12 JULY 1945, Page 4

I think I have referred to the watch situation before.

I refer to it now with added emphasis. I happen to be the possessor of three watches of differing quality, calibre, age and temperament; but all alike in this, that they have completely broken down and are all in the hands of the repairers, whose minimum period for salvage seems to be three months. Now it is extremely inconvenient to go about the world clutching other people's wrists to see the time, and the action is apt to be misunderstood, but it is better than not getting the time at all. The situation is temporarily relieved because, by parting with good money which I could ill spare, I have just secured a watch of the rough-and-ready other which has so far kept going for six hours. My personal troubles, of course, must be .borne in silence, but multiplied by some millions they amount to something formidable. British watchmakers, I understand, have practically ne men and are short of essential parts. Cannot the Board of Trade, in this extremity, issue licences for the import of a few thousand or hundred thousand watches from Switzerland? I presume that in that home of watches watches still exist. jANUS.