The Coloured Shirt Nuisance It is satisfactory that the quetion
of blackshirtS and other unofficial uniforms should have been raised in the House of Commons and that the Home Secretary .should be giving the matter his serious consideration. It will need to be considered at some length, for if is a far from simple matter. That the blackshirts are a nuis- ance (as shown, for example, by police court pro- cee3ings at Newton Abbot on Tuesday, arising out of their unwarranted interference in a Devonshire tithe dispute and by' a scrimmage between black and green shirts in London last week), may be common . ground, and. the fact established by figures which the Home _ Secretary quoted, that the wearing of political. uniforms . does produce public disorder is a good reason why the prohibition of such uniforms should be considered, as the Home Office is considering it. But just, as. hunger-- marchers cannot be forbidden to walk in formation along the King's highway so long as they comport themselves peaceably, so in ordinary - circumstances • a peaceable citizen, provided he remains peaceable, can reasonably claim the right to wear a shirt of any colour he chooses, even if he wears nothing over it. A situation may arise when measures directed frankly against such a body as Sir Oswald Mosley's Fascists- may be desirable and justifiable in the public interest. But it is not desirable to manufacture new . crimes, and open as this body is to criticism on many grounds it may be doubted whether the situation has arisen yet.
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