SCENE AT A DINNER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 19, 19 December 1932, Page 8

SCENE AT A DINNER.

LOYAL TOAST SUBSTITUTED FOR TRIBUTE TO SOVIET. Sir James Purves-Stewart, senior physician of Westminster Hospital, figured in a remarkable scene at a dinner in Soho Square in October, arranged by the Society for Cultural Relations between the Peoples of the British Commonwealth and the Ii.S.S.R. for the benefit of those who had visited Soviet Russia. Mrs E. R. Mansell-Moullin, chairman of tlie society., concluded a eulogy of conditions in Soviet Russia by calling upon those present to drink the toast of the U. 5.5.11., and so reaffirm tlieir ideals in regard to the Soviet Union. There was dead silence for a moment, and then about a quarter of the company present, all talking excitedly against each other, rose. They were lifting their glasses when Sir James Purves-Stewart, who was sitting opposite Mrs Mansell-Moullin, called out, “Gentlemen, the King.” There was a roar of applause, and the remainder of the company, who had previously remained seated, jumped to their feet, lifted tlreir glasses, and, amid a storm of boos and hisses, drank the loyal toast. Sir James Purves-Stewart, who was the principal speaker, referred to the medical work in the U.S.S.R. and expressed qualified approval of the conditions there, but he concluded, “Go to Russia and sec for yourselves, and you will come back more proud than ever before that you belong to this great country.” j