A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE result of the restricted plebiscite which the Daily Ea pre.ss has been conducting on two or three per- tinent public questions is interesting. Regarding the most important of the three, the Express itself sums up the matter tersely in the statement that " eighty-three in every hundred adults in Great Britain arc against Italy in her war with Abyssinia ; eleven in every hundred side with Italy. The remaining six in every hundred cannot yet make up their minds whether they favour Italy or Abyssinia." This is rather a sweeping general- isation to base on a questionnaire sent to only 5,000 people, particularly when it is not disclosed how many of the 5,000 replied. But broadly speaking the per- centage is probably not far wrong for the whole popu- lation, and it is something that a paper like the Express should have made the discovery on the basis of however limited an investigation. The Daily Express's second question, incidentally, was on the subject of " giving up any of our colonies to Germany," and it is rather surprising to find as many as 20 per cent. answering that in the affirmative. The third was on the subject of nationalisation, which produced 20 per cent. of affirm- atives in the case of the railways and 28 per cent. in the case of mines.
I am very glad on personal grounds that Mr. Malcolm MacDonald is back in the House of Commons, but I find his friends concerned about the bleak prospect he has stretching before him. For as Member for Ross and Cromarty he will still find that every week has its Sunday. and his constituents have to all appearance got him well knotted up on Sabbath-keeping. Ile has firmly forsworn Sunday golf—which seems to imply Sunday tennis too—and Sunday shooting. So much the public Press has announced, and there may well be more behind. And, of course, there can be no bridge Or anything of that kind—though a bygone recreation Balled Bible Lotto would, I imagine, be permitted. He can clearly not frequent his sister Ishbel's inn. He Will, if he is wise, clock in with some regularity at one of the Scottish Churches in London, then walk in-the Park, if poss. ible with the London correspondent of the Ross Advertiser and Cromarty Intelligeneer, and after that read suitable books, from an approved list, at home. (Actually, life can be quite livable that way.) * . Many of the younger dons have long been in favour of dispensing with the formal viva in the Final Schools at Oxford. but Congregation has decisively rejected a proposal to try the experiment for a period of three years. It is a piece of conservatism extreme even for Oxford, dire partly to folly, partly to laziness, and partly to the usual distaste of dons for sparing undergraduates unnecessary pains which they once suffered themselves. I can think of only one way of abolishing the viva now. Candidates must revolt and exercise their undoubted right of inviting their friends and relations to witness the performance. It would enliven a tedious affair and embarrass the examiners considerably. I hear that there is a movement in certain Labour circles towards getting Mr. Philip Noel Baker nominated for the Labour seat at Llanelly rendered vacant by the death of Dr. J. H. Williams. Llanelly is regarded as safe for any Labour candidate, though there is undoubtedly a preference for Welshmen for Welsh scats. At the present moment, with armaments generally, and the private manufacture of arms in particular, likely to engage the attention of the House of Commons for months to come, the return to the House of an authority so singularly well versed in those subjects as Mr. Noel Baker would do much more than merely strengthen the Labour Party in debate. Mr. Baker has written a book on dis- armament, and is just completing one on the traffic in arms.
All of us have admired the business acumen displayed by the Post Office under the rule of Sir Kingsley Wood and his successor, but there is some danger of its carrying such enterprise rather far. That the Post Office should make all reasonable efforts to satisfy all reasonable wants is admirable. But is it really wise to try to manufacture unreasonable wants for the sheer pleasure (and profit) of satisfying them ? Take these special St. Valentine's Day greeting telegrams. Who ever wanted, or should want, to telegraph greetings to his friends (or more probably her friends) on St. Valentine's Day ? There are about a thousand better ways of spending sixpence than that. and most of them woald help trade more.
* I have been reflecting, like other readers of the daily papers, on the problem set the House of Commons on Wednesday by Mr. G. A. Morrison. He quoted, you will remember, the story of a bootmaker who sold a pair of boots for 16s., was given a pound note in return, went to a butcher's next door to get change, gave the customer the boots and 4s., was then told by the butcher that the pound note was a forgery, and had to hand him over a good one. How much, asked Mr. Morrison, was the bootmaker out of pocket ? A Labour Member at once said 16s., and was rightly told he was wrong. My own first answer was £1. On further consideration I am disposed to double that. But I am open to correction.
This comes to me from Kenya : " Coffee and maize planters are almost all broke completely now. The latter have just been granted a £12,500 subsidy, so that the present crop won't be reaped at a loss. But where are subsidies to stop, and who is to pay ? The coffee and wheat and tea people will demand it next and how about us stockmen ? Who is to pay ? Of course subsidies seem world-wide, as I see coal and shipping must have it at home and sugar-beet has it, All very depressing." So it is here.
The Crowning Sacrifice " I could not refuse, though it meant separating myself from Lady Maud and the luggage." Sir Samuel Hoare
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