10 JULY 1964, Page 15

SIR,—Margaret Roberts is clearly basing her assess- ment of what

white South Africans would do in the event of successful sanctions on what she herself would do in similar circumstances. The white South African nation is made up of two of the toughest and most stubborn races on earth, the Afrikaners and the colonising British. Some sixty years ago, one of these groups showed a remarkable ability to resist what was then the most powerful nation on earth, even though to everyone but themselves the economic and military odds were manifestly overwhelming. How can your correspondent be so sure that sanctions will not evoke similar determined resistance?

D. F. HORROBIN Magdalen College, Oxford