1948-04-24 — Page 11

CIVIL SERVANT

THE HONGKONG" TELEGRAPH,

If we are to borrow this idea from the Communists, the people should tolerate it only upon the basis of full publicity, ironclad safeguards and strict and narrow definitions."

WATCH ON THE WATCHERS

GOMA

(Copyright in All Gunntrans

FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1948,

RALPH SHAW.

asks

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HONGKONG, so I have been told, is a beautiful

place. It is n'regrettable fact, however, that

I have been much too busy to explore, even for an hour or two, the scenic attractions of this Colony. As a matter of fact, I have been engaged in an investigation-all at my expense, of course to further the sacred cause of the scientific enlightenment of the toiling

MASSON..

own

My peregrinations have never taken me more than 50 yards from a city hotel, which hostelry, quite unwittingly, has provided me with much valuable data on the subject of my forthcoming thesis: "Does tea, when taken with cream puffs, Arouse the mating instinct?"

I think it does. Let me give you an illus- tration.

Scated at a table is a damsel-a delectable piece of architecture that would grace any kind' of sent. She sips ten which, by the way, must bo stone cold now—she's been sipping it for the last hour and 12 half. Coyly, sho looks around and lowers her luscious lushes, I mean, luscious Jushes. Is she waiting for someone? What emotions are held in check beneath that frame of ivory satin? My in- terest is inexorably held by her

er, reflexes.

Public Men Who Go Through

T

The Divorce

Court

ONCE IT MEANT WRECK-BUT NOW?

HE scenes which took place in Committee Room No. 15 of the House of Comments' during the first week of Decem. ber 1890 would strike most people today 118 much ado about nothing. For the uncom- promising moral code on which the furious argument was centred is now as archaic as the -clothes the disputants wore,

That great Irishman, Charles 'Stewart Parnell, scornfully re- fusing to put to the vote £ resolution for his own deponi- tion, watched · 45 angry mem- bers of his party walk out of the meeting, leaving him still with 26 supporters but a broken

man.

The men who pushed their way out of the room to declare "Parnell's leadership nt. an end had stood by him loyally through the affair of the Pigott Forgeries.

But they could not stomach the fact that he had been cited as co-respondent in the O'Shea divorce case.

Older code PARNELL fought the opposi

tion bitterly in England and Ireland. When he married

BY JOHN

PREBBLE

In July and August of 1897, In When his wife sued for divorce the case of Edwards v. Edwards and the old Victorian attitude stirred it- Wison, there was an application for, self from the post-war Inxity and leave to proceed without making a turned on him viclously, the main co-respondent-other-than-Wilson. attack coming from Church rather

than political circles.

The respondent, Mrs Edwards, had alleged that a person referred to as father of her "A. B." was the

chlid.

"A. B." was David Lloyd George.

False confession

ETTERS were produced from him denying adultery with Mrs Ed- wards in very emphatic terms, and stating that he did not wish to be made co-respondent,

Accordingly, he did not appear in the case, but his identity was re- venied before it was over,

In November the case came up Dr Edwards, who was interested in for hearing. It was reported that

politics, had invited Lloyd George to his house on February 4 the pre- ceding year,

In the fallowing August Mrs Ed- wards told her husband that Lloyd George was the father of her ex-

ning confessions-

pected chlid, and she signed a dhin-

He rode out the storm, the last violent

of guat

century-old morality.

CUDDENLY, she quivers--a de- lightful tremor that shakes the cups aud saucers On the next table. Her eyes gleam with ill-concealed excitement. He remained In Parliament for-

look around. Two tables away many years, holding office in 1024 amale. I sense valuable research ns Chinncellor of the Duchy of material, get out my notebook and Lancaster in Ramsay MacDonald's borrow a penell from the "boy." Government.

He made no recorded offer of re- signation. He stood his ngoinst "'n deluge of anonymous abuse" nod as feelings ran high he wrote a long letter to his con- uproar, stituents explaining his married

life.

She glances coyly over. He looks Though Wedgwood broke the back of the old prejudice was not notse startles the hotel clerk, who back...Sho-drops-her-øyes and tho entirely stilled. Since 1928 25 sit immediately wakes up and rents u ting members have been reported as involved in divorce proceedings bathroom, facing east, to a family

of four. ground in one way or another.

Still sho gazes at her tea, now The majority of cases caused no bubbling away merrily in the

nor was there any great Daintily, she nibbles the right-hand Insistence on resignation.

comer of her cream puff. The male But as late as 1934 the Hon.chows his finger nails. "Short of Charles Rhys. Conservative member calcium," I write.. for Guildford, resigned after being cited as co-respondent.

It had none of the hara-kiri tone of Crawshay-Willams' letter,

He vividly described the accusa- tions against him, and his suffering under them.

"I spoke six times that day on the

Educhilon Bill to a perfectly silent

House, feeling that every man was saying: That is the man who has children" deserted his wile and

seven

Attacked Laws

He told how he engaged rooms in the Charing Cross Hotel, und "took a lady there who was not my wife. _As_a_ matter

- Kitty O'Shen, -however,-be-was--solemnly-confess-that-1-have, or adultary ther fact, there_was__no

finished politically, and he died the following year.

TN

Party squabble

cup.

What is going on inside that brain of hers? By u special process known "Good only to myself I listen in.

shoes," says the inner recorder, "No holes in socks. Can't be a news- Trousers well creased. IN 1929 there was a squabble in paperman.

the local Conservative Party Suit from a good and expensive- when Sir William

now tailor. Wrist watch worth a mint Davison, Lord Broughshone and then member of money. Teeth gold-filled. Oh, for South Kensington, whose mar-what an attractive man!" rlage had been dissolved that year, decided to stand ogain. An einer- ency association put up mother candidate, but Sir William Davison won.

SWITCH over to the male as he re-

- moves his bl-focals and wipes them on his Wembley La. The recorder

The young Welsh soleltor, It was sald, slayed the night, during which LTE said that his married life had Edwards was called away on a pro- been hoppy until his wife fessionat visit,

ceased to love him. Since she con- A number of nmcials of the says. A (censored) Ner- sidered that marriage without love Tamworth Conservative Association vously, he drinks his ton. His den- was prostitution, they agreed upon resigned in 1838, refusing to sup-tures click with cager anticipation. divorce.

por! Sir John Mellor, who had been

Slowly, the damsel lifts her lus- divorced the previous year.

cious lushes und glances over again. But the bulk of the local party Beads of sweat appear on the brow upheld him.

of the male, "Possibly the hot ten." "1. Catherine Edwards, do

write. I notice that the girl is Farnell, Dilke, Beck, and Craws-wearing nylons, 51 gauge it's the 4th February, 1898, committed adultery with Lloyd George, M.P., laws as "the grossest

Rounding on the existing divorce hay-Williams would probably be as stamped at the top. Hustily, I scrib-

as their case of one surprised

critics if they ble down this valuable picce of in- and that the said Lloyd George is Today, with the wreck of the father of the child, and that for the rich and another for the could see a House today which con- formation. Suddenly, she drops her

I tuins several divorced members. poor," he declared: "Throughout

lashes again--and handbag. thousands of marriages littering

I have on previous occasions com- have done what I conceived to be mitted adultery

If the desiruction of a Victorlan with the above the most honourable

This me the hotel clerk folis society, people find it hard to

Lloyd George."

thing in the moral code has incant that a poli- from his stool and is quietly most honourable way. But I ask tician can retain his career despite placed by two "boys,"

re- understand the Victorian code which

Both counsel in the case were you to observe what happens to demanded resignation

divorce the moral laxity of this age Entisfied that the from any parliamentarian cited without foundation, holding it to be ably."

"confession" was public man who tries to act honour- has presented society with as great in a divorce case, and withheld an Invention of Mrs Edwards, de-

A problem, Wedgwood's letter did not Ministerial office from any who signed to proteel a guilty man by placate his critics. It brought 4 returned.

accusing an innocent one.

fresh storm from those who claimed Other Inpses-wine, gambling Lloyd George.

No evidence could be found against that he had cheated the courts, change. -could sometimes be pardoned, Dul for a few months his career' but it was thought that a man had hung in the balance.

who disrupted family life would hold public affairs just as cheap- ly.

Today most people still be- lieve in marriage as the corner- stone of society. Yet they are more compromising in their at- titude to a public man's private

life,

No politician faces disaster as well as divorce.

The Dilke case SOCIETY'S attitude to Parnell had been sharpened on the whetstone of the Dilke case in 1886.

He resigned

ANOTHER political career which,

dered in the Divorce Court was that after a promising start, foun- of Eliot Crawshay-Williams in 1913.

C. Carr Comm. Liberal M.P. for

a

The wreckage of thousands homes is a big price to pay for

A TIMELY SNUB TO THE COMMUNISTS

By "CANDIDUS"

The male jumps to his feet, knocks over his chair and a tea tray, and gallantly retrieves the bag, which of the hands over to the surprised the female. She is as profuse in her thanks as he is in perspiration. "But, what's B. O. when love is just around the corner?" I write.

of

was cited as co-respondent by H. W. though the Russian menace carefully concealed control

A Liberal M.P. for Leicester, he TT is good to know that al- actions in other countries, theirj

Rotherhithe. The case was unde- still persists, the Italians have their own country conjures up fended,

The rigid code of the nineteenth administered a timely anub to all manner of suspicion.

Communists within and with-

Animaledly, they chatter for a minute or two. The "boy" arrives with two bills. The male produces a wad of crisp, filthy lucre and does the necessary.

SWEETLY, the planist plays "For those in peril on the spree" and

the happy couple frot gully out into the bright sunshine.

Meanwhile, the hotel clerk adds century was still operative.

kis snores to the mating call of the What is most astounding is their Pic-eyed Piker (commonly known out their midst. Italy, what impudent actions in other countries, as the Mine'sa Bird), which is nest- It did not occur to Crawshay- ever her vacillating political When General De Gaulle recently ing dangerously close to a whisky Williams to fight it. Ilis letter to his constituents when he applied for past may have been, shares in visited Marseilles for perfectily logl- and soda left unattended for a few the Chiltern Hundreds was a deep common with many

other na- timate political purpose, the local minutes. obeisance before that code.

tions, her determination to communists had the dudacity to Is it tie ten, my friends?

protest a demonstration to secretary to Lloyd George since inpws full well that to be ruled a Frenchman Englishma city! I cream puff? Or both? What do you

He was 34 and had been private preserve national freedom. She

his presence In the Sir Charles Dilke, member for 1010, and

before that to Winston

or Ame- Chelsen, was considered one of Churchill.

by the Communistic doctrine rican-and loyal citizens at that

wore to be barred from travelling

1922.

the ablest and most promising Carr-Gomm (who did not resign) would once and for all seal her will in their own country at the of the parliamentarians of his was 38. and had been assistant pri- doom. It is surprising that behest of political fanaties, the word generation.

He was Under- vate accretary to Sir Henry Camp- any nation can subscribe to the freedom might as well, be expunged

bell-Bannerman when Premier. Secretary for Foreign Affairs Crawshay-Williams' career from Russian ideology, if it cherishes from the

dictionaries of every and was expected to succeed then on was tragic. Divorced by any sense of individual and nn- language. Gladstone as Premier and leader his own wife, he married Mrs Carr- tional independence:

And yet of the Liberals.

Gomin and was divorced by her in the Russians continue their en- In the recent elections In Italy, communists attempted to sabotage Another casualty before the code, deavours to folst their political ammunition dumps, but thanks to Ho became neither. He was cited

co-respondent by his friend which oven the 1914 war had not creed upon the rest of the the precautions taken by the Italian

foul Sir Cecil Beck, world. One could understand Government, their Donald Crawford, Liberal, M.P. for destroyed, Was North Lahark.

Liberal member for Saffron Walden their attitude if they invited came to naught. It is perhaps and Parliamentary Socrotary to the

well The scandal was great, the divorce

Russia has that to attitude of bombastic went through and Dilke was ruined. Minister of National Service during those they would convert

isolation He was 'defeated in the election of

the War

tour their country at will, against the peace-desiring nations 1080 and did not return until 1882. his wife in 1918 there was apparent localitica, in order.

When he obtained a divorce from without any restrictions as to of the world, because now there But he never held Ministerial office. 11

hardening to see for can be no excuse for a ly no question of his resignation themselves what In the ten years between 1006 and But when, in 1921, he was cited as

a good and' and toughening attitude towards her. The world wants peace, and there is 1897 there were three divorce cases co-respondent, he immediately offer desirable thing Communism is. little reason to doubt that Russin, which caught up the lives of poll- ed to resign and did not stand again That they rigidly bar any first by deliberate and studied insults to

116

schemes

08

adopted

.

ticlans of potential greatnesa, in at the next election.

The Arst man to defy the iron-hand investigation leads very nations opposed to her pecullar and

career of a man who later became ("Josh") Wedgwood in 1919. He there is something they wish path of International accord. What The third threatened to cut off the bound tradition was Colonel J. C. naturally to the belief that threatening land in world, affairs, the only stumbling block in the one of Britain's greatest statesmen. fought and won.

to hide. Judging by their fools some mortals bel

think?

Or the

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