Himalayan Times (1955)

December 25, 1955

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Five

CUR LONDON LETTER

BY B. B. RAY CHAUDHURI

(Our London Correspondent)
London, December 14

The attention of
Western Europe to-day is
focusaed on the snap Ge-
neral Election in France
on 2nd. January next
when the voters in France
and Algeria will go to
the Polls to choose a new
National Assembly. It is
a pity that in France
there is no stable Govern-
ment, and under the pre-
sent electoral syBtem it is
very doubtful whether
there will ever be. If M
Mendes-Frarce rmerg'B
victorious with the sup-
port of the Radicals, the
Socialists and some De-
GaullisU then there ia
likely to he some sanity
in French politics We
who love France for pro-
claiming that great doc-
trine—"Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternile" are sorry that
to day the party divisions
are creating continuous
political chaos. T doubt
Very much whether M.
Faure will return to po-
wer. The Communist are
hoping to powerful posi-
tions if a Popular Front
is created to go to the
Polls. The difficulty with
the French politicians ia
that to-day they are suf-
fering from too much

liberte, no egalite and no
fraternite, but it ia ama-
zing to learn from a friend
in Paris that the average
Frenohman is taking little
or no notice of the com-
ing Election. Even in Bri-
tain the public become
politically-conscious for a
fortn'gbt or so during the
General Election, but it
seems there ia no
such enthusiasm in France.
It has become almost a
national characteristic of
the Frenchman to ait in
Cafes spending hours idly
discussing aweet nothings
over glasses of aperitifs.
'1 he spirit of the descen-
dents of those who stro-
med the Bastille is absent
in France to-day.

I understand a team of
mountaineering enthusiasts
of the Moscow University
will attempt to climb some
of the Himalayan peaks
next Summer. An advance
team of Russian Varsity
students will proceed to
Darjeeling. They will oon-
tact Tenzing and others
connected with the Ins-
titute of Mountaineering
in Darjeeling.

The British-Conti-
nental Trade Press,
Ltd., have just published

"Textile Calcui ations"
by N. C. Gee. It deal*
•f n 'a very comprehensive
manner with the calcula-
tions concerned^ in English
and Metric yarn counting;
yarn count conversions;
yarn testingi warp, weft
and piece weights; re-
sultant and average counts;
blending; etc. Teachers,
students and all who are
interested in textile cal-
culations will find it an,
invaluable text and refer-
ence book. With ittf 700
examples and exercises—
the latter with answers-
it covers a wide range of
work.

Publicity Products
of London have brought
out more interesting books
in the 'Giant Golden
Books' Series, viz:—"The
Golden Geography."
This is a woderful publi-
cation as was the pre-
vious one "The Golden
Dictionary". For a nomi-
nal prioe these books oan
bo obtained for all juvenile
readers. Their 'Jolly Jump-
Up' Books and 'Disney
Treasure Books' are now
popular with youngsters
throughout the English-
speaking world. I cannot
think of any better pre-
sents for the children than
these delightful 'Jump-
Up' books and splendid
'Disney Treasure books'
wbioh oost parents only 5'-
The production is superb
and the coloured illustra-

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