20 DECEMBER 1940, Page 3

Ministers will be free from Parliamentary criticism for a short

recess : it is to be hoped that they will spend some of the long nights overhauling office methods and thinking out afresh the wide range of new subjects which war has inevitably thrust upon them. Meanwhile members will bring back from the front line of their constituencies fresh problems. Demo- cratic machinery is not working too badly, considering the strains and stresses. But it needs, and must command, constant vigilance.