OXFORD SEES RED!

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18067, 19 April 1933, Page 12

OXFORD SEES RED!

HUMOR IN BAD TASTE PACIFIST MOTION LONDON, Feb. 23. The Manchurian dispute, tho war Rots puzzle, disarmament, and other problems of world-shaking importance seem to' be mere trifles compared with ihe latest sensation from Oxford, where [he Union Society, somewhat to its own surprise and the scandal of the nation, jassed a resolution: “That tiiis house will m no circumstance fight for King and country.” As this historic motion was caned by a majority of 275 to 153 there could be no doubt that it reflected the opinion of most members at the meeting. And yet. . . From one end of England to the other the news was read with dismay, and in many London clubs it was discussed in association with tho end of tho world. Indignant letters, written in sorrow and anger, poured into the correspondence columns of tho Times, tho Morning Post, the Daily Telegraph, and even lesser journals, and the Mayor of Oxford publicly expressed his disgust and conmpt. Literally, the country rang with clamor. And yet. . . The young men who so blatantly proclaimed the!r pacifist leanings, even if in earnest, were hardly representative of university sentiment. There are about 1-600 undergraduates at Oxford, and of these haidlv more than 400 were present it the notorious meeting. Conservative students are greatly in the majority, but, for some reason, they decline to take union debates seriously, thus leaving the door wide open to cranks, eccentrics, and poseurs, whose main purpose in life is to bo “different.” It is said ‘hat the officers and, indeed, the union itself, have lately been captured by the element of budding Socialism, but tho only people to feel real uneasiness on that score aro the genuine Socialists out- ' ule, for Oxford is the traditional home of lost causes. In any event, it is moro than conceivable that tho union was having a little joke. Some hint of this is afforded bv the terms of tho motion debated last Thursday : “That this house

•reclaims its undying faith in polit’cians.” One lias scarcely to possess an iverp'weringly discerning mind to perceive that tiie jest-, which is, of course, that the union refuses to take itself seriou lv. "Read in relation to last week’s r’solnt’on, the pacifist mot’on which has caused so much froth and bubble ceases to be impressive, and becomes an effort f onscious humor spoiled by bad taste.