AN UNHAPPY LECTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22789, 24 July 1937, Page 14

AN UNHAPPY LECTURE

To ;i Baltimore audience of 500— (ho city has a population of a million in its 558 square miles —the I lev. Anderson Jardine has delivered the first of his lectures in the United States. He will have to do better than this in the way of box-ofiico takings to make his tour a success. This is a hard world for travelling lecturers, particularly those arriving without invitation ; but Baltimore might have produced quite one person to the square mile for this auspicious premiere of Mr. Jardine's really unique performance. It knew lie had zealously offered to pcrlorm a religious ceremony at the wedding of the Duke of Windsor, and that since he was privileged thus to officiate; he had said some rather bold things quite publicly about certain high personages in England. In the circumstances it is rather cheering to know there are so few Americans, in the reputable city ol old Baltimore, ready to applaud mercenary vulgarity, belabouring "the ecclesiastical Archbishop of Canterbury and a grandmotherly person called Baldwin." However, his precious ravings can be forgiven more readily than his scant respect for truth. He has reproduced, with trimmings, the falsehood that the Duke was "driven from the Throne" by the Archbishop and the Prime Minister. For complete and convincing answer there is the Duke's broadcast message to the Empire: "1 want you to know that the decision I have made has been mine and mine alone." The Duke has reason to pray that he be saved from such embarrassing friends as this person called Jardine, and Baltimore to be glad that only a mere handful of its people, and these few apathetic, wasted an hour or so on Hat entertainment.