17 DECEMBER 1948, Page 5

It is some time since I have read a more

moving story than the report (in Wednesday's Times) of the murder by terrorists in Malaya of Mr. A. M. Blake, superintendent of a home for orphans not far from Kuala Lumpur. He never carried a gun and refused a special guard because he thought it might alarm his boys ; he thought, moreover, that the terrorists could have nothing against him. He was clubbed and then shot on the steps of his house, and his body, was found near what was left of gifts he had prepared for his Iso orphans for Christmas. He had asked some time earlier that in th4 event of his death money should be given to help the orphans and not spent on wreaths. If anyone should feel the same impulse thai I do to help the boys whom Mr. Blake cared so much for helping I will undertake that contributions shall be transmitted and properly administered (cheques, if any, to Spectator, Ltd., and addressect Janus).

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