. THE \ SPECTATOR'S' NOTEBOOK
By all accounts it would seem that Britain has already been more than usually prompt with aid to the refugees and cholera vic- tims of East Pakistan. At the moment it is the small charities, able quickly to organise relief, who are making the most headway. Other countries have offered government aid and private funds, and a traditional pattern will no doubt appear of supplies piling up at airports, too much here, too little there. So for once the Foreign Office has come up with a good idea in its sugges- tion for an international co-ordinator of disaster relief, to be appointed by the UN. It is also being sensible in saying that the co- ordinator, to begin with at least, should take action only to meet natural disasters— famine, earthquake, disease—rather than man-made disasters which would involve him inevitably with politics. It is the kind of useful initiative which the SPECTATOR called for last week. It should be followed up as urgently as possible.
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