Brother John and the grandad roach . by David Hanington . there are too many fish in the old monks &apos; pool . one especially is causing Brother John a certain amount of concern . it is a roach , said Brother John , in tones of respectful piety . huge chap . sometimes we see him swimming about beneath the water lilies , as big as a submarine . the fish on Brother John &apos;s 300-acre estate present a problem , certainly . but they are unlikely to daunt him . for Brother John has hooked bigger fish in his time . barrister &amp;hellip; coal-miner ... flying-officer &amp;hellip; farmer ... M.P &amp;hellip; and father of six sons . John Faithful Fortescue Platts-Mills is not a Brother in the monastic sense . his fellow trade-unionists have adopted it as a nickname , for Mr Platts-Mills is a staunch union man . he belongs to the transport and general workers &apos; union . as a farm worker , I qualify , he says . last weekend Brother John threw open the grounds of his magnificent home near Buxted for a union rally . more than 1,000 union men and their families arrived to play bowls , eat barbecued chicken and row on his fish-infested lake . Brother John is one of those complex characters - a landowner with vigorous socialist ( with a small s ) theories . his energy and enterprise have brought him wealth : he spent the money from his first big brief in buying a farm in Essex just before the war . but he still adheres to a strong union outlook . property in Britain is privately owned , so I own property , he said . but I am still in favour of the nationalisation of land for all new buildings . he wore sandals and an open-necked shirt when I met him this week . his baggy grey flannels were supported by a polka-dot tie instead of a belt . today is the last day of my holiday , he explained . ( his holiday , incidentally , has consisted of working on his farm with a vigour which would dismay most other men on the shady side of 50 ) . Mr Platts-Mills &apos;s career details read like a plot for a schoolboy adventure story . he was born in New Zealand , won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford , and got his M.A ( 1st class ) , and bachelor of civil law . at Oxford he rowed , played rugby for his college and was in the varsity boxing team as a heavyweight . he married , and when war started he joined the R.A.F . by 1944 he was a collier in Yorkshire , the first professional man to become one of the Bevin boys . he joined the miners &apos; union , and in 1945 became M.P for Finsbury . but drastic differences of opinion developed . Platts-Mills quarrelled with Attlee and Bevin about the stand being taken by the government over the cold war . I was promoted out of the labour party , he said , with a wry grin at his own choice of words . for two years he sat as an independent labour member . at the next election he lost his seat , and has not turned to politics since . he still believes , however , in the policy of amity piercing the iron curtain . Brother John is chairman of the British-Soviet friendship society . his four older sons have all walked on ban-the-bomb marches . the house they have lived in for four years is spacious . as Mr Platts-Mills explained : we &apos;re tall chaps - and there are a lot of us . we need a lot of room . his eldest son , Tim , 24 , is a timber worker on the estate . the others are variously engaged at Oxford , in the manufacturing world , and as a film editor . the two youngest - babies , their father calls them , although they are 12 and 10 respectively - are at boarding school . Mr Platts-Mills breeds prize pigs - there are about 300 of them , - and they respond admirably to his farming techniques . they regard me , he says , as one of the family . the other side of his career is as a successful barrister , based in Temple , E.C.4 . he was one of the defending counsel at the preliminary hearing of the Worthing bank murder case . politics seem far away , as one strolls casually round his lovely 13th century house , formerly a monastery and after that a rectory - the Platts-Mills still have to pay an annual tithe for their property . but Mr Platts-Mills is a man of many parts . it may be that I may take up politics again , he said . but so far I have n&apos;t given it much serious thought . if he does , I imagine Brother John will set about it with the same determination he shows in every other way : whether he is directing an impassioned plea in wig and gown , or denouncing unscrupulous bosses to his fellow-workers . I do n&apos;t envy the future of that grand-daddy roach ! spotlight on Shoreham Harbour . a visitor in the Viking tradition . by Capt J Foggitt . wooden ships and iron men were the boast of seamen long ago , and one would be justified in thinking the old adage no longer applied . but the spirit of those old days was revived at Shoreham Harbour last weekend when the Norwegian vessel Presthus 2 berthed at the East End of Aldrington basin . constructed in the manner of the old Viking ships so famous in the history books , this sturdy little craft of only 118 ft length and 89 net tons is , except for the engines and accompanying equipment , built entirely of wood . Norwegian built at Rosendal in 1943 , the hull is planked with 4 1/2 inch pitch-pine on 6 in by 6 in frames drawing down to a 2 ft by 4 ft keel , frames being spaced from 6 in to a foot apart . there is an inner lining of similar construction to that of the outer planking , and the space between the two shells is insulated throughout against the effects of outside temperatures , hatch combings and covers being built-up and insulated in like manner . although designed on trawler lines , she was expressly built for the carrying of frozen goods . she is something more than a refrigerator ship though , and is in fact a deep freeze carrier . she brought 120 tons of deep frozen vegetables , mostly peas , from Antwerp to Shoreham for distribution to the deep freeze food markets . this is a new venture in the port and this first cargo will open yet another type of trade to Shoreham Harbour . powered by a Norwegian-type diesel engine , this little ship has made many deep-water passages , crossing the north Atlantic on a number of occasions to Iceland , Greenland and Canadian ports . there is something of the Nelson touch about Capt Gloppholm , the master of this tough little craft , and his crew of six stalwarts when they tell of the exciting trips they have made together and the manner of their boasting of the seaworthiness of the ship in which they serve . although there were complaints of the liveliness of her capers in heavy weather and of being thrown out of their bunks on many occasions , they were quick to point out that she is a first-class sea-boat . apart from the radio and a small Decca set , there are none of the modern aids to navigation on board so the skipper and his mate must needs be masters of their craft . paper cargo . most of the foreign ships this week have been Dutchmen . Henriette B and Zaanstroom from Amsterdam came to the inner lay-by , Molensingel loaded spent oxide at the gasworks for Nantes , Equator brought fir logs from Kristiansund , Norway , to Aldrington basin for the Marley tile Co , and Aerdenhout came from Isnas , Finland , with timber and paper . there was a newcomer to the power station on Wednesday with the arrival of the B.E.A collier Cliff Quay , named after the power station at Ipswich . the wine and spirit trades still continue to flourish with the British m.v Drake bringing brandy from Tonnay Charente early in the week and the Spanish m.v Canton Pequena bringing sherry from Spain . getting up steam for celebration . railway enthusiasts are getting up steam for a really important anniversary celebration - the 100th birthday of the Shoreham to Steyning line along which the Steyning flier , the most famous train in west Sussex , still puffs every day . but , despite the painstaking research which occupies the leisure hours of the keener enthusiasts , this anniversary nearly slipped by unnoticed . it was 18-year-old Steyning grammar school boy Michael Keeney , of Atherton , Jarvis-lane , Steyning , who came upon the fact that the Shoreham to Henfield railway , via Steyning , opened on July 1 , 1861 . he got to work immediately . he and the headmaster of Steyning county primary school , Mr E C G Lewis , went delving into the files of newspapers of 100 years ago . some fascinating facts were unearthed , which today are not without their touch of humour . take the story of a narrow escape . it happened shortly before the track was officially opened , when a ballast train was chugging down the line . it concerns a character called Humphry of Henfield , an unfortunate lad who suffered from deafness . he was observed 150 yards in front of the engine , walking between the metals with an eel-spear over his shoulder . in dramatic prose , the report takes up the story : the engine driver blew his whistle but no heed was taken . fortunately a gentleman was on the engine who knew the lad to be deaf so that it would be impossible by sound to make him aware of his danger . the brake was applied , and every means used to stop the train , fortunately with success . the report does not say so , but one hopes that Humphry just kept on walking between the metals , blissfully unaware of the iron monster behind him , until , in his own good time , he reached his destination and put down his eel-spear , waving cheerily to the engine driver as he passed . facts about the opening ceremony of the line will come in useful , for schoolboy Michael is hard at work talking British railways into a commemoration run with an ancient engine . he dreams of prising period costumes from their mothballs in the railways &apos; museum to be worn by officials on the big day . he may succeed if enough enthusiasts get in touch with him , and he can guarantee a train load of guests . if it comes off , it should be quite a day , but it is unlikely to finish with a dinner of the scale provided at the White Horse , Steyning , 100 years ago . then , 70 or 80 persons sat down . says a newspaper report : the dinner was altogether excellent and the champagne of the finest vintage . after the loyal toasts , the health of the army , the navy and the volunteers were successively drunk . almost as an afterthought came the toast health and success to the directors , managers and officials of the London , Brighton and south coast railway company . meanwhile , the Storrington rifle band were in action with a piece called the nightingale , upon which , says the report , the party broke up . the band , preceded by flags , marched again to the station , followed by a large concourse of people . when the train set off a genuine cheer from Sir George Pompey was taken up all along the line and repeated again and again , and this completed one of the jolliest days in the records of Old Steyning . there is only one sad note about it all . Humphry of Henfield appeared to take no notice . commonwealth exhibition . and now there are twelve . six years ago there were eight independent members of the commonwealth . today there are 12 . who are the other peoples of the commonwealth ? why are they so important to us and we to them ? what holds us together ? for the answers to these and many other questions which vitally affect the lives of us all you should visit the commonwealth exhibition at Hove , which is divided into seven sections , each designed to give an insight into the various aspects of the commonwealth in our midst and its influence on the lives of each one of us . how much do you know about the commonwealth of the present day ? almost every day we hear something about its importance to us . we hear of the wealth and untapped resources of the countries which belong to it and of their strength and growth . 