2 FEBRUARY 1940, Page 14

It is possible also that at some later stage of

the war the Joint Committee of the two Houses may meet together in public session in order to proclaim to the world the identity of their aims and purposes. I can foresee an almost alle- gorical meeting at Beauvais or at Canterbury at which the elected representatives of the two peoples will meet together and affirm before the world their joint determination to bring the war to a victorious conclusion. There may come moments when the infiltration of enemy or defeatist propa- ganda will necessitate some such tonic, and when a conjoint demonstration might constitute a symbolic act as significant as the "serment du jeu de paume." For the moment we have not reached the tennis-court stage. This week's meet- ings of the Committee were amicable, business-like but not dramatic. Sub-Committees were appointed to specialise in matters affecting Anglo-French relations in regard to defence, commerce and finance, propaganda and cultural relations. It was in the long discussions on these points that many important or curious points were elicited. Our French colleagues were particularly interesting upon the sub- ject of German propaganda in France. They spoke at length and with acumen about their own Lord Haw-Haw, about Professor Ferdonnet, commonly known as "The traitor of Stuttgart."