3 FEBRUARY 1950, Page 5

The Unions at Oxford and Cambridge always have their moments

of irresponsibility, which as a rule do no harm to anyone. But last week's Oxford debate, when a resolution, "that this House considers the Union of South Africa, under its present administra- tion, not worthy of membership of the Commonwealth," was carried

by a large majority, went well over the line. South Africa is notoriously playing with the idea of secession from the Common- wealth. Do Oxford undergraduates really want to push her into that? To make matters worse, Cambridge, which does not as a rule blindly copy Oxford, carried an almost precisely similar resolution this week. Both Unions should really have known better.