Those who saw "The Vikings" in this year's extravaganza will remember the first act in which Nev, sells to Hit, a number of coloured cloths —the Austrian, the Spanish and the Czech clothes are all of them mentioned. Finally Nev, palls from his portmanteau marked "Munich." a piece of "red, white and blue bunting."

This incident troubled many, including Mr. Trevor Lane, who commented on it in his "Radio Record."

"Last night," writes Mr. Lane, "I watched the antics of a coming generation in a Varsity revue in Wellington. I saw with disgust a caricature of Chamberlain sell a British flag to a stage Hitler. Perhaps it was meant to be funny, but it misfired as it deserved to."

Leap in the Dark.

The inference from these remarks is that the depicting of such an act on the stage was unpatriotic.

That anyone with intelligence and an understanding of international affairs and the dictionary moaning of "satire." could have jumped at such a false conclusion is not easy to understand. Actually it is the very reverse of unpatriotic.

In the opinion of many of the most reputable of authorities—Sir Norman Angel, Mr. Eden, "Vigilantes" author of "Between Two Wars," Mr. Douglas Reed, author of "Insanity Fair" and "Disgrace Abounding" and a host of others—Mr. Chamberlain by his foreign policy is jeopardizing not only the peace of Europe, but also the welfare of the very nation of which he is Prime Minister.

End and Aim.

The purpose of "The Vikings" was to attack Chamberlain's foreign policy, to demonstrate its danger, and to indicate the direction in which it was leading—contrary to the welfare of the British Empire.

In other words "The Vikings" suggested that if Mr. Chamberlain's Munich policy was continued long enough he would before long be in fact "selling the British flag." Exactly the same view-point is expressed in Mr. Douglas Rood's new book "Disgrace Abounding."

The purpose of "The Vikings" was by the use of satire, to impress upon those who saw it the wrongness of such a policy as Mr. Chamberlain was pursuing.

Mr. Meek's extravaganza was then, if properly comprehended (and surely an author can at least expect that from his audience) the very opposite of unpatriotic.

Pious Hope.

Let us hope that in future Mr. Trevor Lane will do us the signal honour of attempting to understand our extravaganzas before he embarks on a campaign of "red" -baiting and intolerance.

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