FULLNESS OF DAYS

Frankly a disappointment, although it might have been expected that Lord Ralifax' long schooling in diplomacy would have made it impossible for him to publish memoirs more revealing either of the man or his career. Probably discretion, but if so of an immutable order, determined him. Less likely- although possible- time has cloaked his past with an invidious pallor. In any event, he is as formal, business-like, bone-dry, as if he were preparing a report to the Foreign Office. Even matters of notable historical interest have been deleted. He counts too much on an informed public, possibly.... He writes more freely of the traditions and wealth that bred him, the fox hunts and plans therefor that were a feature of his youth. He writes of procedures in the House of Commons, tips given him by Winston Churchill on delivering speeches, a visit to the British West Indies. He writes of the superficial official world of a Viceroy of India, and of how Gandhi remonstrated with him to spare a condemned man. Hardly an observation or recollection is not already a matter of public knowledge or the Halifax family annals. He who lived through experiences and a period that still cry for enlargement of understanding has contributed little to that need. He has spared those he knew, including himself, embarrassment and censure. But the result makes uninspired reading.