The daily papers (with the exception of the Daily. Tele-
graph) paid, in my judgement, far too little attention to the inaugural meeting of the Association for Service and Recon- struction in the City last week. I have rarely been at a more invigorating gathering. Originally fixed for one of the smaller rooms at Winchester House, it had to be transferred to the Great Hall, and even then the seating accommodation was quite inadequate and a large number of attenders had to stand at the back. Everyone was obviously in full sympathy with the fundamental idea of the association, that every citizen should definitely set himself to discharge some public service in the widest sense both in peace and war. The ideal was admirably interpreted by the chairman, Mr. C. G. Vickers, who dealt judiciously with one or two speakers who wanted to commit the association to the principle of compulsory service—which would at once reduce its effective appeal by so per cent. One speaker who had been at Ashridge urged the importance of dealing with the issues of unemployment and physical fitness, and an admirably clear and terse speech by a trade unionist elicited applause emphatic enough to set the question of whether catholicity was desired beyond all doubt. The movement was started by what are comprehensively termed " City men," and the attenders at the first meeting were principally City men. But I shall be surprised if men and women of all classes and counties do not find in the new association just what they were consciously or unconsciously wanting. (Temporary address : 18 Austin Friars, E.C. 2.)
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