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a concrete, no ! an iron wall. Portuguese friends who had visited the 

 Union had said to us, 'You may talk of Russia and the Iron 

 Curtain, but it is nothing to South Africa on a Sunday or a holiday. 

 That is an Iron Curtain. It shuts down, boom, boom, like that, 

 and everything is dead.* They were right. It had beaten me so far. 

 There was only one hope left — Malan ! Malan ! 'You will have to 

 go to him in the end,' my wife had said. It certainly looked like it, 

 though my mind still obstinately rebelled against the idea. Prime 

 Ministers and fish just did not mix in my mind. 



They called me. Our friends were waiting, so I pulled myself 

 up to go. It was almost as if my body was in bits like my mind, 

 and as in a dream I went up to the lounge where they stood waiting. 

 Malan, yes it would have to be Malan, and when we all sat round 

 before dinner I had nothing else in my mind, and I told them it 

 seemed now that this was all that remained. I had been forced to 

 the very last ditch, with little hope. It was now a question of how 

 to proceed, and someone suggested that Malan might even be at 

 the official residence on the Natal south coast. This would alter 

 the situation very materially for, after all, that was within personal 

 reach, by car ; but my first flash of hope soon faded as it was most 

 unlikely, for that was the winter resort, in summer it would 

 probably be the Cape. Whom could we ask ? I thought of Desmond 

 Prior, an old acquaintance, sub-editor of the Daily News and 

 deeply interested in all this, and asked if they would get him on 

 the telephone for me. Wonder of wonders, I was soon talking to 

 him. Malan? He didn't know for certain, but would soon find 

 out. My number? Right, he would ring back in a few minutes; 

 which he did, to say that the Prime Minister was not in Natal, he 

 was somewhere at the Cape, nobody seemed to know exactly 

 where. It was as I had feared, the Cape, a darned long way off. 

 Prior went on and said that if he might suggest it, would I make 

 contact with Dr. Vernon Shearer, M.P., now in Durban and not 

 far from the Evans's house, where we were. He not only knew 

 all about this aff"air but was anxious to assist if he could, and in 

 any approach to the Government his position would certainly 

 help. Shearer would be at home that night, and it would be 

 possible to speak to him at once if I wished. So I thanked Prior 

 and told the others what he had said. Frank Evans was enthusias- 

 tic, Shearer was a good man, and with my consent he went to the 



