7 MAY 1954, Page 7

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK SING myself a restless sort of person,

I find it hard to withhold sympathy from people who move about in a spasmodic and often rather aimless way; but I cannot hell) wondering whether Mr. Dulles's boot-and-saddle technique is a hall-mark of true statesmanship. In mid-April he flew wAmerica to London (where he spent two days), to Paris here he spent one day), back to Washington, and on to to see the President. A week later he again crossed eAtlantic to Geneva, and on Monday returned home via b% where for two and a half hours he had what the com- *tgllique described as a " cordial conversation " with the Italian it Illte Minister and Foreign Minister; problems of (believe vii,.°.r not) reciprocal interest were discussed at this meeting, c'eh had as its object the promotion of international e-operation. MI. Dulles obviously had to attend the Geneva „Plference, though it is not entirely clear2—to me at any rate- ;TY he had to leave at half-time, when the delegates showed {Zs of getting down to business. But were those other jj411eYs really necessary ? If, on the eve of Geneva, Mr. British had something important to say to the French and Governments, surely he could have said it through the American Ambassadors in Paris and London ? And /,,,c).;dd those two and a half hours of cordial conversation in (who have produced a less jejune communiqué if Mrs. Luce 11 u° was flown from Rome, via Geneva, to take part in them) 4d represented the American viewpoint. The air of decorous diPnicY with which Mr. Dulles hurtles to and fro cannot wholly c,,',Pel the suspicion that he is addicted to what the Army `uts swanning.