A Spectator's Notebook
IN SAKI'S PORTRAIT GALLERY Of
odious aunts there is one whose habit it was, whenever a child was naughty, `to impro- vise something of a festival nature from which the offen- der would be rigorously de- barred'; if all the children sinned collectively 'they were suddenly informed of a circus in a neighbouring town, a circus of un- rivalled merit and uncounted elephants, to.which, but for their depravity, they would have been taken that very day.' The Government appears to be adopting the same method in Africa. According to Mr. Lennox-Boyd the Colonial Office was about to offer Nyasaland a new con- stitution at the time the recent disturbances broke out. But the Colonial Office has been 'about to' offer such a constitution for years; in fact the main reason for the turn events took in Nyasa- land was the frustration caused by the intermin- able delays. If the constitution was ready, it should have been published; if it was nearly ready, a date could have been given for its pub- lication: either way, the outbreak might not have happened. But if an acceptable constitution is offered now the African leaders will be able to echo Sinn Fein, claiming that the only argument the English understand is force; and the outbreak makes it much less likely that it will be acceptable.
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