12 JANUARY 1974, Page 5

No hanging matter

,From: Major D. C. Hawley.

Sir: While I hesitate to detract from Bill Grundy's admirable piece on the Lobby system (December 22) he might like to know that arson in Her Majesty's Dockyards is no longer a capital offence. It disappeared, quietly, much to the chagrin of law lecturers, in the Criminal Damage Act 1971. D. C. Hawley Dais, HQ BAOR, BFPO 40