A Spectator's Notebook T HE principal daily papers have been very
variously served in regard to the trial at Moscow. The Soviet Government were apparently only willing to grant visas for two visiting British journalists, Mr. Fleming, representing Reuters, and Mr; Arthur Cummings of the News-Chronicle. Able, moreover, as any British journalist may be, he is obviously at a pretty heavy disadvantage in reporting -a trial conducted wholly in Russian if he knows no Russian himself. • In that respect the Daily Telegraph had a remarkable piece of good fortune in that Mr. Cholerton, the former -correspondent of the NeW a-Chionicle, had, I believe, arranged some time ago to transfer his services to the Daily Telegraph at just about the date when the trial began. At any rate, Mr. Cholerton, who has lived in Moscow for years and speaks Russian fluently, besideS being • an extremely able journalist, put the Telegraph well ahead of anyone else on the Moscow story. The only other paper to give personal impressions of any value was the News-Chronicle. The Times, which has consistently refused to send a representative to Russia at all, and takes its Russian news from Riga, naturally found itself badly left. The Morning Post took what it wanted of the New York Herald Tribune's services, the Daily Mail put up a " Special Daily Mail Cable ' heading, but said nothing of its author, the Daily Express for the first day or two gave. its messages as " by Ian Fleming," Mr. Fleming being in fact the special corms-. pondent sent out by Reuter's Agency, on whose excellent reports the great bulk of the British Press depended.
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