UNESCO

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25923, 1 October 1949, Page 3

UNESCO

Impressions of a Unesco Conference. By M. H. Holcroft. The Caxton Press. 88 pp. [Reviewed by I. L. G. SUTHERLAND] The third general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation was held at Beirut, Lebanon, at the end of 1948; and Mr Holcroft, a wellknown New Zealand author and editor, was a member of the New Zealand delegation, and here gives his impressions of the conference and its main personalities and of the country in which it was held. Mr Holcroft is a good observer, interested in people, in national characteristics, and in the human scene generally; and he writes well. His appraisals of individuals and delegations—including the New Zealand delegation—show a sensitive intelligence at work. So do his reflections on national differences as revealed in speech and behaviour, on the difficulties of achieving internationalism, and on the policies and tasks of Unesco, the latter especially as seen against the background of an historic land. Many armies have marched along the coastal roads of Lebanon, the ruins of lost civilisations are like bones pushing up through the earth. Here was an appropriate meeting place for those who believed in the essential unity of all peoples. The new idea had to be measured against the facts of history, made visible in so many monuments and relics of defeated nationalism. How far, and how clearly, could its truth be proclaimed amid the reminders of human weakness and failure? In large part Mr Holcroft has written to share the conference as a personal experience; but his book has other values. It gives an interesting idea of how an international conference is organised and conducted, of how hard and how effectively a small delegation can work; and it gives a tempered judgment on Unesco and its possibilities. Unfortunately it gives us very little of a factual nature regarding the conference and its business. This is of course deliberate and acknowledged. Mr Holcroft is joint author of the official report of the New Zealand delegation to the Beirut conference, which has also just been

published; and the facts about Unesco and the conference are there. But the official report is not likely to be read by the same or as wide an audience as “Lebanon” (though it costs ninepence and not nine shillings and sixpence); and one cannot help regretting that somehow more of the factual side of the conference and its discussions could not have been included by Mr Holcroft. Though he summarises the functions of Unesco in an admirable paragraph and corrects some misapprehensions regarding its task, inevitably its programme and most of the business of the conference remain nebulous. And this is the more regrettable since it is the impression many people have had of Unesco all along. Mr Holcroft does, however, give an interesting account of the inquiry (into tensions affecting international understanding) with which he was especially concerned. One of the most significant of Mr Holcroft’s observations concerns the national and regional points of view and rivalries which have become apparent in Unesco. It is believed in some countries, not without justification, that Unesco is influenced too much by European thought; and attempts have been made to obtain “cultural centres” to serve distant areas under the guidance of the parent organisation. India has already succeeded in gaining authority for an “institute of cultural co-operation” for south and east Asian countries. Although these moves are taking place within the framework of Unesco, they may indicate the growth of a cultural regionalism which has an interesting, and possibly a significant, parallel in politics. Similar requests have come from the Middle East and Latin America. They are unwelcome to internationalists because they imply the formation of blocs which may be used to support special instead of general interApparently the high mood of internationalism which initiated United Nations and Unesco cannot be fully maintained, even by the intellectuals. Perhaps it was unreal and unrealistic to begin with. Mr Holcroft has given us much to think about in his final section. “Lebanon” is admirably produced; and the illustrations add to the reader’s sense of actuality.

HUMOUR THE KEEP Julia and Matilda, dear old things, were on the point of going bankrupt or starving to death at Maple Cottage. when they came into money and the inheritance of a Norman castle on the South Coast. When they took possession, odd things happened, odd company beset them. What do you say when a knight in armour bounces from a bed, whirling his sword and thundering, “Ho! Back. infidel! Back!” You don't say anything, you drop the breakfast tray, and back; or that is what Matilda did. As is to be learned, with much else, in J. Jefferson Farjeon’s diverting THE IMPOSSIBLE GUEST (Macdonald. 223 pp. Through Thomas C. Lothian Pty. Ltd.). PAGEANT Diana Rolfe’s PERIOD PORTRAIT (Macdonald. 240 pp. Through Thomas C. Lothian Pty. Ltd.) extracts a full squeezing of comedy from the Elizabethan pageant organised at Malevolence. . . . Organised? And how, as Percy Pinchbeck Malevelor, nineteenth baronet, might have confided to his pretty collection of sixpenny Pink Peruvians. ETIQUETTE FOR LADIES Virginia Graham, assisted by Osbert Lancaster as illustrator, keeps SAY PLEASE <Harvill Press. 202 pp. Through Oswald-Sealey [N.Z.] Ltd.) rippling with the satirical absurdities of this “book on etiquette for ladies” —manners and modes, invitations, servants. cocktail parties, and so forth. “Pickled guests should either be left where they are or. if they are conscious, should be led gently down the stairs and put into a hastily summoned vehicle. From no lady’s cocktail party should a guest ever be carried” . . . that sort of thing, by Harry Graham’s daughter, a credit to him.

BUFFIN BOOKS Young children will welcome the Big Buffin Books, Nos. 1 and 2. Each includes four of the Buffin stories (pre-war issues), written and illustrated by Robert Hartman. The publishers are Messrs Arthur Barker Ltd.