,**" which
B02  82 the Government now invites, have been made against it for many weeks.
B02  83 ^The Government is now saying that consideration of these reasonable
B02  84 representations is being delayed by the outbreak of violence. ^In
B02  85 fact, the cart and the horse are the other way round: the violence
B02  86 broke out because the reasonable representations went unheeded.
B02  87    |^The request which all interested parties (except the United
B02  88 Federal) have made is that the Legislative Council elected under \0Mr
B02  89 Macleod's system of three blocks of seats shall contain a
B02  90 representative majority. ^Formula One, which appeared in February,
B02  91 appeared to make this likely; Formula Two, which appeared in June,
B02  92 made it very unlikely; if Formula Three restores the original
B02  93 principle, that is all that need be required of it. ^It is a pity that
B02  94 the Government should ever have been led away from this principle. ^It
B02  95 is a great pity that the Government should give the appearance of
B02  96 responding, not to \0Mr Kaunda's reasonable representations, but to
B02  97 the violence which he tried to prevent.
B02  98 *<*4Programme for Katanga*>
B02  99    |^*0The United Nations had already had a bad press before reports
B02 100 were received yesterday of alleged indiscipline by some of its troops
B02 101 in Elisabethville. ^A full account of these incidents will no doubt be
B02 102 demanded by the General Assembly next week.
B02 103    |^The general feeling is that if the United Nations wanted to clean
B02 104 up the Congo it could have started with stables more Augean than \0M.
B02 105 Tshombe's. ^But Katanga has for so long been represented*- not
B02 106 altogether falsely*- as a secure and industrious little state beset by
B02 107 wild and envious politicians that its less agreeable side has been
B02 108 overlooked. ^It can equally be seen as an alliance between \0M.
B02 109 Tshombe and the Union Miniere (which has a substantial British
B02 110 shareholding) to apply the huge copper revenues properly belonging to
B02 111 the whole Congo for the unbalanced development of only a part of it.
B02 112 ^A long time will be needed, of course, to bridge the gap between the
B02 113 admirable industrial welfare services provided for copper employees
B02 114 and the general lot of rural Congolese. ^This will be true however the
B02 115 money is shared. ^But the disproportion between Katanga's
B02 116 happy-go-lucky expansion and the perpetual Budget deficits of the
B02 117 Congolese Central Government has for too long been an obstacle to the
B02 118 rebuilding of the Congo.
B02 119    |^It is odd that the very people who apply this argument to the
B02 120 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and who blanch at the thought of
B02 121 losing Northern Rhodesia's copper revenues, should not see that it
B02 122 applies even more forcibly to the Congo, where there is little light
B02 123 industry and no European agriculture (apart from the plantations) to
B02 124 bolster up the rest of the economy. ^The explanation may be that in
B02 125 neither case is the argument disinterested. ^\0M. Tshombe has once or
B02 126 twice been brought to see the discrepancy, and has even talked of
B02 127 sharing his revenues. ^But he has never signed the cheque.
B02 128    |^Independent Katanga has never, in truth, looked like a permanent
B02 129 proposition, which is why no country has recognised it, and why most
B02 130 of the Europeans serving in its forces have been ne'er-do-wells. ^The
B02 131 jolt had to come; and unfortunately it does not seem to have come as
B02 132 cheaply as at first appeared. ^\0Dr O'Brien may have taken one of the
B02 133 tides in the affairs of men; omitted, Katanga might have straggled on
B02 134 to a worse tragedy.
B02 135    |^It remains to consolidate the reunion of Katanga with the Congo,
B02 136 and for this purpose the Central Government is sending a commissioner
B02 137 formerly associated with \0M. Gizenga's Stanleyville regime. ^The
B02 138 development may sound more sinister than it is. ^\0M. Gizenga has
B02 139 notably failed to make capital out of his succession to Lumumba: it is
B02 140 too early to say that he is not a Marxist at all, but if he is he
B02 141 comes from a peculiarly Congolese strain. ^The Russians seem to have
B02 142 no time for him. ^Thus his accomplice now sent to Elisabethville may
B02 143 be no more than a personification of the Central Government's new
B02 144 authority. ^But this is not the way for the Congo-Katanga dispute to
B02 145 be ended.
B02 146    |^The key to a solution surely lies in the continued recognition by
B02 147 the United Nations of \0M. Tshombe as President of Katanga Province.
B02 148 ^If he has taken flight he should be invited to return to head the
B02 149 provincial Government. ^An attempt has already been made to organise
B02 150 the Congolese States into a confederation. ^Now that President Tshombe
B02 151 has been shown that independence is not allowed he should strive for
B02 152 as much provincial autonomy as the other States will give him. ^He
B02 153 should not despair of keeping a large part of his copper revenue.
B02 154 ^\0Dr O'Brien has praised the valour of Katanga soldiers. ^\0M.
B02 155 Tshombe should not encourage them to drive the point home. ^Instead of
B02 156 putting up a desperate resistance he should spend an hour reading the
B02 157 Nigerian Constitution.
B02 158 *<*4The first step*>
B02 159    |^*0It is encouraging news that \0Mr Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign
B02 160 Minister, will meet \0Mr Dean Rusk in New York next week for a talk
B02 161 about German problems. ^The Soviet Government has lost no time in
B02 162 taking up President Kennedy's suggestion, made on Wednesday, that such
B02 163 a meeting should be arranged while \0Mr Gromyko is over for the United
B02 164 Nations General Assembly.
B02 165    |^No one supposes that \0Mr Gromyko and \0Mr Rusk will settle the
B02 166 problems of Berlin and the two Germanys on their own. ^But, as \0Mr
B02 167 Modibo Keita said after his talk with \0Mr Kennedy on Wednesday, a
B02 168 Summit meeting must be prepared at a lower diplomatic level. ^This is
B02 169 the necessary first step. ^And indeed it is the first time since the
B02 170 crisis began that any specific arrangement for serious discussion
B02 171 between the two sides has been made. ^There have been plenty of
B02 172 general declarations about willingness to meet and talk, but
B02 173 conspicuously no mention of time and place. ^To be able to say *"New
B02 174 York next week**" is an important advance. ^We must not be
B02 175 overconfident that this meeting will lead on to further and decisive
B02 176 ones; but without it, we could not look for them.
B02 177 *<*4Getting it over*>
B02 178    |^*0Federal Germany votes tomorrow and not a day too soon. ^There
B02 179 can seldom have been an election campaign which more people in and out
B02 180 of the country wanted to see over and done with. ^To Germany's Western
B02 181 allies the campaign has been a millstone weighing down and almost
B02 182 paralysing their efforts to work out sensible ways of dealing with the
B02 183 Berlin crisis. ^It need not have been such a burden if Western
B02 184 Governments had not been convinced that they must do nothing to harm
B02 185 even remotely \0Dr Adenauer's chances of being returned as Chancellor.
B02 186 ^But they were so convinced and they have had to take the
B02 187 consequences. ^Meanwhile in Germany itself the course of the campaign
B02 188 has dismayed a good many people: they too will be glad when the
B02 189 polling stations close.
B02 190 *# 2016
B03   1 **[047 TEXT B03**]
B03   2 *<*6ACROSS BARRIERS*>
B03   3    |^*0The third assembly of the World Council of Churches in Delhi
B03   4 has added substance to the aspiration of its title. ^The entry of the
B03   5 Russian Orthodox Church and its sisters in Bulgaria, Poland, and
B03   6 Rumania has had two stimulating effects. ^Some east European churches
B03   7 had been members already, and one major meeting was held in Hungary in
B03   8 1956, but only now is the Christian witness in communist countries
B03   9 strongly represented. ^Although the Roman Catholics are no more than
B03  10 observers, the charge of pan-protestantism loses its validity. ^The
B03  11 other Orthodox churches and the Old Catholics in the council are no
B03  12 longer a few among the many that come from the world of the
B03  13 Reformation. ^At the same time the evangelical complexion of the
B03  14 council grows stronger through the integration with the International
B03  15 Missionary Council and the admission of growing communions in South
B03  16 America and newly independent churches in Africa. ^There are now twice
B03  17 as many churches from these continents and from Asia as there were at
B03  18 the first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. ^The approach to universality
B03  19 is gratifying. ^It has its complications.
B03  20    |^Many of the churches which came together at Amsterdam thirteen
B03  21 years ago had long cooperated in the two movements*- Faith and Order
B03  22 and Life and Work*- whose confluence formed the council. ^Cooperation
B03  23 since then has steadily grown. ^The entry this year of so many
B03  24 churches unaccustomed to these ecumenical encounters may hold up the
B03  25 movement towards closer cooperation for a time. ^There will have to be
B03  26 wider geographical representation on the central committee and other
B03  27 continuing bodies and this may be at the cost of some efficiency.
B03  28 ^Unanimity will come less easily. ^The Anglican and main Protestant
B03  29 communions readily agree on many questions, such as birth control and
B03  30 the population explosion, which the presence in strength of the
B03  31 Orthodox churches makes more contentious. ^On the other hand, there
B03  32 has been a striking agreement on the delicate matter of defining the
B03  33 actual theological basis of the council itself.
B03  34    |^Such a body cannot address itself successfully to many of the
B03  35 immediate temporal issues. ^It should seek and share guidance not on
B03  36 what is to be done in such and such a special field but on the
B03  37 criteria by which the Christian should be guided. ^The declaration on
B03  38 racialism could reasonably be unequivocal, although it has cost the
B03  39 allegiance of the Dutch churches in South Africa. ^But discussion on
B03  40 current points of east-west conflict could not go much farther than,
B03  41 for example, the truism that policies of menace and mutual disarmament
B03  42 cannot be followed together. ^What the council has done*- and it is an
B03  43 achievement*- is to make religious contact across the greatest
B03  44 political barrier in what is not yet a unitary world. ^In the words of
B03  45 one Russian delegate, older churches like his own have personally
B03  46 discovered younger churches for the first time.
B03  47    |^The theme of facing together the broader tasks that can be
B03  48 tackled only together ran through speech after speech. ^It is worth
B03  49 recalling the prophetic words in 1938 of \0*2DR. {0J. H.} OLDHAM,
B03  50 *0elected honorary president at Delhi:*-
B03  51 **[BEGIN QUOTE**]
B03  52    |^Study must be undertaken by the churches in common, for the new
B03  53 forces are world forces; they will sooner or later affect the life of
B03  54 every church, and it is therefore essential that on this point the
B03  55 churches should learn from each other and share with each other
B03  56 whatever light God has given them in their attempt to face new and
B03  57 unprecedented situations.
B03  58 **[END QUOTE**]
B03  59    |^The shifting weight from western to eastern communities
B03  60 emphasizes the challenge to the receptivity of individual churches.
B03  61 ^The effect of the assembly will depend on the willingness of parishes
B03  62 and congregations to respond to the call to fresh service, and to
B03  63 assimilate into their daily witness the common thought of the member
B03  64 churches.
B03  65    |^One of the duties of the assembly is to set the standards for
B03  66 continuing common study and action. ^Since the last assembly help for
B03  67 refugees of every faith has been extended to cover more of the world
B03  68 and different needs. ^It is now perhaps the best known ecumenical
B03  69 activity. ^Here again, however, the new and enlarged council speaks
B03  70 with different voices and stresses. ^In the Russian Orthodox Church
B03  71 the council has incorporated a community with a distinctive tradition
B03  72 of Christian witness, emphasizing devotion and not social work. ^In
B03  73 abstaining from voting on the resolution which extended the definition
B03  74 of religious liberty to political opinions the Russians in Delhi
B03  75 followed a tradition far older than 1917. ^Their position is close to
B03  76 the statement at Evanston in 1954 by *2PROFESSOR HROMADKA, *0of
B03  77 Prague, who is an evangelical:*-
B03  78 **[BEGIN QUOTE**]
B03  79    |^The Church marches through our secular world avoiding and
B03  80 rejecting identification with any human absolute and rejecting also
B03  81 any efforts to look for an absolute evil in any secular institution or
B03  82 in any man. ^We must not apply human, civil, or political categories
B03  83 of freedom to the church.
B03  84 **[END QUOTE**]
B03  85    |^Some problems of such a world meeting remain unresolved. ^A
B03  86 thousand delegates are too many for corporate thinking, but corporate
B03  87 thinking there must be if all member churches are to have an effective
B03  88 voice in deciding future lines of cooperation. ^The aspiration of
B03  89 visible as opposed to merely *"spiritual**" unity was endorsed at
B03  90 Delhi; but it is doubtful if it was greatly advanced*- or, indeed,
B03  91 could be so at so comprehensive an assembly.
B03  92 *<*4A Man of Peace*>
B03  93    |^*0Although he is no longer a titular chief *2ALBERT LUTHULI *0is
B03  94 in the truest sense of the word a leader of his people in South
B03  95 Africa. ^His arrival with his wife in Britain on a flying visit before
B03  96 he goes on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo will give British
B03  97 people a chance that they gladly take of expressing their admiration
B03  98 for his courage, sincerity, and restraint. ^It is ironical that he
B03  99 should reach Europe only a few days before the Republic of South
B03 100 Africa will be celebrating the annual holiday which in origin
B03 101 commemorates the victory of the Voortrekkers over the Zulu Impis at
B03 102 Blood River.
B03 103    |^\0*2MR. LUTHULI, *0who belongs to that proud and warlike people,
B03 104 is one of those Africans who have buried the hatchet. ^He has always
B03 105 shown himself ready*- and no one who knows him can doubt his
B03 106 sincerity*- to lead the Zulus and others down the paths of peace.
B03 107 ^Coexistence with their white neighbours on terms of mutual
B03 108 self-respect has been his ideal. ^A forward looking Government would
B03 109 have understood the significance of this powerful encouragement to
B03 110 moderation and would have taken \0*2MR. LUTHULI *0into its counsels.
B03 111 ^Unfortunately it is looking backwards that has prevailed. ^Those who
B03 112 put \0*2MR. LUTHULI *0into prison and then placed indefensible
B03 113 restrictions on his rights as a man have never forgotten Blood River.
B03 114 ^They live in a perpetual state of mental laager. ^They can see
B03 115 \0*2MR. LUTHULI *0only over the sights of their rifles.
B03 116    |^Even the permission given to leave the native land which is half
B03 117 a gaol for him is grudging and qualified. ^The *2MINISTER *0of the
B03 118 *2INTERIOR *0emphasized, when his passport was granted, that in the
B03 119 opinion of the South African Government \0*2MR. LUTHULI *0did not
B03 120 measure up to the international standard laid down for the award of
B03 121 the Nobel Peace Prize. ^The South African Government is the last
B03 122 quarter to which any reasonable man would refer on such an issue. ^The
B03 123 decision of the Swedish judges has rightly been applauded in all
B03 124 countries that believe in freedom and scorn racial injustice. ^\0*2MR.
B03 125 LUTHULI *0cannot speak freely to us. ^But he must draw encouragement
B03 126 from the reception that he will receive here and elsewhere on his
B03 127 journey. ^*"Who will deny**", he has said sadly, *"that thirty years
B03 128 of my life have been spent in knocking in vain at a closed and barred
B03 129 door?**" ^Alas, no one can deny it. ^But that is all the more reason
B03 130 for saluting a veteran fighter for peace.
B03 131 *<*4Hire-Purchase*>
B03 132    |^*0With the first and fundamental clause of \0*2MR. {0W. T.}
B03 133 WILLIAMS'S *0Hire-Purchase Bill general agreement can be expected. ^An
B03 134 increasingly important weakness of the existing legislation (the 1938
B03 135 Act as amended in 1954) is that, apart from livestock, it governs only
B03 136 agreements involving goods worth *+300 or less. ^As the Conservative
B03 137 Political Centre report on consumer protection recently pointed out,
B03 138 both inflation and affluence have made it reasonable to raise the
B03 139 limits for all agreements to *+1,000*- the level already established
B03 140 for livestock. ^\0*2MR. WILLIAMS *0sets out to achieve this. ^The
B03 141 existing limits have long been out of date, especially since the
B03 142 growth of car hire-purchase, and most citizens' advice bureaux could
B03 143 probably produce cases illustrating the difficulties and abuses which
B03 144 have arisen as a result.
B03 145    |^The efforts of \0*2MR. WILLIAMS *0to make the terms of agreements
B03 146 even clearer to the customer are also to be commended. ^The
B03 147 notification he envisages must be given at least two days before the
B03 148 agreement is signed. ^To this there will be some opposition. ^The Bill
B03 149 is short and modest in scope, and it is doubtful whether the other
B03 150 Private Members' Bills in the offing will fill all the gaps. ^This
B03 151 fact may give the Government an extra excuse for counselling patience
B03 152 until the next report from the Molony committee. ^Comprehensive
B03 153 legislation is obviously preferable. ^They should not, however,
B03 154 disdain this opportunity of obtaining a useful sample of parliamentary
B03 155 opinion by at least allowing these Bills a fair run.
B03 156 *<*4By Degrees*>
B03 157    |^*0Centigrade \0v. Fahrenheit. ^The fight is on. ^The challenger
B03 158 has behind it not only the authority of the *2SECRETARY *0of *2STATE
B03 159 *0for *2AIR *0but also the backing of the *2DIRECTOR GENERAL *0of the
B03 160 Meteorological Office. ^The press and the broadcasting authorities are
B03 161 asked to help. ^To begin with, both temperatures will be put in the
B03 162 ring together. ^*2SIR GRAHAM SUTTON, *0however, made no bones about it
B03 163 yesterday. ^The purpose is to give fahrenheit the knock out. ^The
B03 164 backers of centigrade would have got off to a better start if they had
B03 165 taken more pains to explain the advantages to the general public of
B03 166 the change. ^It is true that *2SIR GRAHAM *0said there is at the
B03 167 moment *"an awful mess up**" in the measurement of temperatures.
B03 168 ^This, however, seems a matter of the convenience of specialists. ^The
B03 169 ordinary British man and woman is conscious of no difficulty. ^Rather
B03 170 than fifty million people having to be put out for the sake of 50,000
B03 171 is there any reason why the centigrade countries should not change to
B03 172 fahrenheit? ^Can it be shown that the one scale is demonstrably better
B03 173 than the other?
B03 174    |^The centigraders may be in for a stiffer fight than they think.
B03 175 ^They may have to call up the reinforcement of the Common Market.
B03 176 ^Even then it might be easier to persuade the British public to go
B03 177 over to decimal coinage*- in certain circumstances the time would come
B03 178 when this would suit their convenience*- rather than to change their
B03 179 system of recording temperatures. ^In any case, fahrenheit need not
B03 180 lose heart. ^Once before, and that not so long ago, the authorities
B03 181 ganged up to alter the habits of the people. ^That effort was to
B03 182 enforce the adoption of the twenty-four hour clock. ^Then, also, the
B03 183 {0*2B.B.C.} *0were roped in. ^The only result was that the
B03 184 well-meaning corporation became very unpopular. ^So much so that the
B03 185 new system, which was inaugurated in April, 1934, was thrown out in
B03 186 August of the same year. ^It is generally a sign that Governments are
B03 187 balked in the big things when they cannot leave the little, familiar
B03 188 ways of life alone.
B03 189 *<*4Summons to the Unknown*>
B03 190    |^*0One of the little trials that a man must learn to bear when he
B03 191 admits the telephone to his home is that, when he hurries to its side
B03 192 to answer a call, it will sometimes stop ringing before he gets there.
B03 193 ^He is dividing the dahlias at the bottom of the garden, or hanging a
B03 194 critical bit of wallpaper in the spare bedroom, or delicately
B03 195 adjusting the car in the garage, or listening absorbed to a concert on
B03 196 the wireless when the persisting summons penetrates to his dream
B03 197 world.
B03 198 *# 2002
B04   1 **[048 TEXT B04**]
B04   2 *<*6OPINION*>
B04   3 *<SPEAK UP FOR OUR FRIENDS!*>
B04   4    |^*4A *2BAFFLED *0and bewildered little country stands at the
B04   5 centre of an international storm. ^Belgium is accused*- without a
B04   6 scrap of evidence*- of being implicated in the murder of Patrice
B04   7 Lumumba.
B04   8    |^Her leaders are insulted, her embassies are attacked in a score
B04   9 of countries.
B04  10    |^In Ghana, President Nkrumah, who has done more than most to stir
B04  11 up trouble in the Congo, orders every Belgian citizen to quit his
B04  12 country.
B04  13 *<*4Boldly and clearly*>
B04  14    |^H*2OUNDING *0Belgium has become an international pastime. ^Why?
B04  15 ^Because those who said the Congolese could govern themselves will not
B04  16 admit they were wrong. ^So Belgium, bowed down by internal troubles,
B04  17 mourning a terrible air crash, is made their scapegoat.
B04  18    |^Who will speak up for Belgium? ^Who else but Britain. ^We have
B04  19 fought beside Belgium in two world wars. ^We are allies still.
B04  20    |^Britain should champion Belgium. ^Not with the careful, hooded
B04  21 language of diplomacy, but boldly and fearlessly.
B04  22    |^It is time to show the world that this country does not desert
B04  23 her friends.
B04  24 *<*6THE FULL TABLE*>
B04  25    |^*4H*2APPY, *0happy families! ^Never before have Britain's larders
B04  26 been so well stocked. ^Supplies of meat and dairy produce were
B04  27 substantially higher last year than in 1959.
B04  28    |^Lucky, lucky housewives! ^To have such a splendid variety of
B04  29 goods to choose from.
B04  30    |^Not so long ago older folk were reminding young wives, harassed
B04  31 by shortages, of the good old days of abundance. ^Now it is mother who
B04  32 picks up recipes from her daughter.
B04  33    |^The dinner table is the best answer to the grumblers in Britain
B04  34 today!
B04  35 *<*6GO AHEAD*>
B04  36    |^*4*"T*2HIS *0is colour day,**" proclaimed the American television
B04  37 network, {0N.B.C.} ^And hour after hour it poured out its programmes
B04  38 in bright colours.
B04  39    |^In America colour {0TV} is five years old. ^There are already
B04  40 600,000 sets in use.
B04  41    |^What about Britain? ^The {0B.B.C.} is ready to launch a colour
B04  42 {0TV} service, but the commercial {0TV} contractors want to delay
B04  43 it for 10 years.
B04  44    |^The Government should settle this argument with two words to the
B04  45 {0B.B.C.}:*-
B04  46    |^Go ahead!
B04  47 *<*6MAN OF SYMPATHY*>
B04  48    |^*4O*2NE *0man beyond all others is saddened by the deaths of two
B04  49 elderly sisters who killed themselves because they had to leave their
B04  50 cottage.
B04  51    |^\0Mr. John Crabb, clerk to Newmarket urban council, says: ^*"I
B04  52 shall always feel this as a personal failure.**"
B04  53    |^There is no reason whatsoever why he should reproach himself.
B04  54 ^The sisters had to quit as their home was falling down. ^And \0Mr.
B04  55 Crabb did his best for them, even driving them to a new house.
B04  56    |^John Crabb has the qualities of sympathy and understanding. ^Too
B04  57 often lacking in officialdom.
B04  58 *<*6LION RAMPANT*>
B04  59    |^\0M*2R. HENRY NEWTON *0of Acton does not want his daughter to
B04  60 marry a Scotsman. ^He says that the Scots are foreigners who have no
B04  61 business to be in England.
B04  62    |^The first ruler of the United Kingdom was a Scot. ^The Lord
B04  63 Chancellor is a Scot. ^The Prime Minister is a Scot*- and so were four
B04  64 of his predecessors this century.
B04  65    |^Let \0Mr. Newton beware. ^By protesting against Scotland he may
B04  66 be guilty of rebellion!
B04  67 *<*6THE EMPIRE IS PUT ON TRIAL*>
B04  68    |^*4A*2RCHBISHOP MAKARIOS *0puts the Commonwealth on trial.
B04  69    |^His ex-Eoka Government decides that Cyprus will join it for five
B04  70 years.
B04  71    |^During this period Britain will be expected to subsidise and
B04  72 defend the Cypriots. ^They will enjoy all the trading benefits of
B04  73 Imperial Preference.
B04  74    |^It is a safe bet that at the end of five years Makarios and
B04  75 company will sign on again. ^It is equally certain that the British
B04  76 Government will welcome them.
B04  77    |^How splendid it would be if, just for once, the Government were
B04  78 to voice the real feelings of the British people.
B04  79    |^And tell Makarios they are not prepared to accept him on such
B04  80 terms.
B04  81 *<*6OPTIMISTS WIN*>
B04  82    |^*4G*2OOD *0cheer for the week-end. ^Ford Motors are to put 13,000
B04  83 men back on a five-day week. ^One more demonstration of the industry's
B04  84 recovery.
B04  85    |^As springtime approaches, orders pick up. ^And the car men get
B04  86 ready for another bustling season.
B04  87    |^The pessimists said the motor industry was on its knees. ^The
B04  88 optimists said ^*"Nonsense.**"
B04  89    |^As usual, the optimists have been proved right.
B04  90 *<*6OUT AND ABOUT*>
B04  91    |^*4E*2ARL RUSSELL *0and his friends have hit on an original way of
B04  92 spending this afternoon. ^They intend to sit outside the Ministry of
B04  93 Defence.
B04  94    |^It is their protest against the H-bomb.
B04  95    |^They ought to have a pleasant time. ^The weather forecast is
B04  96 good; except for them, Whitehall should be deserted. ^And they will
B04  97 have a fine view of \0St. James's Park, with its placid lake,
B04  98 pelicans, rare ducks, and other wild life.
B04  99    |^Why not follow Lord Russell's lead today? ^Head for the parks to
B04 100 enjoy the sun. ^Not in a foolish cause, but in a glorious one.
B04 101    |^Good health!
B04 102 *<*6THE TOILERS*>
B04 103    |^*4T*2HIS *0group of men, says a report, work on average between
B04 104 55 and 60 hours a week. ^They also put in an extra two or three
B04 105 evenings. ^And they never go on strike.
B04 106    |^Who are they? ^The trade union officials of Britain. ^Men who
B04 107 earn only a fraction of what their talents and responsibilities could
B04 108 bring in the open labour market.
B04 109    |^The unions are fortunate indeed to find dedicated leaders at
B04 110 cut-rate prices. ^But it is time the members decided to pay up and be
B04 111 good employers.
B04 112 *<*6WRONG TARGET*>
B04 113    |^*4T*2HE *0Labour Party says that the Tory Government is
B04 114 destroying the social services.
B04 115    |^Under the Labour Government 18.1 per cent of the national income
B04 116 was spent on social services. ^The present figure is 19.5 per cent.
B04 117    |^There are many worthwhile targets for the Opposition. ^What a
B04 118 pity to aim at the wrong one!
B04 119 *<*6HOW MANY SERFS?*>
B04 120    |^*4\0M*2RS. MARCIA POWER, *0whose husband made her clean his
B04 121 uniform, wins a divorce. ^The judge says she had to act almost as a
B04 122 serf.
B04 123    |^Up and down the country husbands will be saying they would never
B04 124 behave like that.
B04 125    |^But do they ever ponder how their gardening tools are
B04 126 mysteriously returned to the shed; their books tidied; and often, even
B04 127 their shoes cleaned?
B04 128    |^How wonderful if they showed their appreciation this morning with
B04 129 a surprise box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers!
B04 130 *<*6THIS IS THE PRICE OF HASTE*>
B04 131    |^*4H*2OW *0the Government must repent its haste and folly in
B04 132 Rhodesia!
B04 133    |^Eighteen months ago this territory was peaceful, orderly, and
B04 134 thriving. ^Africans within the Federal Government were getting
B04 135 valuable experience in administration. ^Then \0Mr. Iain Macleod became
B04 136 Colonial Secretary.
B04 137    |^Suddenly everything changed. ^Timetables were scrapped. ^The
B04 138 ill-conceived Monckton Commission was rushed out to Rhodesia.
B04 139    |^Overnight, minor African politicians were inflated into
B04 140 international figures. ^And as the British Government stepped up the
B04 141 pace of change, so the Africans stepped up their demands.
B04 142 *<*4No choice*>
B04 143    |^T*2ODAY, *0in London, that rash and thoughtless policy has caused
B04 144 a crisis*- a crisis that never should have happened.
B04 145    |^No wonder there is doubt and fearful heart-searching.
B04 146    |^If the Government now reverses its plan to give the Africans
B04 147 control in Northern Rhodesia it may indeed face difficulties from
B04 148 African politicians greedy for power.
B04 149    |^But if it fails to modify that plan Rhodesia may well be plunged
B04 150 into chaos, like the Congo.
B04 151    |^For \0Mr. Macmillan and his ministers there is no choice. ^They
B04 152 must safeguard Rhodesia against chaos. ^And try to repair the damage
B04 153 they have done.
B04 154 *<*6PROSPERITY LEAGUE*>
B04 155    |^*4W*2HO *0can grow the fastest? ^That is the exciting competition
B04 156 going on among Britain's major industries.
B04 157    |^Top of the table, at the moment, is the chemical industry. ^Then
B04 158 comes engineering, followed by iron and steel.
B04 159    |^Even the staid and timid Treasury is cheered by the tremendous
B04 160 upsurge in investment. ^It reports that new factory building this year
B04 161 is likely to be 40 per cent up on 1960.
B04 162    |^Britain's business men are right to back their faith with cash.
B04 163 ^For expansion today means still greater prosperity tomorrow.
B04 164 *<*6THEIR FREEDOM*>
B04 165    |^*4B*2ERTRAND RUSSELL, *0the 88-year-old standard bearer of the
B04 166 Ban-the-Bomb crusade, has a devoted following. ^Thousands march with
B04 167 him*- and sit with him too.
B04 168    |^It is said by some that he is a saint; by others that he is a
B04 169 prophet.
B04 170    |^He is, in fact, a philosopher with a highly developed sense of
B04 171 publicity who has been spectacularly wrong on the great issues of our
B04 172 time.
B04 173 *<*4How long?*>
B04 174    |^B*2EFORE *0the war he urged the British people to welcome
B04 175 Hitler's troops as tourists. ^After the war he favoured a preventive
B04 176 war against Russia. ^Now he wants Britain to demolish her defences.
B04 177    |^Throughout the years Lord Russell and his supporters have been
B04 178 able to pursue their eccentric campaigns in freedom.
B04 179    |^They should ask themselves this question: ^How long would that
B04 180 freedom last if their policies were adopted?
B04 181 *<*6GOOD WILL MAN*>
B04 182    |^*4A*2N *0experiment in courtesy is launched by the Electricity
B04 183 Board.
B04 184    |^The board is laying a cable along a seven-mile route in Surrey.
B04 185 ^A warden, \0Mr. Jack Finlay, has been appointed to smooth out
B04 186 difficulties for householders when trenches are dug outside their
B04 187 front gates.
B04 188    |^Splendid. ^By showing concern for the people the board will earn
B04 189 their good will.
B04 190    |^Happy patrolling, \0Mr. Finlay!
B04 191 *<*6THE FACTS BACK WELENSKY*>
B04 192    |^*4G*2OOD *0for Sir Roy Welensky! ^The tough, resolute Premier of
B04 193 the Rhodesian Federation shakes the life out of his critics.
B04 194    |^He calls them *"jelly-boned.**" ^He promises to preserve
B04 195 federation against African fanatics and woolly minded individuals in
B04 196 the West.
B04 197    |^Some may ask: ^Is Welensky justified in being so harsh to those
B04 198 who disagree with him?
B04 199    |^The facts answer that.
B04 200 *<*4Congo shambles*>
B04 201    |^C*2ONTRAST *0his firm, successful rule in Rhodesia with what has
B04 202 happened in the Congo.
B04 203    |^There Welensky's opponents have carried their theories into
B04 204 practice. ^There a {0UNO} army of Africans, bossed by an Indian, has
B04 205 been in charge for months.
B04 206    |^And what has it made of the Congo? ^A bloodstained shambles.
B04 207    |^No wonder Welensky has lost all patience with his misguided
B04 208 tormentors.
B04 209    |^They have earned his strictures. ^And his contempt.
B04 210 *<*6THE THRIFTY ONES*>
B04 211    |^*4S*2OME *0people are for ever complaining that teenagers earn
B04 212 too much and spend it all when they get it. ^Now a survey of the Post
B04 213 Office Savings Bank shows how wrong that idea is.
B04 214    |^The biggest group of depositors in the bank is made up of boys
B04 215 and girls aged 15 to 19.
B04 216    |^Certainly teenagers earn more than ever before. ^Certainly they
B04 217 spend more.
B04 218    |^But how splendid that in the most prosperous days in this
B04 219 country's history the old-fashioned virtue of thrift should still have
B04 220 a powerful appeal for young people.
B04 221 *<*6UNDERSTOOD!*>
B04 222    |^*4T*2HE *0Danes are annoyed with British farmers for fighting
B04 223 against Danish competition.
B04 224    |^They say that our farmers do not seem to understand the meaning
B04 225 of free trade. ^There is no doubt what the Danes understand by free
B04 226 trade.
B04 227    |^It is that they should be free to sell as much as they like here,
B04 228 while buying more and more from our rivals. ^Germany has now
B04 229 supplanted Britain as Denmark's principal supplier.
B04 230    |^The farmers of Britain understand free trade. ^That is why they
B04 231 fight it.
B04 232 *<*6CURTAIN UP*>
B04 233    |^*4T*2HE *0Palace cinema at Buckley, near Chester, will be
B04 234 reopened next week by Barry Flanagan and Eric Platt, both aged 19.
B04 235    |^Eric says: ^*"We believe in the cinema. ^And we know what people
B04 236 want.**"
B04 237    |^The combination of enthusiasm and shrewd anticipation of public
B04 238 taste has launched many great enterprises.
B04 239    |^Barry and Eric have enthusiasm. ^They are backed by a resurgent
B04 240 film industry. ^It could be curtain up on two success stories. ^Of the
B04 241 old Palace. ^And Barry and Eric.
B04 242 *<*6FOLLOW OXFORD!*>
B04 243    |^*4D*2ONS *0at Cambridge want the study of agriculture to become
B04 244 an honours degree course.
B04 245    |^Farming is Britain's most vital industry. ^It is increasingly
B04 246 dependent on new techniques*- and on the universities to provide men
B04 247 of knowledge and skill.
B04 248    |^The older universities are often accused of being interested only
B04 249 in dead subjects.
B04 250    |^Now Cambridge has the opportunity to show it is just as
B04 251 interested in the living. ^Particularly as its rival, Oxford, has had
B04 252 a similar course in farming for 15 years!
B04 253 *<*6HERE ARE THE NEW PIONEERS*>
B04 254    |^*4J*2OHN GLENN, *0Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard. ^One of these
B04 255 three men has a date with destiny*- the first journey into Space.
B04 256    |^At the beginning of this wonderful century many people believed
B04 257 that there were no more worlds to conquer.
B04 258 *# 2009
B05   1 **[049 TEXT B05**]
B05   2 *<*6A STRANGE PEOPLE*>
B05   3    |^AT *4this time of the year Americans from Kansas, Seattle,
B05   4 Scranton, Fresno, and another ten thousand pin-points (you try telling
B05   5 a native of Kansas that his home-town is a pin-point!) all over the
B05   6 United States, arrive in our islands.
B05   7    |^The British Travel Association, which does excellent work in
B05   8 taking care of all foreigners who want to have a good time here and
B05   9 study what is pompously called *"The British Way of Life,**" have a
B05  10 hard time on their hands.
B05  11    |^*0From American sources I have just heard of two examples of The
B05  12 British Host at Work.
B05  13    |^One: ^A citizen of the {0U.S.} was last week walking down
B05  14 Oxford-street when he was seized by a total stranger who said somewhat
B05  15 incoherently: ^*"You're an American, eh?**"
B05  16    |^He pleaded guilty.
B05  17 *<*5*'I Hate You**'*>
B05  18    |^*0*"I'm an Englishman*- see? ^And I hate you Yanks*- see?**"
B05  19    |^Our transatlantic friend mildly replied: ^*"That's just too
B05  20 bad.**'
B05  21    |^Pause while the visitor correctly adjudicates that his accoster
B05  22 is well loaded*- or drunk.
B05  23    |^The assailant then resumes: ^*"But if there's anything I can do
B05  24 for you, anywhere you want to go, or you feel that somebody is trying
B05  25 to put it across you, just you let me know and I'll be right here.
B05  26 ^Nobody's going to shove \2ole Uncle Sam around!**"
B05  27    |^He then took out a piece of paper, wrote his address on it and
B05  28 added: ^*"Anybody mucking the Yanks about had better call on me first.
B05  29 ^I won't stand for it.**"
B05  30    |^Exit a puzzled American.
B05  31    |
B05  32    |^The other incident occurred in the boat-train from Cherbourg to
B05  33 Paris.
B05  34    |^Two Americans on a visit to Europe*- it was at least their
B05  35 twentieth trip*- fell into conversation with a shy, diffident
B05  36 Englishman who they had seen on the Queen Mary.
B05  37    |^They renewed mild pleasantries and, after some international
B05  38 chit-chat, they told him that they were going to end their
B05  39 explorations of the Old World by touring England.
B05  40    |^They had in mind a kind of reviving postscript to the
B05  41 eccentricities of the Continent to be concluded in the sage,
B05  42 philosophical calm of the Anglo-Saxon world.
B05  43    |^The Englishman in the train said: ^*"Mind if I give you just one
B05  44 tiny point of advice?
B05  45    |^*"All our chaps will be absolutely delighted to see you *2BUT IF
B05  46 YOU ARE IN A PUB FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T RAISE YOUR VOICE!**"
B05  47    |
B05  48    |^*0The travellers from the New World who had been in Britain many
B05  49 times before, were slightly stunned.
B05  50    |^Afterwards they said: ^*"We thought we knew it all, but you
B05  51 Britishers never run out of unturned stones.**"
B05  52    |
B05  53    |^*4To the British Travel Association, doing their excellent
B05  54 darndest, I offer these sad complexities.
B05  55 *<The Ant Society*>
B05  56    |^I*2N *0the 1830's the Luddites took sledge-hammers to their looms
B05  57 and many a good trade unionist since then has, in the hope of
B05  58 improving the lot of his fellow workers, taken the theoretical Luddite
B05  59 hammer again.
B05  60    |^Hence the hostility to automation and the stop-watch
B05  61 manufacturing methods that have led to restrictive practices.
B05  62    |^Now a new threat to those who toil and spin has been developed by
B05  63 a firm specialising in electronics in Los Angeles.
B05  64    |^They have developed a new system whereby completely untrained
B05  65 workers can be taught their trade by means of tape recordings and
B05  66 television.
B05  67    |^What happens is that the unskilled worker is processed, by
B05  68 high-speed listening to recorded instructions on how to do the job
B05  69 coupled with explanatory {0TV} pictures, into becoming a highly
B05  70 skilled, obedient craftsman in no time at all.
B05  71    |^Not only can the raw human mind be technically equipped very
B05  72 quickly to do one set of skilled manufacturing processes in one trade
B05  73 but, by being given another of the new audio-{0TV} training
B05  74 techniques, he can be switched to a different industry if he just
B05  75 gives in and listens and looks.
B05  76    |^From being an assembler in an aircraft factory to becoming a
B05  77 paint sprayer in a ceramic factory, he can be qualified for a
B05  78 completely new job in less time than it takes to say ^*"Tolpuddle
B05  79 Martyrs!**"
B05  80 *<*6A STRAIGHT THEODOLITE*>
B05  81    |^*"CRICKET,**" *4says the Oxford Dictionary, is *"an open air game
B05  82 played with ball, bats and wickets between two sides consisting of
B05  83 eleven players each.**"
B05  84    |^Not so, dear Oxford Dictionary.
B05  85    |^You are out of date.
B05  86    |^Cricket in 1961 is played with a theodolite, six surveyors, a
B05  87 ball, bats and wickets between two sides.
B05  88    |^*0Shades of the village stalwarts of Hambledon who are now the
B05  89 patron saints of the game!
B05  90    |^What would *2THEY *0have thought of these civil engineers
B05  91 creeping about the pitch with their optical instruments?
B05  92    |^The village green is the real home of cricket.
B05  93    |^A couple of bumps on a pitch have no terrors for a good batsman
B05  94 with a stout heart, a firm grip on the willow and a hefty contempt for
B05  95 batting averages and all the statistical blight that makes a mighty
B05  96 six these days as rare as frostbite in summer.
B05  97    |^They'll be clapping the man who plays a straight theodolite next.
B05  98 *<*4The Eichmann Mind*>
B05  99    |^E*2ICHMANN *0continues to reveal the extraordinary watertight
B05 100 divisions of the German mind.
B05 101    |^Not content with arguing that he was only an efficient cog in the
B05 102 machine, he now claims that his part of the endless massacre that led
B05 103 to the death of six million Jews was *"decent, feasible and
B05 104 workable.**"
B05 105    |^He feels satisfaction *"from the fact that my personality had
B05 106 been tested and weighed and not found wanting.**"
B05 107    |^He feels like Pontius Pilate who washed his hands before the
B05 108 multitude saying: ^*"I am innocent of the blood of this just
B05 109 person.**"
B05 110    |^Like \0Dr. Globke, whom I interviewed the other day, Eichmann
B05 111 said: ^*"I drew a certain solace from the fact that I did what I could
B05 112 despite my low rank.**"
B05 113    |
B05 114    |^Eichmann is on dangerous ground when he pleads that he was only a
B05 115 small unit on the base of the triangle that led to Hitler, Himmler,
B05 116 Hess and Goering at the apex.
B05 117    |^In examination he betrayed an expert and intimate knowledge of
B05 118 every link in the chain of command that led to the top. ^He understood
B05 119 the whole apparatus with an exact and meticulous comprehension that
B05 120 could only have come from a man who used the system*- and used it with
B05 121 power and authority.
B05 122    |^The appalling thing about the Germans is that they can kid
B05 123 themselves and feel a sense of righteousness when their hands are red
B05 124 with blood.
B05 125    |^They *1really believed *0that the Treaty of Versailles was an
B05 126 iniquitous injustice. ^When they burst into Czechoslovakia, Poland,
B05 127 Holland, Belgium and France they *1really believed *0Hitler when he
B05 128 screamed at them that they were being *"encircled.**"
B05 129    |^They *1really believed *0in the moral superiority of *"The New
B05 130 Order**" which Himmler on October 4, 1943, expressed thus: ^*"Whether
B05 131 nations live in prosperity or starve to death like cattle interests me
B05 132 only in so far as we need them as slaves to our \*1Kultur; *0otherwise
B05 133 it is of no interest to me.**"
B05 134 *<*5Dispatched...*>
B05 135    |^*0This concept of slavery included Britain.
B05 136    |^General Brauchitsch signed a directive ordering that after the
B05 137 successful invasion of our islands all the *"able-bodied male
B05 138 population between the ages of seventeen and forty-five will, unless
B05 139 the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and
B05 140 dispatched to the Continent.**"
B05 141    |^The Baltic States were to have been our destination.
B05 142    |^In no other conquered country, not even Poland, had the Germans
B05 143 begun with such a drastic step.
B05 144    |^There is no doubt that the compatriots of Eichmann would have
B05 145 been as good as their evil word.
B05 146 *<*4Officious Efficiency*>
B05 147    |^T*2HE *0Inland Revenue people have a thankless task.
B05 148    |^But they do not make themselves less disliked by their attitude
B05 149 to their customers*- who incidentally pay their salaries.
B05 150    |^Their demands are invariably couched in hectoring, out-of-date
B05 151 language, but in spite of all their bluster, they let many a big fish
B05 152 through the net while they are bullying the minnows.
B05 153    |^I have just heard a good example of their officious efficiency.
B05 154    |^A young chap I know got his first job last week. ^He is paid
B05 155 monthly in arrears and will not get a bean for the next twenty-one
B05 156 days.
B05 157    |^But the blood suckers have already been after him, demanding
B05 158 particulars in the usual minatory language including a blackmailing
B05 159 line which says: ^*"If you do not do this, you may have to pay more
B05 160 tax than you need.**"
B05 161    |^Truly are the tax gatherers an unbeloved people.
B05 162 *<*4May His Tribe Increase*>
B05 163    |^*6MY *4favourite piece of rhymed writing, when I was young and in
B05 164 the catapult-and-conker stage of life, was a piece of sentimental
B05 165 verse by Leigh Hunt.
B05 166    |^It was called *"Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel.**"
B05 167    |^I don't know why I was so impressed with this poem but, on
B05 168 reflection, it might be that I took a guilty interest in the devilment
B05 169 business.
B05 170    |^I may well have felt that I was hell-bound under a strict
B05 171 Presbyterian upbringing and a possible reprieve might come through the
B05 172 sugary sentiments of *"Abou Ben Adhem.**"
B05 173    |^*0What happened in the jingly-jungly jingle was this:
B05 174    |^*"Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
B05 175    |Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace
B05 176    |And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
B05 177    |Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
B05 178    |An Angel writing in a book of gold.**"
B05 179 *<*5More*- or Less?*>
B05 180    |^*0To cut a long story short the Angel got on well with Abou and
B05 181 wrote his name at the top of the book of gold.
B05 182    |^However, I was only intrigued by the blessing ~*1*"May his tribe
B05 183 increase!**"
B05 184    |^*0I didn't realise, in my world of swarming, suburban kids in
B05 185 which I was reared, that more of us might be considered a good thing.
B05 186    |^But they were*- and still are.
B05 187    |^In Burma the Government is urging the population to multiply
B05 188 because, says the Minister of National Planning: ^*"If present trends
B05 189 continue and there is no increase, the Burmese will disappear one
B05 190 day.**"
B05 191    |^Not far away, across the Bay of Bengal, India's Government is
B05 192 urging the population to have themselves sterilised and paying them to
B05 193 have the operation.
B05 194    |^But neither of these pluses and minuses affects the main picture.
B05 195    |^The Earth is crammed with teeming, multiplying humanity.
B05 196    |^The blessing ~*1*"May his tribe increase**" *0in 1961 sounds like
B05 197 a curse. ^In our own country there are nearly 53 million of us. ^We
B05 198 are more thickly populated than teeming, bursting Japan.
B05 199    |^Only one country in the world has more people per square yard
B05 200 than we have*- Holland.
B05 201    |^In 1850 there were 1,000 million people in the world. ^In 1900
B05 202 the figure had swollen to*- 1,500 million. ^Half a century later, us
B05 203 chicks had increased by another 1,000 million to 2,500 million.
B05 204    |^By 1975 we cannot, on present figures, be less than 3,800
B05 205 million, and by the year {6Anno Domini} 2000 (bar nuclear accidents)
B05 206 we will be about 6,300 million in all.
B05 207    |^There's going to be an awful lot of us around. ^Unless...
B05 208    |^Un-nuclear less...
B05 209 *<*4Did They Know?*>
B05 210    |^I *2HAVE *0cast doubt on the repeated claims of the Germans that
B05 211 they did not know of the appalling deeds that were inflicted on
B05 212 millions of human beings for the glory and honour of the Third German
B05 213 Reich.
B05 214    |^Yesterday I received a letter from an ex-{0SS} man now living
B05 215 in England. ^He asks me not to publish his name and address *"as it
B05 216 might well cost me my job.**"
B05 217    |^He writes: ^*"Your statement that the German people knew what
B05 218 happened to the Jews is wrong. ^From 1942-1944 I served as a volunteer
B05 219 in the German {0SS}. ^During that time I served in various {0SS}
B05 220 divisions and never heard the slightest rumour that Jews were
B05 221 murdered.
B05 222    |^*"On the contrary we believed just as sincerely as the allies
B05 223 that we were fighting for a just cause and humanity.
B05 224    |^*"We often fought against odds of twenty to one and got through.
B05 225 ^You don't do that unless you have a deep conviction that your cause
B05 226 is right.
B05 227    |^*"Our officers always told us never to degenerate to the level of
B05 228 our opponents. ^Even when our patrol found two of our comrades
B05 229 murdered (shot in the neck) by Russian troops who had captured them
B05 230 the day before, we were told by our patrol leader: ^*'No reprisals.
B05 231 **[MIDDLE OF QUOTE**]
B05 232 *# 2002
B06   1 **[050 TEXT B06**]
B06   2 *<*4West German Build-up*>
B06   3 *<*4Tories up to old tricks*>
B06   4 *<*4says *6BOB LEESON*>
B06   5    |^*4S*2OME *017 years ago, in the early summer of 1934, the German
B06   6 ambassador in London was dictating a secret report to his chief \von
B06   7 Papen, in Berlin.
B06   8    |^*"Britain is uncomfortable in her role of champion of German
B06   9 rearmament, in opposition, to France.**"
B06  10    |^Later that year he warned that Britain knew Germany was breaking
B06  11 the agreement to stop building bombers, and added: ^*"Without
B06  12 Britain's tolerance German rearmament in the air would be
B06  13 jeopardised.**"
B06  14    |^When Hoesch's reports, along with other nazi documents, were
B06  15 captured and published after the war the pattern of British Government
B06  16 connivance became clear.
B06  17    |^At nazi Germany's request, Britain was providing the cloak for
B06  18 Germany to build an air force bigger than that of France.
B06  19    |^Yesterday West German Defence Minister, Herr Strauss, started
B06  20 talks with the British Defence Minister, \0Mr. Watkinson.
B06  21    |^Their talks are another stage in the cloak operation, 1961
B06  22 variety, by which the West German militarists are advancing their
B06  23 rearmament.
B06  24 *<*4Strauss' aim*>
B06  25    |^*0Herr Strauss told the Daily Mail last October that his policy
B06  26 was to make his country the *"strongest militarily in Europe and the
B06  27 United States' principal Nato ally.**"
B06  28    |^His job is to build up the military apparatus which will back
B06  29 West Germany's economic domination of Western Europe through the
B06  30 Common Market.
B06  31    |^He continued this week the argument with \0Mr. Watkinson which he
B06  32 had in public at a Nato council meeting last year over the question:
B06  33 do we fight a 30-day war or a 90-day war?
B06  34    |^A 90-day war, the West German view, provides the pretext for huge
B06  35 German armed forces (within Nato of course) and for those to have
B06  36 bases all over Western Europe.
B06  37    |^In the past year West Germany has secured agreements for
B06  38 *"facilities**" in France, Holland and Belgium.
B06  39    |^After much bargaining the British Government has agreed to give
B06  40 similar *"facilities**" to German troops in Britain.
B06  41    |^The process has been too slow for Herr Strauss and last month he
B06  42 attacked Britain for being an obstacle for West Germany's plans for a
B06  43 *"unified supply apparatus**" in Nato. ^(A supply apparatus which
B06  44 would link together the various West German *"facilities.**")
B06  45    |^By the end of the year there will be 11 German divisions in Nato
B06  46 compared with four divisions of British troops.
B06  47    |^Alongside these divisions a force of over 600 Starfighters
B06  48 provided by the Americans is growing up. ^These *"fighters**" are in
B06  49 fact fighter bombers which could launch an atomic attack on Eastern
B06  50 Europe.
B06  51    |^By 1963 the Germans plan to have nine missile battalions, with
B06  52 288 missiles and 36 firing ramps, including weapons like Matador
B06  53 (range 950 miles), also provided by the Americans.
B06  54    |^Last month West Germany was reported to be halfway toward this
B06  55 target. ^Her position as *"America's principal Nato ally**" grows
B06  56 stronger and stronger.
B06  57    |^Now this target which Herr Strauss and his fellows have their
B06  58 eyes on is control of the warheads to these weapons. ^General
B06  59 Heusinger, the man who caused a great disturbance last autumn with his
B06  60 demand of nuclear weapons for his army, now heads Nato's military
B06  61 planning committee.
B06  62    |^All this has been achieved through Nato under American
B06  63 leadership. ^But a big role has been played not only by the British
B06  64 Government but by Right-Wing Labour in this country.
B06  65    |^They have helped build up Nato and rearm Western Germany, in
B06  66 pursuit of the old familiar anti-Soviet policy which brought disaster
B06  67 in 1939.
B06  68 *<*4No bases!*>
B06  69    |^*0Now the argument is being used that Nato must be maintained and
B06  70 Britain must stay in it to keep the Germans in control.
B06  71    |^Nato, far from being a means of controlling the German
B06  72 militarists, is, in fact, the cover for building up their power.
B06  73    |^What must Britain do?
B06  74    |^Today, again, she has a key role. ^Let her tell men like Strauss
B06  75 that he shall have no bases or *"facilities,**" no help in his quest
B06  76 for atomic arms.
B06  77    |^A policy which breaks with military alliances like Nato and seeks
B06  78 friendship with the Soviet Union can prevent another betrayal like
B06  79 that of the '30s.
B06  80 *<*7GAITSKELLISM IS BANKRUPT*>
B06  81 **[EDITORIAL**]
B06  82 *<*6HARRY SMITH*>
B06  83 *<*4National president of the Association of Engineering and
B06  84 Shipbuilding Draughtsmen, writing in his personal capacity:*>
B06  85    |^*4I *2WAS *0pleased to read {0J. R.} Campbell's article, for,
B06  86 as president of a union which fought for and still stands on the
B06  87 policy decisions established at the Scarborough Labour Party
B06  88 Conference I am appalled at the character of the current attack
B06  89 against those decisions.
B06  90    |^For many years my union had to present its views to the two major
B06  91 conferences of the movement and take a licking. ^For us, unity meant
B06  92 accepting unpalatable majority decisions as binding on the movement
B06  93 and having a go next time.
B06  94    |^Alongside many others, we conducted our fight by putting down
B06  95 unambiguous alternatives to official policy and seeking to win
B06  96 majorities for them.
B06  97 *<*5Obstruction*>
B06  98    |^*0When Scarborough carried our point of view we were naturally
B06  99 delighted, more so because the alternatives had been put clearly to
B06 100 the movement, which had then chosen a vigorous anti-Nato, anti-Tory,
B06 101 anti-bomb and anti-German rearmament policy.
B06 102    |^Hopes rose as we saw a perspective of sharp struggle based on
B06 103 consistent lines of difference with the Tories.
B06 104    |^Many members understood that the bread-and-butter struggles of
B06 105 the union would become easier in the context of a movement advancing
B06 106 to attack the Tories on the whole front of their policy.
B06 107    |^For we have always felt, even if we have then by our practice
B06 108 ignored it, the inconsistency between support for the war alliance,
B06 109 with resulting colossal spending on armaments, and our basic effort to
B06 110 improve living standards.
B06 111    |^Instead, we saw the Gaitskellites using the position of
B06 112 organisational dominance established during their years of control of
B06 113 policy to offend every principle of democratic practice and unity.
B06 114    |^They obstructed every effort to fight for the Scarborough
B06 115 decisions, while scratching around frantically to overturn them next
B06 116 time.
B06 117 *<*5Confusion*>
B06 118    |^Confusion of the original issue by misrepresentation of the
B06 119 decisions, the introduction of a pseudo third way and the call for
B06 120 party unity*- in effect, a demand that the movement unite with the
B06 121 Gaitskellites on their policy and no other seems to have done the
B06 122 trick of moving a number of unions temporarily away from Scarborough
B06 123 decisions.
B06 124    |^It would become easy to become cynical and to despair. ^And yet,
B06 125 wherever the issues were put clearly, sections of the movement
B06 126 reaffirmed their original stand.
B06 127    |^Only where the issues were posed so as to cause doubt and
B06 128 confusion were positions lost.
B06 129    |^It is my view that this immediate confusion hides the fact that
B06 130 the Peace movement is still advancing and that clarification of the
B06 131 issues can bring a majority to secure the Scarborough decisions.
B06 132    |^Powerful units have stood firm. ^In unions where the central
B06 133 issues were confused, clear policy details*- as on bases*- were
B06 134 decisively carried.
B06 135 *<*5Peace policy*>
B06 136    |^*0This, and the numbers of active workers who are beginning to
B06 137 understand how and why the trick was done, provides a strong,
B06 138 immediate basis for a campaign against weak and doubtful positions,
B06 139 and for a consistent peace policy.
B06 140    |^All recent events show how correct the Scarborough decisions
B06 141 were.
B06 142    |^The Kennedy Administration's sharpened policies, the speeded-up
B06 143 drive to improve West Germany's armament, the new attempt to rush
B06 144 Britain into the European Common Market, and the kite-flying on Spain
B06 145 present a whole new proof that to abandon Scarborough is to expose
B06 146 Britain and her working class to sharp new dangers*- that Gaitskellism
B06 147 is bankrupt.
B06 148    |^Ordinary working people will never rally to defend a policy
B06 149 founded on political chicanery or elect a Labour Government to carry
B06 150 through Tory policy*- Gaitskell's stupid hope.
B06 151    |^The tragedy is that enormous inroads could already have been made
B06 152 into Tory strength by a fighting policy, based on Scarborough.
B06 153 *<*6ABE MOFFAT*>
B06 154 *<*4Scottish Miners' leader:*>
B06 155    |^*4T*2HE *0desire for unity in the Labour and trade union movement
B06 156 following the discussions that have taken place during the past two
B06 157 years on defence is something that should be recognised by all
B06 158 concerned.
B06 159    |^At the same time that unity cannot be established on a false
B06 160 basis, or by creating further confusion within the movement.
B06 161    |^Unity will never be established on the basis of leaders being a
B06 162 law unto themselves and opposing conference decisions when it suits
B06 163 their own convenience.
B06 164    |^Unity can never be established by any formula uniting those who
B06 165 oppose German troops being trained on British soil and Polaris, and
B06 166 those who are for this policy*- which is the same as that of the Tory
B06 167 Government.
B06 168    |^It is impossible for Labour's new Defence statement to unite the
B06 169 movement as the Labour leaders are not only in favour of American
B06 170 bases, but are in favour of German bases and troops being trained on
B06 171 British soil.
B06 172    |^The new Defence statement, while accepting that Britain cannot
B06 173 remain an independent nuclear Power, now supports the policy of
B06 174 depending on American nuclear weapons and the H-bomb, placing Britain
B06 175 in an even more dangerous position.
B06 176    |^The statement of Padley and Crossman is no different in principle
B06 177 to the new defence statement. ^They accept American nuclear bases, and
B06 178 also the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear strategy until some future
B06 179 date.
B06 180    |^They deceive the people by their talk of political and collective
B06 181 control of Nato. ^The Pentagon has made it perfectly clear who
B06 182 controls the American H-bomb, and who will actually give the
B06 183 instructions to press the button for nuclear warfare.
B06 184    |^There is only one way to develop unity and at the same time
B06 185 defend Britain.
B06 186    |^This was shown at the Scottish Trades Union Congress,
B06 187 representing 800,000 organised trade unionists, when it decided by
B06 188 overwhelming votes, to reaffirm the Scarborough decisions on
B06 189 unilateral disarmament, and to oppose Polaris and military bases being
B06 190 installed on the Holy Loch, or any other part of Britain.
B06 191 *<*5Tory menace*>
B06 192    |^*0Such a policy would unite the whole movement and lay the basis
B06 193 for the defeat of the present Tory Government, which has become a real
B06 194 menace to the British people both in home and foreign policy.
B06 195    |^It is quite evident that the movement will go on record against
B06 196 the Polaris base and facilities for German bases and military
B06 197 training.
B06 198    |^This should strengthen the campaign to end the manufacture and
B06 199 use of nuclear weapons in Britain.
B06 200    |^Britain then could play a leading and independent role for an
B06 201 international agreement to ban all nuclear strategy and weapons of
B06 202 mass destruction, and lay the basis for real peace and progress.
B06 203 *<*5Ballyhoo Won't Solve Youth Training*>
B06 204 *<*4says JOHN MOSS*>
B06 205    |^W*0HEN all the ballyhoo about Commonwealth Training Week subsides
B06 206 it is doubtful whether more than a handful of new apprenticeships will
B06 207 result.
B06 208    |^This week of window dressing will not prevent most of the hopeful
B06 209 15-year-olds leaving school in six weeks time from ending up in blind
B06 210 alley jobs.
B06 211    |^It needs more than 10,000 church parades and open days at techs,
B06 212 more than descents into Brighton's sewers or balloon ascents over
B06 213 Wolverhampton for Britain's technical training to catch up with the
B06 214 space age.
B06 215    |^The heli-hopping Duke of Edinburgh, opening a few technical
B06 216 college extensions, will not keep us abreast of the scientific
B06 217 revolution.
B06 218    |^Out of the 550,000 young people aged 15-17 starting work in 1960
B06 219 420,000 (73 per cent) went into unskilled work. ^The percentage is
B06 220 expected to swell to 80 next year.
B06 221 *<*5Low wages*>
B06 222    |^*0The Duke, possibly speaking from experience, stated: ^*"Most
B06 223 unskilled jobs are reasonably well-paid and many look attractive.**"
B06 224    |^But last year's average wage for boys under 21 was *+5 4\0s and
B06 225 for girls *+4 13\0s. ^If a minority got as much as the Press says they
B06 226 do, then those below average must have received a pittance.
B06 227    |^Apprentice wages are below average: a 19-year-old engineering
B06 228 apprentice may get as little as *+5 8\0s 1\0d.
B06 229    |^But the Duke is wrong when he implies that young people prefer
B06 230 unskilled jobs. ^Countless numbers who want training are denied it.
B06 231    |^One area electricity board in 1958 offered six craft
B06 232 apprenticeships and received 450 applications, of whom 100 were
B06 233 considered suitable by the board.
B06 234    |^There were only 17 vacancies for the 58 boys who passed the
B06 235 Admiralty exams for Rosyth dockyard last year.
B06 236    |^A small number of recently widely publicised apprenticeships
B06 237 demanded seven passes in {0G.C.E.}
B06 238 *# 2003
B07   1 **[051 TEXT B07**]
B07   2 *<*4Getting Ready for the Budget*>
B07   3 *<*51. Tax Reforms for the 1960s*>
B07   4 *<By *7DAVID HOWELL*>
B07   5 **[EDITORIAL**]
B07   6    |^*4T*2HERE *0are two basic points which seem to be a necessary
B07   7 preface to any sensible discussion of taxation reform.
B07   8    |^The first is that, whether we like it or not, with the increasing
B07   9 demands of a prosperous society, the revenue required by central and
B07  10 local government in the coming years is highly unlikely to get any
B07  11 smaller.
B07  12    |^The assumption of this article is, therefore, that most of the
B07  13 *"natural**" increase in the revenue in 1961, due to increased wages,
B07  14 salaries, consumption and profits, will be needed by the Chancellor.
B07  15 ^If he does have *+100\0m. or so to return to the taxpayer then
B07  16 indication is given as to where his priorities should lie.
B07  17    |^The second point to be made is that tax reform is a very
B07  18 different thing from putting forward a radical scheme for altering the
B07  19 whole tax structure.
B07  20    |^Raising the revenue is already a major administrative miracle.
B07  21 ^The only proposals for change which can be labelled practical are
B07  22 those which involve the minimum administrative complications when set
B07  23 beside the existing structure.
B07  24 *<*5The Objectives*>
B07  25    |^*4T*2HIS *0said, it is nevertheless worthwhile trying to define
B07  26 some of the long-run objectives towards which tax reformers should
B07  27 aim. ^For although progress may be slow, it is no less important to
B07  28 have a clear idea about the direction in which all tax changes should
B07  29 go*- something noticeably lacking in recent years.
B07  30    |^The objectives might be listed like this:
B07  31 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
B07  32    |*41*0*- that the system should be efficient.
B07  33    |*42*0*- that it should be fair as between one taxpayer and
B07  34 another.
B07  35    |*43*0*- that it should encourage personal saving and the wider
B07  36 spread of ownership of assets and property.
B07  37    |*44*0*- that it should contain the minimum disincentive to, and
B07  38 where possible should actively encourage, risk-taking, enterprise,
B07  39 exports and investment in efficient production methods.
B07  40 **[END INDENTATION**]
B07  41    |^It is the last of these four objectives about which we have heard
B07  42 most in the past year. ^With a disappointing export performance and a
B07  43 slow rate of economic expansion many people have been turning to the
B07  44 taxation system as the source of the trouble, citing individual cases.
B07  45 ^Yet strangely enough it is here that there is least evidence that the
B07  46 present system offends.
B07  47    |^Nevertheless, the grumbles and complaints are too frequent to be
B07  48 ignored. ^It is, therefore, with direct taxes on income (income tax
B07  49 and surtax) and capital (death duties and stamp duty) that we will
B07  50 begin.
B07  51    |^When talking of our highly progressive system of *4income tax
B07  52 *0we often forget that below *+2,000 the taxpayer is only charged at
B07  53 progressive rates over a band of *+360. ^Otherwise he (or she) is
B07  54 either paying no tax at all or the full standard rate. ^A sensible
B07  55 first step, therefore, would be to make the ascent to the standard
B07  56 rate more gentle and less forbidding to the millions who are now
B07  57 attempting it.
B07  58    |^Further up the scale, where progression starts again with
B07  59 *4surtax, *0one of the most painful transition periods for the
B07  60 taxpayer is when he has to start writing a surtax cheque instead of
B07  61 having tax taken off by {0PAYE}.
B07  62    |^There is no obstacle in principle or in administration against
B07  63 the abolition of the concept of surtax altogether and the continuation
B07  64 of the income tax scale to the top.
B07  65    |^Even with this change the {0PAYE} deductions at the top end
B07  66 would still be at a near-confiscatory rate. ^The real objection to
B07  67 taking away more than, say, 15\0s in every pound a man earns, is not
B07  68 so much that it is unfair or discouraging to the nation's decision
B07  69 makers, but that the imposition is grossly inefficient.
B07  70    |^Businessmen threatened with these high rates merely spend more
B07  71 and more time with their accountants seeing how their incomes can be
B07  72 kept out of this range. ^The temptations increase to draw benefits in
B07  73 kind, and sometimes in unnecessary business expenses, rather than
B07  74 taxable income.
B07  75    |^The cost to the Exchequer of placing a ceiling of 15\0s in the *+
B07  76 on direct personal taxation would be about *+20\0m. ^This should be
B07  77 done.
B07  78    |^Two other important aspects of income taxation worry people. ^The
B07  79 first is the tax status of *4married women. ^*0Where the husband and
B07  80 wife's combined incomes come to less than *+2,100 (where surtax for a
B07  81 married couple without children starts), they have a slight advantage
B07  82 over single persons. ^But above this level they are severely
B07  83 penalised.
B07  84    |^When shortage of labour is one of the main checks on our scope
B07  85 for increasing output rapidly, the case for making separate
B07  86 assessments seems particularly strong. ^The cost to the Exchequer of
B07  87 separate assessments for surtax (or, as we have redefined it, income
B07  88 tax above *+2,100) on earned income alone, but not on investment
B07  89 income, would be only *+4\0m. ^This would still be an encouraging
B07  90 start.
B07  91 *<*5Capital Gains*>
B07  92    |^*4T*2HE *0second source of concern is the widely-held suspicion
B07  93 that a number of professional dealers in property and shares pay no
B07  94 taxes since their *"income**" is mostly in the form of untaxed capital
B07  95 gains. ^It is from this suspicion that the main support for *4a
B07  96 capital gains tax *0comes.
B07  97    |^The trouble with a capital gains tax is that it hits so many
B07  98 other things as well, including small savings and the smooth working
B07  99 of the capital market, besides being of low and uncertain yield. ^It
B07 100 is generally recognised as a second best to much more radical schemes
B07 101 for transferring the main burden of taxation from income to
B07 102 expenditure.
B07 103    |^But the alternative suggestion that the Inland Revenue should
B07 104 apply its power to levy tax more vigorously against those who earn
B07 105 *"regular**" capital gains raises almost insuperable problems of legal
B07 106 definition.
B07 107    |^Thus a capital gains tax, for all its obvious deficiencies, is
B07 108 not without its advocates in all parties. ^There is no need to regard
B07 109 it for ever as an unmentionable heresy, nor as a general panacea. ^It
B07 110 can be discussed on purely empirical grounds.
B07 111    |^This raises the question of capital taxes on the individual. ^One
B07 112 of the weaknesses of Conservative government has been its reluctance
B07 113 to use the tax system as an instrument of policy as its Labour
B07 114 predecessors did freely. ^On the contrary, Conservatives have been
B07 115 content to accept a system which works directly against their declared
B07 116 objective of more widespread property ownership.
B07 117    |^*4Estate Duty *0is a good example. ^The main victims of Estate
B07 118 Duty (which yields about *+185\0m.) are not ageing millionaires, who
B07 119 can easily make provision to avoid paying it, but middle-aged owners
B07 120 of small family firms, whose death often means the liquidation of the
B07 121 firm to pay death duties, in spite of the 45 per \0cent. rebate
B07 122 allowed on the industrial assets of a business, assessed at market
B07 123 value. ^The tax should long since have been replaced by a Legacy
B07 124 Duty*- duty paid on the inheritance received rather than what is left.
B07 125    |^This would actively encourage the spread of property and would
B07 126 allow small firms to pass into wider family ownership without forcing
B07 127 them to close down. ^It is hard to estimate how much loss to the
B07 128 Revenue the changeover, keeping the same rates, would involve, but a
B07 129 figure of *+30\0m. has been quoted.
B07 130 *<*5More Incentives*>
B07 131    |^*4F*2URTHER *0incentives to small savers are also long overdue.
B07 132 ^*4Stamp Duty *0on share transactions is prohibitively high for the
B07 133 newcomer with less than *+500 to invest and exemptions could be made
B07 134 for sums under this.
B07 135    |^If the Chancellor really wanted to get more people into the
B07 136 saving and investing habit he could, without difficulty, go further
B07 137 and give relief on the first slice of an individual's income from his
B07 138 investments. ^For the coming year the cost of these two concessions
B07 139 should be adjusted to about *+50\0m.
B07 140    |^This still leaves an important area of direct taxation uncovered
B07 141 *4company taxation. ^*0At present net company profits are taxed at the
B07 142 standard income tax rate plus a 12 1/2 per \0cent. profits tax. ^The
B07 143 smoothing out of income tax rates, without any special concept of a
B07 144 *"standard rate**" or surtax levels, as I have suggested, would mean
B07 145 that companies would have to be taxed on a separate schedule.
B07 146    |^The obvious candidate to replace the present complicated two-part
B07 147 system (which includes investment allowance reliefs) would be the
B07 148 straight corporation tax. ^This could have the added advantage of
B07 149 flexibility (it could be varied independently from personal taxes) and
B07 150 speed, since it could be assessed on a current year basis.
B07 151    |^It does raise certain difficulties with regard to double taxation
B07 152 of dividends. ^But these have been successfully overcome abroad.
B07 153    |^In these ways the more painful, inefficient and discouraging
B07 154 aspects of our taxation system could be modified, at a cost of little
B07 155 more than the amount which, on the gloomiest view, the Chancellor may
B07 156 have to spare*- just over *+100\0m.
B07 157    |^But little has yet been said about the way in which we might
B07 158 start shifting some of the burden of tax from income and earning (what
B07 159 we put into the pool) on to spending (what we take out of it), and
B07 160 about the main existing indirect tax, *4purchase tax.
B07 161    |^*0It seems to me that discussion of changes in this field can be
B07 162 most usefully combined with a look at local government finance.
B07 163 *<*5Getting Ready for the Budget*- *=2*>
B07 164 *<*4Why Not a Local Sales Tax?*>
B07 165 *<*6DAVID HOWELL*>
B07 166    |^*4W*2HEN *0the idea of more taxes on spending is canvassed, it is
B07 167 sometimes overlooked that we already have a kind of sales tax on a
B07 168 wide range of goods in the form of purchase tax. ^The estimated yield
B07 169 from purchase tax in 1960-61 is *+535\0m. ^In addition, the estimated
B07 170 revenue from customs and excise duty on tobacco, beer and spirits is
B07 171 *+1,229\0m.
B07 172    |^The other taxes on spending are the oil tax and tariff charges,
B07 173 which together have an estimated yield of *+580\0m. ^Thus any
B07 174 suggestions for a further impost on spending in the form of a sales
B07 175 tax have to be made with these important taxes firmly in mind.
B07 176    |^Purchase tax, at four rates varying from five to 50 per \0cent.,
B07 177 spreads its net so wide that it is almost simpler to list some of the
B07 178 items not affected. ^Food and sweets, fuel and light are not taxed;
B07 179 nor are books, magazines, children's clothes, some kitchen equipment,
B07 180 sheets and towels.
B07 181    |^No services bear any kind of tax. ^On the other hand, a wide
B07 182 range of consumer durables is affected; so are most household goods
B07 183 and appliances; and so, too, are cosmetics, radios, records,
B07 184 jewellery, toys, cameras, carpets, wallpaper, most clothes, hats,
B07 185 gloves and furniture.
B07 186    |^Thus if goods alone are considered, few items are free of a
B07 187 spending tax of some kind, and those that are include a number of
B07 188 goods which it is rightly considered undesirable to tax. ^For these
B07 189 reasons it is usually argued that the first move towards a sales tax
B07 190 should be to modify the purchase-tax system into a uniform percentage
B07 191 rate tax and that this should be extended, if administratively
B07 192 possible and right in principle to tax.
B07 193 *<*4High and Wide*>
B07 194    |^*0Some calculations were done for Lord Amory when he was
B07 195 Chancellor on this basis and the conclusion was reached that a uniform
B07 196 sales tax over the widest possible range of goods would have to be
B07 197 levied at 20 per \0cent. to yield the same revenue as purchase tax.
B07 198    |^*"The widest possible range**" chosen could, in fact, have been
B07 199 wider. ^Some consumer services, and clothing, furniture and luxury
B07 200 food items, taxed in other countries, were excluded. ^Had they not
B07 201 been a figure of about 17 per \0cent. might have been reached.
B07 202    |^But this is still impracticably high. ^Moreover, this would
B07 203 replace purchase tax alone. ^If we wished to reduce income tax as
B07 204 well, the level of a sales tax would have to be well above 20 per
B07 205 \0cent.
B07 206    |^The real trouble with this kind of approach, which inevitably
B07 207 points to a very high rate of tax, is its assumption from the start
B07 208 that the proposed sales tax has to be a major revenue-raiser for the
B07 209 central government. ^Yet in those countries where a sales tax has
B07 210 worked most successfully, it has been employed as an additional source
B07 211 of revenue for the local or provincial government.
B07 212 *# 2008
B08   1 **[052 TEXT B08**]
B08   2 *<*7NOW WHO'S TIPPED FOR *5\0No. 10?*>
B08   3 *<*4by *6WALTER TERRY*>
B08   4    |^W*2ITH *0one mighty spurt, \0Mr. Selwyn Lloyd has dashed from his
B08   5 rut and is now in the race for real power within the Conservative
B08   6 Party.
B08   7    |^In so intensive a contest the most difficult task of all is to
B08   8 judge one's timing properly. ^\0Mr. Lloyd has done this superbly with
B08   9 his Budget.
B08  10    |^Once he was a non-starter. ^Today he is running well along the
B08  11 track towards \0No. 10 Downing Street.
B08  12    |^But wait a minute*- Selwyn Lloyd, the little Liverpool lawyer, as
B08  13 he was contemptuously described a few years back, as Prime Minister?
B08  14 ^Laughable, they used to say. ^The man could hardly make a decent
B08  15 speech, fluffing and floundering over a dreary brief.
B08  16 *<*4Dominant*>
B08  17    |^B*2UT \0*0Mr. Lloyd as Prime Minister is ridiculous no more. ^The
B08  18 very thought, I am sure, has struck \0Mr. {0R. A.} Butler, Home
B08  19 Secretary and apparently the heir to Downing Street.
B08  20    |^For \0Mr. Lloyd, old nerves gone and seemingly dominant for the
B08  21 first time in his political career, has made a tremendous impact on
B08  22 the Tories of Westminster with his Budget.
B08  23    |^Maybe they don't like some of its detail, specially the payroll
B08  24 tax. ^But the key significance is that for the first time in ten years
B08  25 of power a Tory leader has produced an alternative programme to
B08  26 Butlerism.
B08  27    |^For years many Conservatives, disgruntled but not quite clear
B08  28 what they wanted, have been searching for something to match the
B08  29 liberal, radical-type Toryism that \0Mr. Butler has inspired.
B08  30 *<*4Unafraid*>
B08  31    |^D*2RAMATICALLY, \0*0Mr. Lloyd has emerged*- a Chancellor willing
B08  32 to grapple with the economy, unafraid of it. ^A politician of
B08  33 endurance (as proved over Suez), able also to produce new ideas that
B08  34 can excite.
B08  35    |^\0Mr. Lloyd's timing has been miraculously fortunate. ^His Budget
B08  36 has come immediately after a week in which \0Mr. Butler fared badly.
B08  37    |^\0Mr. Butler, a humanitarian who dislikes corporal punishment,
B08  38 was openly flouted by 69 Tories in the biggest Conservative revolt
B08  39 since the war.
B08  40    |^Next day another 15 disobeyed his advice over the Wedgwood Benn
B08  41 affair. ^Result at the weekend: \0Mr. Butler's stock suffered a
B08  42 remarkable drop. ^Then into the limelight stepped Selwyn.
B08  43    |^It is not only \0Mr. Butler, the deserving candidate for Downing
B08  44 Street, who is in trouble. ^So are many other prominent contenders for
B08  45 the Premiership in the radical sector of the party.
B08  46    |^*4\0Mr. Iain Macleod, *0supremely able but facing frightful
B08  47 dilemmas as Colonial Secretary, is set back by the revolt, inspired by
B08  48 Lord Salisbury, against his Africa policies.
B08  49    |^*4\0Mr. Reginald Maudling, *0President of the Board of Trade, is
B08  50 disappointed. ^He would like to have been Chancellor. ^Now he is being
B08  51 tempted by Beeching-sized offers to leave politics and go into
B08  52 business.
B08  53    |^*4\0Mr. Edward Heath, *0Lord Privy Seal and Deputy Foreign
B08  54 Secretary, has not succeeded so far in turning his shadowy role into
B08  55 substance.
B08  56    |^And *4Viscount Hailsham, *0a radical Tory even if he would
B08  57 dislike being labelled a Left-winger, is down in the dumps of the
B08  58 whimsically named Ministry for Science.
B08  59    |^Cast a glance along the Right Wing: it is there that success lies
B08  60 at the moment.
B08  61    |^*4Lord Home *0is wielding immense power at the Foreign Office.
B08  62 ^*4Duncan Sandys *0works quietly as Secretary of State at the
B08  63 Commonwealth Office; and \0*4Mr Henry Brooke, *0the Minister of
B08  64 Housing and Local Government is almost ready to take up the promotion
B08  65 that is his due.
B08  66    |^Over them all is \0*4Mr. Macmillan, *0silent about his own
B08  67 future. ^In about 18 months or so he will have to make it clear to the
B08  68 Conservative Party whether he intends to fight for another term of
B08  69 office at the next election or make way for a successor.
B08  70 *<*4Adored*>
B08  71    |^T*2HE *0Prime Minister has never given the slightest indication
B08  72 who he considers should follow him in office.
B08  73    |^It has always been presumed to be \0Mr. Butler. ^In everything
B08  74 but title he is Deputy Premier. ^He holds the reins of power over
B08  75 party and domestic policy.
B08  76    |^But \0Mr. Butler's everlasting disadvantage has been the
B08  77 undercurrent within the party against him. ^After Suez it rose to the
B08  78 surface to rob him of the Premiership.
B08  79    |^It still lies waiting (though \0Mr. Butler has been an able
B08  80 fellow at winning friends over the years) for a chance to cheat him
B08  81 again.
B08  82    |^Now \0Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, sponsoring a Budget that is strictly
B08  83 Right Wing, adored by Tory constituency parties, and an intimate of
B08  84 the Prime Minister, is on the scene with just as much power and
B08  85 authority as \0Mr. Butler ever had.
B08  86 *<*4Clever*>
B08  87    |^W*2HEN *0you think about it, \0Mr. Lloyd owes it all to \0Mr.
B08  88 Macmillan. ^As Foreign Secretary he could have been sacked at any
B08  89 time. ^Hardly anyone would have wept. ^Uphill, against current
B08  90 thinking in the party, he was promoted Chancellor by the Prime
B08  91 Minister.
B08  92    |^Maybe a scheme is coming to fruition. ^Can it be that the Prime
B08  93 Minister has been grooming Selwyn all along for the highest office of
B08  94 all?
B08  95    |^There are plenty of Tories now who are ready to believe it. ^The
B08  96 Prime Minister is not only very clever. ^He has an uncanny habit of
B08  97 thinking years ahead of his colleagues.
B08  98 *<*6INTIMATELY REVEALED... FRANCE'S MAN OF THE CENTURY... AND THE HOUR*>
B08  99 *<*4Yes, his sight is failing but not his vision...*>
B08 100 *<by MAURICE EDELMAN {0M P}*>
B08 101    |^H*2AS *0\de Gaulle lost his grip? ^Is the old chieftain who has
B08 102 won so many battles and crushed so many revolts now to be eaten by the
B08 103 young warriors of the tribe?
B08 104    |^I have known \de Gaulle for 17 years. ^I first met him when he
B08 105 was the young, defiant leader of the Free French, in Algiers on the
B08 106 eve of his putsch against General Giraud.
B08 107    |^Since that day I have been fascinated by the paradoxical
B08 108 personality of France's greatest leader.
B08 109    |^*4Has he the strength left now in 1961 to pull it off again? ^I
B08 110 believe he has.
B08 111    |^*0His power lies in his curious contradictions. ^He is, for
B08 112 instance, a professional soldier. ^And yet, once again, he is called
B08 113 on to resist the French Army.
B08 114    |^He is a devout Roman Catholic. ^And yet he is drawing on support
B08 115 from the anti-clerical left.
B08 116    |^He is often accused of being a dictator. ^And yet he is today
B08 117 fighting a battle against militant dictatorship.
B08 118 *<*6HIS INTEGRITY*>
B08 119    |^T*2HE *0greater part of the professional Army is ranged against
B08 120 him. ^But there is no doubt that the concentrated strength of the
B08 121 French people is behind him, because of a respect for his integrity
B08 122 which no French soldier or civilian has commanded in this century.
B08 123    |^Physically, he is a sick man. ^His sight is failing him; he
B08 124 suffers from a cataract of both eyes. ^That is the principal reason
B08 125 why he never speaks with notes; he couldn't read them if he had them.
B08 126    |^He memorises all his speeches, and when he was in England in 1959
B08 127 I congratulated him on his memory. ^He told me that it had always been
B08 128 good ever since he studied philosophy at the Jesuit College in Paris,
B08 129 before going to \0St. Cyr, the French Sandhurst.
B08 130    |^Spectacles could do something for his eyesight, but he won't wear
B08 131 them because of a pardonable vanity which makes him feel that
B08 132 spectacles are unsuitable for a man fulfilling the role of
B08 133 soldier-father of the French people.
B08 134    |^As the family man, the father who each Sunday visits the grave of
B08 135 his daughter Anne in the medieval church of Colombey-les-deux-Eglises,
B08 136 he is a figure which the ordinary Frenchman and Frenchwoman
B08 137 understand.
B08 138    |^That is why even the Communists, who number millions in France,
B08 139 although officially opposing him during the last referendum which
B08 140 endorsed his Algerian solution, are in very many cases his secret
B08 141 backers.
B08 142    |^For the first time since 1945 the Communist, Socialist, and
B08 143 Catholic trade unions have rallied in agreement. ^They will provide
B08 144 the active leadership and civilian resistance to the Algiers mutiny
B08 145 which the inert mass of the French middle classes*- the *1\attentistes
B08 146 *0or fence sitters*- are unlikely to offer and which \de Gaulle is
B08 147 unlikely to expect them to offer.
B08 148    |^Like most supremely powerful men he believes in his *"destiny.**"
B08 149 *<*6HIS NATURE*>
B08 150    |^H*2E *0sees himself marked out as the saviour of France. ^And in
B08 151 the course of his often dangerous and adventurous life he has said
B08 152 many times that he possesses the *"\baraka,**" an Arab word which
B08 153 means the divine blessing which protects its bearer from evil.
B08 154    |^But this Joan of Arc mentality does not mean that he is lost in
B08 155 the clouds. ^It is balanced by an icy, calculating nature, a quality
B08 156 he learned from his father who was a teacher of philosophy at Lille.
B08 157    |^He has always been predictable, in the sense that once he has
B08 158 made his position clear all his actions flow logically from that
B08 159 position. ^It is certain that he would never yield to the blackmail of
B08 160 the insubordinate generals.
B08 161 *<*6HIS POLICY*>
B08 162    |^I*2T *0is this strange mixture of mysticism and rational logic
B08 163 which makes what is perhaps his most powerful contradiction.
B08 164    |^As a mystic (a quality inherited from his mother) he regards
B08 165 himself as France's predestined deliverer.
B08 166    |^As a rationalist (inherited from his father) he anticipated the
B08 167 Algiers revolt by rallying the French people behind him, and making
B08 168 the issue of his Algerian policy a straight one between the
B08 169 professional soldiers with their vested interest in war and the French
B08 170 people with their vested interest in peace.
B08 171    |^The last word may well be with the Army*- not the clique of
B08 172 Salan, but the army of conscript soldiers, whose hearts must be with
B08 173 their families on the mainland of France.
B08 174 *<*4This Clore touch at the Post Office*>
B08 175 *<by *6JOHN HALL*>
B08 176 **[EDITORIAL**]
B08 177    |^I *2MIGHT *0have been listening to \0Mr. Clore or \0Mr. Cotton.
B08 178    |^*"In cities and towns all over the country, grubby Victorian
B08 179 buildings sitting on magnificent central sites,**" the man at the
B08 180 other side of the desk was saying. ^*"Sites worth millions, asking for
B08 181 redevelopment, begging for the old buildings to be razed and replaced
B08 182 with new money-spinners.**"
B08 183    |^But it wasn't either of the \0Mr. \0Cs speaking*- or any other
B08 184 property tycoon.
B08 185    |^It was \0Mr. Reginald Bevins, the Postmaster-General, and he was
B08 186 talking about*- our post offices, the old ones, the shabby relics of
B08 187 another age, and the plans he has to give them the Clore-Cotton
B08 188 treatment.
B08 189    |^*"I've had a firm of specialists make a pilot survey and it is
B08 190 most encouraging. ^In site after site all over the country there's a
B08 191 lot of money waiting for us to collect, money we can put to good use
B08 192 improving our services.**"
B08 193    |^Property tycoonery in the {0G.P.O.}*- what's happening?
B08 194    |^Just this: ^After years of subservience the {0G.P.O.} has been
B08 195 liberated from the clutches of the Treasury. ^It is as free as makes
B08 196 no matter to *"go it alone**" as a strictly business concern, and that
B08 197 is \0Mr. Bevins' aim.
B08 198    |^From here on we can call it the {0G.P.O.}, \0Ltd., and fall in
B08 199 with the unofficial title the {0G.P.O.} staff have given \0Mr.
B08 200 Bevins.
B08 201    |^To them this 52-year-old ex-elementary schoolboy from Liverpool
B08 202 is no longer the {0P.M.G.} ^He is The Chairman. ^And with his
B08 203 Guardsman's silhouette and his iron-grey hair, and his quiet, incisive
B08 204 speech he looks the part too*- executive director model.
B08 205    |^I went to see The Chairman to ask him about the new {0G.P.O.}
B08 206 ^He told me: ^*"Although we are a State monopoly our aim is to be as
B08 207 competitive as if we had rivals breathing down our necks.**"
B08 208    |^He means it. ^Almost before the Treasury ties had been severed he
B08 209 sent down the line a directive which comes pretty close to the
B08 210 customer-is-always-right precept.
B08 211 *<*4Changing*>
B08 212    |^T*2HE *0odd telephone operator who snaps at us; the occasional
B08 213 clerk behind the counter in the Post Office who glares when we fumble
B08 214 or are not quite sure what we want: The Chairman is after them.
B08 215    |^From June 1, in all except the biggest post offices, there will
B08 216 be no segregation at the counters: no segregation in the sense that
B08 217 whether we want stamps, postal orders, or both, we will be able to
B08 218 march up to any station on the counter and get them from the same
B08 219 assistant.
B08 220    |^I asked about television*- colour television.
B08 221 *# 2003
B09   1 **[053 TEXT B09**]
B09   2 *<*6LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B09   3 *<*4Need to disperse immigrants*>
B09   4    |^*0Sir,*- While I fully endorse your attitude to the Commonwealth
B09   5 Immigrants Bill, and am repelled by that section of its supporters who
B09   6 detergently echo the racialist slogan, ~*"Keep Britain White,**"
B09   7 nevertheless I urge that the particular problem of immigrants from any
B09   8 source crowding into congested areas in London, Birmingham, and
B09   9 elsewhere must not be evaded.
B09  10    |^This does not at present affect my own constituency of Leyton,
B09  11 but there are other areas where immigrants can only find lodging under
B09  12 deplorable circumstances or by acquiring houses that could have been
B09  13 occupied by those who have been waiting for reasonable accommodation
B09  14 for many weary years.
B09  15    |^Hospitality is an excellent virtue, but not when the guests have
B09  16 to sleep in rows in the cellar! ^No wonder some returning immigrants
B09  17 have spoken bitterly of the wretched conditions under which they have
B09  18 been compelled to live, even if they forget that is the plight also of
B09  19 white brethren.
B09  20    |^Surely, in the interest alike of our indigenous inhabitants and
B09  21 of immigrants who have made and can make a valuable contribution to
B09  22 our economic needs, it is imperative to enforce dispersal of newcomers
B09  23 to less congested areas and substantially to expand house-building.
B09  24 ^If this is not done reprehensible racial prejudice will, alas, be
B09  25 encouraged and mischievously exploited.*- ^Yours \0etc.,
B09  26    |{0R. W.} Sorensen.
B09  27    |^House of Commons.
B09  28 *<*4Polarisation of the Labour Party*>
B09  29    |^*0Sir,*- Nothing could illustrate the polarisation of the Labour
B09  30 Party more aptly than the behaviour of \0Mrs Sylvia Brooks, who claims
B09  31 to be a member of the Hornsey Labour Party and bitterly attacks a
B09  32 speech I made as a guest speaker in Hornsey the other day. ^She
B09  33 attributes to me the words ~*"The worst country under socialism is
B09  34 better than the best country under capitalism,**" and then claims that
B09  35 the Labour Party will only flourish when it gets rid of people like
B09  36 myself who *"consider freedom relatively unimportant.**"
B09  37    |^Fortunately the part of my speech to which she refers was
B09  38 reported in the *"Hornsey Journal**" which quotes me correctly as
B09  39 saying: ^*"The last ten years have proved that the most backward
B09  40 totalitarian form of socialism is superior to the decadent type of
B09  41 capitalism we have in the Western world. ^The only alternative to
B09  42 communism is democratic socialism with planning and freedom combined.
B09  43 ^The issue is whether we can get the people to see this in time.**"
B09  44    |^Does \0Mrs Brooks think it really helps the Labour Party that she
B09  45 should seek to smear me by deliberate and malicious
B09  46 misrepresentation?*- ^Yours truly,
B09  47    |{0R. H. S.} Crossman.
B09  48    |^House of Commons.
B09  49 *<*4Anomalies of the wage pause policy*>
B09  50    |^*0Sir,*- Is not the Government's failure to convince the nation
B09  51 of the necessity of the wage pause very largely due to its failure to
B09  52 present a policy with conviction, clarity, and imagination?
B09  53    |^What, for example, is the *"plain man**" expected to make of the
B09  54 Prime Minister's recent forecast of a *+20 minimum wage for the lowest
B09  55 paid workers in ten years' time; the undertaking by Lord Robens
B09  56 shortly afterwards that coal prices would not rise for five years
B09  57 (broken this very morning); and the Prime Minister's repeated warnings
B09  58 that the Common Market will demand real competitive pricing of our
B09  59 products*- and all this in the context of a pay *"pause**"?
B09  60    |^Moreover, the plain man cannot understand how the country's
B09  61 future can possibly depend upon a pause in the pay claims of the few.
B09  62 ^If, as is asserted, the pause is so vital to the country's economy,
B09  63 why not invite us all to share it? ^Indeed, why does not the
B09  64 Government begin with a voluntary 10 per cent cut in the tax-free pay
B09  65 of {0MP}s, as did the Churchillian Government in the early days of
B09  66 the war?
B09  67    |^The Government, too, must make up its mind as to whether we need
B09  68 a stable economy or a fluctuating one, whether the cost of living is
B09  69 to continue to rise (the promise of a *+20 minimum) or whether it
B09  70 should be stabilised, as it so easily could be.
B09  71    |^Finally, the crux of this matter is surely not wages, but
B09  72 spending power. ^The higher income groups and those whose incomes are
B09  73 derived from sources other than wages are deliberately put outside
B09  74 this pause; yet it is common knowledge that these groups, as groups,
B09  75 spend lavishly. ^For the present Government to ignore this aspect of
B09  76 the situation is to create its own opposition on a far wider than
B09  77 party scale, and can only lead to a defeat of its own half-hearted
B09  78 appeals.*- ^Yours \0etc.,
B09  79    |{0S. J.} Streek.
B09  80    |^Holmbridge Vicarage, near Huddersfield.
B09  81    |
B09  82    |^Sir,*- How silly can we get? ^If the Treasury official really
B09  83 believes that *"money is in the Bank of England**" just as jackets and
B09  84 raincoats are in the Post Office stores, waiting for the end of the
B09  85 pay pause, he ought to take some lessons in elementary economics.
B09  86    |^Yours \0etc.,
B09  87    |Leonard Cohen.
B09  88    |^112 Wythenshawe Road,
B09  89    |Manchester 23.
B09  90 *<{0*6BEA} *4services in Scotland*>
B09  91    |^*0Sir,*- In the *"Guardian**" of November 24 Lord Douglas is
B09  92 quoted as saying of the Toothill Committee's report on {0BEA}
B09  93 services in Scotland that ~*"For sheer ingratitude, this report is
B09  94 hard to beat.**" ^He is further reported as saying that the Scottish
B09  95 service is subsidised by the profitable {0BEA} Continental service,
B09  96 and that the best place for this section of the Toothill Report is the
B09  97 waste-paper basket.
B09  98    |^I suspect that the waste-paper basket is Lord Douglas's filing
B09  99 cabinet for many good ideas which might be presented to {0BEA}. ^But
B09 100 is it not the duty of a common carrier system which operates on a
B09 101 monopoly basis to provide adequate service to all parts of the
B09 102 country? ^Or are they only obliged to offer service where profitable
B09 103 to them? ^Is it not the nature of the business to offset the losses of
B09 104 one line with the profits of another? ^And if Lord Douglas is so
B09 105 distressed about the loss incurred by the Scottish service, why has
B09 106 {0BEA} been so reluctant to allow any other airlines an opportunity
B09 107 to provide service?
B09 108    |^The attitude of {0BEA} towards internal service is reflected in
B09 109 their London booking office. ^Vast gleaming counters await the
B09 110 prospective Continental traveller. ^The internal passengers need a
B09 111 native guide and the Gods on their side to find the booking counter
B09 112 allotted to them. ^For Lord Douglas's information, Scotland extends
B09 113 beyond Edinburgh and Glasgow. ^There is Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick, and
B09 114 the islands. ^During the summer holiday season or New Year holiday a
B09 115 passenger can get from London to Edinburgh with only a little
B09 116 difficulty. ^But farther North? ^One has to book at least six weeks in
B09 117 advance. ^Put on extra flights? ^There's another idea for the
B09 118 waste-paper basket.
B09 119    |^Yours faithfully,
B09 120    |Mark Murray Threipland.
B09 121    |^Dale House, Halkirk, Caithness.
B09 122 *<*4Deceived by Hitler?*>
B09 123    |^*0Sir,*- \0Mr {0R. H. S.} Crossman proclaims, in his article in
B09 124 Monday's issue of the *"Guardian**": ^*"The white-washing of
B09 125 Chamberlain is completed by the claim that he was never deceived by
B09 126 Hitler and never believed in the possibility of a general peace
B09 127 settlement with him.**"
B09 128    |^On Tuesday, March 23, 1942, the Joint Consultation Board of
B09 129 Standard Telephone and Cables held its fourth ordinary meeting.
B09 130 ^According to the minutes of that meeting, the visitor was
B09 131 Air-Commodore \0H. Leedham, who, in the course of his talk, said that
B09 132 Chamberlain, on his return from Munich, requested that 20 {0RDF}
B09 133 stations be established around the coast before the next April.
B09 134    |^It would seem, therefore, that Chamberlain did not trust Hitler;
B09 135 if he did he would have been most unlikely to request the
B09 136 establishment of those stations.*- ^Yours faithfully,
B09 137    |Paul {0D. C.} Hudson.
B09 138    |^Exeter.
B09 139 *<*4A Radical alliance*>
B09 140    |^*0Sir,*- May I, as an active Liberal in my own constituency,
B09 141 sympathise most warmly with \0Mr {0R. A.} Buchanan's plea for a
B09 142 Liberal-Labour election arrangement. ^In spite of post-Moss Side,
B09 143 post-Oswestry, and cosy Liberal optimism it will be some years yet
B09 144 before the Liberal Party can form a Government, while it is obvious
B09 145 that the unique event of a Labour majority in the Commons is unlikely
B09 146 to be repeated.
B09 147    |^But what we need is not a {0Lib.-Lab.} pact but a new party; not
B09 148 coalition but coalescence. ^Is it too much to hope that the Radicals,
B09 149 now sprinkled in all three parties, may one day be united and that the
B09 150 Liberal Party may find itself the anchor of a new radical alliance?*-
B09 151 ^Yours sincerely,
B09 152    |\0J. Mackay Cousins, Political Secretary Brentford and Chiswick
B09 153 Young Liberals.
B09 154    |^33 Mayfield Avenue, Chiswick, London
B09 155    |\0W 4.
B09 156 *<*5Letters to the Editor*>
B09 157 *<*4The bill for drugs*>
B09 158    |^*0Sir,*- If \0Mr. Corina wishes to make two mutually exclusive
B09 159 propositions he will be well advised not to publish them in the same
B09 160 journal in the same month. ^On November 9 he states: ^*"Since price
B09 161 restraint became operative the industry has won success in export
B09 162 markets.**" ^This must mean that he believes that the advent of price
B09 163 restraint in 1957 (the Voluntary Price Regulation Scheme) resulted in
B09 164 substantially increased drug exports after 1957. ^But in his letter
B09 165 twelve days later he states: ^*"In the period 1957-59 the volume of
B09 166 exports fell by 1.2 per cent.**" ^At least one of the propositions
B09 167 must be incorrect.
B09 168    |^\0Mr. Corina says that the Hinchliffe Report *"showed quite
B09 169 clearly**" that between 1949-50 and 1959-60 the total cost of the
B09 170 Health Service rose by 80 per cent. ^I am unable to find this
B09 171 reference in the report*- which is hardly surprising as it was
B09 172 published in 1959 and its latest reference to costs is in the
B09 173 financial year 1957-58. ^What the Hinchliffe Report does say on page
B09 174 27, paragraph 63, is: ^*"These figures do not support the general
B09 175 belief that the cost of the pharmaceutical service is increasing at a
B09 176 much faster rate than that of other branches of the National Health
B09 177 Service or that it is absorbing an increasing share in the total cost
B09 178 of the Service.**"
B09 179    |^If the rise in the drug bill is *"phenomenal**" the rise in the
B09 180 total Health Service bill must also be phenomenal, as both have gone
B09 181 up at much the same rate. ^However, in his recent book, *"Health
B09 182 through Choice,**" \0Dr. {0D. S.} Lees, Senior Lecturer in Economics
B09 183 at the University College of North Staffordshire states: ^*"Between
B09 184 1949-50 and 1959-60... health expenditure fell as a proportion of
B09 185 social service expenditure from 28 per cent to 23 per cent, and as a
B09 186 proportion of gross national product from 4 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
B09 187 ^Far from being extravagant, expenditure on {0NHS} has been less
B09 188 than consumers would probably have chosen to spend in a free
B09 189 market.**" ^It therefore comes as no shock to read \0Dr. Lees's
B09 190 conclusion on the drug bill: ^*"It would seem that much of the furore
B09 191 over drug costs has been misplaced.**"*- ^Yours faithfully,
B09 192    |Ronald \0C. Clark, Director
B09 193    |Smith Kline and French
B09 194    |Laboratories, \0Ltd.
B09 195    |Welwyn Garden City.
B09 196 *<*4Diplomacy and trade*>
B09 197    |^*0Sir,*- During extensive travelling in many parts of the world
B09 198 seeking export trade, I have often criticised the lack of facilities
B09 199 accorded to business men by some British embassies and our official
B09 200 commercial representatives in foreign capitals.
B09 201    |^For a change I would like to pay tribute to our embassies in
B09 202 Spain and Portugal for providing examples of just what can be done to
B09 203 foster British trade. ^I held receptions for leading figures in the
B09 204 motor industries in Spain and Portugal, and in both Madrid and Lisbon
B09 205 my efforts to promote new trade were actively supported by the British
B09 206 Ambassadors, who not only saw to it that my visits were widely known
B09 207 but personally came to the receptions and introduced me to useful
B09 208 contacts.
B09 209    |^In Spain, in particular, where 300 people attended a reception,
B09 210 there was official British representation at all levels, and I was
B09 211 immensely encouraged by the splendid effort made, particularly by our
B09 212 own British information service. ^Indeed the joint effort between
B09 213 embassy personnel and first-rate Spanish agents demonstrated to me for
B09 214 the first time in my long experience just what 100 per cent
B09 215 co-ordination can achieve. ^Surely what can be accomplished in Spain
B09 216 can be done by our embassies all over the world.*- ^Yours faithfully,
B09 217    |Baron Rolf Beck, Chairman
B09 218    |Slip Group of Companies.
B09 219 *# 2004
B10   1 **[054 TEXT B10**]
B10   2 *<*4Letters to the Editor*>
B10   3 *<*5Directors' Rewards*>
B10   4    |^*0Sir,*- \0Mr. Aucott (August 21) implies that *1all *0expenses
B10   5 incurred by directors on behalf of their companies should be disclosed
B10   6 to shareholders.
B10   7    |^The law on this subject is perfectly equitable: if the expenses
B10   8 in question are disallowed by the Inspector of Taxes*- in other words,
B10   9 they were not *"wholly exclusively and necessarily**" incurred*- then
B10  10 quite properly they are shown in the accounts under *"Directors'
B10  11 Emoluments.**" ^Where, however, such expenses *1were *0*"wholly
B10  12 exclusively and necessarily**" incurred they were plainly *1not
B10  13 *0remuneration in the hands of the directors and cannot therefore be
B10  14 shown as such in the accounts.
B10  15    |^\0Mr. Aucott is not, I hope, suggesting that the standards of
B10  16 honesty in British companies today are such as to require that every
B10  17 penny spent by a director in performing his duties should be declared
B10  18 to the shareholders.
B10  19    |^{0*2J. F.} STADDON,
B10  20    |*0Secretary,
B10  21    |Institute of Directors.
B10  22    |^10, *1Belgrave Square, {0S.W.}*01.
B10  23 *<*5Exports on a Plateau*>
B10  24    |^*0Sir,*- I feel that the letter from \0Mr. {0E. J.} Bunbury,
B10  25 August 22, cannot go unanswered. ^To begin with, \0Mr. Bunbury assumes
B10  26 that the Chancellor's measures are sensible and correct and are likely
B10  27 to achieve the objects desired.
B10  28    |^It has been repeatedly pointed out that the Chancellor's measures
B10  29 to restrict sales in the home market in order to increase exports are
B10  30 quite mistaken and are having the opposite result. ^There is already
B10  31 ample statistical evidence available to prove this is the case.
B10  32    |^It is not correct to say that none of the Chancellor's critics
B10  33 have put forward a practical alternative. ^Perhaps you would allow me
B10  34 to state the alternative which a considerable number of people believe
B10  35 infinitely preferable to the present patchwork and uneffective
B10  36 measures.
B10  37    |^The Chancellor must take steps to curtail inessential exports.
B10  38 ^It is perfectly ridiculous in the present serious situation to allow
B10  39 people to fritter away hard-earned foreign exchange on the purchase of
B10  40 rubbish and things we could perfectly well do without. ^The most
B10  41 effective way to achieve this would be to revive the control of
B10  42 availability of foreign exchange. ^Indeed, the Chancellor is already
B10  43 doing this, but unfortunately, because he will not face up to the true
B10  44 issues involved, he is tackling it at the wrong end. ^He is cutting
B10  45 off availability of foreign exchange to people who would use it to
B10  46 create an overseas investment which would ultimately yield a return
B10  47 instead of cutting it off to people who would merely waste it in
B10  48 buying a lot of rubbish.
B10  49    |^{0*2N. F. T.} SAUNDERS,
B10  50    |*0Managing Director,
B10  51    |Kelvinator.
B10  52    |^*1New Chester Road,
B10  53    |Bromborough,
B10  54    |Cheshire.
B10  55 *<*5Butter Dumping*>
B10  56    |^*0Sir,*- I was interested to read the article by your Commercial
B10  57 Editor on butter (August 21). ^I ought not to have to express my
B10  58 ignorance to such a degree, but I find it very difficult to understand
B10  59 how it is possible for another country to invoke anti-dumping
B10  60 legislation inside the {0U.K.} ^Surely the three sections primarily
B10  61 concerned are the citizens of this country in their dual capacity of
B10  62 taxpayers and consumers, together with our own farmers?
B10  63    |^The point I really wish to make, though with great sympathy for
B10  64 both Denmark and New Zealand, is that anti-dumping legislation is
B10  65 primarily designed to protect a country's home industry, and it would
B10  66 be setting a most undesirable precedent if rival exporting countries
B10  67 and companies are permitted to apply for discriminatory action in
B10  68 their mutual overseas markets. ^Should we join the Common Market, it
B10  69 is appreciated that dumping will be prohibited between members, but
B10  70 this is quite a different problem from that now raised by Denmark and
B10  71 New Zealand.
B10  72    |^{0*2M. C.} BENTALL.
B10  73    |^*1East Falinge, Bent Meadows,
B10  74    |Rochdale.
B10  75 *<*5Potato Acreage*>
B10  76    |^*0Sir,*- \0Mr. Merricks writes (August 21) as a Special Member of
B10  77 the Potato Marketing Board, and in that capacity he is well aware of
B10  78 the reasons why it is necessary to have quota restrictions on the
B10  79 planning of potatoes. ^To have violent fluctuations in the acreage,
B10  80 and consequently in prices, serves the interest neither of producers
B10  81 nor consumers, as was well shown in the years before the Board was set
B10  82 up.
B10  83    |^Of course it is not possible for the Board, by its quota
B10  84 prescriptions, to plan for an exact acreage. ^There are too many
B10  85 factors which affect farmers' own intentions for any quota laid down
B10  86 by a Board, or by any other body, to do more than influence the
B10  87 position. ^But the Board would surely be failing to carry out its
B10  88 responsibilities if it did not exercise the powers conferred on it by
B10  89 the Potato Marketing Scheme to assist growers to plan their production
B10  90 from year to year at a level normally adequate to meet the consumers'
B10  91 needs at reasonable prices.
B10  92    |^\0Mr. Merricks is also aware that *+1\0m. a year from the
B10  93 increased contributions would go to meet the Board's share of the
B10  94 proposed market support fund and would attract twice that sum from the
B10  95 Government. ^It would therefore get back to the producer in the form
B10  96 of higher prices for his crop in surplus years and should thus
B10  97 encourage greater stability in acreage and prices as between one year
B10  98 and another. ^It is difficult to see how amendments to the Scheme
B10  99 which produced this result could be described as *"harmful.**"
B10 100    |^{0*2J. E.} PICCAVER,
B10 101    |*0Chairman,
B10 102    |Basic Acreage Committee,
B10 103    |Potato Marketing Board.
B10 104    |^*1Norfolk House Farm,
B10 105    |Gedney Marsh, Spalding.
B10 106 *<*5Building Bricks*>
B10 107    |^*0Sir,*- In reply to the article in *2THE FINANCIAL TIMES *0of
B10 108 August 3 re building bricks, the Scottish brick works have about
B10 109 40\0m. composition bricks in stock, made without the help of foreign
B10 110 labour, and could produce more if need be.
B10 111    |^There is a freight opening for British Railways, 120\0m. tons, if
B10 112 the price were right.
B10 113    |^Composition bricks are imported from Belgium and distributed to
B10 114 various parts of England cheaper than the freight charge from Scotland
B10 115 to the south.
B10 116    |^{0*2G. R.} NICOLL.
B10 117    |^35, *1Glenview Avenue,
B10 118    |Banknock, by Bonnybridge.
B10 119 *<*4Letters to the Editor*>
B10 120 *<*5The Airlines*>
B10 121    |^*0Sir,*- With reference to your leading article of August 23, the
B10 122 causes of airline troubles are surely simple to diagnose. ^In the long
B10 123 haul category the operating cost of the {0U.S.} big jets of just
B10 124 under 2 cents per seat mile is no improvement on existing types. ^It
B10 125 is not, therefore, possible to lower fares appreciably and so widen
B10 126 the market with these aircraft.
B10 127    |^Basically the same trouble also applies to regional operations
B10 128 with the additional difficulty that the sectors are so short that the
B10 129 aircraft cannot get down anywhere near to the best point on the
B10 130 range-cost graph. ^These airlines have ordered aircraft which only get
B10 131 down to the best position at 1,000 miles and in many cases the
B10 132 airlines do not have a single European sector approaching this. ^At
B10 133 300-400 miles it is off the graph at the bottom end resulting in costs
B10 134 of 3, 4 and 5 cents a seat mile. ^If the turbine engine and propeller
B10 135 had been configured differently, cost of 1.5 cents would have been
B10 136 realised, perhaps 1.2 with prospects of 1 cent on the horizon.
B10 137    |^So airlines have only themselves to blame if air does not secure
B10 138 a bigger part of the apparently static common carrier market due in
B10 139 turn to the growth of private carriers. ^Airlines must surely get back
B10 140 to the principles of careful husbandry, and demand economic
B10 141 progression in the new vehicles they order.
B10 142    |^{0*2R. G.} WORCESTER.
B10 143    |^66, *1Sloane Street, {0S.W}*01.
B10 144 *<*5Economies in Drugs*>
B10 145    |^*0Sir,*- In the outpatient departments of many hospitals, the
B10 146 habit survives of prescribing small quantities of drugs, bandages,
B10 147 \0etc., which have to be collected at the hospital dispensary.
B10 148 ^Frequently, the charge for these prescriptions is considerably higher
B10 149 than the cost at which they can be bought at the chemists. ^In
B10 150 addition, patients have often to wait a long time, up to two hours,
B10 151 for the dispenser to prepare the prescription.
B10 152    |^Issuing such small prescriptions, which of course were originally
B10 153 free, in the hospital might have made sense when outpatients were
B10 154 presumably paupers to whom a saving of a few pence was material, and
B10 155 to whom time was of little value. ^To-day, the {0N.H.S.}, the
B10 156 over-worked dispenser and last but not least the patient, who may lose
B10 157 wages while waiting, would be better off if the latter were simply
B10 158 instructed to obtain small quantities of simple supplies at the
B10 159 chemists. ^It is, of course, not suggested that this method should be
B10 160 applied to complicated special prescriptions on which the effort of
B10 161 the hospital dispensary freed from petty orders could be concentrated.
B10 162    |^*2HANS \0A. BLUM.
B10 163    |^7, *1Holders Hill Avenue,
B10 164    |{0N.W.}*04.
B10 165 *<*5Cost of {0H.P.}*>
B10 166    |^*0Sir,*- I presume that \0Mr. {0G. H.} Woolveridge's letter
B10 167 (August 23) is written in his official capacity, and it is for this
B10 168 reason that I do not think it should be allowed to pass without
B10 169 comment.
B10 170    |^Firstly, what does it cost a motor trader to assist in filling up
B10 171 an {0H.P.} form and posting it? ^Bearing in mind the profit he is
B10 172 making on the sale of the car I would have thought that he would be
B10 173 delighted to do the work for nothing, especially as he would be unable
B10 174 to sell the car if the finance was not forthcoming. ^Secondly, the 10
B10 175 per \0cent. he receives is excessive.
B10 176    |^Thirdly, if business is on recourse, in what way does the finance
B10 177 house share the risk?
B10 178    |^Fourthly, in my opinion {0H.P.} charges have gone up by 1 1/2
B10 179 per \0cent. flat even though commission has gone down.
B10 180    |^Fifthly, can \0Mr. Woolveridge publish the rebate scales used by
B10 181 {0F.H.A.} members and state that they adhere to them? ^I doubt it.
B10 182 ^At least one {0F.H.A.} member charges many *+s extra for early
B10 183 settlement where no new business arises, and it is simply not true to
B10 184 say that finance houses would lose money if they gave a bigger rebate
B10 185 in such cases.
B10 186    |^Sixthly, his penultimate paragraph suggests that banks when
B10 187 offering personal loans have no paper work, no collecting and
B10 188 recording of monthly instalments and do not have to make provision for
B10 189 bad debts or make enquiries about the integrity and standing of their
B10 190 customers.
B10 191    |^{0*2J. E.} FOSTER.
B10 192    |^26, *1Boyle Avenue,
B10 193    |Stanmore.
B10 194 *<*5Polythene Bags*>
B10 195    |^*0Sir,*- The rapid increase in the use of thin polythene film has
B10 196 added another *"home hazard**" against which precautions should be
B10 197 taken, in order to avoid accidents as a result of misuse of the
B10 198 material. ^This applies particularly to children, in that they can
B10 199 become suffocated if polythene bags are placed over their heads.
B10 200    |^This Association through its Polythene Product Committee has
B10 201 collaborated with the Ministry of Health and the Royal Society for the
B10 202 Prevention of Accidents, in order to determine methods of publicising
B10 203 both the dangers and the recommended preventive measures.
B10 204    |^Polythene film has certain characteristics which make it an
B10 205 excellent packaging material for a wide variety of applications. ^In
B10 206 many forms, such as small bags, there is no need for any particular
B10 207 precautions, but with larger bags and sheets, and in particular where
B10 208 film is used as a cover for mattresses and pillows, the material
B10 209 should not be left on the articles when they are in use. ^It is
B10 210 realised that such bags, and also those used for the packaging of a
B10 211 large number of garments, are useful in the home. ^If, therefore,
B10 212 these bags are retained, in order to use them from time to time for
B10 213 storage purposes, they should be kept out of the reach of children.
B10 214 ^If, however, they are not required for storage purposes, it is the
B10 215 recommendation of the film manufacturers, and the above mentioned
B10 216 bodies, that they should be disposed of immediately out of the way of
B10 217 children.
B10 218    |^{0*2A. R.} THOM,
B10 219    |*0Chairman,
B10 220    |Packaging Films Manufacturers' Association.
B10 221    |^{0*1P.O.} Box *0121,
B10 222    |301, *1Glossop Road,
B10 223    |Sheffield *010.
B10 224 *<*5Exports of Capital*>
B10 225    |^*0Sir,*- It is evident that the succour provided by the
B10 226 {0I.M.F.} merely cancels some of our short-term liabilities to
B10 227 foreign countries, transfers them to the {0I.M.F.}, but
B10 228 correspondingly reduces the possibility of gold losses from British
B10 229 reserves. ^Let us have no illusions about this *"{Monte de
B10 230 Pieta},**" and hope that the cold storage period will be long enough.
B10 231 ^For the future, it is important that any move on the part of British
B10 232 industry to establish factories in hard currency countries as a result
B10 233 of the impetus set in motion by entry into the Common Market should
B10 234 not constitute a further drain on reserves.
B10 235 *# 2034
B11   1 **[055 TEXT B11**]
B11   2 *<*6THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH*>
B11   3    |^*0Sir,*- We are much indebted to *1The Times *0for publishing
B11   4 yesterday, in full, the broadcast of the President of the United
B11   5 States to his people*- and to the world*- an account of his recent
B11   6 visit to Europe.
B11   7    |^This address, and the President's Inaugural Speech, has brought a
B11   8 voice and an authority to the councils of the Free World*- and outside
B11   9 it*- that speaks in frank, clear, and unambiguous terms, enabling
B11  10 those who hear and read to appreciate the dangers and the immense
B11  11 issues involved. ^His language, more than that of any other, reminds
B11  12 me of the great utterances of Sir Winston Churchill during*- and
B11  13 immediately after*- the war.
B11  14    |^Your obedient servant,
B11  15    |*2HENRY MORRIS-JONES.
B11  16    |^*0Bryn Dyfnog, Llanrhaiadr, near Denbigh, North Wales, June 9.
B11  17 *<*6REPEATED INTERFERENCE*>
B11  18    |^*0Sir,*- \0Mr. Kelf-Cohen, in his letter to you published on June
B11  19 6, criticizes the emergency resolution passed by the Transport
B11  20 Salaried Staffs' Association's annual conference in regard to the
B11  21 interference of the Government in the running of the undertakings of
B11  22 the British Transport Commission. ^That resolution pointed out that
B11  23 the present attitude of the Government precluded the possibility of an
B11  24 integrated and coordinated transport system, which conference believed
B11  25 to be essential to the economy of the country. ^In abandoning the
B11  26 policy of integration, the Government had made it impossible for the
B11  27 commission to pay its way.
B11  28    |^In speaking to the resolution I quoted from the leading article
B11  29 in *1The Times *0in connexion with the Government's proposals, which
B11  30 article stated that: ~*"Disintegration is being carried too far. ^In
B11  31 many respects there will be less integration than there was in the
B11  32 1930s.**" ^The article added: ^*"The plan will put the railways in the
B11  33 position of splendid isolation, except for pipelines, which is
B11  34 commercially unrealistic. ^The railway boards should be put in a
B11  35 reasonable position to provide interlinked and complementary
B11  36 transport.**"
B11  37    |^In spite of this *"commercially unrealistic**" position, \0Mr.
B11  38 Kelf-Cohen alleges that each member of my association receives *+4 per
B11  39 week in subsidy from the taxpayer, and apparently he has arrived at
B11  40 this figure by dividing the total {0B.T.C.} deficit by the number of
B11  41 employees, and then debiting the whole of the deficit (including the
B11  42 sums paid for interest and other commodities) against the employees.
B11  43 ^The payment of proper remuneration is generally regarded as the
B11  44 *1first *0charge on an industry: \0Mr. Kelf-Cohen appears to regard it
B11  45 as the *1last *0charge.
B11  46    |^\0Mr. Kelf-Cohen asks if the members of the association are now
B11  47 prepared to give up *+4 per week, but does he know what he is really
B11  48 asking? ^A junior clerk of 16 receives *+230 {6per annum}: does
B11  49 \0Mr. Kelf-Cohen expect him to work for him for *+22 {6per annum},
B11  50 or a young man to return from the forces at the age of 20 and work for
B11  51 him for *+162 {6per annum} (*+370-*+208)?
B11  52    |^It should be remembered that until the implementation of the
B11  53 Guillebaud Report, under which railway rates of pay were based on the
B11  54 principle of *"comparability**" with those of comparable employees in
B11  55 other employments, railwaymen had worked for considerably debased
B11  56 rates of pay, and it was they who had been providing the subsidy
B11  57 necessary for the running of the railways which are necessary to the
B11  58 economy of the country.
B11  59    |^Yours faithfully,
B11  60    |{0*2W. J. P.} WEBBER, *0General Secretary,
B11  61    |Transport Salaried Staffs' Association of Great Britain and
B11  62 Ireland. ^Walkden House, 10 Melton Street, {0N.W.}1.
B11  63 *<*6OPENING PAIRS*>
B11  64    |^*0Sir,*- In 1907 at Westminster, Charterhouse made a first wicket
B11  65 stand of just over 400. ^{0M. H. C.} Doll, 294 not out, and {0R. L.
B11  66 L.} Bradell about 104 not out. ^There were only six or eight extras.
B11  67    |^Yours truly,
B11  68    |{0*2R. R.} TRALL.
B11  69    |^*0Ridgeway House, Ottery \0St. Mary, Devon.
B11  70 *<*6MATHEMATICS*>
B11  71    |^*0Sir,*- Several of your correspondents on this subject have put
B11  72 forward the view that, over the passing years, there has been a
B11  73 gradual increase in difficulty in university honours courses in
B11  74 mathematics, and that their content is now less suitable for intending
B11  75 schoolteachers than formerly. ^I believe these views to be incorrect.
B11  76    |^It is true that there have been considerable changes over the
B11  77 years in the character of the mathematics taught in British
B11  78 universities, but this is to be expected of any living subject. ^The
B11  79 main change has been a move away from the mathematical *"jugglery**"
B11  80 referred to by one of your correspondents to a more logical study of
B11  81 mathematical structures and ideas. ^The type of honours examination
B11  82 question at present set is in fact easier, in that it demands less in
B11  83 the way of memory and manipulative technique than the type of question
B11  84 common 50 years ago. ^One would like to claim also that present-day
B11  85 examination questions demand more in the way of understanding, but
B11  86 this high ideal is not always attained.
B11  87    |^Because of the use of special terminologies, the newer
B11  88 mathematical subjects may be meaningless to teachers in the schools
B11  89 (or even to some university mathematicians), but this does not
B11  90 necessarily make them harder for the student. ^The present-day student
B11  91 tackles with ease questions on abstract algebra or topology, for
B11  92 example, but finds difficulty with questions on older disciplines such
B11  93 as elliptic functions and spherical harmonies. ^None of these
B11  94 subjects, old or new, has any direct application in the school
B11  95 curriculum. ^Nevertheless, many of the newer subjects are likely to be
B11  96 of more use to the intending school teacher than the older ones; this
B11  97 is especially true of abstract algebra and set theory, which should
B11  98 help to clarify his understanding of elementary mathematical and
B11  99 logical processes and in this way should improve his skill as a
B11 100 teacher.
B11 101    |^In conclusion, although I believe that university courses have
B11 102 benefited, and that students' lives have been made easier, by the
B11 103 reduction in the demands on manipulative *"jugglery**", the pendulum
B11 104 should not be allowed to swing too far in the opposite direction.
B11 105 ^There are certain basic mathematical techniques and methods which
B11 106 should not be omitted from university courses, but which should form
B11 107 part of the equipment of every mathematician.
B11 108    |^Yours faithfully,
B11 109    |{0*2R. A.} RANKIN.
B11 110    |^*0Department of Mathematics, The University, Glasgow.
B11 111 *<*6COOPERATION IN EUROPE*>
B11 112 *<NOT AT EXPENSE OF COMMONWEALTH*>
B11 113 *<*2TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES*>
B11 114    |^*0Sir,*- We, the undersigned, while fully realizing the need for
B11 115 the closest possible cooperation with all European countries, would
B11 116 deplore any step that prevented closer economic cooperation with the
B11 117 Commonwealth.
B11 118    |^We therefore hope that the Government will refrain from either
B11 119 signing the Rome Treaty or associating themselves with the Common
B11 120 Market until arrangements have been made to ensure that the
B11 121 Commonwealth does not suffer thereby.
B11 122    |^Yours, \0&c.,
B11 123    |*2JOHN DUGDALE, ROBIN TURTON, ARTHUR CREECH JONES, ROBERT
B11 124 GRIMSTON, \0E. SHINWELL, JOHN BARLOW, {0H. A.} MARQUAND, BEVERLEY
B11 125 BAXTER, ARTHUR HENDERSON, RONALD RUSSELL, DOUGLAS JAY, PATRICK WALL,
B11 126 BARBARA CASTLE, JOHN HOLLINGWORTH, JOHN MENDELSON, PETER WALKER.
B11 127    |^*0House of Commons.
B11 128 *<*6STATEMENT ON KENYA*>
B11 129    |^*0Sir,*- Lord Salisbury in his letter to you does not very
B11 130 clearly define either whether he knows what the Secretary of State for
B11 131 the Colonies actually meant when he said of Kenya: ~*"I am sure that
B11 132 the right thing to do is to study the position and to take
B11 133 constitutional advance at the pace that is appropriate to the economic
B11 134 circumstances of the country**", nor does Lord Salisbury say what he
B11 135 himself thinks \0Mr. Macleod should have meant by these words.
B11 136    |^Having just paid a visit to Kenya and having met and talked with
B11 137 a cross-section of opinion there it is my firm conviction that the
B11 138 economic and political stability of Kenya can best be safeguarded by
B11 139 (1) releasing \0Mr. Kenyatta as soon as possible in the hope that this
B11 140 will strengthen the Government now in office and lead to a settling of
B11 141 present African unrest and (2) going forward to independence phased
B11 142 towards the end of 1962 or the beginning of 1963. ^With this, I am
B11 143 quite satisfied, White opinion in the great majority agrees.
B11 144    |^To give independence overnight too quickly would be a disservice
B11 145 to Kenya in general and to the future stability of the African
B11 146 administration in particular.
B11 147    |^On the other hand to wait too long cannot serve the economic or
B11 148 political well-being of the country. ^It cannot help the White
B11 149 population in Kenya and they accept this; and it will not enable the
B11 150 African political leaders to control their followers.
B11 151    |^\0Mr. Macleod has a difficult decision to make on timing. ^In the
B11 152 interests of Kenya political leaders in Kenya, both British and
B11 153 African, and political representatives in both Houses of Parliament at
B11 154 Westminster should not read into his words more than there is. ^The
B11 155 words seemed to me to express an open mind for future negotiations.
B11 156 ^If all parties in Kenya can have such a mind then all will be well
B11 157 and there will be a great future for the country in which European and
B11 158 African will play a part.
B11 159    |^Yours sincerely,
B11 160    |\0*2K. LEWIS.
B11 161    |^*0House of Commons, June 8.
B11 162    |
B11 163    |^Sir,*- Lord Salisbury, in his letter on June 8, wisely draws our
B11 164 attention to the statement by the Secretary of State for the Colonies
B11 165 on constitutional advance in Kenya. ^He finds satisfaction in the
B11 166 apparent willingness of \0Mr. Macleod to tie constitutional advance to
B11 167 the economic circumstances in Kenya.
B11 168    |^The statement was no doubt not intended as a comprehensive
B11 169 pronouncement on the conditions in which constitutional advance might
B11 170 take place. ^Having said that, it must be made clear to every
B11 171 interested person that the economic situation cannot, and must not, be
B11 172 used as a brake on constitutional progress. ^The deteriorating
B11 173 economic situation, serious as it is, is the result of political and
B11 174 constitutional uncertainty, among other factors. ^The economic
B11 175 condition of Kenya cannot finally recover until further constitutional
B11 176 advance takes place; that is, until a responsible government with an
B11 177 African Prime Minister and an African majority in the Council of
B11 178 Ministers, with popular support, is in effective leadership of the
B11 179 country.
B11 180    |^We shall fail seriously again if we do not take note of the fact
B11 181 that the majority of people in the country want political advancement
B11 182 first and economic progress second. ^There are great issues to be
B11 183 settled before full independence can come, and here *"the needs of all
B11 184 the races**" must be faithfully considered. ^But his Excellency the
B11 185 Governor was surely right in his speech at the opening of the present
B11 186 session of the Legislative Council, when he clearly hinted that with
B11 187 the encouraging formation of a Government under the Lancaster House
B11 188 constitution, further steps in constitutional development are now
B11 189 possible and probable.
B11 190    |^Yours truly,
B11 191    |\0*2R. ELLIOTT KENDALL, *0Head of the Methodist Church in Kenya.
B11 192    |^10, Ravine Road, Boscombe, Hampshire.
B11 193 *<*6HOSPITAL DISPENSING*>
B11 194    |^*0Sir,*- In providing information for your Special Correspondent
B11 195 for his article on the shortage of hospital pharmacists in today's
B11 196 edition of *1The Times *0I discussed many aspects of the problem.
B11 197    |^I am disturbed to find that some remarks of mine are liable to be
B11 198 misinterpreted and could be taken to refer in a derogatory fashion to
B11 199 the ability of retail pharmacists to interpret correctly the
B11 200 prescriptions written by hospital doctors. ^This was never my
B11 201 intention and such an interpretation is possible because my remarks
B11 202 were of necessity condensed.
B11 203    |^What I intended to imply was that doctors often prefer not to be
B11 204 used solely in a consultative capacity in recommending treatment for
B11 205 patients to their general practitioners because they prefer to
B11 206 prescribe such treatment themselves, to know that it has been supplied
B11 207 and then to follow up their patients by seeing them again. ^This
B11 208 situation can be realized by the use of {0E.C.}10({0H.P.}) forms
B11 209 written by hospital doctors and dispensed by retail pharmacists. ^It
B11 210 falls down, however, when the patients fail to take their
B11 211 prescriptions to the chemists and this does sometimes happen.
B11 212    |^Yours faithfully,
B11 213    |\0*2G. BRYAN, *0Chief Pharmacist.
B11 214    |^The Middlesex Hospital, \0W.1, June 5.
B11 215 *<*6SPAIN*>
B11 216    |^*0Sir,*- May I, as one of the younger generation to whom Sir
B11 217 Thomas Moore on June 7 addressed a lesson in Spanish history, be
B11 218 permitted to comment on some of the points he raised?
B11 219    |^Sir Thomas's history is clearly partial. ^He claims that in
B11 220 1938-39 Spain was in convulsion and that Franco created order from
B11 221 this chaos. ^But how did the chaos arise?
B11 222 *# 2002
B12   1 **[056 TEXT B12**]
B12   2 *<*5Overtones of Crisis*>
B12   3    |^*6W*0HATEVER magician's wand of economic recovery the CHANCELLOR
B12   4 may flourish in the next few days, it is impossible not to feel that
B12   5 the Government has come rather ill out of the preliminary skirmishes.
B12   6    |^July is a traditional month for economic crises, and the
B12   7 beginning of the period of seasonal weakness for sterling. ^In 1955,
B12   8 1957 and 1961 it has also been the month in which the Government has
B12   9 chosen to create a national sense of economic anxiety. ^In fact, this
B12  10 time the recognition of the crisis comes surprisingly late, for
B12  11 Britain's trading position deteriorated sharply last year, and is now
B12  12 getting slightly better rather than worse.
B12  13    |^The Government's propaganda may indeed have over-reached itself.
B12  14 ^Undoubtedly the CHANCELLOR'S speeches, and the PRIME MINISTER'S blunt
B12  15 warnings to the 1922 Committee, were intended to prepare the nation
B12  16 and the Conservative Party for strong measures to put the economy
B12  17 right. ^These warnings, however, have run too far ahead of action.
B12  18 ^After so long a period of uncertainty we are left with a sense more
B12  19 of emergency than of urgency.
B12  20    |^Nor has this helped the national confidence. ^There is a growing
B12  21 feeling that the economic crisis is only a symptom of a profounder
B12  22 failure to find Britain's proper international position in the
B12  23 post-war world. ^The delay in working out the new economic policies,
B12  24 and in deciding on our European policy, has left an impression that
B12  25 the Government does not itself know what to do.
B12  26    |^Certainly there has been a lack of that sort of leadership which
B12  27 inspires national unity. ^Current bickering about the surtax
B12  28 concessions in the Budget evades the point. ^The Government is not to
B12  29 be blamed for wanting a more dynamic economy with higher incentives,
B12  30 but it has failed to explain to the nation any consistent and
B12  31 practical policy to achieve expansion, and it has therefore failed to
B12  32 carry the nation along with it.
B12  33    |^The economic measures which are going to be introduced will need
B12  34 to be tough, and must be judged primarily by their effectiveness; but
B12  35 it is also very important that they should be fair. ^The mixture of
B12  36 slow economic growth with financial *"get rich quick**" in recent
B12  37 years has been wholly bad in its social effects. ^The sacrifices that
B12  38 are now to be called for must be carried by the whole country and not
B12  39 by any one section of it.
B12  40    |^The general public, and the trade unions, will be the more
B12  41 willing to accept the need for restraint, for earning first and buying
B12  42 later, if they can see a clear objective which sacrifices will help to
B12  43 achieve, and if those sacrifices fall as heavily on the private sector
B12  44 as on the workers.
B12  45 *<*5Liking Yuri*>
B12  46    |^*6T*0HE wave of goodwill that has accompanied Major Yuri Gagarin
B12  47 has been remarkable, not least for its apparent detachment from
B12  48 conventional Anglo-Soviet attitudes. ^After all, he arrived here hard
B12  49 on the heels of \0Mr. Khrushchev's declaration that Russia must spend
B12  50 substantially more on arms because the West was doing so, and of an
B12  51 impressive and well-publicised display of Soviet air-power. ^These
B12  52 were not ideal heralds.
B12  53    |^Nor is his undoubted success entirely accountable in terms of his
B12  54 personal charm, great though that is, nor of the presence of the
B12  55 Russian Trade Fair.
B12  56    |^What in fact Major Gagarin seems to have done is to have shown us
B12  57 how much we *1want *0to like the Russians, in a spirit of genuine
B12  58 neighbourliness.
B12  59    |^This, and the fact that British visitors to Russia usually find a
B12  60 reciprocal warmth of welcome there, is surely a portent worth noting
B12  61 by the political leaders on both sides.
B12  62 *<*5*'Giant**' of the Left*>
B12  63    |^*6\0M*0R. FRANK COUSINS'S success in maintaining the support of
B12  64 his Transport and General Workers' Union for the lost-cause campaign
B12  65 of unilateralism is a personal triumph, though it is fortunately
B12  66 unlikely to affect \0Mr. Gaitskell's new firm control of his party.
B12  67    |^But the Brighton conference at which he won a 3 to 1 victory is
B12  68 important for other reasons. ^The extent of the personality cult which
B12  69 has sprung up around \0Mr. Cousins astonished many observers. ^The
B12  70 nadir came after the disarmament vote, when his principal opponent
B12  71 unblushingly declared: ^*"I feel like a dwarf in the shadow of a great
B12  72 man.**"
B12  73    |^The big stick of the {0T.G.W.U.}, with its 1,250,000
B12  74 well-disciplined members, is now held firmly in the Left hand of \0Mr.
B12  75 Cousins. ^In the days of his distinguished predecessors, Ernest Bevin
B12  76 and Arthur Deakin, the union was always inclined to the Right. ^It
B12  77 seems that {0T.G.W.U.} politics depend upon the personal views of
B12  78 the man who heads its permanent machine. ^The majority trot
B12  79 comfortably in the wake of the reigning *"giant.**"
B12  80    |^It is a disturbing view of democracy.
B12  81 *<*5South Bank Puzzles*>
B12  82    |^*6T*0HE non-party enterprise of the London County Council in
B12  83 stimulating at least the possibility of action over the National
B12  84 Theatre is wholly commendable. ^But it is clear from the latest
B12  85 proposals that the problems involved have not been adequately thought
B12  86 out; when the Council meets on Tuesday to consider the report of its
B12  87 General Purposes Committee it will be faced with the raw material for
B12  88 many hours' debate.
B12  89    |^The suggestion that Sadler's Wells opera should join the National
B12  90 Theatre on the South Bank entirely changes the whole picture. ^In a
B12  91 statement to THE SUNDAY TIMES yesterday, reported elsewhere, Sir Isaac
B12  92 Hayward said that it may be necessary to think of three auditoriums.
B12  93 ^There is no question of *"may**": such an extension will be quite
B12  94 essential if the National Theatre is not to be reduced to a travesty
B12  95 of what it should be.
B12  96    |^In any case the whole building will have to be redesigned.
B12  97 ^Perhaps this is no bad thing, for the existing plans are already
B12  98 twelve years old. ^If the new proposals are accepted, the design of
B12  99 the new building should be put up to open competition*- and a building
B12 100 might emerge at last of which Britain could be proud.
B12 101    |^The Council might also think it wise to ask the Chancellor for a
B12 102 clarification of his statement that his subsidy would be limited to
B12 103 *+400,000: a statement that seems to take no account of the fact that
B12 104 the new building cannot in any case be ready for at least three years,
B12 105 nor allows for possible changes in the value of money.
B12 106 *<*51,000th Refugee*>
B12 107    |^*6B*0RITAIN received last week her 1,000th refugee under the
B12 108 scheme initiated by World Refugee Year in June, 1959. Of all the
B12 109 refugees resettled since the first humanitarian impulse of the Year,
B12 110 we have taken in almost one-third; more than any country in the world.
B12 111 Most have come from the *"hard core**" of physically or socially
B12 112 handicapped families rejected by almost every other State.
B12 113    |^Public response did not drop after the end of the Year, and
B12 114 places have already been found for the 100 or so refugees who are
B12 115 still to come before the limit set by the Government is reached. ^But
B12 116 what then? ^There are still 80,000 unsettled refugees in Europe.
B12 117    |^Britain can be proud of the new impetus she has helped to give to
B12 118 this essential task, but where many have shown charity, there have
B12 119 also been apathy and intolerance. ^No doubt some refugee families have
B12 120 shown ingratitude; have spurned the houses provided for them, or even
B12 121 returned to their camps. ^But we cannot deny responsibility for the
B12 122 mental as well as the physical condition of those left rootless for
B12 123 sixteen years by a warring world. ^Until the last refugee is resettled
B12 124 our obligations must remain.
B12 125 *<*5Tell the Patient*>
B12 126    |^*6M*0OST doctors will agree with the Minister of Health that
B12 127 *"the patient and all concerned with him have the right to be treated
B12 128 as intelligent persons.**" ^Most will say that they *1do *0tell the
B12 129 patient all he should know about his condition. ^But, of course, they
B12 130 will invariably add, when pressed, that there are others who are not
B12 131 so forthcoming, so frank or thoughtful.
B12 132    |^What \0Mr. Powell calls, in modern jargon, the failure of
B12 133 communication is a fact of the medical service, particularly in
B12 134 hospitals, that is not the fault of any small minority. ^It has
B12 135 persisted into these frank-speaking days as a result of a professional
B12 136 attitude, fostered and inculcated from one generation to the other as
B12 137 a kind of mystique*- or as a safeguard against being proved wrong.
B12 138    |^It is usually justified on the grounds that *"a little
B12 139 knowledge**" can be harmful. ^But, as the Minister says *"the failure
B12 140 to speak two sentences can cause deep antagonism.**" ^Training in
B12 141 communication should perhaps be included in the medical student's
B12 142 curriculum.
B12 143 *<*5A Call to Unity*>
B12 144    |^*6T*0HE British are a realistic people who do not always choose
B12 145 to face reality. ^At present they are trying to avoid facing not one
B12 146 but a number of crises with an almost desperate complacency. ^For a
B12 147 few days, a nine-day wonder, it seemed that the economic crisis was
B12 148 really penetrating the national consciousness. ^But by the end of last
B12 149 week people were waiting for Tuesday with all their usual tepid
B12 150 equanimity; even the Stock Exchange was edging upwards.
B12 151    |^Yet at least the economic crisis made some impact. ^That was more
B12 152 than could be said of the impending decision on the Common Market, and
B12 153 certainly more than of the crisis of Berlin. ^The decision to be made
B12 154 on joining Europe is possibly the most important Britain has had to
B12 155 make since the war; yet no one could claim that the public debate has
B12 156 been on a high level. ^So great is the apathy that the Government
B12 157 could probably go in or stay out without vitally offending either its
B12 158 own followers or the country.
B12 159    |^The national awareness on Berlin is even more unawakened. ^This
B12 160 is the gravest of the three crises, one on which the issue of peace or
B12 161 war could turn. ^The British Government has from the beginning sought
B12 162 a negotiated settlement, but has always accepted the basic decision
B12 163 that the people of West Berlin cannot be abandoned. ^Yet the national
B12 164 attitude seems almost to be that Berlin is not to be allowed to
B12 165 interfere with the summer holidays.
B12 166    |^This complacency is a poor basis for policy; and a poor
B12 167 substitute for that sense of moral purpose for which the PRIME
B12 168 MINISTER and the CHANCELLOR have appealed.
B12 169    |^The economy, Berlin, the Common Market*- here are three issues
B12 170 whose gravity has during the past few days led to regretful sighings
B12 171 over the impracticability of a National Government. ^The British
B12 172 system has never taken kindly to government by Coalition, which is
B12 173 certainly not the answer now; but almost as disturbing as the national
B12 174 complacency is the apparent lack of any real sense of national unity.
B12 175 *<*5Party Views Not Far Apart*>
B12 176    |^*6Y*0ET even in the economic field, where the division is widest,
B12 177 and where the Labour Party can most reasonably expect to reap
B12 178 political credit, the judgment and sentiment of the party leaders are
B12 179 not all that far apart. ^\0Mr. GAITSKELL'S speech last Tuesday was a
B12 180 constructive and sensible contribution to the economic debate. ^On
B12 181 Europe it seems almost certain that \0Mr. GAITSKELL would find himself
B12 182 moving along the present line of policy if he were Prime Minister.
B12 183 ^(He would be foolish to risk splitting his party in Opposition;
B12 184 Governments have to make unpleasant choices, Oppositions can avoid
B12 185 them.) ^On Berlin again the responsible Labour Party view and the
B12 186 Conservative view are so close as to be indistinguishable.
B12 187    |^There is therefore a genuine basis for unity, and many people in
B12 188 the country would like that unity to be made apparent, for a
B12 189 bi-partisan policy would undoubtedly strengthen British influence for
B12 190 peace*- an influence more necessary now than it has been for years.
B12 191 ^At present the obstacles to a bi-partisan policy, at any rate over
B12 192 Berlin, are partly personal*- \0Mr. MACMILLAN and \0Mr. GAITSKELL have
B12 193 never fought side by side as Lord ATTLEE and Sir WINSTON CHURCHILL did
B12 194 in wartime. ^These differences need to be reconsidered.
B12 195    |^Yet the greater weakness is perhaps the failure to waken the
B12 196 British people. ^When great issues are shirked, little differences are
B12 197 given more than their proper weight. ^The call to national unity and
B12 198 the call for national leadership perhaps come in the end to much the
B12 199 same thing.
B12 200 *# 2017
B13   1 **[057 TEXT B13**]
B13   2 *<*5Keep off the brink!*>
B13   3    |^*6W*2HAT *0exactly are the Americans up to? ^Have they actually
B13   4 calculated all the consequences of what they are doing with their
B13   5 tanks and planes in Berlin?
B13   6    |^If so, what is the point of it all? ^Will these American moves
B13   7 really strike the world as a sign of strength*- or as a gesture of
B13   8 weakness and frustration?
B13   9    |^It is true that there is cause for frustration. ^With their
B13  10 nuclear tests the Russians are behaving like lunatic children.
B13  11    |^But that is no reason for the West to try being even more lunatic
B13  12 and childish.
B13  13    |^It is no reason for a policy of daring brinkmanship.
B13  14    |^A single shell fired accidentally in Berlin by some unthinking
B13  15 youth from Texas or the Ukraine could now destroy humanity quite as
B13  16 inevitably as any 50-megaton bomb.
B13  17    |^The British Government's urgent task is to stop the border
B13  18 generals being bold and brave at mankind's expense.
B13  19 *<*5Call it off!*>
B13  20    |^*6C*2AN *0the Government possibly persist in its plans for the
B13  21 royal tour of Ghana after the bomb explosions which have shaken Accra?
B13  22    |^For weeks journalists and {0M.P.}s have brought reports from
B13  23 Ghana about possible violence during the Queen's visit.
B13  24    |^But our Ministers have explained smugly that the facts provided
B13  25 by their own experts show no cause for concern.
B13  26    |^Well, what do they say now?
B13  27    |^Are bombs not facts? ^Is an explosion on the very spot where the
B13  28 Queen is due to stand this week not a cause for concern?
B13  29    |^Did the Government's experts not warn that such things might
B13  30 happen?
B13  31    |^If they did, it is a terrible reflection on the Cabinet, which
B13  32 concealed the warnings. ^If they did not, it is a sad reflection on
B13  33 their experts.
B13  34    |^Our Royal Family has always been ready to take risks for a good
B13  35 purpose. ^But for what purpose are risks to be taken in Ghana?
B13  36    |^Merely to bolster up a petty, tottering dictator.
B13  37    |^It would be little short of criminal if any life were risked in
B13  38 such a cause.
B13  39 *<*5The brave servant*>
B13  40    |^*6T*2HERE *0can be nothing but the highest admiration for the
B13  41 Queen's conduct in Ghana.
B13  42    |^She knew the risk she was running in going there. ^She was aware
B13  43 of the bombs and violence in that country recently.
B13  44    |^She was aware too that during her ceremonial drive with Nkrumah
B13  45 it would have been easy for an assassin's bullet to have struck the
B13  46 wrong target.
B13  47    |^And yet she has insisted on keeping her promise to the ordinary
B13  48 people of Ghana. ^She has gone ahead with her tour.
B13  49    |^Nothing could have been easier for her than to cancel this
B13  50 venture. ^She merely had to tell her misgivings, in confidence, to the
B13  51 Prime Minister. ^No one would have been surprised if the visit had
B13  52 been cancelled. ^Everyone would have understood.
B13  53    |^*1The Queen has shown many times before that she is a dedicated
B13  54 and sincere servant of her people throughout the world. ^Now she has
B13  55 displayed, as well, the highest form of courage in grave physical
B13  56 danger.
B13  57 *<*5Wipe off his smile*>
B13  58    |^*4I*2N *0Essen tomorrow Herr Alfried Krupp will be celebrating
B13  59 the 150th anniversary of the foundation of his mighty industrial
B13  60 empire.
B13  61    |^Who can blame him if he mixes homage to his ancestors with a
B13  62 little sardonic amusement at the expense of the Allied Governments?
B13  63    |^For if he had obeyed their instructions the Krupp empire would
B13  64 have been broken up long ago. ^There would have been nothing to
B13  65 celebrate.
B13  66    |^But Krupp, the convicted war criminal, the employer of slave
B13  67 labour, has succeeded year after year in getting an extension of his
B13  68 *"promise**" to sell out his companies.
B13  69    |^By one cunning dodge after another he has kept this one-time
B13  70 power centre of German militarism intact.
B13  71    |^It is a scandalous story.
B13  72    |^How much longer is our Government going to be content with just a
B13  73 mild squawk of protest when Krupp asks for yet another year's
B13  74 reprieve?
B13  75 *<*5Answer this today*>
B13  76    |^*4C*2OMMONWEALTH *0Governments are at last to see in full a
B13  77 speech which \0Mr. Edward Heath made more than a month ago.
B13  78    |^And why are they going to see it?
B13  79    |^Not because it was on a question which vitally affects their
B13  80 whole future*- although it does.
B13  81    |^Not because they are members of an association the first and most
B13  82 precious principle of which is mutual trust.
B13  83    |^Not because most of them, like the members of the United Kingdom
B13  84 Cabinet, are loyal Ministers of the same Queen.
B13  85    |^*1The only reason they are going to be allowed to see it is
B13  86 because some obscure official somewhere in Europe has already leaked
B13  87 the whole thing to another foreign Government.
B13  88    |^*0But there is something even more shameful.
B13  89    |^For in Brussels a Common Market spokesman indicates that the only
B13  90 reason Commonwealth Governments were ever excluded from seeing whole
B13  91 copies of the speech *1was because the British Government requested
B13  92 it.
B13  93    |^*0Can this really be true?
B13  94    |^The nation demands an immediate answer from \0Mr. Harold
B13  95 Macmillan.
B13  96 *<*5Lesson for a critic*>
B13  97    |^*4T*2HE *0final curtain comes down on the tragic farce of O'Brien
B13  98 in Africa.
B13  99    |^Look at it again act by act.
B13 100    |^Five months ago \0Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien came bouncing into the
B13 101 Congo as a United Nations chief.
B13 102    |^By {0UNO} standards his qualifications were excellent.
B13 103    |^He was known as an enemy of colonialism.
B13 104    |^He had even coined a phrase for the colonialists whom he scorned
B13 105 most. ^He called us *"the Brits.**"
B13 106    |^He was typical of all those who believe that the representatives
B13 107 of {0UNO} must inevitably be more enlightened, decent, and
B13 108 efficient.
B13 109    |^Well, how has he done in Africa himself?
B13 110    |^With his {0UNO} team he has been responsible for more
B13 111 bloodshed, intolerance and racial hatred than almost any other man in
B13 112 recent African history.
B13 113    |^As he looks at the mess he has left behind he must wonder how
B13 114 *"the Brits**" so often managed to succeed in the kind of situation
B13 115 where he has so dismally failed.
B13 116 *<*5Repeal it*>
B13 117    |^*4W*2ATCH *0the workings of the deplorable Homicide Act of 1957.
B13 118    |^Last week Edwin David Sims was found guilty of the horrible
B13 119 killing of two Gravesend teenagers.
B13 120    |^But under the new law this was not murder*- because of his
B13 121 *"diminished responsibility**".
B13 122    |^His crime*- which everyone would unhesitatingly call murder*-
B13 123 will go down in the records as manslaughter.
B13 124    |^It will help the experts to claim that the rise in the
B13 125 murder-rate since the Homicide Act is not really serious.
B13 126    |^And that is not all.
B13 127    |^By the time this psychopath is in his early forties he will
B13 128 probably be a free man. ^Free to roam the countryside once again.
B13 129    |^Is it not a scandal that a law which allows this to happen should
B13 130 remain on the Statute-book?
B13 131 *<*5Losers*>
B13 132    |^*4W*2HO *0would lose most if Britain decided not to join the
B13 133 Common Market and so brought our trade with Europe largely to a
B13 134 standstill?
B13 135    |^The answer is: not the British.
B13 136    |^If you want evidence of that look at the wrangle now going on in
B13 137 Brussels over the Common Market tariffs.
B13 138    |^The French say they must sell more wine in Germany. ^But the
B13 139 Germans retort that wine must not flow only in one direction. ^If
B13 140 Germany is to buy more, then France must take more from Germany.
B13 141    |^The fact is, of course, that there is only one country in Europe
B13 142 in which the French wine industry*- on which the rural economy of
B13 143 France depends*- can sell in sufficient quantities. ^And that is
B13 144 Britain.
B13 145    |^What is true of wine is equally true of one industry after
B13 146 another. ^If our leaders only had the courage we could trade with
B13 147 Europe on our own terms.
B13 148    |^For the *"Six**" have a much greater need of our market than we
B13 149 have of theirs.
B13 150 *<*5Purpose*>
B13 151    |^*4F*2ASHION *0is turning against the Christmas card. ^It is
B13 152 argued that there is no purpose in posting a flood of cards often to
B13 153 people you hardly know.
B13 154    |^Yes, but not all the cards in that flood are without purpose.
B13 155    |^To the old and the lonely a card is a wonderful reminder that
B13 156 they are not forgotten.
B13 157    |^And to the relation or neighbour you have quarrelled with it is
B13 158 the most tactful peace offering of all.
B13 159 *<*5Finger on the trigger*>
B13 160    |^*4W*2HOSE *0finger is on the trigger?
B13 161    |^Off to the United Nations forces in the Congo goes a load of
B13 162 1,000\0lb. bombs sent with the compliments of the British taxpayer.
B13 163    |^They go, the Government piously points out, on special terms
B13 164 only.
B13 165    |^On each bomb there is virtually a label saying: ^*"Not to be used
B13 166 except against *'pirate**' planes and air-strips.**"
B13 167    |^But can that really keep the Government's conscience clean?
B13 168    |^Does it have any control over the Indian airmen who are going to
B13 169 drop the bombs? ^Is there the slightest evidence that they either know
B13 170 or care about our terms?
B13 171    |^For all we know the men in charge of these operations may be just
B13 172 as deluded and hysterical as their former chief, Conor O'Brien.
B13 173    |^For all we know these British bombs may soon be crashing down on
B13 174 hospitals and British missionaries.
B13 175    |^No wonder the Tory rebels are in uproar. ^The only surprise is
B13 176 that there should be a single Tory {0M.P.} who is prepared to
B13 177 support a decision which is both weak and wicked.
B13 178 *<*5Prigs*>
B13 179    |^*4T*2HE *0nuclear disarmament rioters who have been causing so
B13 180 much annoyance say that this is the only way in which they can stir
B13 181 the nation's conscience.
B13 182    |^Could anything be more priggish than that?
B13 183    |^Do they seriously suppose that the rest of us are indifferent to
B13 184 the risk of a nuclear war?
B13 185    |^The truth is that their fellow-countrymen have not got less
B13 186 conscience. ^Just more sense.
B13 187    |^For suppose that these exhibitionists had got their way last
B13 188 year. ^Suppose that both East and West had given up their nuclear
B13 189 stocks.
B13 190    |^Is it not certain that we would already be in the midst of the
B13 191 most terrible conventional war in history over Berlin?
B13 192 *<*5Thrift*>
B13 193    |^*4T*2HE *0Treasury is right to save money by clamping down on
B13 194 embassy parties for the Queen's official birthday.
B13 195    |^But the saving is only *+100,000 a year. ^Why stop there?
B13 196    |^There is, for example, the *+18,000,000 in cash aid that we are
B13 197 giving to Tanganyika.
B13 198    |^There is the Congo which, through our backing for {0UNO}, is
B13 199 costing us around *+4,000,000 a year.
B13 200    |^There is \0Mr. Nehru, who wants to squeeze about *+70,000,000 out
B13 201 of us over the next two years.
B13 202    |^And, of course, there is the Army on the Rhine. ^It is costing us
B13 203 at least *+70,000,000 this year. ^And next year the bill may be near
B13 204 *+100,000,000.
B13 205    |^These fantastic sums are being squandered by vainglorious men
B13 206 anxious for Britain to play a leading world role.
B13 207    |^But they should remember this: true authority comes from
B13 208 strength, not from pouring money down the drain.
B13 209 *<*5Wrong*>
B13 210    |^*4D*2O *0you remember the debtors prisons in the novels of
B13 211 Charles Dickens?
B13 212    |^Probably you associate them with the workhouse and with child
B13 213 labour in the mines.
B13 214    |^All the more amazing, then, that a century later our prisons
B13 215 should still be crowded with debtors.
B13 216    |^The cells should be reserved for criminals alone.
B13 217    |^As for debtors, there will be fewer of them when business men
B13 218 understand that, if you lend to someone whose credit is not good, then
B13 219 you must be prepared to lose.
B13 220 *<*5Death for no reason*>
B13 221    |^*4A*2S *0the week-end began two British journalists were sending
B13 222 this despatch while {0UNO} bombers roared over Katanga:*-
B13 223 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
B13 224    |^*"*1A moment ago, in the foyer of the Leopold *=2 Hotel, where we
B13 225 are writing, they carried in a four-year-old girl. ^She was dead.
B13 226    |^*"In the moments it has taken to type this they have brought in
B13 227 yet another child's body. ^The face is gone, the body shredded by
B13 228 shell splinters.
B13 229    |^*"If you have seen broken dolls, you have some idea of the
B13 230 picture.**"
B13 231 **[END INDENTATION**]
B13 232    |^*0Read those words again and ask yourself: ^Why were these little
B13 233 children killed? ^What was their crime?
B13 234    |^Was it because*- as with Nazi Germany*- their country was making
B13 235 war on the world?
B13 236    |^No. ^All it wanted was to be left alone.
B13 237    |^Was it because their country was employing white officers?
B13 238    |^No. ^Every other African State has whites in top positions. ^Even
B13 239 the Indian airmen who killed them were white-trained.
B13 240 *# 2006
B14   1 **[058 TEXT B14**]
B14   2 *<*4*'A tax on invalids! ^It is shameful that such a levy should be
B14   3 collected by a Ministry of Health... worse still there is a tax on
B14   4 childhood**'*>
B14   5 *<*5Let's give the Welfare State a shot in the arm*>
B14   6 *<*4By *6KENNETH BARRETT*>
B14   7 **[EDITORIAL**]
B14   8    |^I*2NCREASED *0National Health charges. ^A further conjuring trick
B14   9 with National Insurance contributions. ^The Minister of Health's
B14  10 announcement the other day of changes to take place in April was a
B14  11 signpost on the road of retreat from the first vision of nationwide
B14  12 personal security.
B14  13    |^There have been other signs of this retreat over the years. ^To
B14  14 many of us it has long been evident that the Welfare State was in
B14  15 danger of destruction from within.
B14  16    |^First of all, the administrators have muddled one of the main
B14  17 issues.
B14  18    |^They have been determined to uphold a meaningless fiction. ^They
B14  19 have insisted that part of the National Insurance stamp should go
B14  20 towards the cost of the National Health Service.
B14  21    |^This has deepened the widest-spread fallacy in the community*-
B14  22 the mistaken idea that the man who buys his National Insurance stamp
B14  23 pays for the National Health Service. ^He doesn't, of course.
B14  24    |^The total cost of the National Health Service in this financial
B14  25 year will be about *+867,000,000. ^Of that vast sum, *+663,000,000
B14  26 comes from general taxation, *1not *0from National Insurance stamps.
B14  27 *<*5Confused*>
B14  28    |^*0Small wonder that the man-in-the-street is confused.
B14  29    |^Because the existence of the stamp as a source of supplementary
B14  30 revenue to the National Health Service is a temptation to the
B14  31 administrator in search of the *1appearance *0of economy.
B14  32    |^It gives him a chance to make the Health Service look as if it
B14  33 costs less.
B14  34    |^Today the employed man pays 9\0s 11\0d. a week towards the whole
B14  35 bill of social security in his weekly stamp. ^Of that, 1\0s 10 1/2\0d.
B14  36 is earmarked for the health service.
B14  37    |^In April he will, as a basis, pay 9\0s 9\0d. a week and the same
B14  38 amount of 1\0s. 10 1/2\0d. will go to the health service.
B14  39    |^At the same time, from April, he will have to pay, if his wages
B14  40 are high enough an additional contribution to the State's massively
B14  41 confusing graduated pension scheme, unless his employer *"contracts
B14  42 out.**"
B14  43    |^If he is earning *+15 a week, he will be paying, in all
B14  44 probability, 5\0s. 1\0d. a week towards the graduated scheme.
B14  45    |^The Minister of Health's proposals will alter the position again
B14  46 in July.
B14  47    |^His total basic contribution will be 10\0s. 7\0d.
B14  48    |^*4Of this a larger proportion, 2\0s. 8 1/2\0d. this time, will be
B14  49 earmarked for the health service.
B14  50    |^*0With the highest contribution to the graduated scheme, his
B14  51 stamp will cost him 15\0s. 8\0d.
B14  52    |^*1Don't think for one moment that it's going to stop there.
B14  53    |^Higher pensions will be sought. ^The health service will cost
B14  54 more. ^The contributions, total and fraction, will all go up again.
B14  55    |^*0The mere cost of the complex administrative tasks involved in
B14  56 recording contributions is vast in proportion to the amount of tax
B14  57 that is collected.
B14  58    |^Yet the tempting fiction of the stamp will always be there.
B14  59 *<*5Enemy*>
B14  60    |^*0But the health service has another inside enemy.
B14  61    |^It is, of course, on the face of things, reasonable to charge
B14  62 people a little when they get some special extra benefit.
B14  63    |^*4Why shouldn't the ordinary citizen, in an age of high wages,
B14  64 pay some proportion of the cost of dentures or of spectacles?
B14  65    |^*0That's the question. ^Why shouldn't the special beneficiaries
B14  66 pay a little extra out of their own pockets?
B14  67    |^It's an insidious argument. ^It seems so reasonable. ^But once
B14  68 you start agreeing that the proposal is reasonable, you can reach the
B14  69 extreme lengths of unreason.
B14  70    |^For example, a well-paid patient, whose firm still continues his
B14  71 wages, who draws sickness benefit on top, may have surgical and
B14  72 hospital treatment costing many hundreds of pounds. ^And if he needs
B14  73 spectacles, when in hospital, he gets them free.
B14  74    |^And yet a widow, whose pension, for which her husband paid, is
B14  75 wiped out because she works for a living wage, will now have to pay
B14  76 12\0s. 6\0d. for each lens in her spectacles, and 17\0s. 8\0d. for the
B14  77 frames. ^This is what the Minister proposes.
B14  78    |^The truth is that you can't make sense out of small private
B14  79 charges under a vastly expensive public scheme.
B14  80    |^You can only alter the shape of the national bill.
B14  81    |^But, at least, it ought to be a Minister's duty to refrain from
B14  82 doing positive harm just to collect a token tribute to the total
B14  83 tally.
B14  84    |^And social harm, I fear, is what two of the proposed changes are
B14  85 going to achieve.
B14  86    |^For example, from March 1, each item on a National Health Service
B14  87 prescription is to cost 2\0s.
B14  88 *<*5Children*>
B14  89    |^*0I leave out of account, for the moment, the estimate which I
B14  90 have been given*- that nearly one-third of such items cost *1less
B14  91 *0than 2\0s.
B14  92    |^*4I am thinking of the marginally poor, who happen to be in
B14  93 constant ill-health. ^There are countless thousands of them.
B14  94    |^*0The retired folk, getting on in years, with their retirement
B14  95 pensions and *+3 or so a week from their old firms.
B14  96    |^The man who, in protracted illness, receives half-pay from his
B14  97 firm. ^The Army officer's widow. ^I could go on indefinitely.
B14  98    |^They may need half a dozen prescribed items a week, easily.
B14  99 ^Twelve shillings a week. ^A tax on invalids.
B14 100    |^*4It is shameful that such a levy should be collected by a
B14 101 Minister of Health.
B14 102    |^*0Worse still. ^There is the tax on childhood. ^Pregnancy, like
B14 103 death, is democratic.
B14 104    |^The last war forced the state to protect the health of children
B14 105 through the Maternity Clinic.
B14 106    |^With the help of the National Health Service it has become a
B14 107 possession beyond price.
B14 108    |^All mothers go there. ^The solicitor's wife, the schoolmaster's
B14 109 wife, the clerk's wife, the plumber's wife, and the wife of the chap
B14 110 who is doing a stretch in gaol.
B14 111    |^Never has the health of children been better. ^Never has
B14 112 infantile mortality been so low.
B14 113    |^And one of the reasons was that it cost nothing, or very little,
B14 114 to take advantage of everything the clinic had to offer.
B14 115    |^From June 1, instead of paying 5\0d. for the bottle of orange
B14 116 juice and getting a free supply of vitamin tablets and cod liver oil,
B14 117 there are to be higher charges.
B14 118    |^The orange juice will be 1\0s. 6\0d., the cod liver oil 1\0s.,
B14 119 and the tablets 6\0d. a packet.
B14 120    |^These sums might have been deliberately fixed to keep the poorest
B14 121 sort of mother away. ^And it will be the child that suffers in health.
B14 122    |^*4By these particularly petty tactics, the Minister will save
B14 123 *+1,500,000 out of the *+800,000,000 and more that we have to pay.
B14 124    |^*0I have been very close to the crises, the challenge, the hopes,
B14 125 needs, and anomalies of the Welfare State. ^And I think the time has
B14 126 come to take a close look at what is going wrong.
B14 127 *<*7SLASH THIS HEALTH SERVICE RED TAPE*>
B14 128 **[EDITORIAL**]
B14 129    |^YOU *4will have noticed the fierce House of Commons rumpus over
B14 130 the proposed Health Service changes and charges. ^I gave my views in
B14 131 detail about these last Sunday. ^It seems from the size and shape of
B14 132 my mail that most of you agree with me.
B14 133    |^Over the debate in the House the other day brooded the shadow of
B14 134 the late Nye Bevan. ^He was the architect of the Health Service.
B14 135    |^*0The Act of 1946 defines his vision. ^It gives the Health
B14 136 Minister the duty of establishing *"a comprehensive Health Service to
B14 137 secure improvement in the physical and mental health of the people...
B14 138 and the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness.**"
B14 139    |^To the creators of the service there was no hesitation about one
B14 140 further principle. ^It was to be free.
B14 141    |^*4How far have these great objectives been achieved?
B14 142    |^*0There are no longer two standards of medical treatment, one for
B14 143 those who can afford it and another for those who can't.
B14 144 *<*7DOCTOR'S MERCY*>
B14 145    |^*0No longer does a deduction from the wages of the lower-paid
B14 146 worker simply cover him during sickness, leaving his wife and children
B14 147 to the mercy of the family purse or the doctor's kindness.
B14 148    |^No longer is there a patchwork of clubs and voluntary
B14 149 associations seeking to ensure some kind of medical treatment for
B14 150 those who were not *"on the panel.**"
B14 151    |^*4Of course, there were ominous rumblings at the start. ^The best
B14 152 people, it was passionately argued, would still prefer to pay their
B14 153 own doctors.
B14 154    |^*0The best doctors, it was alleged, would stay resentfully out of
B14 155 the National Service, refusing to become the minions of a Minister.
B14 156    |^All these were myths created by prejudice. ^Within three months
B14 157 of the appointed day under the Act, 39,000,000 were on Health Service
B14 158 lists.
B14 159    |^*4It is officially estimated today that 97 per cent of Britain's
B14 160 inhabitants are using the Health Service.
B14 161    |^*0Only 600 doctors engage wholly in private practice.
B14 162    |^This is indeed a success story. ^But it is my task to look
B14 163 critically and constructively at the flaws and the failures.
B14 164    |^There is, in my mind, no doubt about the first mistake. ^The
B14 165 nationalised industry of medicine presents a stupendous administrative
B14 166 challenge.
B14 167    |^It is now so complicated that the prime purpose of it all, the
B14 168 prevention of ill-health, the welfare and re-assurance of the sick,
B14 169 can disappear in the difficulties of departmentalism.
B14 170    |^Today, Regional Hospital Boards plan hospital and consultant
B14 171 services. ^Management committees administer hospitals at local level.
B14 172 ^Executive councils are responsible for the general practitioner, the
B14 173 dentist, the supply of drugs.
B14 174    |^The local health authority looks after maternity services, child
B14 175 welfare, the visiting midwife, the health visitor, the home help and
B14 176 the ambulances.
B14 177 *<*7MINISTER'S JUNGLE*>
B14 178    |^*0Somewhere up at the top of this jungle the Minister of Health
B14 179 is supposed to keep an eye on it all.
B14 180    |^*4No wonder he can't see the wood for the trees.
B14 181    |^*0The hospital service, the general medical service, the local
B14 182 authority, each tends to work in isolation.
B14 183    |^The family doctor is not encouraged to study his patient in
B14 184 hospital.
B14 185    |^Often there is no follow-up system from the hospital to the home,
B14 186 or, if there is one, it doesn't work.
B14 187    |^Each service washes its hands of responsibility when it passes a
B14 188 patient to another branch of the system of National Health.
B14 189    |^These divisions can rise to ludicrous levels. ^An ambulance will
B14 190 take a patient to a hospital which can't admit him but, quoting the
B14 191 correct rules, will refuse to drive him to a hospital which can treat
B14 192 and cure him.
B14 193    |^The costs of each section of the Health Service are scrutinised
B14 194 as though they were isolated problems. ^Of course, they are all
B14 195 interdependent.
B14 196    |^Busier and better general practitioners in one area can reduce
B14 197 the financial burden on the local hospital.
B14 198    |^More money spent on local authority dental services when the
B14 199 children are at school keeps down the bill of the general dental
B14 200 service when they are grown up.
B14 201    |^*4A rise in prescription costs may mean a shorter period of
B14 202 sickness.
B14 203    |^*0To take one illustration. ^Hospitals are given a certain amount
B14 204 of money to spend in any one financial year.
B14 205    |^They can't save any of it up and spend a little more in the
B14 206 following year.
B14 207    |^During the last month or two, therefore, of the arbitrary annual
B14 208 accountancy, there is a mad rush to spend anything left in the kitty.
B14 209    |^A National Health Service is bound to be expensive. ^It deserves
B14 210 to be so if it works.
B14 211    |^*4We still spend less than 4 per cent of the national income on
B14 212 keeping people well and treating them when sick. ^I don't call that
B14 213 unreasonable.
B14 214    |^*0The cost of prescriptions is a topical problem. ^Here is an
B14 215 ever-rising and very significant part of the bill. ^Let's look at it.
B14 216 ^It has more than doubled since the service started.
B14 217    |^Last year 214,000,000 National Health Service prescriptions were
B14 218 made up. ^Goodness knows how many unidentifiable pills linger in
B14 219 bathroom cabinets and how many bottles of cough linctus were emptied
B14 220 down the sink after the first distasteful dose.
B14 221    |^Five prescriptions a head last year, for everyone in the United
B14 222 Kingdom at nearly 7\0s. a go!
B14 223    |^The bill still goes up. ^Not primarily because doctors prescribe
B14 224 more, but because drugs cost more.
B14 225 *# 2005
B15   1 **[059 TEXT B15**]
B15   2 *<*4Two sides to the closing door*>
B15   3 *<By *6COLIN LEGUM, *4Our Commonwealth Correspondent*>
B15   4 **[EDITORIAL**]
B15   5    |^T*2HE *0Government is going to have a hard job defending its
B15   6 intention to change Britain's traditional *"open door**" policy for
B15   7 Commonwealth citizens*- a policy that goes back to 1608, when Lord
B15   8 Chief Justice Ellesmere declared that James *=1 was *"one entire king
B15   9 over all his subjects in whichsoever of his dominions they were
B15  10 born.**"
B15  11    |^Of Britain's right to change this policy there can be no
B15  12 question: she is the only Commonwealth member who has not so far acted
B15  13 under the 1918 Imperial Conference decision giving each member
B15  14 *"complete control of the composition of its population by means of
B15  15 restrictions on immigration.**" ^The question is not, therefore, about
B15  16 her right to make this change, but whether it is wise.
B15  17    |^Nobody tries to deny that the problem of immigration into Britain
B15  18 is primarily a problem of colour: the need for control was never
B15  19 raised so long as immigrants were largely European, as, until
B15  20 recently, they were. ^A nauseous campaign waged by a group of Tory
B15  21 {0M.P.}'s has been directed almost exclusively against coloured
B15  22 immigration; and it is unfortunate that the Home Secretary waited to
B15  23 make his formal announcement until the end of an unpleasant (though by
B15  24 no means one-sided) debate at the Conservative Party Conference at
B15  25 Brighton. ^Hence the need to disentangle the facts from the racial
B15  26 prejudices which have obscured them.
B15  27 *<*4Voluntary control*>
B15  28    |^*0What are the facts? ^Until 1953 immigration from the
B15  29 Commonwealth was negligible; and the permanent coloured population was
B15  30 less than 50,000. ^The largest intake was from the West Indies,
B15  31 running at about 2,000 a year. ^The one exception were the Irish: the
B15  32 citizens of the Republic were treated for purposes of migration as if
B15  33 they were Commonwealth citizens. ^Between 1945 and 1959 Irish
B15  34 immigrants (353,000) exceeded immigrants (333,000) from all other
B15  35 Commonwealth countries.
B15  36    |^The great wave of West Indians started in 1954 with 10,000
B15  37 immigrants; by 1960 the figure had risen to more than 54,000; and the
B15  38 estimated figure for this year is likely to reach 70,000. ^This great
B15  39 increase is due to fear of immigration controls. ^There are now about
B15  40 200,000 West Indians (mainly Jamaicans) in Britain.
B15  41    |^There is, however, another factor which weighed perhaps more
B15  42 heavily with the Government's decision to introduce some form of
B15  43 control. ^In the past the Governments of both India and Pakistan
B15  44 voluntarily agreed to maintain strict control over emigration to
B15  45 Britain. ^This system worked well until last year. ^The net inward
B15  46 movement of Indians never exceeded 6,600; in 1959 it was down to
B15  47 2,900. ^In the first eight months of this year, however, it reached
B15  48 13,500.
B15  49    |^For Pakistan, the highest figure was 5,200 in 1957, which dropped
B15  50 to 2,500 in 1960. ^But in the first eight months of this year it rose
B15  51 sharply to 13,160. ^Clearly, the control systems operated by India and
B15  52 Pakistan have broken down.
B15  53    |^It is difficult to find exact figures of non-coloured immigrants
B15  54 because many people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South
B15  55 Africa are in fact emigrants returning home. ^But, with the exception
B15  56 of the Irish, they are a negligible proportion of the total figure.
B15  57 ^Non-Commonwealth immigrants (mainly Europeans on restricted work
B15  58 permits) rose from about 45,800 in 1959 to just over 53,000 last year.
B15  59 *<*4Public services*>
B15  60    |^*0What conclusions can be drawn from these figures? ^There is
B15  61 first the overall picture of an expanding working population, with
B15  62 immigration accelerating, emigration decelerating (230,000 in 1957,
B15  63 about 130,000 in 1960), and very little unemployment. ^Immigrants
B15  64 starting new jobs totalled 177,500 in 1959, and 236,000 in 1960.
B15  65    |^Immigration has therefore been meeting a real need; without it
B15  66 British industry could not have expanded as fast as it has done. ^As
B15  67 \0Mr. Butler stressed last week, London transport and hospitals would
B15  68 have been in poor shape but for the immigrants, especially the West
B15  69 Indians. ^The same is true of many public services, particularly in
B15  70 the Midlands and Liverpool.
B15  71    |^But there are clearly other factors which must be considered. ^As
B15  72 things stand, there is no evidence that immigration will slow down of
B15  73 its own volition. ^The reality of the world to-day is of unequal
B15  74 economic development, with the richer countries growing richer and the
B15  75 poorer being forced to export their unemployed. ^Within the
B15  76 Commonwealth all other countries control immigration. ^The West Indian
B15  77 islands even discriminate against one another. ^The older Dominions
B15  78 (especially Australia) discriminate against non-whites. ^The United
B15  79 States and Latin America have also recently tightened up their
B15  80 immigration controls. ^This is no reason for Britain to behave
B15  81 likewise, but it does raise the problem of what will happen if Britain
B15  82 remains the only uncontrolled area into which the spill-over can go.
B15  83    |^Is it right to assume that the volume of this spill-over should
B15  84 be allowed to find its own level without any attempt at planning?
B15  85 ^Will immigration slow down once the British employment market begins
B15  86 to reach saturation point? ^Or shall we suddenly wake up to find that
B15  87 failure of plan has produced a large surplus of unskilled and
B15  88 semi-skilled labour, largely among the coloured communities? ^What
B15  89 would result from such a lack of foresight?
B15  90 *<*4Real problems*>
B15  91    |^*0If undiminished West Indian immigration is now to be matched by
B15  92 a rising tide of East Indian immigration (after the breakdown of the
B15  93 voluntary system of controls), can we believe that racial and social
B15  94 tensions will not be increased? ^And who would benefit from this?
B15  95    |^Even though the real problems have become obscured by the
B15  96 deplorable arguments of racists, it remains true that they are *1real
B15  97 *0problems, and can be dealt with most effectively by rational
B15  98 discussion.
B15  99    |^\0Mr. Butler has firmly rejected the idea of any controls based
B15 100 on discrimination. ^He has made the reasonable suggestion that people
B15 101 with criminal records should not be allowed free entry, and that
B15 102 immigrants with bad criminal records in this country might be
B15 103 deported. ^He has also suggested that it might be desirable to relate
B15 104 immigration to employment opportunities here.
B15 105    |^There can be no real objection to these proposals, in principle.
B15 106 ^What should concern us is how this policy is to be administered, and
B15 107 whether in fact it can be administered without racial discrimination.
B15 108 ^Since the majority of immigrants to-day *1are *0coloured, it will be
B15 109 difficult to avoid the suspicion of discrimination.
B15 110    |^It is vital therefore that, before any form of control is
B15 111 introduced, Britain should consult all her partners in the
B15 112 Commonwealth, and possibly her future allies in the Common Market as
B15 113 well. ^For it is not only a question of deciding how best to arrange
B15 114 for immigration to continue into Britain; it is equally important to
B15 115 explore the possibility of greater migration within the Commonwealth
B15 116 itself. ^Trinidad, Australia and Canada might all be expected to make
B15 117 a greater contribution than they have done in the past.
B15 118    |^Finally, there is the central question whether Britain will not
B15 119 somehow be altering the whole nature of her relationship with the rest
B15 120 of the Commonwealth if she abandons her *"open door**" policy. ^We
B15 121 should not pretend that Britain has somehow been behaving in a way
B15 122 worthy of special praise. ^Our own economy has benefited enormously
B15 123 from immigration.
B15 124    |^Nor must we think of ourselves as being uniquely generous.
B15 125 ^France has always maintained an *"open door**" policy for members of
B15 126 her Community*- a policy much more difficult to maintain during the
B15 127 Algerian troubles than anything we have so far had to face. ^Holland,
B15 128 too, has kept open house for her associated territories.
B15 129    |^Also we must remember that even if the coloured immigrants in
B15 130 this country should reach 500,000 in the next year or two, they would
B15 131 comprise only 1 per \0cent. of our total population. ^To shirk from
B15 132 the implications of trying to integrate this tiny minority of coloured
B15 133 peoples into British society is to show little confidence in our own
B15 134 ability to practise what we always preach.
B15 135 *<*4Danger-spots*>
B15 136    |^*0But the problem of absorbing immigrants harmoniously into
B15 137 British society is as important to the immigrants as to the British.
B15 138 ^One of the important conclusions reached by \0Mr. James Wickenden in
B15 139 his valuable study on *"Colour in Britain**" is that a danger appears
B15 140 to lie *"where a concentration of immigrants has formed too quickly
B15 141 for an area's capacity to absorb them. ^Where this occurs there has
B15 142 been violence and the danger of violence and hostility will always be
B15 143 present. ^As a short term measure it is therefore surely desirable to
B15 144 keep the number of immigrants to a level which can be absorbed.**"
B15 145    |^The *"open door**" policy is of value only so long as genuine
B15 146 hospitality and security can be offered to the newcomers. ^It is with
B15 147 this aspect that we should be mainly concerned.
B15 148 *<*6RUSSIA TO-DAY*>
B15 149 *<*4by Edward Crankshaw*>
B15 150 *<*6WHY \0MR. \0K IS OUT OF DATE*>
B15 151 **[EDITORIAL**]
B15 152    |^*4In twenty years Russia may well achieve the prosperity promised
B15 153 in the new party programme, but the Russian people are not likely to
B15 154 be satisfied with material progress alone.
B15 155    |^W*2HAT \0*0Mr. Khrushchev was talking about in the Kremlin last
B15 156 Wednesday was 1984. ^He was looking twenty years ahead. ^But the
B15 157 picture he painted*- a picture which, he said, many people would
B15 158 dismiss as Utopian*- was not in the least Orwellian; and for this we
B15 159 should be thankful. ^It was not Utopian either. ^It was, rather, a
B15 160 picture of Metroland in 1961, extended to cover the vastness of the
B15 161 Soviet Union. ^That \0Mr. Khrushchev should be able to think of it in
B15 162 the same breath as Utopia is itself a sign that he is hopelessly
B15 163 behind the times, not only in relation to the world as a whole but,
B15 164 more interestingly, in relation to his own people.
B15 165    |^He was introducing the new Party Programme to the Twenty-second
B15 166 Party Congress, convened to approve his development plans for the next
B15 167 two decades. ^Twenty years is a long time: \0Mr. Khrushchev will be
B15 168 eighty-seven if he lives to see his Utopia come true. ^And if there is
B15 169 one certain thing about this programme, it is that long before the
B15 170 material promises are realised the whole concept will have become
B15 171 irrelevant, overtaken by events; or, to use \0Mr. Khrushchev's own
B15 172 favourite expression, life itself will have shown up the startling
B15 173 insufficiencies of his present thinking.
B15 174 *<*4Air of triumph*>
B15 175    |^*0This is not to say that there will not be great material
B15 176 advances, or that these are not necessary. ^Indeed, they are highly
B15 177 necessary if the Soviet Union is ever to stand comparison with the
B15 178 advanced nations of the West. ^For the West is also moving, and a
B15 179 great deal will happen in the next twenty years.
B15 180    |^Whether because \0Mr. Khrushchev is ignorant of the social
B15 181 revolution in, for example, Britain, or whether because he thinks we
B15 182 shall stand still, or collapse, \0Mr. Khrushchev seems incapable of
B15 183 visualising any forward movement outside the Soviet Union. ^He says,
B15 184 for example, with an air of triumph, that within the next two decades
B15 185 every family in the Soviet Union will have a comfortable apartment to
B15 186 itself: is it inconceivable that this may also happen here?
B15 187 ^Apparently unaware that British agricultural labourers get holidays
B15 188 with pay, pensions, and benefits under the health services, he
B15 189 announces that paid holidays will *"gradually be extended**" to farm
B15 190 workers, who are also, some time in the next two decades, to receive
B15 191 old-age pensions and sickness and temporary disability grants.
B15 192    |^With regard to education, he said that *"about 40 per \0cent. of
B15 193 the country's workers and over 23 per \0cent. of its farm workers**"
B15 194 now have a secondary or higher education: by 1981 all children are to
B15 195 receive a complete secondary education. ^During the same period the
B15 196 goal of free medical treatment and hospitalisation for all, as well as
B15 197 free rents, will be reached.
B15 198    |^All this, with a reduction of working hours, is designed to bring
B15 199 about in the next twenty years *"a living standard higher than that of
B15 200 any capitalist country.**" ^For the first time in history, \0Mr.
B15 201 Khrushchev said, insufficiency would be fully and finally eliminated:
B15 202 no capitalist country, he asserted, could set itself this task. ^But
B15 203 he adduced no evidence to support either of these statements.
B15 204 *<*4Productivity only*>
B15 205    |^*0It is one thing to congratulate \0Mr. Khrushchev on breaking
B15 206 down the Stalinist paralysis (somebody had to do it) and setting the
B15 207 Soviet Union on the road to material prosperity after the negative
B15 208 horrors of the cruel years.
B15 209 *# 2039
B16   1 **[060 TEXT B16**]
B16   2 *<*5Letters to the Editor*>
B16   3 *<*5Defier of Lenin*>
B16   4    |^*4S*2IR*- *0\0Prof. Seton-Watson used my father's name in his
B16   5 article on Persia last Sunday, meaning a man who would pave the way
B16   6 for the Communists. ^When the uninstructed speak like that, one takes
B16   7 it from whence it comes, but from \0Prof Seton-Watson...
B16   8    |^In 1917 the Bolsheviks were not yet known to be totalitarians and
B16   9 a great proportion of Russian Socialists were not prepared to fight
B16  10 them with the gloves off, but Kerensky was. ^He was *"promoted**" to
B16  11 the premiership because he did not regard the Bolsheviks as *"old
B16  12 comrades**" and could overcome the hesitations of Socialist leaders
B16  13 when it came to stern measures against them.
B16  14    |^During the summer of 1917 he dispersed a Communist rebellion with
B16  15 a whiff of grapeshot now described by such *"progressive**" historians
B16  16 as {0A. J. P.} Taylor as a *"massacre.**"
B16  17    |^It was a blundering general, with the active encouragement of the
B16  18 English and the French, who destroyed Russian democracy by attempting
B16  19 a right-wing *1\6putsch, *0which was suppressed without a shot but
B16  20 left the masses confused and distrustful of Kerensky.
B16  21    |^This turn of events enabled Lenin to mount a counter-attack which
B16  22 the vast majority of Socialists*- tantamount to a majority of the
B16  23 nation*- resisted only with talk. ^Kerensky collected a large enough
B16  24 army to defeat them, but the troops fell for the siren song of
B16  25 *"peaceful co-existence**" and that was that.
B16  26    |^The darlings of democracy today are the men who, long after the
B16  27 Communists have shown their true colours, have handed country after
B16  28 country to them: Benes surrendering Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt giving
B16  29 them half of Europe, Truman and Attlee abandoning China to its *"mild
B16  30 agrarian reformers.**"
B16  31    |^Might I suggest that *"Moscow**" knows that Kerensky has been one
B16  32 of its most unhesitating and determined enemies for 44 years, and what
B16  33 it is *1really *0looking for in Persia is not Kerensky (nor
B16  34 Mikhailovich, nor Chiang) but a nice Western-style statesman with
B16  35 half-a-round-table-full of crypto-Communist advisers?
B16  36    |^Southport, *2GLEB KERENSKY.*0
B16  37    |^*/*/*/ Alexander Kerensky, Prime Minister of Russia between the
B16  38 fall of the Tsars and the rise of the Bolsheviks, is now 80. ^He lives
B16  39 in California, where he is engaged in research and lecturing in
B16  40 Russian history at Stanford University.
B16  41    |
B16  42    |^Sir*- My article, *"Russia's Southern Doorstep,**" had to be
B16  43 condensed for reasons of space, and in the process a slight but
B16  44 important change occurred. ^It reads: ^*"In so far as the United
B16  45 States has hitherto been the protector of the re*?2gime, the people
B16  46 tend to be emotionally anti-Western....**"
B16  47    |^What I had written was: *"...the opposition tend to be
B16  48 emotionally anti-Western.**"
B16  49    |^What proportion of the people belongs to *"the opposition**" is a
B16  50 matter of opinion. ^There can be no doubt that there are millions of
B16  51 Persians who are devoted to the Shah, and have no hostility to the
B16  52 West.
B16  53    |^*2HUGH SETON-WATSON.*0
B16  54    |^London, {0S.W.} 19.
B16  55 *<*4Religion at Redbrick*>
B16  56 *<*1Points from readers' letters*>
B16  57    |^*4I *2WAS *0most distressed at the impression of Christianity in
B16  58 this University, which was given by *"Inquirer's**" article,
B16  59 *"Redbrick Wilderness.**"
B16  60    |^Apathy is prevalent throughout the University, not merely among
B16  61 Christians. ^Indeed it is a most interesting sign that so many
B16  62 non-Christians look to Christians for a lead. ^In societies and on
B16  63 Hall committees Christians take a leading part.
B16  64    |^*"Inquirer**" gives 250 as the number of those attending a place
B16  65 of worship some time during the term. ^A more realistic figure would
B16  66 be 500, of which at least 300 attend with some degree of regularity.*-
B16  67 ^*1(Miss) Hilary \0M. Gray, Ex-\0Sec., Joint Christian Committee.
B16  68 ^Southampton University.
B16  69    |
B16  70    |^*0One look at the University newspaper would show how largely the
B16  71 discussion of religion and politics figures in the student's life
B16  72 here.
B16  73    |^We personally were attracted by the friendly, unbiased atmosphere
B16  74 of the Anglican Society, where free, intelligent discussion is a
B16  75 normal practice. ^Jazz Club is popular because it is the only weekly
B16  76 social occasion which gives one the opportunity of meeting one's
B16  77 fellow students *1{6en masse.}
B16  78    |^*0Among our acquaintances at the corporate communion mentioned by
B16  79 *"Inquirer,**" very few were not present at Jazz Club the previous
B16  80 evening. ^Jazz does not exclude religion.*- ^*1Elizabeth \0A. Bunn;
B16  81 Judith \0M. Steel; Jennifer Summers, Southampton.
B16  82    |
B16  83    |^*0It is true that many students have little or no religious
B16  84 ideals and standards.
B16  85    |^But as members of the Southampton Catholic Society, we can assure
B16  86 you of the existence of a very strong body of regular church-goers who
B16  87 also take an active part in many other branches of University life.*-
B16  88 ^*1Patricia Friend; Winifred Colfer, Southampton.
B16  89    |
B16  90    |^*0What an odd University Southampton must be!
B16  91    |^When I went to the University sermon in the University church
B16  92 here, \0St. George's, Bloomsbury, on April 30, advertised as at 8.0
B16  93 {0p.m.}, I found the church packed, and had to wriggle my round
B16  94 **[SIC**] to an obscure seat at the side.
B16  95    |^If you want to be certain of a seat at the London University
B16  96 sermon, you have to go to Evensong first.
B16  97    |^The sermon was about Pascal, no doubt an interesting modern
B16  98 person: but nobody knew that beforehand.*- ^*1Margaret Deanesly,
B16  99 London, {0N.W.}1.
B16 100 *<*4Rotten potatoes*>
B16 101    |^*0Sir*- It seems to me that \0Mr. Rennie, Chairman of the Potato
B16 102 Marketing Board, stands condemned out of his own mouth.
B16 103    |^His first letter stated that no *1significant *0quantity of
B16 104 potatoes sold to the board had been left to rot in clamps and that in
B16 105 *1general *0they had removed such stocks before deterioration
B16 106 prevented their use. ^Having spent public money on these potatoes was
B16 107 it not his inspectors' duty to ensure that they were sold before they
B16 108 deteriorated?
B16 109    |^It was also widely reported in the Press that 2 1/2\0d. per \0lb
B16 110 was the producers' price and 5\0d. a \0lb the retail price. ^\0Mr.
B16 111 Rennie did not query the figure until you published it.
B16 112    |^But the most surprising of all his statements must be that *"the
B16 113 question of compensation for deterioration does not arise as the
B16 114 potatoes remain the property of the farmer until loading instructions
B16 115 are given.**"
B16 116    |^In that case why were farmers not allowed by the Board to load
B16 117 potatoes when asked for them by merchants? ^Farmers who sought
B16 118 permission to cancel their contracts and sell to merchants were
B16 119 refused by the Board.
B16 120    |^How can the Board buy potatoes under contract and not own them?
B16 121    |^*2YOUR AGRICULTURAL CORRESPONDENT.
B16 122    |^*0London, {0E.C.}4.
B16 123 *<*4Exotic Chelsea*>
B16 124    |^*0Sir*- Would it not be possible slightly to change the date of
B16 125 the Chelsea Flower Show so that it was not dominated year after year
B16 126 by the azaleas and the rhododendrons? ^They are not a typically
B16 127 British feature, and I cannot help feeling that the organisers of this
B16 128 show, by waiting two or three weeks, would achieve effects more
B16 129 popular and more subtle.
B16 130    |^Some of your readers may have ideas, but I would suggest the
B16 131 first week in July.
B16 132    |^Eastbourne. ^*2HELEN SPICER.
B16 133 *<*4Irish Partition*>
B16 134    |^*0Sir*- Perhaps your comments on Northern Ireland last Sunday
B16 135 could be put in a wider context.
B16 136    |^Surely people nowadays are aware of the benefits (particularly
B16 137 economic) of integration, association, and federation.
B16 138    |^Cyprus*- where differences between the two communities are surely
B16 139 as strong as any in Ireland*- has shown that it is possible to unite
B16 140 an island and to safeguard the interests of a large minority.
B16 141    |^In Ireland it seems that Catholics are now tolerated north of the
B16 142 border in such positions as shop stewards in the shipbuilding
B16 143 industry; perhaps religious passions are cooling a little at last.
B16 144 ^Certainly it might be argued that the political and economic division
B16 145 of Ireland perpetuates traditional animosities which are now largely
B16 146 irrelevant.
B16 147    |^Perhaps a more integrated Ireland would be feasible within the
B16 148 wider framework of the Commonwealth or the Common Market.
B16 149    |^London, {0S.W.}1. ^*2{0J. F.} TAYLOR.
B16 150 *<*4Taking it Back*>
B16 151    |^*0Sir*- Jean Robertson's admirable article on guarantees prompts
B16 152 me to ask for your readers' experiences.
B16 153    |^The Consumers' Advisory Council is at present consulting various
B16 154 manufacturers with a view to agreeing model guarantee terms, fair to
B16 155 both manufacturer and shopper. ^We are also preparing a comparison
B16 156 between different car manufacturers' guarantees.
B16 157    |^It would help over both these projects if your readers would tell
B16 158 us if they have ever suffered injury or damage from a defect in goods
B16 159 they have bought, and been unable to claim compensation from the
B16 160 manufacturer owing to *"exclusion clauses**" in the guarantee. ^If
B16 161 they could send us also a copy of the guarantee itself, so much the
B16 162 better.
B16 163    |^*2{0D. R.} VICKERS,
B16 164    |*0\0Sec., Consumers' Advisory Council.
B16 165    |^Orchard House, Orchard \0St., \0W.1.
B16 166 *<*5153 {0m.p.h.} at 77*>
B16 167    |^*0Sir*- I read with interest Courtenay Edwards's comments in
B16 168 *2THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *0about whether it is wise or not for a
B16 169 middle-aged man to buy a fast sports car.
B16 170    |^I agree with him that it depends on the individual. ^The thing
B16 171 one has to remember is that the faster one goes the greater is the
B16 172 need for concentration.
B16 173    |^At the age of 77 I myself am still driving fast sports cars. ^I
B16 174 run a 300 {0S.L.} Mercedes in which I have done 153 {0m.p.h.} and
B16 175 also a 135 {0m.p.h.} Aston Martin. ^I claim that in spite of my age
B16 176 it is certainly not necessary for me to give up these exciting cars.
B16 177    |^But then I used to be a racing driver and I have been driving
B16 178 these cars all my life. ^This is the main point really.
B16 179    |^*2HOWE.
B16 180    |^*0Chairman,
B16 181    |{0RAC} Competitions Committee.
B16 182    |^London, \0W.1.
B16 183 *<*4Self-Criticism*>
B16 184    |^*0Sir*- You may print what you like in your entertaining Sunday
B16 185 paper, but please don't print inaccurate statements about films.
B16 186    |^On page 28 last Sunday you reported that the film *"{Rosen Fu"r
B16 187 Den Staatsanwalt}**" (the correct title of which is, incidentally,
B16 188 *"Roses for the Prosecutor**") is of East German origin.
B16 189    |^The film was made in Western Germany, although it is true that
B16 190 the director, Wolfgang Staudte, has worked for the East German
B16 191 {0*2DEFA}, *0and therefore, in some eyes, may be politically
B16 192 suspect.
B16 193    |^*"Roses for the Prosecutor**" is merely one of many new West
B16 194 German productions, which, like *"The Girl Rosemarie,**" take a tilt
B16 195 at their Establishment*- a very healthy sign in German films in view
B16 196 of their 1933-1945 productions.
B16 197    |^*2PETER SEWARD.
B16 198    |^*0London, {0S.W.}4.
B16 199 *<*6LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B16 200 *<*5When {0MP}s Go Abroad*>
B16 201    |^*6S*2IR*- *0The article by your political correspondent, \0Mr.
B16 202 Ian Waller, drawing attention to the concern over {0MP}s' sponsored
B16 203 trips abroad, raises an issue that has been avoided for years.
B16 204    |^The plain fact is that it is extremely difficult for {0MP}s to
B16 205 accept invitations from foreign Governments, or from public relations
B16 206 organisations working for them, without being compromised.
B16 207    |^In any case, you tend to become inhibited or you have to be very
B16 208 thick-skinned to the point of rudeness. ^And if you end up taking the
B16 209 opposing view to the one you are supposed to have taken, it cannot
B16 210 help but leave bad blood.
B16 211    |^As someone who has travelled fairly extensively in recent years,
B16 212 since I became a Member of Parliament, I have reluctantly come to the
B16 213 conclusion, after experience, that it is usually better not to go on
B16 214 sponsored trips rather than face invidious difficulties.
B16 215    |^Thus I have declined a number of invitations from foreign
B16 216 Governments and have only gone when I have been able to *"work my
B16 217 passage,**" usually with my pen. ^But I am very fortunate in being a
B16 218 professional journalist.
B16 219    |^The existing parliamentary bodies arranging trips abroad, like
B16 220 the Inter-Parliamentary Union, do not always meet the need.
B16 221    |^What, then, is the answer? ^I believe that the best solution
B16 222 probably is to make available to every {0MP} an overall foreign
B16 223 travel allowance which he has to use (if he wants it) within the
B16 224 lifetime of a single Parliament, either in one or two major journeys
B16 225 or in a series of short ones.
B16 226    |^Only in this way can we hope to enable the House of Commons to
B16 227 have independent, first-hand impressions of many problems affecting
B16 228 this country and on which our Parliament has on occasion to make major
B16 229 decisions.
B16 230    |^*2DESMOND DONNELLY.
B16 231    |^*0House of Commons.
B16 232    |
B16 233    |^Sir*- Of course there are rogues in Parliament, but no more than
B16 234 one would find in commerce, the Church, or even the Press. ^Without
B16 235 being pious about it I know of no {0MP}s who would allow their
B16 236 parliamentary activities to be influenced by a 10-day trip to East
B16 237 Germany, Central Africa, or anywhere else.
B16 238 *# 2009
B17   1 **[061 TEXT B17**]
B17   2 *<*4Russia's new plans*>
B17   3    |^I*0n the light of post-war history, which reached its tragic
B17   4 climax with the Russian betrayal of the attempts at Geneva to reach
B17   5 agreement on atomic disarmament, there must be some excuse for the
B17   6 coldness of the reception which has so far been accorded to the latest
B17   7 Soviet proposals for settling the status of West Berlin before Russia
B17   8 signs a peace treaty with East Germany. ^According to a Foreign
B17   9 Ministry spokesman in Paris, there have been no official
B17  10 communications or conversations between the Soviet leaders and the
B17  11 Western ambassadors, with the exception of \0Dr. Kroll, the West
B17  12 German Ambassador. ^Nevertheless, the proposals which were made public
B17  13 yesterday do seem to serve as a basis upon which to resume
B17  14 discussions: and they make an important concession.
B17  15    |^This is the willingness of \0Mr. Kruschev to waive his earlier
B17  16 demands for a peace treaty before Christmas, and the reasons for it
B17  17 are worth considering. ^It is reasonable to assume that part of the
B17  18 answer lies within the difficulties which the Soviet Union are
B17  19 experiencing inside the Communist bloc. ^Another cause is probably the
B17  20 spirited reaction of the so-called uncommitted nations to the gigantic
B17  21 exercise in atomic explosions carried out by the Russians. ^\0Mr.
B17  22 Kruschev and his friends have succeeded in shocking a large part of
B17  23 the world that might have been more friendly towards them by their
B17  24 callous indifference to the consequences of these explosions that have
B17  25 threatened the health of the whole world, not least the Russian people
B17  26 themselves. ^Another important factor is the way in which the West
B17  27 have stood firm, refusing to panic in the face of this show of atomic
B17  28 might.
B17  29    |^It appears that \0Mr. Kruschev has had to concede that
B17  30 negotiation is the only way he can attain his ends short of war, on
B17  31 which he is obviously not prepared to embark. ^He has toned down his
B17  32 demands by placing the emphasis on the need for the four Powers to
B17  33 reach agreement on a new status for West Berlin which guarantees the
B17  34 freedom of its inhabitants and the freedom of its communications with
B17  35 the West. ^The conclusion of a peace treaty becomes an also-ran. ^But
B17  36 it is there, and, despite what obligations the {0*2NATO} *0powers
B17  37 may feel towards West Germany, a time will come when a divided
B17  38 Germany, and, indeed, a divided Berlin, must be recognised by the
B17  39 West. ^There is only one alternative, and that, again, is war. ^Or
B17  40 perhaps there may be a third way out of the difficulty, a way which
B17  41 has been suggested in several countries. ^Berlin could be an
B17  42 independent city and used as a home for the United Nations. ^It is
B17  43 true that, whatever happens, the Germans look like being left with a
B17  44 divided country, in itself a dangerous situation, but, as has been
B17  45 said many times before, it is the Germans themselves who are at the
B17  46 root of all these problems and they must be satisfied with whatever
B17  47 terms their conquerors feel are necessary to maintain the peace of the
B17  48 world.
B17  49 *<*4Spiritual values*>
B17  50    |^W*2HEN *0\0Mr. Butler opened a new social sciences building at
B17  51 Nottingham University yesterday he discussed a problem which is
B17  52 important to us all and one that has exercised his consideration for
B17  53 many years, particularly since he became Home Secretary. ^His concern
B17  54 was with the problem of juvenile delinquency and the need for ways of
B17  55 combating this social evil. ^He said that he was going to hold a
B17  56 conference in London to launch a campaign aimed at increasing the
B17  57 moral and spiritual content of school life. ^He submitted that in our
B17  58 society there was evidence that education was failing to keep up with
B17  59 the increasing tempo of materialism.
B17  60    |^It is, of course, this aspect of the matter that is disturbing
B17  61 the Home Secretary. ^One of the great tragedies of modern times is
B17  62 that our busy schools are kept at full stretch educating the young in
B17  63 the practical things which they will need to make their way through a
B17  64 highly complicated world. ^But this is not enough, as \0Mr. Butler
B17  65 knows, and moral and spiritual values must be restated clearly and
B17  66 taught as an essential part of living. ^Religion is a difficult
B17  67 subject at school where a balance has to be kept between the various
B17  68 denominations, but time should always be found for communal devotion
B17  69 that is acceptable to all. ^It is a lamentable fact that many of our
B17  70 children today feel embarrassed and uncomfortable at the idea of
B17  71 worshipping God.
B17  72 *<*4The new look*>
B17  73    |^I*2T *0was a heavy, distasteful task that fell to \0Mr. Frank
B17  74 Foulkes yesterday. ^For \0Mr. Foulkes is, of course, the president of
B17  75 the Electrical Trades Union, and it was in that Union, and it was in
B17  76 that capacity that he announced the results of the elections for the
B17  77 membership of the union's general executive, in which the Communists
B17  78 have suffered an overwhelming defeat. ^Naturally \0Mr. Foulkes, who is
B17  79 himself a Communist, put as good a face on it as was possible in the
B17  80 circumstances, but it did not amount to much. ^After all, there is no
B17  81 gainsaying the facts, which are that the Communists, instead of having
B17  82 a majority of eight to three, as was the case after the previous
B17  83 elections, are now reduced to a minority of two to nine. ^*"I would
B17  84 only say,**" remarked the president, *"that it is a matter for the
B17  85 members. ^I have always said that our members are always right until
B17  86 they have been proved wrong, even when they have taken unofficial
B17  87 actions against an employer.**"
B17  88    |^And this, certainly, is in accordance with the Communist creed,
B17  89 but now the members, that is, the rank-and-file members, have cut
B17  90 right across it. ^They have taken the democratic path, as a result of
B17  91 which it is very possible*- but no more than possible at the moment*-
B17  92 that the {0*2ETU} *0may be readmitted to membership of the Trades
B17  93 Union Congress. ^Here, however, much, if not indeed all, may depend on
B17  94 the attitude of \0Mr. Foulkes. ^For while, he said yesterday, he
B17  95 thought it probable that the Labour Party would agree to the
B17  96 reaffiliation of the union, he did not know whether, in the event of
B17  97 his not resigning the presidency, the {0*2TUC} *0itself would agree.
B17  98 ^But, he added, *"if affiliation to Congress depends on my
B17  99 resignation, we will not be affiliated, I can assure you.**" ^This
B17 100 was, of course, a reference to the directive by the {0*2TUC}
B17 101 *0General Council before the actual expulsion of the union, asking
B17 102 that \0Mr. Foulkes should resign his office and submit himself again
B17 103 to the members for re-election.
B17 104    |^There can be no doubt, however, that readmission is what the
B17 105 members, or at least the vast majority of members, of the {0*2ETU}
B17 106 *0want. ^But apart from whether or not this actually comes about, a
B17 107 heavy blow has been struck against Communist influence, one that
B17 108 should, and could, have been struck long ago. ^For the executive of a
B17 109 British trade union can always be called upon to give an account of
B17 110 its stewardship to those who elected it. ^If what is tantamount to
B17 111 dictatorship*- and dictatorship is the mainspring of the Communist
B17 112 creed*- is suffered to continue in a union it can only be put down to
B17 113 apathy on the part of the ordinary members. ^Apathy in others is the
B17 114 main ally of the Communists. ^It is what has enabled them to rule the
B17 115 roost for so long in the councils of the {0*2ETU}. ^*0But now there
B17 116 is to be a change at the top, one which it is to be hoped will be
B17 117 reflected in policy and performance.
B17 118 *<*4Barrier to peace*>
B17 119    |^P*2RESIDENT \DE GAULLE'S *0recent optimistic statement on the
B17 120 prospects of the Algerian problem makes somewhat curious reading in
B17 121 the light of the latest developments as reported from Oran. ^For
B17 122 yesterday it was announced that ex-General Raoul Salan has ordered a
B17 123 progressive recruitment of the whole of the European male population
B17 124 in Algeria for the illegal \0*2OAS *0army, of which he is the leader.
B17 125 ^Salan, it will be recalled, was in France sentenced to death in his
B17 126 absence for treasonable acts against the State. ^He is determined,
B17 127 come what may, that Algeria shall remain French, and that despite
B17 128 whatever the native population may say or do in the matter. ^Salan, in
B17 129 short, is one of \de Gaulle's bitterest opponents.
B17 130    |^He has, too, certain advantages, although these will not
B17 131 necessarily prove decisive. ^For one thing, he is the man actually on
B17 132 the spot, even though he may weave his plots from an *"underground**"
B17 133 headquarters. ^And indeed he has little if any option here, for to
B17 134 come out into the open would obviously carry with it very serious
B17 135 risks for himself; he might be captured and taken under guard to
B17 136 Paris, in which case it would undoubtedly go hard with him. ^There is
B17 137 still that sentence of death hanging over him. ^But President \de
B17 138 Gaulle, too, has advantages on his side. ^He has, presumably, the main
B17 139 weight of native opinion behind him, not to mention the considerable
B17 140 resources of the French Government itself. ^Nevertheless, the omens
B17 141 are not at all good. ^All the indications are that there is a long way
B17 142 to go before the Algerian problem is finally resolved.
B17 143 *<*4Grants to students*>
B17 144    |^W*2HATEVER *0blemishes there may be in the new Education Bill,
B17 145 the second reading of which was moved by Sir David Eccles in the House
B17 146 of Commons yesterday, it is fair to say that so far as its fundamental
B17 147 principles are concerned it should prove acceptable to the vast
B17 148 majority of the public. ^In the matter of grants to students attending
B17 149 first-degree courses at universities, there are, as things stand at
B17 150 present, certain inequalities that cry out for correction, and it is
B17 151 one of the main purposes of the Bill to bring this about. ^As the
B17 152 Minister said, the measures proposed are not likely to satisfy
B17 153 everybody in all respects, but the desirability of automatic awards
B17 154 and uniformity of treatment is generally accepted. ^The grants system,
B17 155 remarked Sir David, had grown over the years to a most complicated
B17 156 animal.
B17 157    |^Not that it is expected that the Bill will result in any really
B17 158 significant increase in the number of awards students **[SIC**] at
B17 159 universities. ^But once a student has been accepted for a first-degree
B17 160 course, and has the necessary qualifications, then the award would be
B17 161 his (or hers) by right. ^And so far as local education authorities are
B17 162 concerned, the Bill would impose upon them the duty of making these
B17 163 awards, and would empower the Minister to prescribe financial and
B17 164 other conditions, with which they would be obliged to conform.
B17 165 ^Moreover, it is intended that future Governments should be committed
B17 166 to ensure that public funds available for such purposes keep pace with
B17 167 the increase in the number of university students. ^In future, a
B17 168 student would know for certain, no matter where he lived, precisely
B17 169 how he could qualify for an award, and how the amount of that award
B17 170 would be determined. ^As for the means test, that would be retained,
B17 171 though in a relaxed form.
B17 172    |^But the Bill has another purpose, one concerning school-leaving
B17 173 dates for children aged fifteen. ^The intention here is to reduce
B17 174 these dates in the school year from three to two, that is, at Easter
B17 175 and the end of the summer term. ^This would seem to be, in effect, a
B17 176 compromise between what would be the ideal method from the point of
B17 177 view of school organisation on the one hand and the requirements of
B17 178 industry on the other. ^For so far as the organisation of the schools
B17 179 is concerned, the best, most convenient plan would undoubtedly be to
B17 180 have only one leaving date in the year, but then that would obviously
B17 181 pose certain special difficulties for industry. ^It would mean, as Sir
B17 182 David pointed out, that practically a whole age group would be looking
B17 183 for jobs at one and the same time. ^In such circumstances it would
B17 184 find it hard, and perhaps, indeed, impossible, to absorb within a
B17 185 reasonable time all the young people who had thus been thrown, at one
B17 186 swoop, so to speak, on to the labour market.
B17 187 *# 2014
B18   1 **[062 TEXT B18**]
B18   2 *<*6A FAMILY AFFAIR*>
B18   3    |^T*2HE *0flood of facts and opinions lately released from the
B18   4 conference season may at times seem indigestible to the layman.
B18   5 ^Perhaps this is particularly true at this time of year when many
B18   6 conferences have been dealing with education in its various forms.
B18   7 ^Yet there are few subjects more vital to the future of the nation and
B18   8 ourselves as individuals, and a great many of the discussions are at a
B18   9 level which is readily understandable to the layman. ^The truth is
B18  10 that every layman (and woman) owes it to himself and his children to
B18  11 take a greater interest in education, for the basis of all education
B18  12 is the family.
B18  13    |^This is a point which has been made many times before, but it
B18  14 cannot be overemphasized. ^And it should be more widely appreciated
B18  15 that the family influence for good is not necessarily related to a
B18  16 high level in income. ^Miss {0M. G.} Green, headmistress of
B18  17 Kidbrooke School, London, and a member of the Crowther Committee, made
B18  18 this clear when she addressed the North of England Education
B18  19 Conference in Newcastle the other day. ^The best parents are not those
B18  20 with high incomes or from the professional classes, she said. ^They
B18  21 are those who are prepared to put themselves out and make sacrifices
B18  22 to see that their children have advantages which they themselves
B18  23 lacked. ^Indeed it has always been so.
B18  24    |^And for those who believe that the family is a waning influence
B18  25 because of declining moral standards, the distraction of television,
B18  26 or some such modern menace, real or imagined, there was heartening
B18  27 re-assurance from a speaker in Glasgow. ^\0Mr John \0A. Mack,
B18  28 Stevenson Lecturer in Citizenship at the University of Glasgow,
B18  29 speaking on the eve of a three-day meeting held by the Science
B18  30 Masters' Association of Great Britain, told his audience that although
B18  31 family ties were weakening, the family was the toughest, most
B18  32 flexible, most adaptable, most ineradicable institution in the history
B18  33 of human society. ^Such intensive studies of family life as had been
B18  34 made indicated that this ancient and formidable institution was
B18  35 standing up well to the strains of modern life.
B18  36    |^Yet the family unit, virtually indestructible as it may be, is
B18  37 often capable of improvement as an instrument of education. ^The means
B18  38 of improvement are available to all. ^Only the will is sometimes
B18  39 lacking. ^True comprehensive education can be achieved only when
B18  40 parents, teachers, and children, work as a team*- with the senior
B18  41 members occasionally exercising the veto of authority.
B18  42 *<*6MERGER MOVES*>
B18  43    |^T*2HE *0bargain struck with shipbuilding workers to help improve
B18  44 the competitive power of the industry in return for an immediate wage
B18  45 increase is by no means one-sided. ^Reorganization of the yards may
B18  46 have an important part to play. ^One of the most experienced
B18  47 shipbuilders on the North-East Coast, Sir William Gray, chairman of
B18  48 the West Hartlepool shipbuilding, repairing and engineering company
B18  49 which bears the family name, said recently that more integration of
B18  50 shipyards would achieve economies and lead to better planning. ^His
B18  51 view was that larger units, operating more closely together, could
B18  52 undertake research aimed at producing ships which are technically more
B18  53 advanced.
B18  54    |^There are two schools of thought about the advantages of
B18  55 consortiums*- one believes that they lead inevitably to cheaper ships
B18  56 and engines: the other, that they can become administratively top
B18  57 heavy and out of touch with what is happening in shops and ships. ^The
B18  58 experience on Wearside of grouping of shipyards is that efficiency
B18  59 improves without the loss of the family ties which have established
B18  60 the river's reputation for good ships and good relationships at yard
B18  61 level.
B18  62    |^Exploratory talks are now about to begin into the possibility of
B18  63 a closer link between William Doxford and Sons and the Sunderland
B18  64 Shipbuilding Group (which includes the North Sands and Deptford
B18  65 Shipyards). ^A statement issued by the two companies uses the phrase
B18  66 *"increased co-operation,**" thereby inferring quite accurately that
B18  67 the two concerns already work together. ^A check of the ships launched
B18  68 by Laing's and Thompson's shows that in recent years a high proportion
B18  69 have been fitted with Doxford machinery. ^And there could be no
B18  70 clearer indication of the Sunderland Shipbuilding Group's faith in the
B18  71 Doxford product than its decision to equip the 20,000-ton
B18  72 Deptford-built tanker Montana with the first Doxford *"P**" engine.
B18  73    |^The talks are confined at this stage to a full and frank exchange
B18  74 of views and any speculation is premature. ^Nevertheless the companies
B18  75 have announced their intention to the London Stock Exchange. ^It may
B18  76 be some months before a further statement is made but one has been
B18  77 promised when *"the position is clarified.**" ^Meanwhile the second
B18  78 ship to be fitted with a *"P**" engine will be launched next week on
B18  79 the Wear*- and the builders are Thompson's.
B18  80 *<*6RELAXING A BAN*>
B18  81    |^W*2EAR *0shipbuilders, experiencing difficulty in engaging
B18  82 skilled platers, welcome the decision of the district committee of the
B18  83 Boilermakers' Society to allow a limited number of boys to train as
B18  84 platers. ^So, too, will all others with an interest in Sunderland's
B18  85 basic industry. ^It is more than two years since the Society imposed
B18  86 its embargo on the entry of apprentices into the yards because of
B18  87 unemployment among its adult members.
B18  88    |^Although the number of boilermakers who are out of work has been
B18  89 reduced steadily during the past year, the Society does not consider
B18  90 that the time is opportune to relax the ban so far as welders,
B18  91 riveters, burners and heaters are concerned. ^The shipbuilders,
B18  92 however, put forward an irrefutable case for resuming apprenticeships
B18  93 in the plating trade and here the Wear District Committee of the
B18  94 Society has given ground, although the intake will still be strictly
B18  95 limited.
B18  96    |^The Society has stated that it is watching closely unemployment
B18  97 among its members so that the ban can be raised as soon as possible.
B18  98 ^The Wear Shipbuilders' Association considers that full recruiting of
B18  99 apprentices should be resumed immediately if the best interests of the
B18 100 industry, the union and the boys are to be served. ^If the level of
B18 101 shipyard unemployment continues to fall on Wearside, the Society will
B18 102 find itself hard pressed to justify its action in depriving upwards of
B18 103 one hundred boys a year of the opportunity to train in the town's
B18 104 chief industry.
B18 105 *<*6STRIKING APPEAL*>
B18 106    |^T*2HE *058,000 people who saw Sunderland defeat Arsenal at Roker
B18 107 Park last Saturday included probably a preponderance of trade
B18 108 unionists. ^Yet very few of this majority could have regarded the game
B18 109 as a combined operation between fellow trade unionists. ^There were
B18 110 occasional delicate demarcation disputes, it is true, but for the most
B18 111 part mass partisanship recognized no boundaries, and certainly did not
B18 112 easily concede equal rights to the white-shirt workers.
B18 113    |^All that, however, may soon be forgotten if the threatened
B18 114 footballers' strike kicks-off on January 21, one week before
B18 115 Sunderland are due to visit Liverpool on urgent business. ^The
B18 116 {0*2T.U.C.} *0and the Ministry of Labour have already become
B18 117 involved, and now an emergency resolution is being sent to the North
B18 118 East Federation of Trades Councils from the Jarrow and Hebburn branch
B18 119 urging moral and financial support designed to keep crowds away from
B18 120 any game which might be arranged, other than by the players
B18 121 themselves. ^(Hitherto the problem has been to get the crowds in.)
B18 122    |^In the name of working solidarity the good trade unionist is
B18 123 asked to change his leisure habits in support of players who may cease
B18 124 to play, and, for good measure, to give up his chance of an overnight
B18 125 fortune by boycotting football pools, too. ^There is a danger that
B18 126 even the white ball will be declared black. ^Whatever the rights or
B18 127 wrongs of the dispute, the impartial spectator*- if one can still be
B18 128 found*- will surely agree that rarely has trade union loyalty faced a
B18 129 more baffling test.
B18 130 *<*6COLD WAR FRONT*>
B18 131    |^T*2HE *0announcement by the Medical Research Council that
B18 132 experiments at the Common Cold Research Unit at Salisbury are having
B18 133 to be postponed because of a shortage of volunteers is not to be
B18 134 sneezed at. ^Apparently people who are quite prepared to take a 50-50
B18 135 chance of catching cold during the summer shrink from the risk in the
B18 136 winter months, notwithstanding the promise of a free pint of beer each
B18 137 day and 3\0s pocket money. ^In view of the importance of the
B18 138 experiments and their potential value to suffering humanity this
B18 139 seasonal lack of *"guinea pigs**" is, of course, regrettable, but is
B18 140 the explanation quite so simple? ^Could not the shortage be due to the
B18 141 grip the common cold takes at this time of the year of places and
B18 142 people far removed from Salisbury?
B18 143    |^Wearsiders, for example, may reasonably reflect that there is not
B18 144 much point in making a sacrificial journey to Wiltshire if the object
B18 145 of the pilgrimage overtakes one at Newbottle, Shiney Row, Pity Me or
B18 146 Cold Hesledon. ^Come to think of it, any of these places*- and others
B18 147 whose names contain less cold comfort*- might well claim to have
B18 148 Common Cold Research Units of their own at this season. ^The problem
B18 149 is that a common remedy is uncommonly difficult to find. ^In fact, the
B18 150 only discovery to which most of us would subscribe is that established
B18 151 long ago by an American sufferer. ^A cold is both positive and
B18 152 negative: sometimes the Eyes have it and sometimes the Nose.
B18 153 *<*6HOME AND SAFETY*>
B18 154    |^F*2EW *0men would covet a constantly nagging wife, though many
B18 155 may have difficulty in escaping occasional one-sided exercises in the
B18 156 ungentle art of feminine raillery. ^Yet it seems that in certain
B18 157 circumstances a nagging wife can be an asset. ^According to Coal Board
B18 158 officials who made 1960 a special *"safety**" year for Yorkshire
B18 159 miners sharp tongues at home may have helped to reduce the number of
B18 160 deaths and serious injuries.
B18 161    |^At the start of the year 120,000 miners each received a letter
B18 162 from the divisional chairman urging them to be more safety conscious.
B18 163 ^It was sent by post to the men's homes so that wives could also read
B18 164 it*- and perhaps nag their menfolk into taking extra care. ^Now
B18 165 provisional accident figures for the year suggest that wifely
B18 166 strictures were by no means ineffective since rates for both deaths
B18 167 and injuries were reduced.
B18 168    |^Seriously, however, it is doubtful whether miners' wives ever
B18 169 need prompting in their concern for their men's safety in the pits.
B18 170 ^An efficient pit is a safe pit, is the slogan in the Durham Division,
B18 171 and the fact that the accident rate in this coalfield is lower than
B18 172 the national average is at once a measure of progress and an incentive
B18 173 to further improvement. ^It may also fairly reflect the good influence
B18 174 of naturally anxious wives.
B18 175 *<*6ENTER THE UNKNOWN*>
B18 176    |^U*2NLIKE *0his two predecessors in the American Presidency, \0Mr
B18 177 John \0F. Kennedy will take office this week at a moment when the
B18 178 world is, technically, at peace. ^President Truman took over during
B18 179 World War *=2. ^President Eisenhower assumed office during the Korean
B18 180 War, a conflict which to the Americans ranked close in importance to
B18 181 the world war itself. ^The surest way of winning a war is the
B18 182 relatively simple one of building up physical strength, which both
B18 183 Truman and Eisenhower achieved. ^\0Mr Kennedy, however, takes office
B18 184 at a time when problems are more subtle and the answers are harder to
B18 185 find. ^In wealth and physical resources America is still the world's
B18 186 strongest nation, but she no longer holds the position of world
B18 187 dominance which was hers when President Eisenhower took office. ^Over
B18 188 the past decade Russia and Western Europe have recovered from the
B18 189 devastation they suffered in the war. ^China is developing towards the
B18 190 status to which her vast population entitles her. ^New nations emerge
B18 191 in Africa and Asia which are less willing than were the West European
B18 192 countries to regard American economic aid as part of a pattern of
B18 193 political and military co-operation.
B18 194    |^Thus the United States for the first time in her history finds
B18 195 herself playing a major role on the world stage without being the sole
B18 196 centre of attraction. ^Other stars have joined the cast. ^That the
B18 197 growth of the other stars has been largely a result of wise American
B18 198 statesmanship in the past does not make the present situation any
B18 199 easier.
B18 200 *# 2013
B19   1 **[063 TEXT B19**]
B19   2 *<*4Last years at school*>
B19   3    |^L*2ORD *0Amory is to head the Central Advisory Council for
B19   4 Education during its consideration of the 13 to 16 age group in our
B19   5 schools and further education institutes. ^It is within this age group
B19   6 that outlooks are formed and decisions are taken that lead to
B19   7 lamentable waste of young people who could make a valuable
B19   8 contribution to our national life and who do not, for the most part,
B19   9 make the best of their own lives.
B19  10    |^Lord Amory's long-standing interest in youth*- particularly in
B19  11 the young teenagers now to be considered*- will be of great value to
B19  12 the Council as will his personal experience in medium-sized industry
B19  13 in which large numbers of youngsters must find their first jobs.
B19  14    |^One of the most important considerations for the Council will be
B19  15 the use made of the last year in school and the use to be made of the
B19  16 additional year when the leaving age is raised to 16. ^It took far too
B19  17 long for the secondary modern schools to adapt themselves to the new
B19  18 situation when the leaving age was raised to 15, and the Council will
B19  19 no doubt feel that much more positive planning must be done soon to
B19  20 prepare for a further year.
B19  21    |^They will have a lot of useful evidence from the experience of
B19  22 the schools in dealing with the 14- to 15-year-olds. ^The pattern has
B19  23 been very uneven over the country, but at least the evidence is likely
B19  24 to be highly informative.
B19  25    |^Reduced to its simplest form, the problem is whether the last
B19  26 year in school (for those children who will not go on to a grammar or
B19  27 senior technical school) should be used to broaden the youngsters'
B19  28 minds or for elementary vocational training to equip them for jobs.
B19  29 ^Apart from the broad arguments about desirability one way or another
B19  30 there are often local complications when particular kinds of industry
B19  31 need regular intakes of school-leavers in particular localities.
B19  32    |^Any teacher will agree that it is impossible to pursue both lines
B19  33 effectively during a single year. ^Some formal subject teaching must
B19  34 go on in either case. ^The time left over can be fully occupied either
B19  35 in lectures, discussions and demonstrations aimed at broadening the
B19  36 understanding or in practical group work taking in pre-apprenticeship
B19  37 training, but it will not accommodate both.
B19  38    |^It might be that when the leaving age is raised to 16 the last
B19  39 two years should be marked by a departure from strict subject
B19  40 teaching. ^Vocational training and appreciation courses could then be
B19  41 developed in one two-year curriculum with some hope of success in both
B19  42 directions.
B19  43    |^While the Advisory Council will be concerned mainly with children
B19  44 of average ability, they are charged also with considering those who
B19  45 fall below the average. ^It seems a pity that the terms of reference
B19  46 should cover both and it is to be hoped that the Council's report will
B19  47 treat them separately for special provisions may have to apply in the
B19  48 second case.
B19  49 *<*4\0S. Rhodesia agreement*>
B19  50    |^P*2ERHAPS *0one does not have to look very far for an explanation
B19  51 of the unexpected agreement on the constitutional future of Southern
B19  52 Rhodesia. ^It illustrates the fact that an ounce of example is worth a
B19  53 ton of exhortation.
B19  54    |^The example that has confronted Southern Rhodesia is the Congo,
B19  55 and reports from Salisbury show that Africans and Europeans alike have
B19  56 been severely shaken by the realisation of what can happen when
B19  57 political extremism leads to a break-down in the rule of law.
B19  58    |^Africans in Southern Rhodesia do not want to lose what they have
B19  59 gained in the past, little though it may be. ^The European community
B19  60 certainly does not want to see everything they have created come
B19  61 crashing down about them.
B19  62    |^Neither side can go forward alone. ^The fact that African and
B19  63 European leaders have now decided to go forward together, even a
B19  64 limited distance, is the most encouraging event in Central Africa
B19  65 since federation of the three territories there took shape.
B19  66    |^It is still too early to see what the effect will be upon
B19  67 Northern Rhodesia, where the European community is much smaller, but
B19  68 there are grounds for hope, even though the present constitutional
B19  69 conference in London may achieve little.
B19  70    |^Hitherto, it has been the Europeans in Northern Rhodesia who have
B19  71 favoured federation and the Africans who have mainly opposed it (on
B19  72 the ground that it would mean permanent subjugation to the powerful
B19  73 European community in Southern Rhodesia).
B19  74    |^Now, with signs of a more liberal outlook in the south, and with
B19  75 the prospect of an advance in the Africans' position there, a
B19  76 softening of the attitude of the Africans in Northern Rhodesia is
B19  77 possible. ^This, in turn, should ease or remove some of the worst
B19  78 fears of the Europeans among them.
B19  79    |^Thus*- and this in the long run is the really important gain*-
B19  80 there is once again some hope that the Central African Federation can
B19  81 remain in existence instead of being torn apart either by the Southern
B19  82 Rhodesian Government's determination to go its own way or by African
B19  83 suspicions.
B19  84    |^Federation is essential if this area of Africa is to develop the
B19  85 economic means to sustain political advance. ^Racial and political
B19  86 divisions still threaten it, but today there is new hope where only a
B19  87 week ago there was little but despondency and suspicion.
B19  88 *<*6PICCADILLY CIRCUS*>
B19  89    |^A*2T *0first glance Sir William Holford's design for the new
B19  90 Piccadilly Circus is extremely disappointing. ^Indeed, it is more than
B19  91 that. ^It is alarming. ^Many people will ask, ~*"Is this really what
B19  92 is to become of Piccadilly Circus,**" and will shrink from the
B19  93 thought.
B19  94    |^Architectural models are liable to be misleading because they are
B19  95 viewed from an above-the-rooftops position. ^In practice no one will
B19  96 ever stop to contemplate the Circus from such a level*- from this
B19  97 angle it would be a fleeting view with swiftly-changing vistas seen
B19  98 from a helicopter.
B19  99    |^Looked at from above, the model of the Holford scheme leaves an
B19 100 impression of congestion, jumble, confusion and meanness. ^To imagine
B19 101 a pedestrian's view from somewhere near the foot of Eros does not
B19 102 contradict such impressions but reinforces them.
B19 103    |^Congestion because the surface area of the Circus seems to have
B19 104 been substantially reduced from what it is today. ^Jumble because no
B19 105 discernible formal relationship between the surrounding buildings and
B19 106 pedestrian platforms is apparent, and confusion for the same reason,
B19 107 made worse by the compression of traffic into narrow canyons and
B19 108 tunnels between and under the buildings and pedestrian decks.
B19 109 ^Meanness because of the impression of a meagre square shut in by
B19 110 immense buildings on all sides*- and meanness because plainly one of
B19 111 the main thoughts has been to make the maximum use of the available
B19 112 area for new building.
B19 113    |^The publicity with which the scheme has been launched has made
B19 114 much of the *"gaiety**" of the new Circus. ^But gaiety is an expansive
B19 115 mood, and the effect of the model is restrictive and oppressive.
B19 116    |^There is something to be said for the intimacy of college
B19 117 quadrangle, and the enclosed treatment adopted in the Holford design
B19 118 might be attractive from an Oxford standpoint for this reason*- but
B19 119 not when an area about as big as a largish quadrangle is flanked with
B19 120 buildings 10 to 15 storeys high.
B19 121    |^When the Government intervened to stop the building of the Jack
B19 122 Cotton monster on the Monico site it seemed that, after all,
B19 123 Piccadilly Circus might be redeveloped in a way which would take up
B19 124 the opportunities of its situation. ^The Holford proposal fails on
B19 125 almost every score to do this.
B19 126    |^A much better solution exists in the scheme drawn up by the
B19 127 London County Council's architects. ^It may not be perfect, but at
B19 128 least it has some of the qualities of spaciousness, harmony and style
B19 129 that one looks for in a modern city centre. ^There would be
B19 130 considerable advantages in going back to this design, even if it
B19 131 means, as it does, going back to the beginning in this controversy.
B19 132 *<*4A newspaper and its readers*>
B19 133    |^T*2HE *0success of the Oxford Mail, which publishes its 10,000th
B19 134 number today, has been due to the support of its readers, who, we
B19 135 hope, will share our pleasure in reaching a round number large enough
B19 136 to warrant a minor celebration. ^They do us the compliment of buying
B19 137 the paper, which suggests a measure of success in providing them with
B19 138 what they want.
B19 139    |^Not that a paper's relations with its readers can ever be quite
B19 140 as simple as that, or if they are, the paper is probably on the wrong
B19 141 track. ^The hunt after circulation at any price has brought disaster
B19 142 to some papers, and has done the profession of journalism a good deal
B19 143 of damage in recent years, and it is not a policy to be pursued by
B19 144 papers in a monopoly position.
B19 145    |^Like most provincial evening papers, the Oxford Mail has a
B19 146 monopoly as a daily in the field of local news (though we welcome the
B19 147 stimulus of some competition from the London evening papers). ^This
B19 148 imposes obligations. ^A paper in such a position should do more than
B19 149 merely please its readers.
B19 150    |^It has to try to cover the whole field of news in its area
B19 151 accurately and without bias. ^Points of view which the paper may not
B19 152 share must be reported. ^Minority interests must be given their claim
B19 153 on space.
B19 154    |^This is not necessarily a recipe for maximum popularity. ^But
B19 155 popularity by itself is not a good test of the performance of a paper.
B19 156    |^A paper must be prepared to be unpopular when necessary*-
B19 157 especially a local one which is sometimes exposed to pressures at
B19 158 close quarters to soft pedal or even suppress when its job is to be
B19 159 open and provocative.
B19 160    |^So far as the official editorial opinion of the paper is
B19 161 concerned, it can be argued that a monopoly paper should not take a
B19 162 strong line of its own. ^We have never taken that view. ^We recall an
B19 163 editor who once proclaimed, ~*"I have nailed my colours to the
B19 164 fence**" as a wit rather than as a paragon. ^And in any event it has
B19 165 been the policy of the Oxford Mail and Times \0Ltd., to encourage
B19 166 differences of view in the evening and weekly papers which are under
B19 167 separate editorship.
B19 168    |^When boiled down to essentials the functions of a newspaper are
B19 169 remarkably simple*- though not easy to achieve. ^They are in essence
B19 170 to get the facts and get them right, and to provide a fair balance of
B19 171 argument about matters of controversy.
B19 172    |^There is no need for a paper to be stuffy in observing such
B19 173 principles. ^It is an exciting world we live in, and Oxford shares in
B19 174 most of the things our world gets up to. ^If the Oxford Mail succeeds
B19 175 in reporting what goes on, and in shedding useful illumination upon
B19 176 it, it will, we believe, be recognised by our readers as a job worth
B19 177 doing.
B19 178 *<*4The Congo after Lumumba*>
B19 179    |^W*2HAT *0next in the Congo? ^As the situation deteriorates it
B19 180 becomes clear that the United Nations representation there cannot
B19 181 remain as it is. ^To be present but ineffective is worse in some
B19 182 respects than not to be there at all. ^It does nothing for the Congo,
B19 183 it does nothing for the authority of the {0UN}, and it is unfair to
B19 184 the troops and administrators involved who have to face increasing
B19 185 risks without being able to achieve anything.
B19 186    |^Govern or get out, the classic phrase of politics, is a choice
B19 187 that the United Nations must now face realistically. ^Indeed unless it
B19 188 is faced there is a danger that the {0UN} representation itself will
B19 189 disintegrate as individual countries decide to withdraw their men.
B19 190    |^But {0UN} cannot govern in the Congo without a new decision on
B19 191 policy and that decision cannot be taken unless the countries of the
B19 192 Security Council agree upon it. ^That means in practice that Russia
B19 193 and the United States must find some common ground on which to
B19 194 approach the Congo question.
B19 195    |^This is where the slightly improved atmosphere between Moscow and
B19 196 Washington might prove to be of value. ^There is no reason to suppose
B19 197 that the Russians will act from any other motive than self interest,
B19 198 but it is just conceivable that if they can be convinced that the
B19 199 United States has no desire to exploit the Congo chaos they will
B19 200 themselves recognise the need to end it.
B19 201 *# 2046
B20   1 **[064 TEXT B20**]
B20   2 *<*7HOW RED IS AFRICA?*>
B20   3 *<*4By *6JOHN BAKER-WHITE*>
B20   4    |^*4J*2UST *0how red is Africa? ^To what extent has the Soviet
B20   5 propaganda machine succeeded in influencing the upsurge of African
B20   6 nationalism? ^Has Moscow yet got a firm foothold, political or
B20   7 economic, in the great African continent? ^And were the disorders in
B20   8 the Congo and Rhodesia the work of Red Agents?
B20   9    |^The answers to these questions press not only on politicians,
B20  10 strategists and intelligence experts, but on all of us. ^For the
B20  11 future pattern of rule in the states of Africa must inevitably shape
B20  12 the pattern of the world.
B20  13    |^In probing for the answers to these questions I shall start by
B20  14 listing the states where Communism has little or no influence. ^One of
B20  15 them is the Kingdom of Morocco, another Tunisia, a third Libya.
B20  16 *<*4Students red trained*>
B20  17    |^*0It is true that a few students from these countries are
B20  18 studying the techniques of revolution in Moscow and Prague, and a
B20  19 handful of trade union leaders are in Communist training schools, but
B20  20 the governments are anti-Communist and the people disinterested
B20  21 **[SIC**] in Red doctrines.
B20  22    |^In the Sudan the Communist Party is illegal, the political
B20  23 intelligence system alert, and to date efforts by the World Federation
B20  24 of Trade Unions to capture the unions have failed.
B20  25    |^It may surprise some people to know that Communism, at the
B20  26 moment, has no hold in Ghana. ^President Nkrumah is building a
B20  27 Socialist state, aided by a small number of hand-picked young
B20  28 Socialist intellectuals, but he has no illusions about Communist
B20  29 methods. ^He studied them closely when, as a young man, he lived in
B20  30 London. ^When Ghana got its independence Moscow thought the new state
B20  31 was a *"sitting bird**" and the Soviet economic experts arrived with
B20  32 attractive offers for the cocoa crop.
B20  33 *<*4*"Communists our rivals**"*>
B20  34    |^*0They discovered that the President is prepared to do business
B20  35 with the Soviet bloc*- but only on his own terms.
B20  36    |^Anxious to become head of a federation of African states,
B20  37 including the Congo, he seeks to harness the forces of nationalism.
B20  38 ^Communism he regards not so much as an ally but as a competitor.
B20  39    |^In Guinea the picture is very different. ^Just over a year ago I
B20  40 warned that the Soviet Union was planning to establish in this new
B20  41 state a fresh bridgehead into Africa. ^Now she has got it.
B20  42    |^A dedicated Marxist and graduate of Prague University, President
B20  43 Sekou Toure is what the cynical planners in the Kremlin call *"in the
B20  44 net.**" ^He is bound to the Soviet bloc by loans and trade agreements.
B20  45 ^He has accepted technicians in large numbers from Russia, East
B20  46 Germany and Poland. ^The Czechs are reshaping and equipping Guinea's
B20  47 army and police. ^Chinese technicians have taken charge of the rice
B20  48 growing plan.
B20  49 *<*4Red-made*>
B20  50    |^*0In Conakry, the capital, shops are full of Czech matches,
B20  51 cigarettes and watches, Chinese rice, East German typewriters and
B20  52 Russian textiles. ^Czech cement is building the new docks, German
B20  53 machinery equipping the new factories. ^A Conakry-Prague air service
B20  54 is opening up, a Communist-controlled school for African trade union
B20  55 leaders is open already.
B20  56    |^Since the beginning of the year five international Communist
B20  57 organisations have held conferences at Conakry. ^One of them was the
B20  58 Afro-Asian Solidarity Council, based in Cairo, and, for the past three
B20  59 years, Moscow's main propaganda weapon in Africa. ^I predict that
B20  60 within the next six months the Council will move permanently to
B20  61 Conakry, for Guinea*- not Cairo*- is now the most important Red
B20  62 bridgehead in Africa.
B20  63    |^The violent revolt against Belgium, the tribal conflicts and
B20  64 other disorders in the Congo were neither Moscow-planned nor directed.
B20  65 ^There is evidence that the Russians were just as surprised as anyone
B20  66 else at the suddenness and violence of them, but it is, of course, a
B20  67 situation ideal for exploitation.
B20  68 *<*4Communist army head*>
B20  69    |^*0At least two of \0Mr. Lumumba's entourage have had some
B20  70 training in Moscow, and the officer in charge of the Guinea contingent
B20  71 of the {0U N} forces in the Congo is a fully indoctrined Communist.
B20  72    |^Three Czech *"advisers**" accompanied the contingent, and now a
B20  73 thirty-strong Soviet *"technical mission**" has arrived in
B20  74 Leopoldville. ^It may be pure coincidence that they are all tall,
B20  75 well-built men in their middle-thirties, but they look uncommonly like
B20  76 Red Army officers in plain clothes.
B20  77    |^Communism had little or nothing to do with the riots in South
B20  78 Africa or the more recent disorders in Rhodesia. ^In fact, former
B20  79 leaders of the Communist Party in the Union have left the country.
B20  80 ^Some are now in the Rhodesian copper belt and at least one of them is
B20  81 in London.
B20  82    |^In contrast, Moscow has embarked upon a special operation in
B20  83 Ruanda-Urundi, which borders on the Belgian Congo. ^This state of some
B20  84 21,000 square miles and a population of 4,630,000 has been a United
B20  85 Nations trust territory under the administration of Belgium, but a few
B20  86 days ago she announced that she was giving up the trusteeship.
B20  87    |^In the early part of August a Soviet agent named Nikolay Khokhlov
B20  88 arrived in the capital Usumbura, and made contact with the
B20  89 vice-president of the United Movement Party, Paul Kabandrouka.
B20  90 ^Through Khokhlov he sent a message to Moscow. *"^Let the {0*2U S S
B20  91 R} *0know that Ruanda-Urundi demands independence, demands it
B20  92 urgently and without delay.**"
B20  93    |^I smell trouble here. ^The conditions exist for it and trouble
B20  94 would suit Moscow's purpose admirably. ^It joins the frontiers not
B20  95 only of the Congo but also of Tanganyika and Uganda, a British
B20  96 trusteeship and protectorate moving towards self-government.
B20  97 ^Ruanda-Urundi is a place to watch.
B20  98 *<*4Secret police ruthless*>
B20  99    |^*0Colonel Nasser and the United Arab Republic have economic ties
B20 100 with the Soviet bloc and the Soviet mission has underground contact
B20 101 with the leaders of the rebel National Liberation Front at their
B20 102 headquarters in the Street of the Blue Mosque in Cairo. ^On the other
B20 103 hand, the secret police has been known to deal ruthlessly with
B20 104 Communist agitators.
B20 105    |^While he was living in London the Communists made a number of
B20 106 approaches to \0Dr. Hastings Banda, the Nyasaland nationalist leader,
B20 107 but there is evidence that, like President Nkrumah, he has few
B20 108 illusions about how Moscow uses African nationalism to achieve its own
B20 109 purposes. ^Among the states in the French Community that the Soviet
B20 110 propagandists are paying particular attention to are Madagascar and
B20 111 the Cameroun, facts to which the French are alive.
B20 112    |^While Moscow continues to step up the radio barrage on the ears
B20 113 of African listeners, the most significant developments in the
B20 114 propaganda offensive in the coming months will come from Peking.
B20 115 *<*4China radio propaganda*>
B20 116    |^*0The China-Africa Friendship Association has been formed,
B20 117 {6inter alia}, *"to support the joint struggle of the African
B20 118 peoples in opposing imperialism and colonialism.**" ^Radio Peking's
B20 119 output to Africa is now 550 hours a week, and includes special
B20 120 broadcasts in Cantonese to overseas Chinese in South Africa,
B20 121 Madagascar and Mauritius.
B20 122    |^A recent check on a book-store on **[SIC**] Conakry showed that
B20 123 there were 14 Chinese publications on sale, compared with three
B20 124 Russian and one Czech. ^One of the latest Peking publications is a
B20 125 training manual for African trade unionists.
B20 126    |^The 23-man Chinese delegation which attended the Solidarity
B20 127 Council meeting in Conakry was the largest of all, and the official
B20 128 propaganda agency, the New China News Agency, has opened up offices in
B20 129 Rabat, Accra and Conakry.
B20 130    |^Africa has been described as a seething cauldron. ^Both Moscow
B20 131 and Peking can be expected to take every opportunity of adding fuel to
B20 132 the fire under it.
B20 133 *<*6BY ELECTIONS*- *4a new warning to Tories*>
B20 134 *<by *6RADAR*>
B20 135    |^C*2ONSERVATIVE *0Party fortunes are far from their peak at the
B20 136 present time. ^And so are those of Harold Macmillan.
B20 137    |^They have slumped as a result of the build-up of a variety of
B20 138 what the Prime Minister probably prefers to view as little local
B20 139 difficulties.
B20 140    |^Voters, as the recent by-election results showed, are in
B20 141 increasing numbers losing their faith in the magic of the Tory
B20 142 administration.
B20 143    |^This is not to say that the discontented are running to the
B20 144 Socialists as their saviours.
B20 145    |^There is no new spectacular devotion for Jo Grimond's struggling
B20 146 Liberal Party, though the Liberal leaders have good reason to be
B20 147 satisfied with the overall results.
B20 148    |^As is usual at by-elections, the disgruntled and disillusioned
B20 149 are staying away from the polling stations, not committing themselves
B20 150 for the time being.
B20 151    |^Meanwhile, millions more people who voted for the Conservatives
B20 152 in October, 1959, and who have not recently had the chance to vote for
B20 153 a parliamentary candidate, are talking among themselves.
B20 154    |
B20 155    |^It is nothing unusual these days to pop into the saloon bar of a
B20 156 public house and hear the Government coming under fire from those with
B20 157 the accent of the reasonably well-off.
B20 158    |^There is a widespread belief that the ruling Tories are becoming
B20 159 more reactionary, trying to please their Right Wing more than their
B20 160 Left or centre supporters.
B20 161    |^No single act by the Government has done more to foster this
B20 162 impression than the increase in the Health Service charges.
B20 163    |^On the other hand, everyone but the Right-wing Conservatives
B20 164 applauded the Prime Minister's *"wind of change**" attitude towards
B20 165 dealing with the problem of Africa and the coloured people.
B20 166    |
B20 167    |^In the event, the wind has dropped to no more than a gentle
B20 168 breeze. ^It has been damped down by those who would like to see hardly
B20 169 any movement at all.
B20 170    |^Harold Macmillan himself has had a difficult time. ^So far as
B20 171 general affairs have been concerned he has deliberately attempted to
B20 172 lie low, let his colleagues build up their own images.
B20 173    |^Last year he put everything he had into trying to bring about a
B20 174 successful Summit meeting between the leaders of the {0U.S.A.},
B20 175 Russia, France and the United Kingdom.
B20 176    |^It was not his fault that the attempt failed. ^But it was
B20 177 heartbreaking, none the less.
B20 178    |^As leader of the Commonwealth's principal nation he could not
B20 179 have found it pleasant to preside over the dramatic branding of \0Dr.
B20 180 Verwoerd's apartheid doctrines.
B20 181    |^It is doubtful whether the man who happened to be Britain's Prime
B20 182 Minister at the time when South Africa decided to end her 50-year
B20 183 association with this country will be proclaimed a national hero on
B20 184 that particular score.
B20 185    |^The fact is, Harold Macmillan has lost a lot of ground in the
B20 186 popularity stakes, needs a new major personal success to restore his
B20 187 own fortunes, and those of the Party.
B20 188    |^There is still one glittering prize to be grasped. ^The man who
B20 189 captures it will go down in history as one of the greatest of mortals.
B20 190    |^What the great masses of ordinary people in the world desire most
B20 191 of all is the certain prospect of peace for as long ahead as possible.
B20 192    |
B20 193    |^No one can blame Harold Macmillan for trying to reach the elusive
B20 194 goal. ^And few would be so uncharitable as to say that he would like
B20 195 to do it just for his own sake.
B20 196    |^The Prime Minister realises that he has as good a chance of
B20 197 bringing about the hoped-for miracle as any man alive. ^His unique
B20 198 position as leader of the British Commonwealth of Nations gives him a
B20 199 better chance than most.
B20 200    |^Once more, he believes, he must try to be the intermediary
B20 201 between the two great opposing Communist and non-Communist world
B20 202 blocs. ^If nothing else, the Americans have to be convinced that the
B20 203 Government of Red China must be given full recognition, admitted to
B20 204 the United Nations, and treated as what it is*- one of the leading
B20 205 governments in the world.
B20 206 *<*4Half the world's crooks are never caught*>
B20 207 *<reveals *6JOHN REED*>
B20 208    |^D*2URING *0this week in the cities of Rome, Paris, and New York,
B20 209 it is safe to predict that a total of at least 70 people will be
B20 210 murdered.
B20 211    |^In addition, there will be at least two major bank robberies,
B20 212 several hundred cases of rape, and thousands of burglaries and frauds.
B20 213    |^In New York alone a serious offence is committed every two
B20 214 minutes.
B20 215    |^*2THESE ARE SHOCKING FIGURES, BUT EVEN MORE SHOCKING IS THE FACT
B20 216 THAT AT LEAST HALF THE PEOPLE BEHIND THESE CRIMES WILL GO UNDETECTED.
B20 217    |^*0Experts who attended a recent conference on crime in London
B20 218 admitted that all over the world crime is not only increasing, but in
B20 219 many cases the criminal is becoming more elusive.
B20 220 *# 2010
B21   1 **[065 TEXT B21**]
B21   2 *<*7THOMAS DENHAM, *5Evening News Diplomatic Correspondent, continues
B21   3 his series on *7HUNGARY TODAY, *4five years after the uprising*>
B21   4 *<Catching up with the Western Joneses*>
B21   5    |^*6H*2UNGARY *0is not only a Communist country, but in a sense a
B21   6 new country, trying for the first time to exploit its resources and
B21   7 *"catch up with the West.**" ^Everywhere there are new factories, new
B21   8 housing estates, new farm buildings.
B21   9    |^Clothes and many window displays may sometimes remind you of the
B21  10 post-war years of *"utility**" in Britain. ^Much is obviously being
B21  11 sacrificed for the future, but people have money to spend on what is
B21  12 available, particularly on entertainment and food, both of which are
B21  13 cheap.
B21  14    |^On the bright days which follow one another in summer the
B21  15 pavements of Budapest's main streets are thronged. ^At the week-end
B21  16 the many fine swimming pools, fed by hot-springs, are so packed it is
B21  17 hardly possible to see the water, and the resorts down the Danube and
B21  18 on Lake Balaton are full of couples and families enjoying themselves,
B21  19 which they can do for a very modest outlay.
B21  20    |^The night clubs are full, and whether you eat in a restaurant or
B21  21 a private home you soon discover the Hungarians are traditionally the
B21  22 biggest eaters in Europe, and take a pride in it*- to the distress of
B21  23 their doctors.
B21  24 *<*4Lively people*>
B21  25    |^*0They are enthusiastic cinema-goers*- Hungary must be one of the
B21  26 few European countries where cinema attendances have steadily
B21  27 increased in recent years. ^Television is comparatively new and
B21  28 limited, and with about 150,000 sets in the country has hardly yet
B21  29 made an impact.
B21  30    |^The standard, of course, is very different from the hard,
B21  31 expensive glitter of West Germany. ^But it is equally far removed from
B21  32 the dismal greyness of East Berlin.
B21  33    |^The Hungarians are a lively people, with a sense of humour very
B21  34 much like ours. ^If they have their troubles and sorrows, in the
B21  35 towns, at any rate, they seem to carry them lightly. ^Earlier in the
B21  36 year, I was told, the riddle was being asked: ^*"What is it that is 30
B21  37 yards long and eats potatoes?**" ^The answer ^*"A meat queue.**" ^More
B21  38 recently it was what is 30 yards long and eats meat, with the answer
B21  39 *"a potato queue.**"
B21  40    |^I saw nothing to suggest an overall shortage of food*- on the
B21  41 contrary. ^The official explanation of the meat queues was that they
B21  42 were only for pork. ^There was plenty of beef and other meat, but
B21  43 conservative housewives preferred to queue for their favourite pork.
B21  44 *<*4Pork shortage*>
B21  45    |^*0The shortage of pork could have been satisfied by cutting
B21  46 exports, but the authorities preferred to disappoint customers at home
B21  47 to losing customers abroad by not meeting export orders.
B21  48    |^Comparisons of standards of living are difficult to make because
B21  49 of traditional differences in the way of life and pursuit of
B21  50 happiness, differences in our social system and the wide range of
B21  51 incomes. ^For instance, rents in Hungary are extremely low, running
B21  52 from 15\0s. to *+2 a month.
B21  53    |^Public transport is so cheap that its cost could virtually be
B21  54 ignored, and, indeed, it must literally be so by many in Budapest, for
B21  55 the trams are usually so packed that it would be impossible to collect
B21  56 the fares even if the customers were anxious to pay.
B21  57    |^A really cheap midday meal is widely available by law, and the
B21  58 quantity and quality and service is much above what one would expect
B21  59 in Britain, although this probably has much more to do with tradition
B21  60 and a feeling that food is more important than the social revolution.
B21  61    |^Deductions for pensions and trade union funds may amount to 4 per
B21  62 \0cent., but income tax is not something that has to be worried about.
B21  63 *<*4*"Norm**" of work*>
B21  64    |^*0These are facts that have to be borne in mind when comparing
B21  65 wages, which, at a realistic rate of exchange, average less than *+25
B21  66 a month, with a range of, say *+14 a month for an office cleaner to
B21  67 *+50 plus a month for a coal miner.
B21  68    |^As is usual in a *"socialist**" country, wages depend on
B21  69 achieving a *"norm**" of work. ^The underground coal miner's
B21  70 *"plus,**" for instance, is in the form of an annual bonus based on
B21  71 *"loyalty,**" {0i.e.}, years of service and good timekeeping.
B21  72    |^At a pit I went down, the list of bonuses paid to every miner was
B21  73 pinned up. ^The largest amounted to two months' wages*- over *+100*-
B21  74 and they ranged down to two weeks' wages.
B21  75    |^This makes the miners comparatively wealthy and I was interested
B21  76 to learn they spend their *"surplus**" money on much the same things
B21  77 as here, if they can get them*- furniture, television, refrigerators
B21  78 and cars.
B21  79    |^The Mayor of Komlo, which has 10,000 miners, told me he knew
B21  80 several who had refurnished their homes twice in seven years (the
B21  81 whole city is less than 10 years old), and that there was over *+3
B21  82 million in the local savings bank. ^But the standard of good
B21  83 attendance is stiff*- one day's *"unnecessary**" absenteeism loses
B21  84 half the annual bonus, two days and the lot is lost.
B21  85 *<*4Holiday rewards*>
B21  86    |^*0Among the rewards of good work and conformity with enthusiasm
B21  87 are holidays at excellent resorts so cheap that the wage-earner can
B21  88 make a *"profit**" on his stay. ^My guide in one town told me she had
B21  89 been awarded a fortnight's holiday on the Black Sea for her good work.
B21  90    |^These holiday homes are owned by the trade unions, which spend 73
B21  91 per \0cent. of their annual income of *+6 million plus on social
B21  92 welfare, culture and sports. ^But, except through these *"official**"
B21  93 channels, the possibilities for holidays away from home must be
B21  94 limited.
B21  95    |^Although more Hungarians travelled to western countries last year
B21  96 than ever before, holidays abroad in non-Communist countries are
B21  97 limited because currency is not made available.
B21  98    |^There are many things in the new Hungary it is easy to like and
B21  99 perhaps from which we could learn. ^There is, for instance, the
B21 100 appetite for education, including self-education, and for *"culture**"
B21 101 and the facilities provided for satisfying it.
B21 102    |^There is the lack of class-consciousness, at least in the towns,
B21 103 where you will find obvious manual workers sitting with
B21 104 smartly-dressed men and women in restaurants and night clubs.
B21 105    |^There is self-criticism and a great desire to do better.
B21 106 *<*4Dull papers*>
B21 107    |^*0A high official in one ministry surprised me by his blunt
B21 108 criticism of Hungarian papers as *"deadly dull.**" ^He said he would
B21 109 like to see some as bright as the British ones, although, of course,
B21 110 their contents would be different.
B21 111    |^They can laugh at their own weaknesses, like the belief that it
B21 112 is impossible to eat in a restaurant without gipsy music, although the
B21 113 gipsies have disappeared long since.
B21 114    |^What I found depressing was the insistence that all the many good
B21 115 things in the country were due only to *"socialism**" and the Party
B21 116 and would not otherwise exist, together with fantastic ignorance of
B21 117 the western world or refusal to believe what did not suit the theory.
B21 118    |^To give a couple of instances that stuck in my mind. ^A woman
B21 119 journalist insisted that unemployment was our major difficulty in
B21 120 Britain. ^She simply smiled disbelievingly at the statement that, in
B21 121 fact, there were more situations vacant than people looking for jobs.
B21 122    |^A charming and highly-intelligent medical director said: ^*"But,
B21 123 of course, our system of medicine is different as our doctors aim to
B21 124 keep people well, while it pays western doctors to keep them sick.**"
B21 125 ^Hardly able to believe my ears, I asked him if he really believed
B21 126 that.
B21 127    |^The answer was: ^*"It must be so, otherwise how could they make a
B21 128 profit in a capitalist country?**"
B21 129 *<*4Rigidity of mind*>
B21 130    |^*0One can be full of admiration for the things being done*- the
B21 131 new factories, the housing estates, the new towns, the large-scale
B21 132 agriculture.
B21 133    |^What is almost frightening is the rigidity of mind which seems to
B21 134 make it impossible to accept that many of these things are also being
B21 135 done, and perhaps even more so and better, in *"capitalist**"
B21 136 countries; an apparent assumption that everything from free libraries
B21 137 to large-scale farming and co-operatives to health services are new
B21 138 and unique in *"socialist**" countries.
B21 139    |^Of course, these closed minds are not all on one side of the Iron
B21 140 Curtain. ^I read not long ago in an English paper a description of
B21 141 Budapest in the early evening suggesting it was a dark and depressing
B21 142 city.
B21 143    |^I can testify that, seen from the surrounding heights, it is a
B21 144 fairy-land of lights, that many shops are open and the windows of the
B21 145 others lit up. ^There, as in other Hungarian cities, it is possible
B21 146 and very cheap to dance until 4 {0a.m.} if you are so minded.
B21 147 *<*5From our Diplomatic Correspondent*>
B21 148 *<*6THOMAS DENHAM*>
B21 149    |^B*2RITISH *0and American tanks stand ready for action with their
B21 150 guns pointed at East Berlin, where Russian tanks have been seen for
B21 151 the first time since the 1953 uprising.
B21 152    |^Since last Sunday, when East Berlin sector guards stopped
B21 153 {0U.S.} soldiers and officials and refused to let them pass when
B21 154 they would not show their identity papers, the situation has built up
B21 155 into the tensest in the history of post-war Berlin.
B21 156    |^The foray of {0U.S.} soldiers into East Berlin to secure the
B21 157 release of the Deputy Chief of the {0U.S.} mission was the first
B21 158 occasion American soldiers had entered the Soviet sector since the
B21 159 city was divided.
B21 160    |^What is it all about?
B21 161    |^Superficially, it might seem that the dispute is about how
B21 162 members of the {0U.S.} mission should establish their identity when
B21 163 they cross the sector border.
B21 164    |^In fact, the dispute has arisen out of a bold attempt by the East
B21 165 German Government to get recognition for itself by the West, and the
B21 166 determination of the West to continue to demonstrate that East Berlin
B21 167 is not the capital of a sovereign nation, but part of Berlin which is
B21 168 under four-power occupation.
B21 169 *<*4Was clearly shown*>
B21 170    |^*0If East Berlin were part of a sovereign nation, no foreign
B21 171 troops and, indeed no foreigners would be allowed to enter it without
B21 172 permission of its Government.
B21 173    |^Every time Western soldiers or members of the military government
B21 174 enter East Berlin they demonstrate it is not part of another nation.
B21 175    |^This situation has existed and worked well*- since the defeat of
B21 176 the Berlin blockade.
B21 177    |^What the East Germans are trying to establish was clearly shown
B21 178 during one of the hold-ups when one of their radio reporters, doing a
B21 179 running commentary, told his listeners: ^*"Now the Americans are
B21 180 negotiating with our officials.**"
B21 181    |^This was, of course, untrue, the *"negotiation**" was a flat
B21 182 demand for a Soviet officer to be brought to whom they would talk and
B21 183 with whom they would, no doubt, establish their identity.
B21 184    |^What is at stake, in fact, is whether the West recognises Herr
B21 185 Ulbricht or \0Mr Kruschev as responsible for East Berlin.
B21 186    |^The West has no intention of recognising Herr Ulbricht, as it has
B21 187 made very clear to the Russians in public and private conversations.
B21 188    |^The full story behind this dangerous confrontation shows there
B21 189 have been miscalculations on both sides.
B21 190 *<*4Were too cautious*>
B21 191    |^*0Herr Ulbricht, the toughest and most adventurous of the
B21 192 Communist leaders, long believed that the Russians were too cautious
B21 193 about Berlin and that, given a free hand, he could get away with a
B21 194 bit-by-bit encroachment on Western rights which would result in West
B21 195 Berlin falling into his hands.
B21 196    |^He had been pressing to be allowed to build his *"wall**" and
B21 197 close all but a handful of crossings for a long time before he
B21 198 persuaded the Russians that any danger of a Western counter-action
B21 199 could be discounted. ^In the event he proved right. ^There was no
B21 200 Western counter-action.
B21 201    |^This was not because the West was taken by surprise. ^Its
B21 202 intelligence had learned it was coming. ^But it wrongly believed the
B21 203 wall would be directed only at controlling Germans and that plenty of
B21 204 crossings would be made available through negotiations, if necessary,
B21 205 with the Russians.
B21 206    |^When the error of this view became apparent, there was
B21 207 determination to resist, by force if necessary, the next attempt to
B21 208 take another slice from the West Berlin sausage.
B21 209 *# 2002
B22   1 **[066 TEXT B22**]
B22   2 *<*6COMMENTARY FROM *5City and County*>
B22   3 *<*4by *3THE GOSSIPER*>
B22   4    |^*4L*2OCAL *0booksellers are anticipating a heavy demand for
B22   5 copies of the new version of the Holy Bible.
B22   6    |^Published today, this mid-20th century edition of the World's
B22   7 Best Seller is already certain of living up to its long reputation. ^A
B22   8 representative of one of Lincoln's leading firms of booksellers told
B22   9 me yesterday: ^*"We have had such a demand for the new Bible that we
B22  10 have today put in an order for additional supplies. ^Many of the
B22  11 advance orders, of course, have come from clergymen, but we have had
B22  12 more from lay people**". ^But he added this warning ^*"We, in the
B22  13 trade, feel that many people think that this is a new version of the
B22  14 whole Bible. ^It is, of course, only the New Testament: it will be
B22  15 many years before the Old Testament, and the Apocrypha are
B22  16 available.**"
B22  17 *<*7HIS BRIEF APPEARANCE*>
B22  18    |^*6THE *4man who holds the record for length of service as
B22  19 Lincoln's Member of Parliament*- since the city's representation was
B22  20 reduced from two to one 80 years ago*- made his briefest ever public
B22  21 appearance, on {0B.B.C.} television.
B22  22    |^*0Sir Walter Liddall, elected {0M P} for Lincoln in 1931,
B22  23 became a member of the Palace of Westminster Home Guard when it was
B22  24 formed in 1940. ^And we saw him, for a fleeting two or three seconds,
B22  25 on parade, in the latest episode in the film series *"The Valiant
B22  26 Years**", based on Sir Winston Churchill's war memoirs. ^It was a hot
B22  27 summer's day when the film was shot, in the palace yard, and Sir
B22  28 Walter, nearest the camera, was on parade in shirt sleeves.
B22  29    |^*1Many Lincoln people recognised him. ^And many also noticed the
B22  30 awful bloomer the producers of the film made in showing a *01914-18
B22  31 *1war poster to aid recruiting in *01940!
B22  32 *<*7NEW RECORD COMING?*>
B22  33    |^*0Sir Walter Liddall was elected Member of Parliament for Lincoln
B22  34 on October 27, 1931 and served continuously until July 26, 1945*-
B22  35 although some might argue that he ceased to be {0M.P.} three weeks
B22  36 earlier! ^The General Election of 1945 took place on July 5 but,
B22  37 because of the large number of Services votes from distant lands that
B22  38 had to come in, the count was delayed until the 26th of the month.
B22  39 ^Sir Walter*- he had been knighted in the dissolution honours*- lost
B22  40 his seat, after a period of service of 13 years and eight months. ^The
B22  41 present Member, \0Mr. Geoffrey \de Freitas will pass that record if
B22  42 this parliament runs its normal course.
B22  43    |^*1The last General Election was in October *01959 *1and it is
B22  44 likely that the next will be in the early part of *01964. ^\0*1Mr. \de
B22  45 Freitas became {0M.P.} for Lincoln in February *01950 *1and his term
B22  46 will have extended to *013 *1years and eight months by October *01963.
B22  47 *<*7*"HONEST*- BUT UNREASONING**"*>
B22  48    |^*0To return to Sir Walter Liddall: it was in July 1944 that he
B22  49 set up his Parliamentary record by beating the term of office of \0Mr.
B22  50 Charles Roberts, who was Liberal {0M.P.} for Lincoln from 1906 to
B22  51 1918. ^But the all-time record is one of 20 years, held by Colonel
B22  52 Charles Sibthorp, an early Victorian Member, and one of a number of
B22  53 gentlemen of that family who at one time or another represented
B22  54 Lincoln in the Commons. ^Charles was first elected in 1826 but was
B22  55 unseated in 1832. ^However, he was re-elected in January 1835 and
B22  56 retained the seat*- it was one of two, in those days of course*- until
B22  57 his death in December 1855.
B22  58    |^*1That was the Colonel Sibthorp who achieved notoriety for his
B22  59 outspokenness in debate, and of whom *"The Times**" said ^*"His name
B22  60 has long been a household word, as the very embodiment of honest, but
B22  61 unreasoning Tory prejudice.**"
B22  62    |^*0Frequently, Colonel Sibthorp had to be called to order by The
B22  63 Speaker for his unparliamentary language, but he did on one occasion
B22  64 save the country *+20,000 a year*- which was a lot of money in those
B22  65 days! ^When it was announced that Queen Victoria was to marry Prince
B22  66 Albert, Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, proposed that the nation
B22  67 should settle on His Royal Highness an allowance of *+50,000 a year.
B22  68 ^Colonel Sibthorp's violent opposition won the day and the allocation
B22  69 was reduced to *+30,000.
B22  70 *<*7{0W.E.A}'S JUBILEE*>
B22  71    |^*6THE *"*4golden jubilee**" meeting of Lincoln {0W.E.A.} branch
B22  72 forged a new and interesting link in its history.
B22  73    |^*0The branch has survived two world wars, and battled its way
B22  74 successfully through the Great Depression. ^Now it has gone full
B22  75 circle for, after the austerities of the first war, the grim
B22  76 despondency of the Depression, and the rationed utilities of the
B22  77 second war it has met to consider *"The Affluent Society.**"
B22  78    |^*1But, possibly even more interesting than this, was the fact
B22  79 that the speaker was \0Mrs. Mary Stocks, well-known as a member of the
B22  80 {0B.B.C.} Brains Trust and radio programme *"Any Questions?**"
B22  81    |^*0Though she had paid only brief *"passing through**" visits to
B22  82 the city in the past, Lincoln is not entirely unknown to \0Mrs.
B22  83 Stocks, for she is the sister-in-law of Miss Helen Stocks who was the
B22  84 first resident tutor of the branch. ^Miss Stocks, who took a history
B22  85 tripos at Lady Margaret College, Oxford, (she did not obtain a degree,
B22  86 because at that time women could not take degrees) was also a member
B22  87 of the Oxford Tutorial Classes Committee. ^Her appointment as resident
B22  88 tutor for the Lincoln branch followed a visit to the city in
B22  89 connection with the branch's formation, by \0Mr. {0E. S.}
B22  90 Cartwright, secretary of the committee.
B22  91    |^She remained in Lincoln from 1911 until 1919 when she moved owing
B22  92 to the illness of her father, one time Archdeacon of Leicester, and
B22  93 later Canon of Peterborough, and settled in Kettering. ^During the
B22  94 meeting \0Mrs. Stocks told me ^*"I always used to hear a lot about
B22  95 Lincoln. ^My sister-in-law grew very fond of the city, and never lost
B22  96 her affection for it.**"
B22  97 *<*6COMMENTARY FROM *5City and County*>
B22  98 *<*4by *3THE GOSSIPER*>
B22  99    |^*6MY *0story of the man who had been stopped on Burton-road by an
B22 100 elderly woman who asked him for her bus fare to enable her to collect
B22 101 her pension has revealed that this was far from being a solitary
B22 102 experience.
B22 103    |^Telephone calls from a man at Sobraon Barracks and from a woman
B22 104 living in Broadway, and a letter from a resident of
B22 105 Yarborough-crescent, indicate that this begging has been going on on
B22 106 what seems to be quite a large scale. ^The caller from the barracks
B22 107 said the woman asked him the time and when he replied, she said:
B22 108 ^*"You don't happen to have a few coppers for a bus fare, do you?**"
B22 109 ^He added that he had known her stop at least seven people in one day,
B22 110 and collect a few coppers from each.
B22 111    |^The woman who telephoned from Broadway told me she was
B22 112 *"touched**" as she was leaving the Cathedral. ^They happened to be
B22 113 passing through the doorway at the same moment and the woman told my
B22 114 correspondent she was very tired, her feet hurt, she had no money and
B22 115 could not go to the Post Office to collect her pension. ^*"I asked her
B22 116 where she lived and she countered by asking me where I lived. ^It was
B22 117 obvious to me, then, that she was simply begging.**"
B22 118    |^*1There is a slight variation in the tale as told by a reader
B22 119 living on Yarborough-crescent. ^The woman asked for her bus fare to
B22 120 \0St. John's Hospital. ^*"I gave her sixpence, she told me it was not
B22 121 enough, so I gave her another sixpence.**"
B22 122 *<*7*"GOOD LUCK**" LETTERS*>
B22 123    |^*6ACCORDING *4to a letter I have received, I have been due for a
B22 124 stroke of good luck today, but so far*- and the day is far advanced,
B22 125 as I write*- Dame Fortune has failed to smile on me to any unusual
B22 126 extent.
B22 127    |^*0The letter, I was told, was *"a prayer**" which originated in
B22 128 The Netherlands. ^*"You are to have good luck four days after
B22 129 receiving this; it is not a joke,**" it said, and went on, ^*"It must
B22 130 leave your hands before 97 hours after receiving it. ^Just send this
B22 131 letter and 20 others to some people you wish to have some good luck.
B22 132 ^Write it all out 20 times!**" ^It would take me nearly 97 hours to do
B22 133 it, unless I did carbon copies, and they might not *"work.**"
B22 134    |^*1This letter is about as nonsensical as other chain letters
B22 135 which appear periodically; the only difference is that there is no
B22 136 money involved here. ^Just the arduous labour of writing out a
B22 137 ridiculous letter 20 times. ^I am afraid it left my hands before the
B22 138 97 hours were up*- cast into the waste paper basket.
B22 139 *<*7BUS TICKET *"SEVENS**"*>
B22 140    |^*6EQUALLY *4silly is a story I have just heard about a craze for
B22 141 collecting bus tickets, the serial number of which ends with the
B22 142 figure *"7.**"
B22 143    |^*0A colleague who travels regularly on Lincoln Corporation buses
B22 144 tells me he has been asked by someone, acting as spokesman for a third
B22 145 party, to save any tickets he receives from the conductor, the number
B22 146 of which ends in *"7.**" ^When, naturally, he asked why, he was told
B22 147 that they were saved and then handed in at the Corporation Transport
B22 148 Department when, in some way which was not specified by his informant,
B22 149 some worthy cause benefited.
B22 150    |^*1Mention of this to the Corporation Transport General Manager,
B22 151 \0Mr. Herbert Jones, produced the expected comment, ^*"Never heard of
B22 152 such nonsense.**" ^So please don't start unloading bundles of old bus
B22 153 tickets at his office!
B22 154 *<*7NOT VENUS, HE SAYS!*>
B22 155    |^*6MY *4reference to the fire which, in February, 1922, destroyed
B22 156 some business premises in Silver-street, Lincoln, has reminded one
B22 157 reader of something*- and provided me with an illustration of what
B22 158 long memories some people have for trivialities!
B22 159    |^*0I had had occasion, some considerable time ago, to mention that
B22 160 fire, in connection with something else, and having turned up the
B22 161 files in the office library, I had quoted a quite picturesque
B22 162 description which had been given to the Echo at the time by a lady
B22 163 living in James-street, near the Cathedral. ^In the course of this,
B22 164 she had said the planet Venus could be seen shining through the glow
B22 165 in the sky from the flames.
B22 166    |^*1Now an anonymous reader writes to tell me she couldn't have
B22 167 seen Venus that night because it wasn't shining!
B22 168    |^*0He has, it seems, looked through some astronomical records and
B22 169 informs me that the sun set at about 5.34 on the day of the fire and
B22 170 Venus very shortly afterwards, at about 5.50! ^The fire was discovered
B22 171 at about half past seven*- by someone rejoicing in the name of *"Cocky
B22 172 Yates**" according to my anonymous correspondent*- so it could not
B22 173 have been Venus that Miss Bicknell saw from her house in James-street.
B22 174 ^Any other astronomically minded reader who would like to venture what
B22 175 bright star it could have been that, for almost 40 years now, we've
B22 176 been thinking was Venus? ^We really ought to get this thing straight!
B22 177 *<*6COMMENTARY FROM *5City and County*>
B22 178 *<*4by *3THE GOSSIPER*>
B22 179    |^*6WHAT *0is the objection to utilising the old burial ground in
B22 180 Beaumont-fee, Lincoln, as a car park?
B22 181    |^It is untidy and, apart from what grass there is being trimmed
B22 182 now and then, it is not particularly well looked after. ^Gravestones
B22 183 are broken and almost wholly indecipherable. ^Only a few years ago,
B22 184 the old burial ground in Saltergate was turned into a *"garden of
B22 185 rest**"*- for the living, not the dead*- and the gravestones were
B22 186 taken up, some of them being used for the footpaths. ^And going
B22 187 further back, the south side of \0St. Benedict-square was widened by
B22 188 taking a slice from the old burial ground.
B22 189    |^*1The plot in Beaumont-fee, only a few yards from the city
B22 190 centre, would provide an ideal parking place for quite a number of
B22 191 cars which today are partly blocking the roads by being parked at the
B22 192 kerbside.
B22 193 *<*7A WOMAN'S MEMORIES*>
B22 194    |^*6A LETTER *4from an 83-years-old lady living near Sleaford
B22 195 indicates that Lincoln Corporation had been more reticent than I
B22 196 thought in releasing news about the typhoid epidemic which killed more
B22 197 than 120 people in 1905.
B22 198 *# 2004
B23   1 **[067 TEXT B23**]
B23   2 *<*7LETTERS *5to the *7EDITOR*>
B23   3 *<*6DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM*>
B23   4    |^M*2ICHAEL *0Mc*2CARTHY *0and Frank Platt in their open letter to
B23   5 Labour Party members refer to Socialism and the new defence policy
B23   6 without at any time defining Socialism, except in vague platitudes and
B23   7 general sentiments with which no-one would disagree. ^And they don't
B23   8 write a word on defence, which only in the slightest degree differs
B23   9 from the Tory Government's present policy.
B23  10    |^For example, the Tory Party and \0Mr. Gaitskell insist that the
B23  11 main plank in our defence policy must be that we stay as junior
B23  12 partners to the Americans, who have consistently opposed any
B23  13 disarmament, despite the Russian's **[SIC**] offer to accept any
B23  14 Western proposals on control, provided we agree to disarm.
B23  15    |^This has led to the position of \0Mr. Gaitskell and his
B23  16 supporters, which I presume includes \0Mr. McCarthy and \0Mr. Platt,
B23  17 who say give up the British H-bomb and rely on the American H-bomb,
B23  18 and provide the Americans with bases from which nuclear weapons can be
B23  19 used.
B23  20    |^This conflicts completely with the official policy of the Labour
B23  21 Party, which flows from the obvious assumption that there can be no
B23  22 defence against H-bombs, particularly for our small island, and that
B23  23 therefore a defence policy for British people must be designed to
B23  24 bring about a reduction of world tension and an atmosphere conducive
B23  25 to negotiations for effective world disarmament, which cannot be
B23  26 achieved if we accede continually to the demands for military bases
B23  27 from the main opponents of disarmament, the Americans and the Germans.
B23  28    |^Your correspondents suggest that the doctrinaires are in a
B23  29 minority in the party, and refer to local {0M.P.}s, who support the
B23  30 official policy, but rather peculiarly do not mention the Oldham
B23  31 Labour Party or \0Mr. Leslie Hale, who are both on record in support
B23  32 of the Labour Party Conference decisions.
B23  33    |^Why is this? ^Could it be that our two friends hesitate to
B23  34 suggest that \0Mr. Hales would be a party to any policy which is not
B23  35 designed to maintain both peace and British independence?
B23  36    |^\0Mr. McCarthy and \0Mr. Platt also suggest that the Campaign for
B23  37 Democratic Socialism came into being because moderates have lacked an
B23  38 organised voice. ^Must we presume that they haven't noticed that 95
B23  39 per cent of the Press support the Moderates?
B23  40    |^What policy differences have our Democratic Socialists with the
B23  41 Tories and Liberals? ^None! ^Just vague platitudes!
B23  42    |^They say that *"the benefits of the affluent society should be
B23  43 used to assist the less fortunate, and that stress should be given to
B23  44 public as against private interests.**" ^What, precisely, have they in
B23  45 mind? ^Increases in taxation of the rich, to increase old-age
B23  46 pensions? ^What would that other Democratic Socialist, Woodrow Wyatt,
B23  47 {0MP} (who a few days ago advocated relief for surtax payers) say
B23  48 about such class legislation? ^How can you guarantee that industry
B23  49 will operate in the public interest while it is privately owned?
B23  50    |^Our two Democratic Socialists *"regard the public ownership of
B23  51 industries or services as a useful technique to be justified on its
B23  52 merits.**" ^No Liberal or Tory would disagree with such a vague
B23  53 platitude. ^Socialists advocate public ownership as the only means of
B23  54 ensuring that we haven't two classes in society, one that produces the
B23  55 wealth of the nation but does not receive the fruits of their labour,
B23  56 and the other class who own industry, but do not play any part
B23  57 directly or indirectly in the production or distribution of the
B23  58 nation's wealth.
B23  59    |^Our Democratic Socialists make a clarion call to all members of
B23  60 the Labour Party to make themselves heard. ^For what purpose? ^To
B23  61 influence the policy of the Party?
B23  62    |^How can this be done when our Democratic Socialists deny the
B23  63 right of members of the Party to determine policy, when they insist
B23  64 *"that no-one has the power to dictate to the Parliamentary Labour
B23  65 Party.**" ^Which must mean that the Parliamentary Labour Party has the
B23  66 right to dictate policy to Labour Party members.
B23  67    |^Clearly our two Democratic Socialists are suggesting that the
B23  68 Labour Party should give up its heritage as a democratic party of the
B23  69 people and adopt not only the essentials of Tory and Liberal policy,
B23  70 plus a few harmless platitudes, but also Tory organisational
B23  71 principles, who do not make any pretence of allowing Tory rank and
B23  72 file members any part in deciding policy.
B23  73    |^\0*6R. SEDDON.
B23  74 *<{0P O} EARLY CLOSING*>
B23  75    |^I*2S *0it not time that the ancient custom of sub-post offices
B23  76 closing on Tuesday afternoons was abolished and replaced by closing on
B23  77 Saturday afternoons?
B23  78    |^We find the present arrangement under which parcels and air mails
B23  79 have to be sent specially to Oldham General Post Office on Tuesdays
B23  80 very inconvenient, and there must be many firms in Oldham who are
B23  81 inconvenienced in the same way.
B23  82    |^Business firms must be among the largest users of the Post
B23  83 Office, and their requirements on Saturdays are usually small.
B23  84    |^\0*6J. BAGGS,
B23  85    |*4Managing Director,
B23  86    |John Baggs Electric \0Ltd.
B23  87 *<*6{0O H G S} PLACES*>
B23  88    |^I *2WONDER *0if the Town Council are prepared to state why the
B23  89 places to the Hulme Grammar Schools have been so drastically reduced.
B23  90 ^I suppose the excuse is economy; if so, why not a similar reduction
B23  91 in the Manchester places, as with fare and dinner grants the cost for
B23  92 each child must be greater than any other.
B23  93    |^Why pick out one school from four to reduce? ^Why not a fairer
B23  94 scheme of a few places from each?
B23  95    |^I shall be interested to see their reasons if they will give
B23  96 them.
B23  97    |^*6RATEPAYER.
B23  98 *<IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW HOUSING BILL*>
B23  99    |^\0M*2R. FRANK PLATT'S *0recent patronising offering in your
B23 100 columns on the subject of the Government's new Housing Bill, was a
B23 101 pathetic attempt to divert your readers' attention from the main
B23 102 contention of my recent letter*- namely, that the number of local
B23 103 authorities who have managed to resist pressure from Socialist
B23 104 councillors against the introduction of a differential rent scheme is
B23 105 still alarmingly small. ^Surely \0Mr. Platt's ingenuity extends a
B23 106 little further than such phrases as ~*"There is much to be said both
B23 107 for and against differential rents**" and *"Local Conservatives who
B23 108 cannot take time off from screaming emotional slogans about wealthy
B23 109 council house tenants,**" when attempting to defend the complete lack
B23 110 of any test of a tenant's means before allocating ratepayers' money to
B23 111 the relief of rent.
B23 112    |^Or does \0Mr. Platt realise already that there can be no defence
B23 113 against such indiscriminate and amoral use of public money? ^Certainly
B23 114 his compatriots in the Labour Party would do well to grasp the fact
B23 115 that the onus is now very definitely on local authorities to consider
B23 116 all sections of the community of ratepayers when formulating their
B23 117 rent policies, instead of merely where political advantage may be
B23 118 gained or lost.
B23 119    |^\0Mr. Platt seems terribly confused in his analysis of the new
B23 120 Housing Bill, though he is certainly right in the **[SIC**] drawing
B23 121 attention to the apparent inconsistency of redistributing the
B23 122 additional *+3 million by which the housing subsidies' bill rises
B23 123 every year, {0i.e.} to cover new building, and failing to
B23 124 redistribute the existing *+61 million.
B23 125    |^One suspects that the Government was wary of the immense
B23 126 administrative difficulties involved in tinkering with subsidies which
B23 127 local authorities, after all, have already taken into account when
B23 128 arriving at a rent for existing property, {0i.e.} *+22 1\0s. for
B23 129 slum clearance, *+10 for one-bedroomed houses suitable for old people,
B23 130 and *+32 for overspill building.
B23 131    |^The annual increment of *+3 million will now be distributed in
B23 132 the form of a general grant of *+24, or *+8 for all new houses,
B23 133 instead of a grant for specific purposes as previously, and this
B23 134 apparently \0Mr. Platt has not fully understood. ^Seen in this
B23 135 context, his assertion that *"this *+3 million is entirely taken up by
B23 136 slum clearance, \0etc.,**" is somewhat inaccurate.
B23 137    |^The net results of this redistribution of housing subsidies will
B23 138 be, first, that the existing arrangements which unduly favour the
B23 139 larger towns with a relatively high number of pre-war houses compared
B23 140 with rural authorities who have done most **[SIC**] their building in
B23 141 the post-war years, will be severely modified. ^Thus the anomalous
B23 142 position whereby rents of council houses are higher in rural areas
B23 143 than in the big towns, though the incomes of tenants are almost
B23 144 certainly lower, will be swept away.
B23 145    |^Secondly, those authorities which are unable to pass the
B23 146 financial needs test proposed in the Bill ({0i.e.}, where rent
B23 147 income calculated on the basis of twice the 1956 gross value of all
B23 148 the particular local authority's houses exceeds annual expenditure and
B23 149 receive **[SIC**] the lower subsidy) will be induced to utilise all
B23 150 possible rent resources to balance their housing revenue accounts.
B23 151    |^It is surely justifiable for the Bill to assume that a local
B23 152 authority is adopting a reasonable rents policy, and collecting in
B23 153 rents an income which is equal to twice the 1956 gross rateable value
B23 154 of their property, while pursuing an adequate scheme of rent rebate
B23 155 for the benefit of their more needy tenants, financed by a
B23 156 rate-subsidy which would be smaller than hitherto.
B23 157    |^Finally, I cannot agree with \0Mr. Platt's contention that the
B23 158 yard-stick proposed will lead to unnecessary Exchequer spending. ^Even
B23 159 allowing for the unlikely contingency of building costs continuing to
B23 160 rise at a precipitous rate, and local authorities suddenly finding
B23 161 that their rent income falls short of housing expenditure to the
B23 162 extent of their qualifying for the higher Exchequer subsidy, there is
B23 163 provision in the Bill for a yearly review of the situation to take
B23 164 account of the effect of further building by each authority. ^\0Mr.
B23 165 Platt significantly fails to suggest any alternative to the 1956 gross
B23 166 rateable value test, however arbitrary this figure admittedly is.
B23 167    |^All candidates in impending municipal elections would do well to
B23 168 prepare themselves for such questions as, ~*"Is the rate subsidy we
B23 169 are paying being used for the purposes for which it is intended?,**"
B23 170 and ~*"Is the Exchequer subsidy distributed to those who need it, or
B23 171 alternatively, is it merely utilised to bring about a general
B23 172 reduction in rents, regardless of the income of tenants?**" ^For these
B23 173 are the type of questions to which every ratepayer might justifiably
B23 174 expect a favourable answer.
B23 175    |^*4Councillor *6KEITH \0W. TAYLOR.
B23 176 *<A WORD FOR WATERLOO*>
B23 177    |^A*2S *0a former head girl prefect of Waterloo School I think
B23 178 someone should put a stop to all this idle gossip about the pupils.
B23 179 ^At any school you will find the odd one or two bad ones who spoil it
B23 180 for the rest, and in this case all the pupils are getting blamed for
B23 181 things unruly children have done.
B23 182    |^This cannot always be blamed only on staff but on the slackness
B23 183 of the parents, too. ^Teachers have heard so much gossip about
B23 184 Waterloo that they are frightened away.
B23 185    |^I cannot blame the fourth-formers for wanting to spend the last
B23 186 month of their school life at their own school. ^Nothing can be gained
B23 187 by this protest because they cannot help it if teachers will not stay
B23 188 at Waterloo, but my point is that all Waterloo pupils are getting
B23 189 blamed.
B23 190    |^No wonder there are fights at their new schools if people are
B23 191 looking down on them because they had to leave Waterloo.
B23 192    |^All this gossip is due to one or two disobedient children which
B23 193 you will find at any school. ^You're not telling me that all schools
B23 194 are perfect except Waterloo, because I know better than that.
B23 195    |^*6EX-PREFECT.
B23 196 *<WHY STAY?*>
B23 197    |^W*2HEN *0*"Elector**" and *"Southerner**" have finished pulling
B23 198 us to pieces, I would like to ask them what's keeping them here. ^If
B23 199 they so heartily disapprove of filthy Oldham, why don't they go back
B23 200 down south, where children always have a handkerchief and go to school
B23 201 well scrubbed with the soap that we have never heard of.
B23 202    |^Who do they think they are kidding?
B23 203    |^*6DOROTHY MOSS.
B23 204    |
B23 205    |^I *2FEEL *0I must answer *"Southerner's**" statement that
B23 206 *"Oldham must be the filthiest town in Britain.**" ^I was born in
B23 207 London, so I am also a Southerner, although I have lived in Oldham for
B23 208 more than 30 years.
B23 209    |^Has *"Southerner**" ever arrived in the early hours at one of the
B23 210 London stations? ^I doubt if he would be able to walk out of the
B23 211 station without falling over bottles and litter.
B23 212 *# 2010
B24   1 **[068 TEXT B24**]
B24   2 *<*7LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B24   3 *<*4Subways Preferred to Baths*>
B24   4    |^*0Sir,*- Your correspondent \0S. Armitage quotes a figure of
B24   5 nearly 5,000 people drowned in and around Britain in 1960. ^I know
B24   6 nothing of the accuracy of these figures, although Saturday's
B24   7 *"Echo**" mentions a figure of 4,000 every year.
B24   8    |^The point I wish to make is that all these casualties did not
B24   9 occur among the non-swimming members of our population. ^In fact, I
B24  10 venture to suggest it is probable that the greater proportion of these
B24  11 unfortunate people could swim and in fact might not have been drowned
B24  12 had they been non-swimmers.
B24  13    |^It is so often the swimmer that ventures out, gets into
B24  14 difficulties and is rescued, if there is time. ^Non-swimmers are
B24  15 content to paddle, sun-bathe and splash about generally at the seaside
B24  16 and very rarely I think enter rivers.
B24  17    |^I do not believe that a sufficiency of baths throughout Britain
B24  18 would make the slightest difference to the numbers that flock to our
B24  19 rivers and coasts during the summer months. ^It would be an excellent
B24  20 thing if everyone could swim it is true, but not everyone has either
B24  21 the desire or inclination to do so. ^Then again so many people much
B24  22 prefer the sea or river to the baths.
B24  23    |^Having learned to swim in the sea, I am one of the latter, much
B24  24 preferring the fresh sea breeze to the heavy chlorinated odour of the
B24  25 municipal swimming bath.
B24  26    |^If the Council wish to spend our money and gain the thanks of
B24  27 everyone, by benefiting everyone as they should, then let them set
B24  28 about providing the town with the much-needed safe road crossings we
B24  29 so urgently require: these could be subways and so would allow a
B24  30 smooth flow of traffic on our main thoroughfares.
B24  31    |^One in the \0Prom. would be sufficient to solve that immediate
B24  32 problem, and I would suggest two for the High-street.
B24  33    |^This would be of real benefit to motorist and pedestrian, and not
B24  34 least for the elderly.
B24  35    |^It is astonishing that we should have one subway already at
B24  36 Pittville Park*- how much more useful it would be under the
B24  37 High-street! ^But no doubt it has saved some child's life being where
B24  38 it is.
B24  39    |^In the interim period let us have pedestrian crossings with
B24  40 automatic light signals giving *"cross now**" instruction.
B24  41    |^{0*2D. C.} WRIDE.
B24  42    |^*0Prestbury-road,
B24  43    |Cheltenham.
B24  44 *<*4Spurs and the *"Double**"*>
B24  45    |^*0Sir,*- With only a few weeks of the present soccer season left
B24  46 chief interest in sporting circles is, can Tottenham Hotspurs,
B24  47 undoubtedly the best team in Great Britain today, pull off the League
B24  48 and Cup *"Double,**" last performed in 1897 by those famous Cup
B24  49 fighters Aston Villa, and eight years previously in 1889 by Preston
B24  50 North End?
B24  51    |^With regard to the League title the 'Spurs appear to be in an
B24  52 almost unassailable position; in fact it will be the surprise of the
B24  53 century, if they fail to finish on top.
B24  54    |^The only possible danger comes from Sheffield Wednesday.
B24  55    |^Regarding the Cup, there must be great excitement going on at
B24  56 Roker Park where next Saturday Tottenham and Sunderland will fight it
B24  57 out in the semi-final. ^'Spurs have an extremely tough task here.
B24  58    |^In conclusion, it is interesting to note that Sheffield \0Utd.
B24  59 and Sunderland, both Second Division, also have possible *"Double**"
B24  60 chances.
B24  61    |^*2BERT WILLIAMS,
B24  62    |*05, Albany-road,
B24  63    |Tivoli,
B24  64    |Cheltenham.
B24  65 *<*4Chain Letter Hoax*>
B24  66    |^*0Sir,*- It has been brought to my attention yet again that there
B24  67 are numerous chain letters in circulation in Cheltenham purporting to
B24  68 have the support of the National Savings Movement and a well-known
B24  69 national bank.
B24  70    |^I would like to inform your readers, through your columns, that
B24  71 these chain letters are illegal and are, in fact, a complete hoax.
B24  72 ^They do not have the backing of either the National Savings Movement
B24  73 or the national bank which is purported to be trustee for the funds.
B24  74    |^I suggest that the best way of breaking the chain is simply to
B24  75 destroy the letter when it is received.
B24  76    |^*2{0J. C.} NICHOLLS,
B24  77    |*0\0Hon. Secretary,
B24  78    |Local National Savings Committee,
B24  79    |Manager, Trustee Savings Bank.
B24  80 *<*4Tribute to the Late {0J. W. O.} Pope*>
B24  81    |^*0Sir,*- As a writer of tributes to departed good people of this
B24  82 town, I think our Press has paid a great and moving tribute to this
B24  83 *"tireless citizen.**"
B24  84    |^All I can say is that Norwich lost a great man of Socialist
B24  85 principles in the name of Keir-Hardie; Glasgow in the name of Jimmy
B24  86 Maxton; and now Cheltenham has lost a good man with these same
B24  87 principles.
B24  88    |^*2{0F. G.} SHORT
B24  89    |(*0late Secretary {0I.L.} Party),
B24  90    |27, Bath-parade,
B24  91    |Cheltenham.
B24  92 *<*7LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B24  93 *<*4People Want What Is Reasonable*>
B24  94    |^*0Sir,*- As a member of the *"spoon-fed generation**" who
B24  95 regularly reads your letters, I have often been tempted to write in
B24  96 reply to some of the ridiculous complaints that are voiced in your
B24  97 columns. ^After reading *"Free Trader's**" latest example, I could
B24  98 refrain no longer.
B24  99    |^If one follows his argument that only swimmers should pay for a
B24 100 new swimming bath, surely only readers should pay for a library, only
B24 101 walkers for a park, and only music-lovers for a Town Hall.
B24 102    |^What the swimmers are asking for is not a free service, as they
B24 103 are quite prepared to meet its annual cost by paying a reasonable
B24 104 entrance fee, but somewhere where they have good facilities for
B24 105 enjoying themselves and for teaching their children to swim (as,
B24 106 despite *"Free Trader's**" statement that *"only swimmers and
B24 107 learners**" drown, children have been known to fall in the water).
B24 108    |^Even if he is wealthy enough not to require any public forms of
B24 109 entertainment or amusement, surely he cannot begrudge them to people
B24 110 less fortunate than himself.
B24 111    |^Surely we have only a little while to wait before he suggests
B24 112 that old people should save enough to retire on without needing
B24 113 pensions, and \0Mrs. O'Gorman decides it would be better to do away
B24 114 with the Council altogether and let her run Cheltenham.
B24 115    |^*2SPOON-FED.
B24 116 *<*4Deterring Rates*>
B24 117    |^*0Sir,*- The statement that 5,000 deaths (since amended to 4,000)
B24 118 in and around Britain in 1960 were due to drowning rather fails as an
B24 119 argument for a new super swimming bath when it is estimated that more
B24 120 than half of these people could already swim.
B24 121    |^No one wanting to learn to swim in Cheltenham is prevented. ^I
B24 122 hear that there are ten swimming baths in the town, the two
B24 123 municipally-owned ones losing money in the running.
B24 124    |^Other towns seem to manage to build baths reasonably, {0e.g.}
B24 125 Worcester *+30,000, Norwich *+130,000. ^Why does Cheltenham need
B24 126 *+230,000, when there is no hope of running it, except at heavy loss?
B24 127    |^With the heavy expenditure on new rating, plus a new street
B24 128 costing *+1,000,000, the cost of the Pump Room, new Municipal Offices,
B24 129 and so on, the eventual rates are likely to deter people from coming
B24 130 to live in the town, as they would probably be influenced more by
B24 131 excessively high rates than by the fact that there was a luxury
B24 132 swimming bath for use in winter.
B24 133    |^Alderman Lipson observed that the Council is apt to recommend new
B24 134 projects without counting the cost. ^We are entitled to doubt the
B24 135 assertion that it is not practicable to cover and heat the Sandford
B24 136 Bath. ^Has this really been investigated by impartial experts?
B24 137    |^*2RATEPAYER.
B24 138 *<*4Fox's Instinct*>
B24 139    |^*0Sir,*- I can tell \0Mrs. Shill why the fox *"flees the
B24 140 hounds**" when it does not *"fear the kill**". ^The answer lies in
B24 141 instinct.
B24 142    |^A fox is cunning, whether hunting or being hunted, but when
B24 143 pushed out into the open, being a wild animal it naturally seeks
B24 144 refuge in flight. ^A fox is only afraid when death seems imminent.
B24 145    |^The English foxhound has made, and still is making, its mark in
B24 146 all five continents, while beagling becomes increasingly popular,
B24 147 especially in the {0U.S.A.}
B24 148    |^*2NATURE-LOVER.
B24 149 *<*4Mondays for Shop Workers*>
B24 150    |^*0Sir,*- It is all very well for *"Canuck**" to suggest that
B24 151 there is no need for closing days at all for shops.
B24 152    |^Apart from the inconvenience of haphazard half-days, has he
B24 153 considered the extra staff required to work this system and maintain
B24 154 efficient service, the small trader being the worst affected?
B24 155    |^Saturday afternoon or all day Wednesday closing has been
B24 156 suggested. ^This is not the complete answer.
B24 157    |^Saturdays for industrial workers and civil servants. ^Why not
B24 158 Mondays for shop-workers?
B24 159    |^*2FLATFEET.
B24 160 *<*7LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B24 161 *<*4Land-workers Want Fair Deal*>
B24 162    |^*0Sir,*- Landworkers' wages and conditions should be better,
B24 163 especially the minimum wage, which should be in the *+10 10\0s.
B24 164 region. ^Quite a lot of the workers get about the minimum wage, which
B24 165 is *+8 9\0s. a week, with no overtime allowed. ^This does not leave
B24 166 much to live on after insurance, tax, rent and so on have been paid.
B24 167 ^There are no canteen facilities, no free or helped-by-cash transport,
B24 168 and the landworker is out in all winds and weathers.
B24 169    |^Why should the landworker be the Cinderella of jobs? ^Conditions
B24 170 for factory workers and other trades have greatly improved, so why not
B24 171 for the landworker?
B24 172    |^Let us see the landworkers' minimum wage and that of all low paid
B24 173 workers more in the region of *+10 10\0s., bringing them more in line
B24 174 with industrial wages.
B24 175    |^Why should not *+10 10\0s. go tax-free and have 1\0s.
B24 176 prescriptions, and the same for widows and pensioners?
B24 177    |^I have heard it said by younger men who have left the land that
B24 178 if the landworker's wage was *+10 10\0s. a week they would return to
B24 179 the land. ^So let us see them get a fair and square deal. ^They
B24 180 deserve it.
B24 181    |^*2LANDWORKER'S WIFE.
B24 182    |^*0\0Glos.
B24 183 *<*4Montpellier Caryatides*>
B24 184    |^*0Sir,*- I have lived practically all my life in Cheltenham, but
B24 185 not until recently did I discover that the Caryatides of
B24 186 Montpellier-walk*- the *"Armless Walk**"*- were not all cast in the
B24 187 same mould!
B24 188    |^Most, indeed, are identical, but several have a marked essential
B24 189 difference from the rest; I wonder if other readers are aware of the
B24 190 nature of this discrepancy?
B24 191    |^I may add that my attention was drawn to the above by a friend
B24 192 who hoped to make an easy shilling by offering to bet on it; he was
B24 193 quite right.
B24 194    |^*2COEUR \DE LION.
B24 195 *<*4Devotion to Patients*>
B24 196    |^*0Sir,*- My wife was recently admitted to \0St. Paul's Hospital,
B24 197 for an operation of a serious nature, which was carried out with
B24 198 confidence and extreme skill, to a successful conclusion, and ultimate
B24 199 discharge.
B24 200    |^In the painstaking care, attention, and devotion to their
B24 201 patients, the sisters and nurses were truly wonderful, and did much to
B24 202 relieve any fears and also assist in every way possible to speed
B24 203 complete recovery.
B24 204    |^During visits to my wife, I was able to note the human and
B24 205 personal relationship between nurses and patient; and this, developing
B24 206 into a close understanding, materially assists the ailing and sick
B24 207 along the road to recovery.
B24 208    |^It is a pity these kindly people, with their quiet, unassuming
B24 209 understanding and professional experience, are not more appreciated,
B24 210 for without these qualities we are indeed lost.
B24 211    |^May the surgeons ever be directed by divine skill in their
B24 212 operations, and the sisters and nurses retain their refreshing charm
B24 213 and efficiency under the continual strain and shortage of these
B24 214 splendid people.
B24 215    |^*2{0C. N.} BROOKS,
B24 216    |76 MILTON-ROAD,
B24 217    |\0ST. MARK'S.
B24 218 *<*4*"Policy of Masterly Inactivity**"*>
B24 219    |^*0Sir,*- Might I respectfully suggest to the Town Council that,
B24 220 irrespective of the outcome of the public inquiry now proceeding on
B24 221 the Development Plan, unless they can come up with some scheme to
B24 222 relieve the appalling traffic congestion, they should adopt a policy
B24 223 of masterly inactivity. ^In other words, they should carry on as they
B24 224 have been doing for the last 10 years until some bright spark among
B24 225 them (we hope) can think up something useful.
B24 226    |^Otherwise there can be no possible excuse for further spending of
B24 227 ratepayers' hard-earned money.
B24 228    |^*2{0J. A.} WHITAKER.
B24 229    |^*0Alveston House,
B24 230    |\0St. Annes-road,
B24 231    |Cheltenham.
B24 232 *<*4{0N.H.} Festival Record Likely*>
B24 233    |^*0Sir,*- As the National Hunt Festival meeting approaches, it is
B24 234 only natural that the sporting public hope that there will be no
B24 235 change in the unusual mild weather.
B24 236    |^It is hoped that any late sudden snap will stay away sufficiently
B24 237 long enough for the three-day popular Festival.
B24 238    |^If the spring-like weather continues a new record is likely to be
B24 239 set up for attendances.
B24 240 *# 2007
B25   1 **[069 TEXT B25**]
B25   2 *<*4Commentary*>
B25   3 *<Insoluble housing problem*>
B25   4    |^T*2HE *0trouble with long standing problems is that most people
B25   5 get used to them. ^The housing problem has been with us as a serious
B25   6 social difficulty for 16 years*- since the close of World War *=2. ^In
B25   7 the immediate post war years it led to a public outcry. ^The political
B25   8 parties vied with each other in their claims as to how many houses
B25   9 could be built under their own programmes.
B25  10    |^In a way the problem was simpler then. ^The need was gigantic.
B25  11 ^The task was solely to see how speedily it could be met with the
B25  12 materials and labour available.
B25  13    |^In 1961 the public sympathy is still with those who need housing,
B25  14 but attention is often focussed more on the young home-seekers, the
B25  15 newly-married couples wishing to set up a home, but faced with
B25  16 mortgages.
B25  17    |^There is a tendency for some of us to overlook the still urgent
B25  18 need for adequate housing for established families.
B25  19 ^Chislehurst-Sidcup Council have a housing list of more than 1,300.
B25  20 ^With the exception of the North Cray Place Estate, they have built
B25  21 all the major estates they can. ^There is little land left in the
B25  22 urban district, with its Green Belt setting, for either Council or
B25  23 private developer.
B25  24    |^In what straits those 1,300 live only the Council's Housing
B25  25 Committee and its officers know. ^Their work is confidential, as it
B25  26 should be. ^What we do know is that the newcomers on the list outstrip
B25  27 the Council's ability to provide accommodation. ^At least, that is
B25  28 what is happening at the present time. ^We also know that even in this
B25  29 pleasant district, some families are still living in overcrowded
B25  30 conditions.
B25  31    |^The view has been expressed in Council that the housing problem
B25  32 will be with us for many years to come. ^The word *"always**" has been
B25  33 used. ^If that is to be the case, then we need some shrewd thinking on
B25  34 what to do about it. ^What hope is there for the 1,300 and the
B25  35 hundreds more who will no doubt go to the Council offices in the years
B25  36 to come?
B25  37    |^The Council are urged to concentrate on slum clearance*- there
B25  38 are a few slums in Chislehurst-Sidcup*- and at the same time they are
B25  39 reminded to provide dwellings specially suitable for the elderly. ^How
B25  40 can they fulfil all their commitments?
B25  41    |^The decision to sell the houses at North Cray to tenants on
B25  42 special terms has its merits. ^It is generally recognised to be good
B25  43 for people to own their own houses. ^By this means the Council should
B25  44 encourage people who would never have envisaged buying their own homes
B25  45 to take on that responsibility. ^At the same time, it will check the
B25  46 trend for the Council to become the landlords of an ever-increasing
B25  47 number of tenants.
B25  48    |^But it can have only a minor effect on this resurgent housing
B25  49 problem as a whole. ^Must that remain with us as a social cancer until
B25  50 the day that the talk of a move of population away from the London
B25  51 octopus turns into action, forced on us by sheer desperate necessity?
B25  52 *<*4Commentary*>
B25  53 *<Is our education worth the price?*>
B25  54    |^L*2AST *0week marked the end of the school year. ^It means
B25  55 relaxation after a long period of intense activity, which, for many
B25  56 children, has indicated prospects for the future. ^Some have said
B25  57 farewell to schools that have guided and encouraged them, and next
B25  58 month they will be going on to one of the forms of secondary education
B25  59 now bestowed. ^Others have left school to make their way in a highly
B25  60 competitive technical and scientific world.
B25  61    |^How well they fare will depend on how much they have assimilated
B25  62 in the years before and after the 11-plus*- that mystic phrase that
B25  63 has brought quite unnecessary worry to parents and children. ^As one
B25  64 head master said recently, there is no such thing as failing the
B25  65 11-plus. ^It merely provides a means of deciding the best form of
B25  66 education for each child, and from what we have seen it certainly
B25  67 works in the vast majority of cases.
B25  68    |^During the last two or three weeks of the summer term *1Kentish
B25  69 Times *0reporters visited school open days and spoke to head teachers
B25  70 and members of their staffs. ^They have visited classrooms and have
B25  71 seen how modern trends in education are helping to prepare the
B25  72 children for the years ahead. ^They have been impressed by light, airy
B25  73 schools, equipped with the most modern aids. ^The facilities are
B25  74 provided, and it is up to the children to make the best use of them.
B25  75 ^They have only themselves to blame if they do not.
B25  76    |^Those about to start work will continue to learn and they will be
B25  77 given every assistance to pursue their studies, not only by the
B25  78 education authorities, but also by the firms who will employ them.
B25  79    |^Vast sums are spent on education every year; in fact the Kent
B25  80 bill accounts for the majority of county spending. ^It has risen over
B25  81 the years and will continue to rise. ^The poor ratepayer has to pay,
B25  82 and it is therefore right that he should ask, ^*"Is it worth it?**"
B25  83 ^Indeed is it? ^The future of the country is with the children at
B25  84 present being taught in our schools. ^We must see they have every
B25  85 chance of playing their part.
B25  86    |^There are black sheep in every fold, but the great majority
B25  87 fulfil our hopes. ^The price is high, but so is the objective.
B25  88 ^Consider all aspects of the question before giving a verdict. ^That
B25  89 done, there can be only one answer*- it is worth it!
B25  90 *<*4Commentary*>
B25  91 *<Thefts from cars*>
B25  92    |^D*2URING *0this year so far there appears to have been a marked
B25  93 decline in the incidence of crime from last autumn's peak, which led
B25  94 Sidcup and District Chamber of Commerce to appeal for more police
B25  95 protection and to seek information as to how best their trader members
B25  96 could protect their property.
B25  97    |^The traders and public at large can, in the main, thank the
B25  98 Sidcup police for that improvement. ^They have shown a remarkable
B25  99 vigilance and alertness in past months. ^But there is one form of
B25 100 petty theft which has not abated but appears rather to be on the
B25 101 increase*- the theft of property from cars.
B25 102    |^Every week there are instances of car spares and accessories, and
B25 103 quite frequently transistor radio sets, being stolen from parked cars,
B25 104 according to police reports. ^In most cases the thefts occur in the
B25 105 unattended public car parks in the urban district, easy and rich
B25 106 hunting grounds for the prowling car thief at night.
B25 107    |^The high incidence of these thefts has caused the Sidcup police
B25 108 to issue yet another warning to the public this week. ^It is simply to
B25 109 ask car owners to make sure their cars are properly locked before they
B25 110 are left, with no property of value left visibly enticing on the back
B25 111 seat. ^A locked door is at least a deterrent*- a thief will move on to
B25 112 easier prey.
B25 113 *<*4Bank holiday tragedy*>
B25 114    |^I*2N *0the last year or so road safety officials have acclaimed
B25 115 Chislehurst-Sidcup as an area free of accidents during the Bank
B25 116 Holiday weekends. ^Technically, the record has not really been broken.
B25 117 ^The only major accident of the week-end occurred a few yards outside
B25 118 the urban district boundaries, but the victim was a Chislehurst boy,
B25 119 and the horror of it touches us all.
B25 120    |^The cause of that disaster may be revealed at the adjourned
B25 121 inquest. ^It took place on a part of the A20 that has a dual
B25 122 carriageway*- which the people of Sidcup are still hoping will be
B25 123 extended into this urban district*- so the need for a road improvement
B25 124 of that nature cannot be argued in this case.
B25 125    |^What is alarming is not only that this sort of accident can still
B25 126 happen with dual carriageways, but that there could so easily have
B25 127 been other fatal accidents within the urban district over the
B25 128 week-end. ^A number of brushes between traffic was reported to the
B25 129 police, several of them causing minor injury.
B25 130    |^The people concerned were lucky. ^The truth of the matter is that
B25 131 unless there is marked improvement in driving standards on our
B25 132 over-congested roads other drivers may find themselves less lucky in
B25 133 the days ahead.
B25 134 *<*4Commentary*>
B25 135 *<Vandalism*>
B25 136    |^L*2ESS *0than a year ago we drew attention in this column to the
B25 137 price being paid by the ratepayers of Chislehurst-Sidcup for the acts
B25 138 of vandalism committed by small gangs of hooligans. ^It is lamentable
B25 139 that we should so soon have to record our disgust and dismay at the
B25 140 amount of damage still being caused to public and private property,
B25 141 not only in this district, but also in neighbouring areas.
B25 142    |^Wanton damage caused to a pavilion at Mottingham has cost
B25 143 Chislehurst-Sidcup and Orpington Divisional Education Committee more
B25 144 than *+400. ^We record this week that a cricket pitch at Penhill was
B25 145 badly damaged on Friday night by hooligans, who uprooted the stakes
B25 146 protecting the square and ripped the turf. ^Time, money and energy has
B25 147 thus been wasted because of the anti-social behaviour of a group of
B25 148 irresponsible youths. ^Quite often Scout huts are the targets of those
B25 149 bent on wrecking.
B25 150    |^Unoccupied buildings have been damaged and fittings have been
B25 151 removed from parked cars. ^Farmers at North Cray have for a long time
B25 152 been the victims of vandals and considerable damage has been caused to
B25 153 buildings, equipment and crops.
B25 154    |^Those responsible obviously have too much time on their hands,
B25 155 but we cannot accept as valid the excuse now put forward that *"there
B25 156 is nothing to do.**" ^There are many outlets for those who wish to
B25 157 lead constructive lives*- and the majority do. ^Many young people
B25 158 belong to organisations which provide interesting pastimes and
B25 159 hobbies; and many engage in pursuits that will bring them benefits in
B25 160 the future.
B25 161    |^We do not pretend that everything in the garden is rosy. ^There
B25 162 is always room for more and improved facilities for young people to
B25 163 make the best use of their leisure time. ^It is often said that more
B25 164 is being done for youth to-day than at any other time. ^That may be
B25 165 true, but we must deal with the situation as it exists to-day.
B25 166    |^There is the problem of this minority of young people who seem
B25 167 unable to fit themselves into the modern scheme of things. ^We must
B25 168 help them, but we must also take a firm line. ^Their actions may be
B25 169 the result of frustration, but there can be no more frustrated people
B25 170 than those who have suffered at their hands. ^Hooliganism in any shape
B25 171 or form must be stamped out, and the public can help by reporting
B25 172 anything suspicious to the police.
B25 173 *<*4Commentary*>
B25 174 *<Forty years of achievement*>
B25 175    |^I*2T *0is now 40 years since four ex-Service organisations
B25 176 amalgamated to form the British Legion to call with one voice for
B25 177 justice for the men and women who had served their country and, being
B25 178 demobilised, were in distress and need. ^In those 40 years the Legion
B25 179 has achieved much and deserves the salute and congratulations of the
B25 180 rest of the country.
B25 181    |^Financed by the money collected on Poppy Day, the Legion's only
B25 182 general appeal to the public, it has given immediate and long term aid
B25 183 to hundreds of thousands of ex-Service men and women, their families
B25 184 and dependents. ^It maintains four convalescent and four country
B25 185 homes, the latter giving permanent homes to 230 elderly or permanently
B25 186 incapacitated ex-Service men.
B25 187    |^It provides employment for war disabled in its factories and
B25 188 industries and, through the Disabled Men's Industries, to home-bound
B25 189 disabled. ^It also provides work and homes for tubercular ex-Service
B25 190 men at Preston Hall, near Maidstone, where the Legion pioneered the
B25 191 treatment, training and rehabilitation of these men.
B25 192    |^The Legion has contributed largely to the solution of an urgent
B25 193 post World War *=2 problem with its house purchase scheme. ^In 13
B25 194 years it has helped 19,000 families to buy their own homes.
B25 195    |^Through the 5,000 services committees throughout the country
B25 196 temporary and immediate relief is given; aid in sickness and in
B25 197 finding jobs; old and lonely people visited and holidays arranged for
B25 198 severely disabled.
B25 199 *# 2000
B26   1 **[070 TEXT B26**]
B26   2 *<*6LEFT, RIGHT & CENTRE*>
B26   3 *<*4Split over Africa*- Welcome news*- Non-racialism*>
B26   4    |^The deep split in the Conservative Party over Africa gives me no
B26   5 joy. ^Much too much is at stake for that.
B26   6    |^*0Make no mistake about it, the divisions are very serious and
B26   7 the revolt against the Government is grave. ^Lord Salisbury is a power
B26   8 in the Conservative Party and he has used intemperate language*- much
B26   9 more vigorous than at the time of his resignation over Munich.
B26  10    |^Ninety Conservatives, despite all sorts of pressure, have kept
B26  11 their names to a motion on the Order Paper in the House of Commons
B26  12 that is critical of \0Mr. Macleod, the Colonial Secretary.
B26  13    |^Lord Hailsham would never have counter-attacked Lord Salisbury
B26  14 with such bitterness, unless this was a split that worries the
B26  15 Government. ^To accuse the most respected Tory of them all of hitting
B26  16 below the belt is going very far.
B26  17 *<*6DO NOT YIELD*>
B26  18    |^*4Labour will defend the Government against these high-born and
B26  19 influential rebels.
B26  20    |^*0This does not mean that we wholly agree with the Government's
B26  21 policy nor with the way they have handled things. ^The Prime Minister
B26  22 in particular has given the impression to the Europeans in Rhodesia
B26  23 that he has hoodwinked and deceived them.
B26  24    |^But it is essential that the Government should stand firm. ^If
B26  25 they yield an inch, Britain may well have an Algeria on its hands.
B26  26    |^That's why we will not exploit this deep split, but back the
B26  27 Government against the rebellion in its ranks.
B26  28 *<*6GAG*>
B26  29    |^*0The Government has decided to curtail and guillotine debate on
B26  30 the Health Service charges.
B26  31    |^A Government must of course in proper circumstances use the means
B26  32 necessary to get its business through. ^But are the present
B26  33 circumstances proper?
B26  34    |^If a Government introduces highly controversial legislation, it
B26  35 must expect to lose parliamentary time. ^Especially when it has no
B26  36 parliamentary mandate.
B26  37    |^The Bill is a short one. ^It is also a tax-measure that ought to
B26  38 be fully discussed.
B26  39    |^*4The Government has used the guillotine out of fear. ^It did not
B26  40 like the publicity that Labour's vigorous opposition drew to the
B26  41 health charges.
B26  42    |^*0But, never fear, we will find plenty of ways of making our
B26  43 bitter opposition effective.
B26  44    |^*4Patrick Gordon Walker
B26  45    |
B26  46    |^I*2TEMS *0of news from the motor industry give the impression
B26  47 that trade is improving and that the employment position is better
B26  48 than it was a few weeks ago.
B26  49    |^This kind of news will be welcome not only in the car-building
B26  50 towns here in the Midlands but also in the places where so many of the
B26  51 component parts are manufactured.
B26  52    |^The Minister of Labour is reported to be taking a new initiative
B26  53 to improve industrial relations, for example, by bringing together
B26  54 both sides of the motor industry.
B26  55    |^It is to be hoped that both management and workers will be able
B26  56 to put forward constructive ideas which will help to push further into
B26  57 the background the dreaded threat of unemployment.
B26  58 *<*6HOUSING PROGRESS*>
B26  59    |^*0There are some interesting items from other directions as well
B26  60 as industry, particularly one about housing. ^By the end of this year
B26  61 one person in every four will be living in a post-war house.
B26  62    |^Also, nearly a million people have been re-housed from slums
B26  63 since the Government's drive started in 1956. ^Housing for old people
B26  64 is being increased and now accounts for nearly a third of all local
B26  65 government building.
B26  66    |^In the educational sphere, there is good progress. ^Never before
B26  67 has there been such a big programme of school building. ^At the same
B26  68 time training college places are being doubled to get the extra
B26  69 teachers needed to do away with the evil of oversize classes.
B26  70    |^A good example of the advance in education is that there are now
B26  71 twice as many university students as in 1938, and it is anticipated
B26  72 that by 1970 the number will have more than trebled.
B26  73    |^Another angle of education, not always so well known, is that
B26  74 there are at present over 40,000 overseas students in the United
B26  75 Kingdom, many of them from Commonwealth countries recently granted
B26  76 independence.
B26  77    |^*4Charles Dickens
B26  78    |
B26  79    |^*"*6WHAT *4we want is a society where the individual matters, and
B26  80 not the colour of his skin or the shape of his nose.**"
B26  81    |^*0So wrote \0Mr. Julius Nyerere, the Chief Minister of
B26  82 Tanganyika, in last Sunday's Observer, and he echoes a basic Liberal
B26  83 belief. ^Like \0Mr. Nyerere, Liberals want a non-racial Commonwealth
B26  84 and a non-racial Britain.
B26  85    |^By the time you read this, we will know whether South Africa is
B26  86 or is not to remain in the Commonwealth. ^Liberals support those
B26  87 Commonwealth statesmen who have demanded her expulsion.
B26  88    |^There can be no room for \0Dr. Verwoerd's Fascist police-state in
B26  89 the Commonwealth. ^If South Africa is allowed to remain, Britain's
B26  90 prestige in Africa and Asia will dwindle as it did after the Suez
B26  91 escapade.
B26  92    |^Further, \0Dr. Verwoerd will be regarded in South Africa as
B26  93 having won a great victory. ^This is surely something we want to
B26  94 prevent.
B26  95 *<*6IMMIGRATION*>
B26  96    |^*0Some four-hundred years ago, Europeans*- including Englishmen*-
B26  97 carried off many of the people of West Africa into slavery, to work
B26  98 the plantations of the West Indies. ^Now, the descendants of those
B26  99 slaves have multiplied, and those tiny islands are bursting at the
B26 100 seams.
B26 101    |^Jamaica has 20 per \0cent. unemployment, and it is not surprising
B26 102 that many of her people are coming to Britain. ^The welfare of these
B26 103 people is our responsibility.
B26 104    |^I suggest the following comprehensive plan to deal with the
B26 105 so-called *"immigration problem**"*- to a large extent simply a
B26 106 housing problem.
B26 107 **[BEGIN INDENTATION**]
B26 108    |^*4(1.) It should be illegal to enforce a colour-bar in Britain in
B26 109 public places.
B26 110    |^(2.) The Government should attempt to persuade Canada and
B26 111 Australia to open their doors to West Indian immigrants*- and thus
B26 112 relieve the pressure on living space in Britain and in the West
B26 113 Indies.
B26 114    |^(3.) There should be a medical check on all immigrants; criminals
B26 115 should not be admitted; and all immigrants should obtain a reasonable
B26 116 place to live in before landing. ^The help of voluntary associations,
B26 117 such as the British-Caribbean Association, should be enlisted to find
B26 118 accommodation for immigrants.
B26 119    |^(4.) Could not Smethwick Council follow the example of Willesden
B26 120 by establishing an International Friendship Council to fight
B26 121 racialism?*-
B26 122 **[END INDENTATION**]
B26 123    |^Michael Watts
B26 124 *<*6LEFT, RIGHT & CENTRE*>
B26 125 *<*4Withdrawing the Whip*- Local issues*- Liberal advance*>
B26 126    |^T*2HE *0Parliamentary Labour Party took the grave step last week
B26 127 of withdrawing the Whip from five of its members.
B26 128    |^*4What does *"withdrawing the Whip**" mean? ^It is not, as is
B26 129 often thought, expulsion from the party. ^Those five members remain
B26 130 members of the Labour Party and of course, Members of Parliament.
B26 131    |^But they are no longer recognised as belonging to the
B26 132 Parliamentary Labour Party: they do not come to its meetings, nor are
B26 133 they informed of its decisions.
B26 134    |^*0When the Whip is withdrawn, this fact is reported to the
B26 135 national executive committee. ^This is in order that the local parties
B26 136 of the members concerned can be officially informed.
B26 137 *<*6WHY?*>
B26 138    |^*0The fundamental reason for this action was that these five
B26 139 members deliberately defied a decision taken and three times
B26 140 reaffirmed by the Parliamentary Labour Party as a whole.
B26 141    |^There is much liberty in the Parliamentary Labour Party*- much
B26 142 more than in the ordinary Labour group on a council.
B26 143    |^*4Members can ask what questions they like, speak as they wish
B26 144 and they can always abstain from voting.
B26 145    |^*0This should be liberty enough for the most tender conscience.
B26 146    |^The line is only drawn at voting against a clear decision of the
B26 147 Party meeting.
B26 148    |^*4Without this rule, there would be no discipline at all; the
B26 149 Party would be a mob. ^Every Labour group recognises this.
B26 150    |^{0MP}s who cannot accept this degree of discipline are really
B26 151 independent {0MP}s. ^Withdrawal of the Whip makes them this in form
B26 152 as well as in fact.
B26 153 *<*6AGAINST ESTIMATES*>
B26 154    |^*0The five cannot justly claim that they were voting in accord
B26 155 with conference decisions. ^This was done by the whole party when it
B26 156 voted solidly against the Defence white paper.
B26 157    |^The five voted against the defence estimates. ^It has long been
B26 158 clear party policy that this should not be done. ^It would be open to
B26 159 public misunderstanding.
B26 160    |^*4The five did not vote against the Tories. ^What they voted
B26 161 against was the whole Army and the whole Air Force. ^No conference
B26 162 decision ever justified such action.
B26 163    |^*0The Labour Party is fundamentally more united than before. ^It
B26 164 is not the withdrawal of the Whip that causes new disunity: but the
B26 165 deliberate defiance by five members of decisions by the party.
B26 166    |^*4Patrick Gordon Walker
B26 167    |
B26 168    |^A*2MONG *0those who like talking politics, and who have been
B26 169 mainly concerned with African problems these last few weeks, interest
B26 170 will soon be turning to local issues as the time draws near for the
B26 171 election of councillors at the several levels of local government.
B26 172    |^This year there will be county council, urban district, rural
B26 173 district and parish council elections as well as those for the county
B26 174 boroughs*- like Smethwick*- and the non-county municipal boroughs.
B26 175    |^Interest should also be increased this year as the ordinary
B26 176 elections will be followed by the elections by councillors of their
B26 177 aldermen.
B26 178    |^The Prime Minister, speaking at a recent rally in London, said on
B26 179 the subject of local government: ^*"We put first and foremost the idea
B26 180 of a working partnership between central and local government in which
B26 181 each side does its proper part**".
B26 182 *<*6CO-OPERATION*>
B26 183    |^*0To carry out properly and effectively many of the aims of the
B26 184 Government depends upon such a real working arrangement at national
B26 185 and local levels.
B26 186    |^The development of the social services is a good example of the
B26 187 need for close co-operation; whilst the Government can bring forward
B26 188 legislation at Parliamentary level, the work of ensuring that such
B26 189 services are put into operation depends to a great extent on the local
B26 190 authority.
B26 191    |^To strengthen local government and equip it better to fulfil its
B26 192 growing responsibilities, the Government introduced the general grant,
B26 193 with no strings attached.
B26 194    |^This improvement in the way of dealing with financial grants has
B26 195 freed local councils from much detailed control from Whitehall.
B26 196    |^Consequently, the councils have more responsibility and should
B26 197 have a greater incentive to spend wisely the money they receive from
B26 198 the local people in the form of rates, and from the taxpayers in the
B26 199 form of Government grants.
B26 200    |^The general grant takes account of the cost of local services and
B26 201 has been substantially increased each year since its introduction. ^It
B26 202 will be *+25 million higher in 1961-62 than this year in England and
B26 203 Wales.
B26 204    |^*4Charles Dickens
B26 205    |
B26 206    |^L*2IBERALS *0made another spectacular advance in last week's
B26 207 by-elections.
B26 208    |^In all four contests the Liberal vote rose, while both Tory and
B26 209 Socialist votes slumped badly. ^If we compare the figures in these
B26 210 by-elections with those of the last three-cornered fights, we find
B26 211 that the total Liberal vote was up by 13,601. ^The total Conservative
B26 212 vote was down by 15,633, and the total Labour vote was down by 22,972.
B26 213    |^The swing to the Liberals was seven per \0cent. in Colchester,
B26 214 nine per \0cent. at Cambridgeshire, 10 per \0cent. at High Peak, and
B26 215 over 20 per \0cent. at Worcester.
B26 216 *<*6ACHIEVEMENT*>
B26 217    |^*0The Liberal achievement is all the more remarkable when one
B26 218 remembers the disadvantages under which the Liberal candidates worked.
B26 219 ^They were backed only by voluntary subscriptions, and could not, like
B26 220 the Tory and Labour parties, draw on subsidies from big business or
B26 221 the big trade unions.
B26 222    |^*4Moreover, these Liberal candidates had no mass circulation
B26 223 newspapers to support them. ^In the by-election period the mass
B26 224 circulation papers enforced a censorship on all Liberal views and
B26 225 speeches. ^When Jo Grimond spoke to a rally of over 2,000 Liberals in
B26 226 London, only The Guardian reported the meeting.
B26 227    |^*0After the death of the News Chronicle all the anti-Liberal
B26 228 papers suffered from an epidemic of fair-mindedness in an effort to
B26 229 win new readers. ^The Daily Herald announced itself to be *"fair and
B26 230 free**" and even The Daily Express printed an article by Jo Grimond.
B26 231    |^Those days are now over. ^The Tory papers have returned to their
B26 232 usual practice of reporting only Tory views, and the Labour papers
B26 233 print only Labour views.
B26 234    |^It is left to independent papers like The Guardian and local
B26 235 papers like the Telephone to preserve the freedom of the Press.
B26 236 *# 2013
B27   1 **[071 TEXT B27**]
B27   2 *<*6LETTERS TO THE EDITOR*>
B27   3 *<THE *'OPEN**' ROAD*>
B27   4    |^*2SIR,*- *0Could not Nuclear Disarmers consult with the police to
B27   5 arrange *'sit-downs**' at teatime on Sundays during Autumn? ^No doubt
B27   6 legislation could fix a suitable scale of fines to help finance
B27   7 National Defence and provision could be made for the passage of
B27   8 ambulances, \0etc.*- ^*'*2BOTHWAYS.**'
B27   9 *<*6CAR RALLIES*>
B27  10    |^*2SIR,*- *0In your last issue there was a letter in praise of
B27  11 courteous and considerate local drivers. ^Indeed, ever-increasing
B27  12 noise is one of the problems of our time and it seems to me that quite
B27  13 unnecessary uproar is created by those drivers from afar who take part
B27  14 in car rallies during the night. ^There was one through Fishpond
B27  15 during the early hours of Sunday, 10th September, with a check point a
B27  16 few yards from my home. ^All the cars stopped there and then roared up
B27  17 over the hill opposite (Coney Castle) in low gear. ^The noise was
B27  18 shattering and I could even smell the exhaust fumes. ^This went on for
B27  19 more than two hours, but those who manned the check point arrived with
B27  20 a flourish well in advance. ^I have ascertained that it was a Reading
B27  21 car club, so a good many people on the route must have had their
B27  22 night's rest destroyed. ^It all seems so unnecessary. ^Rally promoters
B27  23 favour this route. ^We get several each year and no doubt other places
B27  24 get their share.*- ^*2SHEILA REDMOND *0(\0Mrs.), Peters Gore,
B27  25 Fishpond, Charmouth.
B27  26 *<*6PADDLE STEAMERS*>
B27  27    |^*2SIR,*- *0In this age of rapid change in the forms of public
B27  28 transport, it is heartening to read from time to time of small but
B27  29 determined groups of historically-minded citizens who are striving to
B27  30 preserve representative specimens of older types of vehicle, such as
B27  31 veteran motor-cars, early buses and trams, notable examples of the
B27  32 railway engine, and so on, in order that the solid achievements of the
B27  33 past may not be entirely forgotten. ^Two years ago the Paddle Steamer
B27  34 Preservation Society was formed to preserve in running order an
B27  35 example of that once so familiar, but now rapidly disappearing feature
B27  36 of our seaside towns, the faithful old paddle-steamer. ^A meeting of
B27  37 the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society will be held at the Lansdowne
B27  38 Hotel, the Lansdowne, Bournemouth, at 6 {0p.m.}, on 30th September,
B27  39 to form a Wessex branch and all supporters of paddle steamers will be
B27  40 most welcome. ^Although the society has been active on the South Coast
B27  41 since its formation, the Central Committee feel that a local branch
B27  42 would serve more closely the interests of the members.*- ^{0*2J. D.}
B27  43 BONSALL, *0Provisional Secretary, Wessex Branch, {0P.S.P.S.},
B27  44 Loughrigg, 31, Cowper Road, Moordown, Bournemouth.
B27  45 *<*6SQUIRRELS*>
B27  46    |^*2SIR,*- *0In your columns a Wiltshire farmer complained because
B27  47 he had seen people at Southbourne feeding squirrels. ^Last week *'A
B27  48 Resident of Mere**' was moaning because a squirrel had dared to eat
B27  49 nuts from a tree in her garden. ^Both correspondents called the
B27  50 squirrels pests. ^I wonder. ^I suppose Man, with his H-bombs, isn't.
B27  51 ^Did the Wiltshire farmer expect the money used for purchasing nuts
B27  52 for squirrels to be handed instead to a fund for distressed farmers?
B27  53 ^Did the Wiltshire resident from Mere expect the squirrel to go off
B27  54 nuts, its natural food, and try eggs and bacon instead? ^Again I
B27  55 wonder. ^I have already asked in these columns how many of the grey
B27  56 squirrels' sins are real and how many are purely imaginary.
B27  57 ^Apparently nobody knows the answer. ^Don't be in a hurry to point out
B27  58 damaged trees in Grovely woods and scream ^*'Look! ^Grey squirrels did
B27  59 that.**' ^The lordly pheasant can do more damage to a tree on a long
B27  60 winter's night than a dozen squirrels can in six months.*- ^*2ORLANDO
B27  61 GLYN, *0Heneford Cottage, Chetnole, Sherborne, Dorset.
B27  62    |
B27  63    |^*2SIR,*- *0I have read with much interest \0Mrs. Moule's letter
B27  64 about squirrels in the Sherborne area. ^I have many times in the past
B27  65 seen squirrels in the woods across the railway, but they have always
B27  66 been grey. ^This summer, however, there has been a red squirrel
B27  67 frequenting the Slopes, and I have seen him several times in the trees
B27  68 by the New Road. ^Once I surprised him in the litter basket, but he
B27  69 was not at all disconcerted. ^He jumped up, perched on the lip of the
B27  70 basket, and we regarded one another on more or less equal terms for
B27  71 some time at a distance of about two feet. ^On occasions, however,
B27  72 when I had my camera with me he must have been investigating \0Mrs.
B27  73 Moule's garden.*- ^*2\0H. MARTYN CUNDY, *0The Beeches, Sherborne.
B27  74 *<*6HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS*>
B27  75    |^*2SIR,*- *0As a recently-retired member of {0H.M.} Overseas
B27  76 Civil Service, my wife and I have recently settled in Dorset. ^I feel
B27  77 that our experience may be helpful to the many people who are
B27  78 settling, on retirement, from other parts of Britain as well as from
B27  79 overseas, in the Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset area. ^Shortly after
B27  80 our arrival we were told of the lecture course, run under the auspices
B27  81 of the Workers' Educational Association and the Joint Committee for
B27  82 Adult Education for Dorset. ^We found to our great pleasure that the
B27  83 lectures were conducted in a very friendly and almost informal
B27  84 atmosphere, and we have, in fact, made a number of very good friends.
B27  85 ^As these interesting and instructive lecture courses are about to
B27  86 start all over the country in the next two weeks, I would urge those
B27  87 newcomers to the area to find out the nearest course and to enrol.
B27  88 ^They will find immense interest in the lectures and will also make
B27  89 friends with people who have the same interests and outlook as
B27  90 themselves. ^These evening courses are held in all the main centres,
B27  91 and in a great many of the smaller towns and villages. ^I do hope that
B27  92 our happy experience may be of some help to reduce the inevitable
B27  93 loneliness which follows on a move to a new area.*- ^{0*2P. H.}
B27  94 HAMILTON BAYLY, *0Masanki Cottage, 25, Tanyard Lane, Shaftesbury,
B27  95 Dorset.
B27  96 *<*6TEACHERS' SALARIES*>
B27  97    |^*2SIR,*- *0There seems to be some commotion*- ballyhoo is the
B27  98 modern word*- about *'Teachers and their pay.**' ^It is not desired
B27  99 that teachers should be pledged to poverty. ^Nor are they expected to
B27 100 do their work so whole-heartedly as to look for only a meagre material
B27 101 reward. ^But the fault of this affluent age is covetousness, and I
B27 102 hope that teachers are not unmindful that at the heart of the
B27 103 Christian religion is a cross which means the letter I with a line
B27 104 through it, and this means sinking self for the common cause. ^It
B27 105 would appear that teachers today are not really badly paid: far better
B27 106 than I was as a parish priest. ^Only in my last year was it possible
B27 107 to make both ends meet on the income of the benefice, and this did not
B27 108 allow for a three months' holiday. ^But the clergy did not rebel by
B27 109 going on strike.
B27 110    |^To talk of a clerical Trades Union as was recently done by a more
B27 111 or less junior cleric, seemed offensively mercenary minded. ^As one
B27 112 who has spent many hours teaching in elementary schools I am jealous
B27 113 for the honour of teachers, and Church day school teachers, in
B27 114 particular. ^Let them not be afraid to endure hardness, if such
B27 115 exists, and show a good example. ^Education as a profession, like
B27 116 other professions, has fluctuated and there was a time when teachers
B27 117 were shockingly underpaid. ^But it cannot fairly be said that this is
B27 118 the case now. ^The Fisher Act of 1918 decisively raised their status
B27 119 and pay, and this has gone on, for the Fisher Act was not a standstill
B27 120 reform. ^In 1944 came the Butler Act. ^Let teachers continue to show
B27 121 diligent devotion to their work, and they will retain public respect.
B27 122 ^A dutiful teacher puts his back into his work and is apt to be hard
B27 123 and unbending. ^The diligent teacher puts his heart into his work
B27 124 because he loves it, and this is how I like to think of teachers today
B27 125 doing their work. ^In the course of more than 50 years' experience I
B27 126 could give not a few signal instances of the same.*- ^{0*2W. H.}
B27 127 WILLIAMS, *0Barton \0St, David, Somerset.
B27 128    |
B27 129    |^*2SIR,*- *0I note with annoyance the sentence in a letter in your
B27 130 last issue, ^*'Increasingly, arts graduates are being taken on as
B27 131 teachers without having any training.**' ^Most people realize that a
B27 132 graduate has, {6*1ipso facto}, *0had the best training that a
B27 133 teacher can have. ^Graduates who intend to get on in the State system
B27 134 have, in their own interests, to conform and take the additional
B27 135 one-year course that is provided for them. ^It is to this course that
B27 136 your correspondent refers, presumably; but in the minds of those
B27 137 graduates I know who have taken it, there is little doubt that for
B27 138 teaching purposes this type of additional *'training**' is a complete
B27 139 waste of time. ^If a prospective teacher wants to know something about
B27 140 {0e.g.} child psychology or the history of education, good luck to
B27 141 him. ^He can read a couple of books on each in the three months he has
B27 142 between going down from university in June and taking up his first
B27 143 post in September. ^But it seems fatuous that a teacher who is keen to
B27 144 start should be forced to spend a whole year on such unhelpful
B27 145 matters. ^The assumption that teaching is a job which requires
B27 146 post-graduate training in the university is one which should be
B27 147 combated at every turn. ^The key to good teaching lies in knowledge of
B27 148 one's subject, experience, and certain personal qualities which this
B27 149 *'training**' does nothing to develop. ^Most, if not all, the one-year
B27 150 courses*- it is the only useful thing about them*- provide an
B27 151 opportunity for practice teaching: why should the new graduate not
B27 152 spend the whole year articled to good teachers in the schools?*-
B27 153 ^{0*2R. G.} PENMAN, *0Silversmiths, Sherborne.
B27 154 *<*6CIVIL DEFENCE*>
B27 155    |^*2SIR,*- *0You describe Civil Defence as a means of mitigating
B27 156 the frightful effects of a nuclear disaster, while at the same time
B27 157 you speak of the actions of the *'Nuclear Disarmers**' as an
B27 158 *'embarrassment.**' ^What a cosy thought! ^Perhaps your readers may
B27 159 have forgotten these statements: ^(1) A very few megaton bombs would
B27 160 obliterate the major population centres of this country; ^(2) The
B27 161 whole country would be subject to *'fall-out**' radiation of high
B27 162 intensity; ^(3) Radiation sickness is a most unpleasant way of dying;
B27 163 ^(4) The long-term effects of radiation are extensive and unavoidable;
B27 164 ^(5) As a result of the current Russian tests it is estimated that
B27 165 next spring the radiation level will be at least 100 times that of
B27 166 natural background radiation, if no further bombs are exploded. ^May I
B27 167 commend to your readers a short article on the effects of the
B27 168 100-megaton bomb, which appears in the current *'New Scientist.**'
B27 169 ^Civil Defence has its purpose. ^It creates a sense of security, and,
B27 170 after all, the worst might never happen. ^But in my view we should be
B27 171 better employed in embarrassing the Government in this matter. ^Given
B27 172 four minutes' warning from Fylingdales, which of your readers would be
B27 173 prepared to press the button which would send 100 million innocent
B27 174 people to their deaths? ^What is our trouble? ^Either we have lost all
B27 175 moral sense, or we have developed a technique of double-think worthy
B27 176 of 1984, or we just don't understand the issues.*- ^\0*2F. HODGSON,
B27 177 *0Brendon, Common Mead Lane, Gillingham, Dorset.
B27 178 *<*6*'IT'S YOUR MONEY**'*>
B27 179    |^*2SIR,*- *0To reply point by point to \0Mrs. Dungworth's letter
B27 180 would take too much space, so I offer some comments which may be
B27 181 helpful. ^Some newspapers print quite lengthy reports of proceedings
B27 182 in Parliament and documents issued by the Stationery Office give
B27 183 further details. ^So far as local councils are concerned a ratepayer
B27 184 can inspect a record of the proceedings on demand. ^Many people prefer
B27 185 to ignore the facilities available and then grumble that they were not
B27 186 told. ^Professor Parkinson and others ignore one rather important
B27 187 factor in the present situation. ^During and after the war much work
B27 188 on capital projects (roads, hospitals, houses, sewers, \0etc.) had to
B27 189 be severely curtailed with the consequence that there is much leeway
B27 190 to be made up now.
B27 191 *# 2006
        **[END**]