12 JANUARY 1951, Page 4

Progress is always to be applauded, and we seem to

have made considerable advances in the matter of losing things. An old Punch picture showed a slightly exhilarated bandsman on a Scottish station platform searching feverishly for his ticket ; the collector's insistence "Ye canna ha' lost it" evoked the rejoinder " Ah canna ? Why, mon, Ah've lost the big drum." Nothing could be more comprehensible in days when British Railways loses a 13 cwt. conveyor for a month, and the whole issue of a December magazine (still missing), and Westminster Abbey mislays the Coronation Stone. Nelson's column itself is none too safe.