PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD N1COLSON
HE Joint Committee of the French Chamber and the House of Commons has held meetings this week in London under the chairmanship of its president, Monsieur Yvon Delbos. The true functions of this Committee are not clearly understood and have caused some misapprehen- sion. It is inevitable that those who are officially concerned with cherishing Anglo-French relations should feel alarmed at the intrusion within their province of a body so amor- phous, so seemingly unco-ordinated and yet potentially so powerful. It is understandable also that the Committee should be regarded with disfavour by those civil servants who have learnt from long and bitter experience that the interference of the politician in administrative matters is always inconvenient and sometimes fatal. I can imagine even that our own Foreign Office (which is in general quite tolerant of Members of Parliament, deriving merriment from their antics and knowing well that boys will be boys) may feel it would on the whole be better if the French Deputies remained in the Palais Bourbon and the British Members kept to their proper place, which is the Palace of Westminster.
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