A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK T HE Cambridge Senate should be meeting
on February 7th to elect a successor to the late Lord Baldwin as Chancellor of the University.. Whether it will seems doubtful. I am not quite sure whether if only a single name is put forward any formal election is necessary at all. And so far only one name—that of General'Smuts —has been put forward. Lists nominating him have been extensively signed in all the colleges, and there is no sign that before the nomination-period closes, on January 31st, any other candidate will be sponsored. Nothing could be better than such an appointment. General Smuts, who was at Christ's in the early 'nineties, took a double first in the Law Tripos. His subsequent career is known to all the world. This is the first time, I believe, that a British University has chosen a great Commonwealth statesman as Chan- cellor (the rectorships of Scottish universities are rather different), and the association will confer acknowledged distinction on Cam- bridge. General Smuts at 77 is as vigorous as most men twenty years younger ; his constitutional frequently takes the form of a stroll to the top of Table Mountain and back. It remains, of course, to be seen whether with all his political claims he could come to Cam- bridge for his installation and the conferment of honorary degrees in June, but it is hardly likely that matters would have gone as far as they have without some kind of soundings being taken.
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