The student, who said he could not take the oath, told the tribunal he was studying musical composition on a State scholarship. "My father was gassed in the last, and after a few years of suffering he died. In 1914 he did not understand the futility of war as I do, but I do not blame him," he said.
Mr. Blyth, in clerical collar and black suit, followed him in the box, and quietly took the oath. He said he was convinced that Cooke's ideas were sincere, although he did not agree With them. Cooke was registered as a conscientious objector.
Ninety per cent of the Oxford-street traders are in favour of the idea, and are eagerly awaiting the decision of the Minister of Home Security. "From three o'clock in the afternoon till closing time only a handful of people shop in Oxford-street" said one store owner. "As far as we are concerned the arcade would be a boon.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.