A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
THERE is talk, I see, of the selection of candidates for the universi- ties at the coming general election. This is a more important question than it seems, for if mistakes are made it will mean not merely that bad Members will be elected, but that the whole principle of university representation will be imperilled. The idea of plural voting is not popular, and if Oxford and Cambridge and the others simply send nominees to Westminster to swell the routine party vote one way or the other, the opportunity of sending-anyone- at all there will quickly disappear. The only justification for university representa- tion is that it enables men of independent mind, with a special personal contribution to make, to inject wisdom into Parliamentary discussions. In the main that principle has been well observed in the present Parliament. Among the University Members who stood, and sit, as Independents are men and women as valuable and dis- tinguished as Sir John Anderson, Sir Arthur Salter, Miss Eleanor Rathbone, Professor A. V. Hill, Mr. A. P. Herbert and Mr. T. E. Harvey. This is a notable company, but unfortunately several of its members seem unlikely to stand for re-election. As I have sug- gested, the choice of their successors casts a great responsibility on the university electorates, and it will be a great misfortune—both for the universities themselves and generally—if the choice is made on
party lines. * * * *
Dr. Griffin, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, who a few weeks ago talked what seemed to me very good sense to a Polish audience on Poland's relations with Russia, has just made two more public pronouncements, one of them incontestably within his province, the other, I suggest, not. Even though he was address- ing Roman Catholic doctors, it is not obvious what special qualifica- tions an eminent ecclesiastic has to condemn the arrangement which would put voluntary hospitals under local authorities, or to arraign the authorities themselves for inefficiency in the past. Artificial insemination—a process which seems to be moving upwards from farm animals to human beings—is another matter. It is not a peculiarly attractive subject, and I have no intention of dealing with it at length. .For Roman Catholics, of course, the question, is a dosed one, since the Holy Office has declared the practice unlawful. For non-Catholics it can quite well be considered seriously and soberly. Obviously, the process is not likely to be largely practised ; unmarried women are not anxious to bear fatherless children] and if they were they would not choose this method. But in the case of a childless marriage, where the absence of children is due to some physical defect in the husband, an agreement between husband and wife to seek a family by the new method (if it is new) seems to me essentially a matter for themselves and the doctor through whom the arrangement is effected. But I believe the common reaction to the idea is instinctively hostile, and resort to the process will always be rare. * * * * From a citizen of a neutral State, now in London, I have been hear- ing something of the present condition of Berlin. The information is not quite up-to-date, and it is certain that the latest raids have added substantially to previous devastation. So far as my informant knows, the Brandenburger Tor is still standing, but Unter den Linden, and the whole diplomatic quarter, is wiped out ; so .is most of the Wilhelmstrasse, though in these and other thoroughfares a certain amount of life continues in cellars and basements. Fast 'buses run (or did) from one outlying suburb to another on roads cleared through a desert of rubble, for Berlin today is a city without a centre. It is popularly known as Ruinenstadt bei Potsdam. But 'one tribute must be paid to the authorities—for their extraordinary efficiency after a raid. If the Blitz ended at, say, two in the morning, by six or seven printed _posters would be on the walls in every quarter indi- cating what transport systems had been disorganised and what the best alternative transport between various points was. One question arises in connexion with the rebuilding of Berlin which perhaps has not always been sufficiently considered here. A modern city is built over an immense complex of underground services—water, sewage, gas, electricity and though this affects the situation less, transport. In spite of the surface devastation in Berlin, most of these under- ground services are little damaged. Any new building lay-out must therefore conform to them to a large extent, the opportunities for bold innovation being in consequence considerably restricted.
* * * * Lord Quickswood's attack on identity-cards seems a little exces- sive. • They are to his mind little less than instruments of Fascism. We must, he says, "resist being numbered like convicts to facilitate our servitude." Or like soldiers? But soldiers, I suppose, are regi- mented, and one count against the identity-card is that it makes for regimentation. For myself, I share none of Lord Quickswood's alarms. I have often found my identity-card useful, and so far (owing perhaps to a natural insensibility) it has failed to induce a consciousness of servitude. But in this, as in so many matters, a reasonable cOmpromise seems possible. Let compulsory identity- cards be abolished. But let them be continued on a voluntary basis, properly authenticated, as they are now, by the local authorities, for the benefit of perverse persons like myself who find them a convenience.
* * * * The casualty figures given by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Tuesday were of interest (a sombre interest) in them- selves, but of greater interest when compared with the figures for the last war. Mr. Churchill's statistics covered a period—from the beginning of the war to the end of last February—of five years and six months. The other war lasted in all just over four years and three months. It is of some note, therefore, that, taking the United Kingdom alone, the total of kilittd and wounded and missing respec- tively in the longer period was 216,287 and 255,142, and in the shorter 744,7o2 and 1,693,262. There are many reasons for this very remark- able discrepancy—among them the Somme and Passchendaele. But the vital factor, no doubt, has been the air-arm. Its effect in keeping down casualties among the ground-troops has, as Squadron Leader John Strachey demonstrated strikingly in a broadcast last week, been remarkable.
* * * *
It appears that Friday of this week, the 13th, is Amritsar Day. I. should not, any more than most people, have been aware of the fact but for the spectacle of posters and handbills announcing the partici- pation of Mr. Harold Laski (in large type) and Mr. Edward Thomp- son (in small) in an Amritsar Day meeting to demand the release of political prisoners in India. What purpose is served by studiouslY keeping alive the memory of the lamentable events of 19r9 passes imagination. Indian extremists may find some reason for it—but
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