15 MARCH 1940, Page 6

The talk about the banned area of Scotland is being

a good deal overdone, which is a pity just when people are beginning to consider their summer holidays (if any). There is, in fact, no ban in any ordinary sense. What the authori- ties want, for very intelligible reasons, is to keep any suspicious person out of the considerable area concerned. The only way to do that is to make everyone wanting to enter the area get permission first. But no reasonable appli- cation will be refused, and there is no desire to bring disaster on holiday resorts north of the specified line. All that is necessary is to apply in the right quarter a reasonable time in advance—and to avoid being a suspicious person. * * * *