LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .sx HOLIDAYS AT HOME .sx SOME REASONS FOR SEEKING TRAVEL ABROAD .sx Sir - I consider that " Stay at Home " has adopted a very narrow-minded view as to why M.P.'s and society people should spend their holidays in this country .sx Taking into account the fact that throughout the whole year millions of pounds worth of money is spent through our very existence in this country , it surely is not too much to ask that a week or so of holiday-making may not be spent in another country .sx It is not true that foreigners do not return the compliment .sx Vast numbers of wealthy Americans , besides visitors from every corner of the globe , visit England each year .sx Furthermore , one of the reasons for prominent people taking their holidays out of England is because they are able to derive a more beneficial holiday in a country where they can move about unobserved than if they visited an English resort , crowded with visitors anxious to follow the very treads of their footsteps .sx Can your correspondent really think that Mr. Baldwin or any other prominent member of Parliament could possibly obtain that rest which is so necessary during the vacation of Parliament were he to spend a holiday at Brighton or any other seaside resort in this country ?sx There is no other alternative but to go right out to a place where a real rest may be obtained far from the madding crowd .sx And what has this to do with Protection ?sx - Yours , &c .sx , R. ENGELBERT .sx St. John's-wood , N.W. 8 , April 2 .sx FRENCH WONDERLAND .sx Sir - If Mr. J. C. Russell who " cannot afford to be patriotic , " poor fellow , knows where a six-course dinner , plentiful wine , bed-room , breakfast and service , central heating , hot and cold water in room , is to be had " in a good hotel " in France for 7s , why not tell us ?sx There may be one such hotel ; the others are doubtless bankrupt .sx France certainly has not to carry the taxation and rating burdens which crush British resorts , so holidays there may be given a little cheaper to Britons who cannot afford to be patriotic .sx But the abuse of everything English is being overdone .sx - Yours , &c .sx , J. H. COLEBROOK .sx Hampstead , April 1 .sx LOSS OF THE R101 .sx DOWNWARD AIR CURRENTS .sx Sir - Your Correspondent , Major Turner , is in error in stating that the Report of the .sx R 101 Inquiry contains no mention of the possibility of a downward vertical current of air having produced or contributed to the accident by depressing the forepart of the ship .sx This matter was elaborately investigated at the public hearing , and is referred to in both the passages of the Report where meteorological conditions are discussed .sx In paragraph 96 the Report says :sx " Dr. G. C. Simpson gave to the Court an elaborate and most instructive account of the circumstances in which very sudden and severe vertical currents are sometimes met with in the air .sx But the result of his evidence was to establish that the meteorological conditions in the neighbourhood of Beauvais at the time were not such as to permit of vertical currents of very high velocity being present .sx " That paragraph explicitly refers the reader to Appendix V. , which includes ( on page 108 ) the following passage :sx " During the investigation a suggestion was made that the disaster might have been caused by the ship meeting with a vertical current of air due to thunderstorms .sx Inquiries were made , and a representative from the Air Ministry was specially sent over to inquire into this point , but no evidence was obtained in support of the suggestion that R 101 had met with weather which was likely to produce vertical currents of air .sx Dr. Simpson , in his evidence , made it quite clear that the meteorological conditions under which such violent vertical currents may occur were not present at the time in the area of the disaster .sx " Dr. G. C. Simpson , F.R.S. , is beyond all question one of the most eminent meteorologists living , and his evidence , given at the public inquiry , explained that the vertical currents to which Major Turner refers only occur under certain conditions .sx Like other natural phenomena , they are due to a cause , and the cause has to be present if the result is to follow .sx It would be unfortunate , therefore , if your correspondent was to suggest in the face of the whole of the scientific evidence , an explanation which was disproved .sx It would be still more unfortunate if he was to do so under the impression that the Report makes no mention of the matter .sx - Yours , &c .sx , ICARUS .sx London , W. , April 1 .sx DISCIPLINE IN POLITICS .sx LESSONS LEARNT IN WAR .sx Sir - Brig .sx Gen .sx Critchley wants to go into Parliament , and hopes that his recent efforts in Islington will not prejudice his chances with the Conservative party .sx Why should they ?sx He only made a gesture - a gesture which betrayed Miss Cazelet in her gallant fight , and lost the seat to the party which he now wishes to represent .sx During the War I and many thousands of other rankers had our own opinions of our generals .sx We did not make gestures , however ( except private ones ) to demonstrate our lack of faith in their leadership .sx We had been taught discipline , and that even if your leader makes mistakes , the one thing you must not do is to start or support independent attempts at leadership .sx It is a strange thing to an ex-ranker that these breezy vice-admirals and brigadier-generals should have learnt so little of the elementary lessons that all of us learnt in the war .sx - Yours , &c .sx , C. R. CASSON .sx Mill Hill , N.W. , April 1 .sx BRITISH COAL QUOTA .sx MINERS WHO MAY NOT WORK .sx Sir - At the present moment the majority of the Derbyshire collieries are closed down , some of them for another eight or nine days , and in a few cases work ceased as long ago as Wednesday of last week , owing to the collieries having worked out their March quota .sx Only small supplies of inferior qualities of coal can be obtained this week for house and industrial purposes , while there is absolutely nothing on the shipment market for either cargo or bunkers .sx Prompt export business is being turned away without even a quotation , steamers are being diverted to Rotterdam and Hamburg for bunkers , while Poland is exporting coal in increasing quantities to Holland , Belgium , France , and Spain to markets and clients which have hitherto been strongholds of Yorkshire , Derbyshire , and Nottinghamshire coals .sx Forward business is also being turned away , because Midland collieries do not know their quotas even two months ahead , and exporters on the Humber have the mortification of seeing much of their best business being diverted to other countries .sx We have , therefore , the results of the first three months' working of the Coal Mines Bill summarised as follows :sx 1 .sx A shortage of house coal and increased prices for many qualities .sx 2 .sx Bunker business being turned away and steamers being compelled to leave the Humber ports in ballast , while tippers and trimmers are on the dole .sx Trawlers are also being compelled to go to the North for bunkers .sx 3 .sx Export business being strangled and clients told , " We have no coals to offer , " or " We cannot quote you yet , " while thousands of miners are out of work , and our competitors are only too willing and anxious to sell coal over long forward periods .sx 4 .sx No hope of increased business in the immediate future or increased employment for the miner .sx Surely this dismal record cannot be in the best interest of the miner or the mineowner , while the consumer is apparently being exploited to his last farthing .sx The present system of artificial restriction , with its artificial price level , is bound to break down sooner or later ; but the tragedy of it all is that until then thousands of British workmen who might otherwise be working will be living on the verge of starvation , and the Government which forces this upon them has no ideas , schemes , or hope of finding any substitute either immediately or in the future .sx While our workmen " play " because the Government decrees they shall not work , the miner in Poland , Westphalia , Belgium , Holland , &c .sx , works another one to two days per week .sx - Yours &c .sx , COAL MERCHANT .sx Hull , April 1 .sx USE OF THE ROADS .sx NO NEW CLASS WAR .sx From Sir ALEXANDER BUTTERWORTH .sx Sir - The writer of an article in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH , commenting on the speeches at the annual meeting of the Pedestrians' Association , says that there is a difficulty in thinking " in terms of this new class-war " ( meaning a war between the pedestrian and the motorist ) , because the rights of the two belong to the " same person .sx " Upon that may I make two criticisms ?sx First , there is no class war .sx The Pedestrians' Association is not an anti-motoring organisation any more than the motoring associations are anti-pedestrian .sx In fact , many motorists are members of the Pedestrians' Association , whose aim and ( unofficial ) slogan is " Safe Roads for All .sx " Differences between the various classes of road user are not to be settled by class warfare , but by frank and free discussion from more than one angle .sx My second criticism is this .sx It is convenient , and not inaccurate , to divide rights on the highway broadly into rights of motorists or vehicular traffic , and rights of pedestrians or foot traffic .sx Although the two sets of rights are not necessarily antagonistic , it is no use pretending that they are identical .sx It follows that just as motoring associations find full scope for their activities , so there is ample justification - indeed , a very real need - for an association of persons who look at road problems mainly from the point of view that appeals to them when they happen to be on foot .sx That is the need which the Pedestrians' Association is intended to supply .sx For instance , during the passage of last year's Road Traffic Bill , the Association secured valuable concessions as regards footways alongside roads ; there was no clashing of interests here , but one could hardly have relied on the motoring associations to secure these concessions .sx - Yours , &c .sx , A. KAYE BUTTERWORTH , .sx Chairman of Committee .sx London , E.C. 4 , April 2 .sx THE RIGHT TO SHIRK .sx WORK LOST TO BRITAIN .sx Sir - When in Antwerp a few months ago I saw a vessel from Glasgow in dry dock for repairs .sx I asked why was not this work done on Clydeside ?sx The man in charge replied , " It is cheaper to bring it to Antwerp in ballast .sx Labour is cheaper , and more work is done per hour , and overtime is allowed .sx It would take six weeks to do the work in Britain , here it will be done in four weeks , and we can't afford to lay up a ship a fortnight more than is necessary .sx " Trade unions , by this policy of shirk , are destroying the trade of the country .sx I may say there were about a dozen other vessels all flying the British flag under repair in the docks .sx - Yours , &c .sx , S. CLEMENT RYLEY .sx Wimborne , April 1 .sx KING GEORGE III .sx From Sir HENRY CUNYNGHAME .sx Sir - As you have repeated the story that George III said that " a great part of Shakespeare is sad stuff , " would it not be fair to give another story about that monarch ?sx When he was mad his doctors forbade that the play of " King Lear " should be given to him to read .sx The King then asked for Coleman's plays .sx He knew what the doctors did not - that Coleman's plays contained an adaptation of " King Lear .sx " He read the play .sx His daughters were with him , and he said , " My dears , I have been reading Shakespeare's 'King Lear .sx ' He was a king and was mad , and so am I , but I have three Cordelias .sx " - Yours , &c .sx , H. CUNYNGHAME .sx Nice , March 30 .sx ENLARGING THE NAVY .sx Sir - Rear-Admiral Hornell advocates in his letter in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH a large scale expansion in naval armaments , regardless of the interests of other nations .sx Has he stopped to consider the consequences of such a step ?sx Inevitably it would lead to another armaments race - and grave danger of another war .sx Does it never occur to the naval and military mind that Britain , together with other nations , has definitely renounced war as a means of settling international disputes ?sx 4 .sx