London Calling

William Lyon Mackenzie King had represented Canada at international conferences ever since 1908. This year, before he finally retired, he wanted to attend just one more: the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London (see FOREIGN NEWS). To be sure he made it, he had the conference postponed four months, until the August Liberal convention was out of the way.

But Mackenzie King's long string was to be broken anyhow. Last week, the conference opened at 10 Downing Street without him. He was bedded in his Dorchester Hotel room, ordered to stay there by Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's doctor.

For 48 hours, the grave bulletins from Lord Moran had Canada on edge. "Mr. Mackenzie King's health," said one, "has suffered from the long strain of affairs." Another reported that Mr. King's blood circulation was "causing concern." Tension ended when newsmen got more facts. Mr. King had been ordered to stay in bed for a rest for three or four weeks. But he was sitting up for visitors, discussing conference details with members of the Canadian delegation and getting his acting prime minister, Louis St. Laurent, to come over and sit in at Downing Street.

St. Laurent was more than willing. Previously there had been a good political reason for staying at home: fear that Quebec's anti-British bloc might misunderstand a trip to London right after his election as Liberal leader. The charge was sure to be made in Quebec that St. Laurent had gone to London to get British orders on how to run Canada. The emergency created by Mr. King's illness would stifle any such talk.

The switch from King to St. Laurent would make no difference in Canada's policy at the council table. Until six weeks ago, St. Laurent was Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs. He knew just what the Prime Minister had in mind.

St. Laurent was hoping that the conference would take up his own project of North Atlantic Union--allying Canada and the U.S. with Western Union in Europe. St. Laurent had made the first public proposal of North Atlantic Union nearly six months ago. The trip to London was a chance to give the idea another personal push.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.