14 NOVEMBER 1952, Page 5

Those absent bobks in railway carriages and hotels. One correspondent

had the curiosity to walk through the whole length of a long train and found one book in use. Another, who has had cause to spend some weeks in South coast hotels, and watched the reading habits of some sixty people, saw not one book and not many of the more serious newspapers. You may think this a bad thing or a good thing; I simply give facts