3 JUNE 1938, Page 6

I am taken to task by a Caledonian who charges

me with having called Scotland a backwater because I spoke of Mr. Walter Elliot as " returning from a backwater " to the Ministry of Health. I did nothing of the kind—and have no temptation to. The " backwater " was the Scottish Office, which it certainly is politically, Is a glance at any list of recent Secretaries of State for Scotland will show.