A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
ISUGGESTED in this column three weeks ago the 1 transference of Mr. Walter Elliot from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Scottish office as a not unlikely consequence of Sir Godfrey Collins' death. There is one obvious advantage in the move, quite apart from Mr. Elliot's manifest fitness for his new post. The whole question of the Ottawa Conference policy, and agricultural quotas in particular, will come up at the Imperial Con- ference next May, and several Dominions; notably Canada, will speak very plainly on the subject. When the Ottawa agreements were made the Conservative Mr. Bennett, was the Canadian Prime Minister. Today his place is filled by the Liberal Mr. King, and the difference will be felt. The British Government's hands will be much freer with a Minister .of Agriculture personally uncom- mitted instead of one pledged to the hilt to the quota principle. But no one is quite so much pledged to the whole marketing system of which quotas are a part as one or two members of the Ministry's permanent staff—as Mr. Elliot's successor has no doubt found out already. * I imagine the last has not been heard of the remarkable case, brought to light by the Arms Commission which has just reported, of the offer by a British armament firm of a bribe of £50,000, " ostensibly for a high military official in a foreign country." The word ostensibly was used because though the bribe was definitely offered it was not actually paid, but the Commissioners declare themselves satisfied that " both the firm concerned and the firm representing its interests in the foreign country connived at a bribe being offered by their joint agent, until such time as doubts arose as to the ultimate destina- tion of the bribe." (Does this mean that the proposed beneficiary was reported not to be corruptible after all ?) Now this transaction only came to light " as the result of an examination of certain of the records of a British armament firm by two of our number." The records were obviously extensive, 'the examination could not have been other than relatively brief, and the question- inevitably presents itself whether this particular transac- tion is unique. Moreover, the books of one armament firm only were examined. A high standard is set in this country by the Prevention of Corruption Acts, and it is not surprising that the Royal Commission should_ have pronounced both the firms concerned in this transac- tion worthy of censure.
* * The publication on Monday of a letter by Mr. Lloyd George to General Gough on the defeat of the Fifth Army in 1918 had been preceded four days earlier by a frank retractation made by the former Prime Minister at the dinner given to hini by his publishers, Messrs. Nicholson and Watson, of the criticisms he had passed on the COmMander of the Fifth Army:. Sir Hubeit Gough was present at the dinner (together with a- dozen or more of Mr. Lloyd George's prineipal•War.• colleagues, including Sir Austen Chamberlain, Mr. Churchill, Mr- G. N. Barnes and Sir Maurice Hankey) and showed visible satisfaction at the reference to him. But the matter can hardly be left where it is. General Gough has been sharply condemned by a section, though never by the whole, of public opinion for his failure to .achieve the impossible in 1918. . Now Mr. Lloyd. George says that facts have come to his knowledge which convince him that criticism of Sir Hubert was unjust. This imposes an obvious duty on the Government, to which, of course, the new evidence is, or can be made, accessible. Mr. Baldwin had nothing to do with General Gough's super- session ; but he ought to consider very carefully the question of his rehabilitation.
* - * * In a paper which I profoundly respect I read that Sir Archibald Sinclair is to speak at the National Liberal Club on Armistice Day on " The Fruits of Victory," and that " if Sir Archibald's powers of satire are the equal of his courage this should be a searing speech." What good, in the name of sanity, can satire and searing speeches about 1919 do to anyone ? Battalions of the painfully clever type of Left Wing speakers angling, with the certainty of success, for a round of cheap applause, have sickened the world of these satirical and searing speeches. Anyone can make them, and anyone without a construc- tive idea in his head will. If you have nothing worth saying about the future it is no doubt natural to fall back On destructive criticism about the past. Sir Archibald Sinclair, I am quite certain, will not 'yield to that facile temptation, or forget that we are living in 1936 and what matters to 'us today is 1937 and- 1938, not 1919.
* * • * Not many papers get offers like one that has recently reached The Spedator—and conic to my notice. It was not intended for publication, and therefore I do not give the author's name. He is an .engineer, and hails from Portugal. What he says is this : , . Since 50 years I am known- at the governments,. embassies, statesmen, politicians, savants, inventors,. financiers of your country, United States, France„ Germany, Austria, Vatican. Among other personalities also your king knows me. The events proved that . was always right and the others wrong. I offer you articles of national, international, mondial politics; theory -and practice, truth, all what must occur, never written before- and perhaps not be written in thousands • of years. I ask you what you can pay to me.
A, diligent study of this journal in the -next few weeks may enable discerning readers to judge from internal evidence whether the offer has been accepted. The answer to the concluding question is a State secret.
• * * * - The Day of Rest • "-Being Sunday,.I didn't think."—Lady Diana Cooper,
N US.
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