The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 6

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY DECEMBER 1 1955 i FOR 1 1956- Qur London Correspondence THE POSTWAR PRESIDENCY I Mr Truman's Decisions Fleet Street, Wednesday Nigbt stopped. There is a third argument against prohibiting manufacture, that rely far more on illegally produced heroin than on licit heroin which has gone astray. The United States prohibits manufacture, yet addiction is rife there. But this point bears against the WJI.OVs original recommendation' rather than against theiBritish to conform to it. Freedman a corner between a charcoal sketch of a haggard Manchurian miner and a watercolour of ricefields in.Szechwan,.

and spoke in a quiet "I think one's dominant feeling, coming away from China, is one of sadness," he said. One is sad that human beings should have to pit themselves against such a great mass of poverty aiid backwardness. Perhaps Mr Hogarth's pictures will help to stir an attitude of sympathetic pity and enable people here to appreciate better what is happening in China to-day." And that was alL Mr Bevan was as near to inconspicuous, as he has ever been. Robert Sftierwood Remembered About a hundred and fifty people. feeling there is that the party leaders are to keep too tight a hand on extra-parliamentary discussion.

Even if the Select Committee (which the Government has agreed' in any case to appoint) has committed to taking some sort of limitation for granted, it may be impelled by what was said last night to recommend receding from the present rather absurd1' The foiirteeiwlay rule should be curtailed, if it cannot be dropped altogether. But the rule prohibiting M.P.s from discussing at all matters which 'are the subject of legislation is worse than the fourteen-day rule. It was clear enough what the party leaders fear that a persuasive, or perhaps an unscrupulous, speaker might use the opportunities of the radio, or of television to such effect- that Parliament might be diverted from its course by a wave of popular sentiment and that backbenchers' who have no administrative responsibility might in this way come to. overshadow -the Ministers, who must weigh their words before they speak. There, is a risk in that, though ambitious politicians' usually keep a cautious eye on the party Whips too.

But would there not be' a far greater risk-Mf the B.B.C. and the I.TA. While most Londoners to-night were hoping for rain or wind or any other act of God that would clear the air the Fuel Research Station Greenwich was hoping that the, fog would get thicker and thicker. On November 1, 1954, it inaugurated a scheme to test the degree of (pollution in Nine metropolitan boroughs and three in Outer London agreed to call out their Civil Defence volunteers to operate small' air pumps connected to chemically impregnated filter papers which change colour according to the degree and nature of pollution in the air. But during the -whole of last winter the system was only put into action once, and that "turned out to be a false alarm.

It started raining almost immediately and wasned an tne tog away." Until to-day the Fuel Research Station has been frustrated in its new experiments. But this morning it was notified by the Meteorological Office that there was a likelihood of persistent fog. A call went out to the relevant borough councils and some volunteers were on the job by the atternoon. But it takes some time to get fully 'mobilised, and more time still to get any significant results. One day's fog is useless for the purpose.

Parliamentary Salaries The Government long ago promised to raise junior Ministers' salaries, which are below those of some of the civil servants in their departments. For one.reason or another this change has been put off month after month, but the Government may propose to make it in the new year and, at the same time, to say something about the financial hardship in which some peers find themselves. The problem of helping the. peers is much more tricky than that of helping junior but those members of the House of Lords who wish that Assembly to acquire more vitality are convinced that some financial relief must be offered if regular service in the House1 is to be made possible for the more lively recruits. But the Government still has the report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service hanging over its head, and tho timing of any proposals for politicians must be related to decisions on that report.

These decisions are not likely to be taken jUst yet. Multilingual President Now that so many parties of foreign scientists have taken to turning up here the Royal Society needs a president who can turn a phrase or two in French or even Russian. On this account it could hardly have donev better than to choose Sir Cyril Hinshelwood as president for the coming year. As well as being a chemist he is a linguist of remarkable ability. Soon after the war he was invited to lecture to a scientific 1 gathering at Rome and learnt Italian in a couple of months.

No one was surprised when he was able to stand up in the Royal Society the other night and say nice things in Russian to a delegation of Soviet He differs from other chemists in another interesting wav. His must be the only ilaboratory office which has large Chinese vases lining the walls and a fine collector's piece of a carpet on the floor, i Inconspicuous It was, a very un-Bevanish Mr Aneurin Bevan who took the rostrum at the Leicester Galleries this after noon to1 open an exhibition of sketches land watercolours. Perhaps it was the presence of so many flamboyantly dressed artists that made him seem bv contrast as sober in dress and speech as. sav. a Foreign Office spokesman.

The pictures on view are tne work or Paul Hogarth, who was out China last summer on a raint- ing trip at about the same time as Mr Bevan and the other members of the Labour Partv party. At to-day's little ceremony Mr Bevan wedged himself reticently into CYPRUS To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, Your forthright leading article of November 23 on Cyprus points out he force of sentiment in the present situation. 1 feel it should also be stressed 'that it Is "sentiment" which has been ignored throughout by the British authorities handling the situation. Unless some analysis is made of the factors which have brought about the present situation there is no reason why it should not be repeated! Six years ago a Cypriot demonstration for Enosis held in Athens could meet with lack of interest.1 Bui a persistent refusal on the part of the British Government to discuss the issue could only appear as a repeated insult to a people whose chief livelihood is discussion and prove the most certain way of forcing successive Greek Governments towards unequivocal supDort for Enosis. There are many people who" believe that the British retention of Cyprus could have gone unchallenged had there been some appreciation of the elementary diplomacy needed to offset the Greek demand for the island.

Similarly feeling in Cyprus itself, which has kept in step with official sentiment in Greece, could by a more intelligent policy have been soothed rather than exacerbated if the intention was that self-determination should not be granted: This letter may appear cynical in its implicit, suggestion that a policy at variance with'' our wider colonial practice could have been made acceptable by better diplomacy. But if we were determined to pursue a policy that was obviously a bitter pill to. Greece as well as to Cyprus, it should (surely have been seen to be disastrous to make sure that no sugar or disguise would be used to lessen its bitterness. rYours Sec, 1 Geoffrey Chandler. 5 The Paragon, Blackbeath, London S.E.

3. HARTCLIFFE To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, In order to prevent a wrong impression which might arise from your report on the Hartcliffe Conference published'on November 21, may 1 say that an Anglican Church is in process of building and is nearly complete We hope to occupy it early in the inew year. A vicarage also is in building and will be occupied only a little, later than the church. These are the first buildings of their kind on the estate. Yours Ronald Armstrong, Vicar Designate of Hartcliffe.

328 Bishport Avenue, Hartcliffe. Bristol 3. By Max The first volume of Mr Truman's memoirs as President serves to confirm his stature as a bold and energetic leader in a period of sustained, anxiety. It would be. a good thing for Mr Truman's ultimate place in history if he could be judged only by his great decisions.

With some exceptions, it. is correct to, say that he was at his best in mastering the most urgent problems, His faults of temper and of phrasing Were most conspicuous in dealing with personal matters or relatively minor problems. When he' succeeded Roosevelt the war 'was in its last stage and the problems of peace-making had already cast their shadow over the free world. President Truman rose to this challenge, as this record of his, hrst year in' omce illustrates, with a sense of personal greatness of which there had been n6 more, than a blurred hint iri'. his earlier career.

The book is written without any attempt at literary distinction. But it-gives us the image of Mr Truman's mind and character. There is nothing contrived in this literary portrait His honesty speaks in every paragraph. Mr Truman begins by plunging into a discussion of the diverse yet converging problems which confronted him when he became President. Then he reverts to a review of his earlier life, and his work the Senate.

After this fragment of autobiography he returns to the problems of the Presidency. At various points in the narrative there is some repetition and loss of clarity, yet he has found it impossible to discuss events in their strict sequence. But. this method is not without its merit. It emphasises the number of decisions which engaged the President's mind at the same time.

Under the American system, all important national issues must ultimately be considered by the President. Here is abundant proof of that inexorable law of politics. The Vice-President At this moment in American history there is a special interest in his references to the role of the Vice- President. He begins by stating the obvious yet' neglected truth that many Presidents have found it hard to like the Vice-President or to work in frank- harmony with him. The very position of the Vice-President, who must stand from being the President's running mate in the national election to become-, the presiding officer of the Senate, illustrates his conflicting duties.

Only a rare Vice-President like Mr Barkley can maintain his influence in the Senate while remaining the loyal partner of the White House. Most Presidents, according to Mr Truman, have chosen to exclude the Vice-President from any significant share in policy-making, and even to keep him unmiormea or important decisions lest cloakroom gossip in the Senate should accidentally pro-duce an unfortunate or ill-timed disclosure of the President's plans. 1 Mr Truman served as Vice-President for only 82 days, but during all that period he stood outside the circle of Roosevelt's trusted advisers. The President, by necessity, builds his own staff, and the Vice-President remains an outsider, no matter how friendly the two may be." Mr Truman began the process of giving the Vice-President more authority. Vice-President Nixon has been the beneficiary of this new policy as continued and enlarged by President Eisenhower.

But Mr Truman leaves no doubt that it is impossible for any President to delegate his essential duties to anyone else. Nor does he believe that any Vice-President can be prepared in advance for the duties of the Presidency. The lonely eminence of Year of Decisions (The Truman Memoirs, Volume One). By Harry S. Truman.

Hodder and Stoughton. Pp. xiv. 526. 30s.

the Editor PENSIONS them only four years later by another act of Parliament wh'ich charged them 5 per cent contributions for the same benefits. They cannot, therefore, be blamed for being a little dubious, if not sceptical, when you state stability of contributions will be assured." Moreover, there are other ways of ensuring stability than the one- proposed by the Government. instance, could follow, the example of most other employers' and "'pay a--larger contribution? than the teachers, The present flfty-afty. arrangement' is neither universal nor sa'crosanct; Far from being a rearguard- present campaign of is of immense importance to manyTother public servants; for if the. Government succeeds initsplans for "the teachers' superannuation scheme there doubt thatthere.

those; who" want to look into other superannuation schemes. Yours Ronald Gould, General Secretary Union of Hamilton House Mabledon" Place, London, Wr.C. 1. RUSKItt COLLEGE To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, Your London Correspondent says that the visit of the industrial relations group to Ruskin College brings them about as near as they are likely to get to the heart of the Labour movement." As the member of the college deputed to meet the delegation it is incumbent upon me to the position. We are a college working in close' conjunction with the University of Oxford a public institution whose curriculum' includes work in industrial relations and which has many trade union students.

At the request of the (British) official sponsors of the party we consented to receive them we could not refuse. All this concerns us in our capacity as an educational institution, which must conform to the traditions of its-kind. But it does, not mean that either the staff or --students of the college entertain sentiments concerning the present Spanish Government which are in any way warmer than those of the rest of the Labour move- ment, to which, in our private capacity, the bulk of us belong. Yours Henry Smith, College, Oxford. ultimate power belongs to the President, and Mr Truman sees nothing-but disaster in-attempts to weaken or dilute that responsibility-Throughout ther book the Far East keeps, dividing with the problems, of Europe.

There is little new, in fact, in. Mr Truman's account of Potsdam or the ending of -the war in He, is. more exciting in discussing events in China and Japan. His" references to Churchill and Eden are. invariably and he praises Mr Attlee and Ernest Bevin for the constancy they main-tained the continuity of British policy at Potsdam after Labour's' In He is very, carefuL of course, to emphasise his early recognition Stalin's bad faith.

With great deliriifc he" describes his' rebuke of'-Mr Molotov, who complained, during" his visit to the White House, that he had never been talked to that way in his life. Mr: Molotov was. told in return by an angry President that if Russia kept her "commitments there would be no need of such talk. President Truman is "morally certain" tnat if. congress had endorsed his programme for universal military training, as recommended in 1945, we would have had a pool of basically trained men which- would havp made the Soyiet hesitate in their pro gramme of expansion in certain important parts of the world." Lend-Lease Mr Truman describes the unfor tunately abrupt ending of Lend-Lease as his "first bad experience in the problem of delegating authority." On May 8, 1945, Mr Leo Crowley, the foreign economic administrator, and Mr Joseph Grew, Secretary of State, luiu rieaiueju ituman xnai tney nao an important order which Roosevelt had approved but had never signed.

This order authorised the reduction of Lend-Lease supplies when Germany surrendered. They asked me to sign it. I reached for my pen, and without reading the document I signed Mr Crowley interpreted the order so literally that he embargoed all shipments to Russia and other European nations. He even ordered some ships already in the Atlantic to turn round and come-back to American ports for unloading. Mr Truman admits that the British were hardest hit," but the Russians interpreted the cancellation of Lend-Lease as especially aimed at them." Mr Truman says, "If I had read the order, as I should have, the incident would not have, occurred." He adds that tflP QlTrpn c-inTTirra W- Lease was clearly a case of policy- manuig on xne part or Crowley and Grew.

It Was rrffrf-lv rJ right, of course, to plan for the eventual cutting off of Lend-Lease to Russia and to other countries, but it nave oeen done on a gradual basis which would not have made it appear as if somebody had been deliberately snubbed." Mr Truman's account of. Lord Keynes's negotiations" for the American loan provide true informa tion on now tne American decision was reached. Lord Keynes on September 20, 1945, said that the minimum aid required by Great Britain would be $5,000 millions and that $6,000 millions would be a safer amount. The American, delegation was divided. Mr Clayton, Assistant Secretary of State, recommended $4,000 millions and Mr Vinson, Secretary of the believed that the.

maximum amount should be no larger than $3,100 millions. The American delegation finally agreed on $3,500 millions as a fair minimum figure and $4,000 millions as the maximum. "It was in the final stages of the conference that I decided upon a figure half-way between these two positions $3,750 millions." Mr Truman noted this. to' justify the figure, but is extremely unhappy about whole transaction. (To be concluded) LOW ON ISRAEL To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, A cartoonist must have liberty withal to blow on whom he please, like fools but Low goes rather, far again inthis cartoon to-day he depicts--himself ion the near the barbed wire and the Arab refugees behind, being -fired on by Israeli gun's, And to show the IsraeU jeommander reading to- Commit Suicide is about as appropriate as it-would have been if he had shown Mr Churchill reading it in June, 1940.

Yours Leonard Cohen. -v 112 Wythenshawe Road, Northenden, Manchester, November 29. To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, Mischievous Low is on the' warpath once more and one cannot help-but protest again most vigorously against his interpretation of ithe Middle East situation. In his cartoon in your issue of November 29 Border Incident "he drew beyond the fenced demarcation line a camp for some of the '-'pitiful --'and wretched Arab refugees. "Outcast Dump" he calls by it.

the were' tobe; blamed for 'the misfortune of this poori1 flotsam of circumstances. r-rtun -sure cartoon would have been different had he the official -report of that prominent world official Herny the Arab Refugee Relief Director to the Special Com-mittee of the United Nations Assembly, in which. Labouisse, blatantly accused' Arab "Governments hosts to more than nine' hundred thousand Arab refugees of lack of co-operation with the" United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and in which he complained also of Arab obstruction to his relief work. -The U.N.R.W.A. Director in his report speaks' of "'the tendency of Arab Governments to "interfere in the internal affairs "of the agency, particularly as regards' matters of personnel, and the reluctance of certain host to recognise and accord to the agency the rights and privileges pertaining to an organ of the United Nations." He adds I must also mention the.

activities of a small group of agitators who, from purely selfish motives, or at the instigation of political have sought to obstruct- operations by organising demonstrationsagainst agency-programmes, destroying" agency property, and seeking to do'-bodily-fiarm to agency Had. Low read this report by this official out to helii the Arab refugees, he, would have then. been not as far off the mark as he'now is. Yours E. K.

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Boorncraoiah Tta Satuu. THE GUARDIAN MANCHESTER THURSDAY DECEMBER 1 1955 FRANCE UNGOV ERNED Once again a French Government has been defeated. The natural reaction of most friends of France abroad will be, as before, weary dis-- pleasure. But it would be a great mistake to think that the issues on which M. Faure has been outvoted are frivolous.

The immediate issue was electoral reform and few things in France are more important than the need for the National Assembly, like other institutions, of government, to find a way towards greater stability. Beyond the' question of. electoral reform was the issue of North. Africa, for a number ofr the deputies who voted against M. Faure did so not because of his wish for early elections but because they have been alienated by his liberalism in North Africa.

Whatever we "may. think'1 of the die-hard GaulUsts and others who are "his reforms (and it is worth remembering that Colonel Blimp came not from France but from England), it cannot be questioned that the issues in North Africa are grave. A further point in dispute was the demand of some members, which was rejected by-M. Faure, for a debate on general policy. They wished particularly to discuss the next steps towards European union arid on that aspect of policy France ought to be taking a part in Europe.

Let us; then, T'not be to quickly critical of the deputies" who have brought the Government down, even if in dis- agreement with them. There have been times, especially in 1952 and 1953, when the frequent changes of Government and the prolonged sequence of ineffective votes in the Assembly led to some despair about French democracy. But the recent Governments of M. Mendes-France ana na. uaure have done much to restore respect for France, in the outside world.

It Would be unjust if that respect were now too quickly rorgotten. No the dissolution of the Assembly: and immediate elections will be the quickest way out-of the crisis, but in the end 'it will prob aaiy prove xo pe-uie way. It will mean holding the elections on the basis of the" fpwiserit, law, and it will almost injevitabiv, result in another Assembly cnaracter. The lack of clearr-cut divi sions or the excessive number of secondary issues on which the parties are divided within themselves has hampered the Assembly erievouslv. Prime Ministers who could count on a majority for one part of their policy nave- seen unable to proceed with another part Thus French govern.

ment has lacked continuity and clarity. The aim "of electoral reform would be chiefly to return greater clarity, and decision in government. and the most favoured is to drop proportional representation and restore single-member constituencies, J-nis is the wish of most Radicals (those supporting --M. Mendes-France in preference -to M. Faure), the Socialists, and many of the Gaullists.

It is opposed by 'the MJl.P., which without proportional representation would be likely to lose, seats in the Assembly, and it is anathema to the Communists. One hope of the Com-; iriy is tnai-with early elections on the' present system the "associations" of Centre parties may pusn tne socialists so much out intn the cod that they may become more new Popular Front. If that were to happen it would bring an evil degeneration in FriWh politics. Altogether it is a matter for regret that the Government should have chosen the easy way of immediate dissolution. Fourteen Days The.

Commons debate on the limita tions of political broadcasting was wen worth while. There-was, in xne end, a solid majority for the Government's motion. But the debate gave an unusual opportunity for back-bench members to speak freely on an issue which lies between them selves and the two Front Benches; not he major parties: and The Russian Tour The Russian tour through India, though certainly an historic event, is becoming also part of the light relief of international politics. The courting of Indian sentiment by the visitors is so naively unrestrained, their tricks are so elementary, their machinery so little masked, that ribaldry is hard to suppress. They seem to be quite careless of being seen through by the sophisticated, and evidently they are addressing their appeal chiefly to the mass of the people: though, when these respond too rowdily, as happened yesterday in Calcutta, the Russian leaders have shrunk fastidiously from their embraces.

The tour is the more interesting because it is made by a duumvirate, and the foreseeing eye may speculate on what will be the relation of the two principals in a few years' time. Up to, the present only one or two concrete facts have been brought out. One is Mr Nehru's statement, made yesterday, that there will be no change in India's policy. India will continue to stand outside alliances. Doubtless the Russians will applaud this, but it is hard not to think that they had hoped to induce India to tilt a little more to their side.

The other is increasing talk of Russian economic aid tar India. Mr Khrushchev has offered to share his last crust. Almost certainly negotiations for economic aid are going on, and Mr Nehru is unlikely to refuse good offers, provided that there are no political strings attached. Why should he turn them down? The Western countries need have no particular alarm if the result of the tour is that Russia gives economic assistance indeed, they may be glad if Russia shares some of the burden of helping Asia to advance economi cally. The stronger India becomes economically the more stable it is likely to be, and this is in the interest of the West as well as of India itself.

Russia's resources would be more innocently used in promoting pros perity outside its borders than in stockpiling hydrogen bombs. The Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation continues to seek out new fields abroad into which it can extend its activities. This shift of emphasis that has come about in the past few years has not been at the expense of the wide range of research in scientific and sociolo gical subjects which it assists in this country. This still absorbs no less a sum of money than it did in previous years, but it receives a smaller share of the steadily increasing total devoted to grants of various kinds. The amount distributed during the past year was three times as much as in 1943, and over a quarter of the year's expenditure was devoted to helping research workers and students over seas.

It is appropriate, therefore, that in the Foundation's tenth annual report, published to-day, a larger part of the space than in previous yearstis occupied by descriptions of new projects to be undertaken in tjie Commonwealth. Already these are marked -by' the' diversity that is characteristic of the Foundation's other: -at home, and there is being added" this year to the expected range of scientific studies at least one innovation that may prove to have a much wider application. The grants that the Foundation is offering to encourage the employment of non-European research workers in South African universities should provide a much-needed stimulus to study of the impact of Western ways of life on African peoples. But almost equal in importance is the opportunities it will create for Africans to undertake advanced academic vyork in co-operation, with European research workers arid the, incentive it offers to African graduates to take' a higher degree: From this far-reaching results may arise. A COUNTRY DIAkY Hereford, November 28.

Unless it is quite dark or raining I never have the curtains, drawn over the windows I like to see something of outer world and particularly the wain house on the opposite slope bright, greenish light patches and dark shadows are thrown from the four open bays, and inside, in a mysterious haze, figures of shepherds and dim forms of sheep stirring. When a bright star shines overhead it might well be a representation of It is said that above this farm at the hamlet over the hill a sacred thorn tree blooms Christmas Eve, and that cows have been seen kneeling. One must remember that cows, unlike horses, rise up by lifting their hind legs first, their front legs being in a kneeling position. I have got a rather interesting gauge it marks the pace of the wind up to gale force, but for my part I- never trouble about any predictions or forecasts of the weather. I am told that we are soon to lose any sense left us of noting the appearance of the sky and direction of the wind, or the red that warns or delights the or the yoice of the green wood pecker, or.

ones own feelings on the matter. If we had more of these mild November days I should not wish to 'go in search of sunshine the dark are, perhaps, the worst feature, of our winters; it is true that darkness comes rapidly by six o'clock in the tropics, but this is usually only an exchange for moon and star light McB. many of them eminent, went this morning to a memorial service for Robert Sherwood, held' in the Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street. The brightly painted, smart little church lent itself well to the occasion. Sir Walter Monckton.

the American Ambassador, and Sir Laurence and, Lady Olivier were among the representatives of- the theatre and politics who came to pay their tributes to the American playwright and writer. The short and simple service was conducted by the Bishop of London. The psalm I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills and Sir Walter Scott's coronach, "He is gone on the mountain, He. is lost to the forest," -were sung unaccompanied by the B.B.C Singers. The lesson from Ecclesias-ticus.

was read in sombre tones by Lord Bracken. There was no address. The congregation, went out into the fog to the weird and familiar notes of The Flowers of the. Forest." played by a piper of the Scots Guards in memory of Sherwood's service in the Royal Highlanders of Canada in France during the First World War. Unfair to Woodpeckers The foresters of County Hall have apparently woken up to the fact that Ken Wood, on Hampstead Heath, which is in their ward, bears a distinct resemblance to a nineteenth-century print of a Biblical wilderness.

The oaks are stag-headed and fit only for woodpeckers, while the toothy gaps in the canopy of beech please nobody, certainly not the local naturalists, who have been wondering whether the inoculation of some virus disorder might reduce the unseemly riot of rhodo and other dismal dendra. But now. all seems fair, at least in Dromise. A clumn of 850 sanlings has been trundled along the Spaniards Road for seasonable interment: the wood is to become as it wgs. although, nresumably, not for at least another fifty years.

Nevertheless the outlook should please everybody except perhaps the throe resident species of woodpeckers. The pity is that all this should have been delayed until now. when the place looks so abominably tattered. Senior Civil Servant Dame Alix Kilroy, the Under-Secretary at the Board of Trade charge of the distribution of industry, retired to-day. She is 52.

has just completed 30 years in the Civil Service, and how feels that she would like to combine part-time appointments with more leisure." She is married to Sir Francis Meynell, the poet and typographer. They have a small farm in Suffolk which needs mnn attpnfinn trion flm sJailir v- i. ULltlJ me JL a senior civil servant allows her to give to it. But she hopes that her proiessionai experience, which includes being the first secretary of the Monopolies Commission from 1949 trv 1959. an A rTiTTMn.er ut biuuic-) iab-iuiUK and the utility furniture scheme, may' sun oe put to gooa use lor a suostan-tial part of each week.

Dame Alix entered the service in 1925. the first year in which the competition was opened to women and the year before her great friend and contemporary. Dame Evelyn Sharp, passed in. She is tall, decorative, and entirely human, and has never seen the point of sacrificing her life to her career. Letters to TEACHERS' To the Editor of the Manchester Guardian Sir, The implication in your leading article on November 26 that the teachers have rushed, unthinking, into opposing the Government's new superannuation bill is less than fair to the profession.

The Government's intentions were known some weeks ago, and they were fully discussed before last week's special conference of the N.U.T. It" is not surprising, however, that teachers should be quickly and completely united in their opposition to the bill. The crux of the matter is the proposal to increase the contribution from 5 per cent to 6 per cent. This is insisted on, in spite of the Government Actuary's view that only 114 per cent is needed to meet the cost of benefits for new entrants and at a time when there is bitter discontent among teachers over the inadequacy of their salaries. Even the comparatively minor salary cut which' the increased contribution entails will add greatly to that bitterness The "important concessions'? y6u speak of the Government's proposal to meet the present actuarial deficiency and to ask local education authorities to meet future deficiencies is, in fact, no more tharf what already happens in a number of superannuation schemes for nublic servants.

Small wonder, then, that the teachers are not appeased. It is certainly true that teachers have been singled out, but it is fo.r treatment which no other public employees have had to endure. No other body of existing public employees has ever been called upon to pay an Increased rate of contribution, yef the factors according to the largely responsible for thei increased contribution affect them all equally. You imply that the higher contribution will be used to afford improved benefits. But the cost of the improved benefits embodied in the bill is three-tenths of 1 per cent, to be divided between the L.E.A.s and the teachers.

This is so microscopic that it is incon-ceivable'1 that any reasonable employer would ask employees to meet it. You state that the new bill will assure stability of contributions. No doubt an act of Parliament gives the greatest stability that is possible in an unstable world. But teachers have bitter memories of being given, by act of Parliament, non-contributory pension scheme, which was taken from cannot be trusted to act with good judgment, as one hopes they can that' speakers with no parliamentary responsibility at all could come to exercise just as broad and harmful an influence as back-bench members, and on matters not the subject either of legislation or of pending debates Think of Mr Fulton Lewis and Mr George Sokolsky in the United States. There is a good deal in Mr Edelman's statement, sweeping as it is: The Government motion Is a face-saving performance on the part of the authors of the fourteen-day rule, who have now seen that the whole of that rule Is unworkable.

The outcome'' of the Select Committee's work will now be awaited eagerly, and with good hopes of some improvement in the way things are done. Heroin The Home Secretary is to be questioned in the Commons to-day about' the Government's decision to ban the manufacture' of heroin in this country from the end of the year. There is a long history behind this. The suggestion that heroin, should be', produced in no country which belonged to the League of Nations was first made in 1931. The sixth assembly of the World.

Health Organisation decided that heroin was not essential in medical practice, and because of its property of being the most vicious of all drugs which cause addiction the Economic, and Social Council of the United Nations recommended in the summer of 1954 that all Governments should stop its manufacture. In any case most of them had already done so. In 1953 the United Kingdom remained the only source of licit heroin on a large scale 69 per cent of the world's supply was manufactured here in that year. Though it is not commonly used in this country (where there are only fifty-four is a. scourge in the United States; and Canada.

It is the drug to which addicts graduate when the euphoric effect of hemp, opium, or cannabis has palled. Several sober social surveys have shown how the efforts of addicts to raise money to buy the next dose have led, in America, to criminality prostitu tion. One can get an insight into the power of the -drug by reading some-' of the letters which have appeared in the. press people are heroin in (It is acknowledged -that use pi the drug for a fortnight in the treatment of cancer patients leads to aaoiction tnis is not regarded as a danger because it is given only to patients who are almost certain to die.) The International Opium Board is afraid that part of the heroin pro duced in this country may be diverted to illicit uses (most probably abroad) and that addiction may become more common here. It is also anxious to have a complete ban on licit manu facture so that the task of tracing illicit supplies to their origin may be made easier.

The Government's decision to' con- torm to tne WJi.u. policy was announced in May, and will take effect on December 31. There has been much opposition to it expressed recently by doctors. They make, two points: that there is no effective substitute for heroin in the relief of some -acute kinds of pain, and that there was no proper consultation with the medical profession before the decision was made. The secpnd point is sound.

(The Government seems to have relied on theadvice of a committee one of whose members is now leading the campaign to continue manufacture.) The first is more doubtful. Medical opinions differ. Some doctors think that the available substitutes are adequate and, never prescribe heroin. There is to suggest- that some doctors who condemn, the substitutes have not given them a fair trial. But there is still' a respectable body of opinion in favour heroin.

In view of the doctors' complaint of unsatisfactory consultation, there is a good case for suspending the" prohibition of manufacture for a period and asking the Medical Research Council to examine the heroin substitutes and give' an authoritative opinion on them. (But is it in the nature of doctors to be awed by authority, even by that of the M.R.C. In the meantime, to meet the WJLO. view, its export could be Jto show what a strong and widespread.