LITTER
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sza,—For many years before the present agitation against the ever-increasing litter in our streets and public spaces I have been endeavouring in my own small way to combat the evil, so I read " A.'s " spirited account of the act of vandalism he actually witnessed with great interest. Many suggest burning the debris after a picnic meal, but the risk of destroying our beauty-spots is too great, for few holiday-makers could be trusted to do the job properly. Nor do waste-paper recep- tacles meet the difficulty except in adequate numbers, and we do not want our commons and hillsides dotted about with them. Rubbish receptacles, unless frequently emptied, are a menace to health, and someone has to be paid to empty them. But if each holiday party firings home its own rubbish the difficulty vanishes. Surely those who cling tightly to their parcels in packed train, tube, and 'bus, who emerge triumphant from booking-office queues and platform serums could, when the contents of these same packages are eaten, bring home the tiny parcel that is left ! The nuisance is equally spreading in the towns, and some of our finest streets are becoming dumping-grounds for all sorts of rubbish. For years I have persuaded my friends piecemeal to promise solemnly never to throw anything down in town or country, and though they execrate me when we meet, they keep their mord ! They also agree to persuade one other person to do the same. It is hard at first to put one's ticket in one's pocket instead of throwing it on the floor of the 'bus (the conductor at intervals picks them up and throws them out !) or the pave. meat. Now the habit is so ingrained that I should find it difficult to do otherwise. If your readers would join my society and keep its two simple rules a wholly beneficent " snowball " would gather momentum and the world would
be a little tidier.—I am, Sir, &c., C. M. K.
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