Reference was made in these columns on August 21 to inaccuracies contained in the postages dealing with China in a book by Mr, Bernard Martin entitled "Over my Shoulder." In the preface to the book Mr. Martin stated 1 am indebted to the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Editor of The Listener for permission to publish, In the sections. on China and' Japan, Material from. talks T-gave on the National and London Regional Pro: grammes.
It_was, therefore, not unnaturally Jassumed that the' particular chapter on which criticism was passed had formed the basis of one of the talks referred to by Mr. Martin. The Talks Executive of the British Broadeasting Corporation, Mr. 8. D. Spicer, has now kindly intimated that this assumption is incorrect, The only broadcast talk reproduced in the book is, apparently, one entitled "The House of the Dead," describing a funeral procession in Canton, and that talk takes up only about' four ages out of the 26 pages of description of China. It will be seen, therefore, that the British Broadcasting Corporation cannot be blamed. for the inaccuracies {0 which this Journal referred. The explanation of the British Broadcasting Corporation will be welcomed and it will be seen that that institution may not unreasonably object 10 the ambiguous word-jing of Mr. Martin's preface, The jeriticisms of his inaccurancles, of course, stand.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.