14 JUNE 1913, Page 2

In our opinion Mr. Chesterton was very lucky to escape

with so small a fine. He undoubtedly—indeed he admitted it himself—used language in regard to the whole Marconi business which could not in any way be justified by the circumstances. He pitched the tone of his comments in much too high a key, and he was apparently utterly regard- less of the effect of his words. He talked about corruption and people's hands being in the till and so forth, when all he really meant—to borrow Lord Haldane's phrase of ten years ago— was that the things which had happened in the Marconi affair were "bad things to happen."