A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

THE new Archbishop of Canterbury has not been too happily served by the Press interviewers who have discussed with him and Mrs. Fisher such momentous questions as the domestic amenities of Fulham and Lambeth Palaces respectively, or by Press photo- graphers who have caught both the new Primate and his family at what no one could flatter either by describing as their best. Although, moreover, there may be reason in postponing the enthronement till April because there is no central heating in Canterbury Cathedral, that announcement synchronised a little inaptly with stories of the icy rigours British soldiers were experiencing in Belgium. But these are small matters compared with the overriding question of what kind of successor Dr. Fisher will make to Tait and Temple and Randall Davidson and Cosmo Lang and another Temple. The answer to that cannot be given in advance. The new Archbishop must be given time to rise to the heights of his great office. Of his competence and efficiency as an administrator there is no sort of doubt. Everyone familiar with his work in the Diocese of London will testify to that. Members of the Public Schools Governing Bodies Association, over which he presides, describe him as the most efficient chairman in their experience. But the holder of the highest office in the Christian Church should be, above all things, a great spiritual leader. The Bishop of London has not yet re-

• vealed himself as that in the same degree as William Temple did, both at York and Canterbury. But it would be quite wrong to assume that he will not. The opportunity, and the need, are immense; May the new Primate prove equal to both. * * * * A useful reminder that Durham is not simply something that you see from the North Eastern Railway, but a place where men and women live and move and work, and need to live in decent houses, and want to move up and down worthy thoroughfares, and work in well-designed and aesthetically satisfying factories—all this and much more is embodied in the book Cathedral City, a plan for Durham, by Thomas Sharp, published this week by the Archi- tectural Press (at 5s.). One interesting feature of Mr. Sharp's proposals is that the population of the city is to be limited to 25,000, which will mean, among other things, that the cathedral and the university will not be overshadowed (they could not be physically) by industrial activities. To the non-Dunelmian Durham today, of course, means the power-station question. On that I will only say that Mr. Sharps denunciation of the project is as lively and spirited a piece of writing as I have read for some time.

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I last week observed that I was still holding out my hat for Malta. It is a trying attitude to maintain for long, and I am very glad that, thanks to the response since received, I can now abandon it. Some three weeks ago Sir Malcolm Stewart wrote offering most generously to give the last Ltoo required if Lit,9oo was obtained by the end of January. Actually it was obtained, all but a few shillings, last Mon- day, and Tuesday morning's post carried the figure more than £5o beyond. I can, therefore, thanks to the generosity of readers of this column, send the Bishop of Gibraltar the £2,000 required for the Shrine of Remembrance hi the Anglican Cathedral at Malta, with something over. No doubt the actual cost of the shrine, which is to commemorate the men and women who died in defence of that heroic island, will be "something over." So this small effort, rather

more protracted than I had expected, closes successfully. Malta will gain something from it. I feel that I have gained much more, for many of the letters that have accompanied postal orders and cheques, have impressed me deeply. Some, speaking of sons or husbands lost at Malta, are very moving ; others recalling experi- ences, anxious or happy, on the island are full of interest ; and the undeservedly kind remarks about The Spectator, and this column, which very many of the letters contained testify to a singularly happy relationship between writer and readers. * * * *

" Oace more the problem of the Tories is the same—how to ride the crisis, how to lie, deceive, cajole and buy time, so as once more to snatch a reprieve for wealth, and privilege."

" The poor, under-educated miners were inspired by- an idea. But the products of our Public Schools, of our Universities, the ' cream ' of society, buried their snouts in the swill of the trough."

" The Gentlemen's Party has never found itself too squeamish to lie, twist, deceive and betray in defending its profits and privileges."

" Honest politics and•Tory politics are contradictions in terms. Lying is a necessary part of a Tory's political equipment, for it is essential for him to conceal his real intentions from the people."

From Why Not Trust the Tories? by Aneurin Bevan, M.P. A poisonous little book, but too steeped in verjuice to do much harm.

. * , * * * If I-were between 3o and 4o, which I am not, and a lady, which I am not (not even feminine at all), I should, I think, lend a rather ready ear to the appeal of the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families' Association for persons of that kind of age and sex to go out to India, after being duly trained, to serve as welfare workers in S.S.A.F.A. enquiry bureaux. The climate should be less chilly than Gower Street's is at present, and the opportunity of rendering real service to individual British soldiers is something to jump at. So for that matter, for many people, is the chance of seeing India. * * * * Information as Requested

(i) EAM stands for Ethnikon Apeletherotikon Metopon, and means National Liberation Front.

(2) ELAS stands for Ellenikos Laikos Apeletherotikos Stratos, and means Greek Popular Liberation Army.

(3) Dumbarton Oaks is an estate on the outskirts of Washington.

(4) Bretton Woods is a resort in New Hampshire. • * * * Readers of The Spectator are familiar enough with Mr. J. L. Hodson's vivid and human writing to know what the fact that the anonymous Merchantmen at War, published.by the Stationery Office this week, is from his pen means. The telling of a great story could have been put in no better hands.

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If anyone with a fancy for the more rollicking poems of Chesterton and Bence wants to read something which, to my untutored taste, scans about as good as the best of either, let him look at Liza Louie Leopold, by W. R. Latham, in the current Nineteenth Century.

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I hope that enough eminent septuagenarians have transarred mem- bership from the one institution to the other to preclude identifica- tion of the eminent septuagenarian who explained his transmigra- tion by observing that he would rather be a young man at the Athenaeum than an.old man at the Savile, JANUS.