A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THERE is no reason to search for hidden motives behind Lord Eustace Percy's resignation. He is not the type of man to be content with a sinecure post—still less to draw f6,000 a year for doing nothing. The real mystery is what the Prime Minister ever had in mind in appointing Lord Eustace as Minister-without Portfolio. He has had no status worth having and done no work worth doing, and the offer of the new Co-ordination of Defence post to Sir Thomas Inskip was obviously a factor in his decision to resign. In his old position of friendly back-bench critic of the Government he will do better service than as a muzzled and idle Minister, though not better than he might have with a department to run. His resignation, incidentally, provides an instructive example of one type of journalistic methods. Having printed in small type Lord Eustace's assurance to the Prime Minister that " I am in complete accord with the foreign policy of the Government," The Daily Mail adds, immediately below, in black type : " Lord Eustace Percy's resignation was regarded as something more than a- coincidence by those M.P.'s who are opposed to the staff conversations on which the Cabinet proposes to embark." - and heads its principal news page with a seven-column "heading : "LORD EUSTACE PERCY RESIGNS - - Surprise on Eve of Cabinet's Discussion on Staff Talks."
I put down two of Wednesday's daily papers with_ the vision in my mental eye of a London invested with new dignity and splendour. The Times that day filled half its picture page with a drawing of Parliament Square .as it would be if the Canning Enclosure. to the west of it were extended and opened out by the clearing of the site on which Westminster House now stands. The effect of the removal of the office block which now obscures the view of Middlesex Guildhall from the end of Whitehall is to give a new and impressive sense of spaciousness. But far greater still will be the improvement if at the same time the Archbishop of Canterbury's scheme for clearing the Abingdon Street houses away and leaving a completely free space between the Abbey precincts on the west and the House of Lords on the east, as a memorial to King George V, is adopted. Another paper on the same day gave the welcome news that that proposal is gaining steady support. The two schemes are quite independent but the adoption of both would make the heart of London what the heart of the capital of this country should be. -London was never planned—though parts of it were— and in some respects it is the better for it. But if lack of planning allows the view of buildings like the Abbey to be cut off, the case for undoing past mistakes is strong.
* * * *
The lack of authentic news about the use of gas by the Italians in Abyssinia is curious. There are numerous allegations by the Abyssinians regarding the use of gas, and some or all of them may be accurate. But obviously independent corroboration is needed. Lord Halifax -admitted in the House of Lords on Monday that the Government had no such independent reports. Nor, I believe, have the Red Cross . headquarters in- London, though they get constant communications from British and other doctors at work in the field in Abyssinia. There have been references to gas, but no statement that gas-cases have been handled by the Red Cross units. -Even Mr. Lambie, in his cabled protest against gas- -bombing does not claim that he has seen any gas-cases. There seems to be little doubt that consignments of gas were shipped through the Suez Canal some months ago, -which speaks decisively as to the Italians' possible intentions, but is clearly not in itself evidence of the use of gas.
Dr. T. E. Page, who died at Godalming on Wednesday, under the shadow of the school he served so long, was a great Victorian, impressive in presence and impressive equally in speech and writing. He was active till within a day or two of his death. I lunched with him on his eighty-sixth birthday a week ago, when he. received with undisguised satisfaction the comments of his friends on his eternal youth. He still travelled daily to London to the office where he worked as Editor of the Loeb Classical Library,._ and lunched regularly at his Club, where his prescriptive right to a particular chair at a particular table was given universal and affectionate recognition. No one ever dreamed of taking it till the question " Is Page coming ? " had been answered with a certain negative. He is known, of course, to generations of schoolboys and undergraduates as editor of Page's Horace. In the words of his favourite poet, muftis We bonis ftebzlis occidit.
* * * Those who missed M. Henri Bouche's B.B.C. talk on " The Conquest of the Air " on Tuesday evening missed a good deal—in particular this arresting example of the inevitable internationalisation of aviation in one aspect: " One year ago the visitors to a German factory estab- lished in Switzerland could see the completion by German, Swiss and Austrian labour of a war seaplane. This beautiful machine, built to the order of the Jugoslav Government, was fitted with Swedish machine-guns and the most recent: and powerful French motor. But it was still waiting for a propeller to be manufactured in Great Britain under American licence." Well might M. Bouche add, " We must accept the lesson of this co-operative method." It is true that the construction of an aeroplane raises no political issues, and the control of it when constructed does. But it is not beyond human capacity to achieve cooperation in both spheres.
* * * *
Publication of the will of Mr. George Grey Butler, son of Josephine Butler, and his bequests to the Asso- ciation for Moral and Social Hygiene and the Josephine Butler Memorial House at Liverpool, comes opportunely -on the eve of the celebrations of the repeal of the Con- tagious Diseases Acts. It was in 1886 that the long crusade against the Acts led by Josephine Butler, Sir James Stansfeld and others, culminated in success, and the Acts were finally repealed. Now the existence of licensed prostitution in this country is hardly even a memory.
JANUS.
Previous page
