15 FEBRUARY 1952, Page 4

The muddle about seats on the funeral route on Friday

is very unfortunate. Thousands of people would have been only too glad to pay a moderate sum for some alternative to the street as a point of vantage. But early attempts at profiteering seem to have disgusted most of the regular ticket agencies, which therefore refused to touch the business at all. On Mon- day evening six and eight guineas were being asked for single seats. Disgust is the right emotion for such rapacity on such an occasion. But the result'seems to be that plenty of shop- keepers who would gladly let seats for a guinea or two have no means of disposing of them, and numbers of people who would gladly buy seats at such a price can find no seats to buy.

* * * *