15 MAY 1964, Page 7

Maltese Crosses

y CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS Who won the vote?

'I,' said Olivier, 'you've only to note Four voted for me for three who opposed it.

Who then, I would ask, could not have supposed it But I won the vote?'

Who won the vote?

'I,' said Dom Mintoff, 'I venture to quote The abstainers, retainers and rest of the trivia, Plus the Noes, quite outnumber the votes for Olivier.

So I won the vote.'

Who won the vote?

'Well,' said Mabel Strickland, 'you can judge it by rote. If a quarter of voters at least have abstained. It can't be with any conviction maintained, Anyone won the vote.'

If nobody lost and nobody won, It's certainly hard to know what should be done, Next time, as the best hope of getting things plain, The abstainers Should vote and the voters abstain.