13 JULY 1918, Page 12

THE HOUSEHOLD FUEL AND LIGHTING ORDER.

[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.")

SIR,—In your note last week on the new Household Fuel and Lighting Order you observe that "the careful householder will probably find little difficulty in keeping well within the rations." I am a tenant of a flat in London of five rooms, all of which are necessarily fully occupied. Gas is the only source of heating avail- able, whether for cooking, baths, and washing up—and fires. Under the scale of four and a half tons of coal I shall be entitled appa- rently to 87,500 cubic feet of gas only, and I shall be grateful if any one will advise me how to carry on with this amount. There suuet be many others in London who are faced with a similar problem. In devising the scale no allowance appears to have been made to meet the case of dwellers in flats, where all the rooms are eceupied, and it has apparently been entirely overlooked that a kitchen in which gas only is used is bitterly cold in winter unless the gas-stove or gas-boiler is working, and this would be quite impossible aith the sanctioned rations.—I am, Sir, &c., MAJOR (Retired).