15 JUNE 1944, Page 12

SIR,—Many will he grateful for the article on " India's

Real Problem " by Professor A. V. Hill. Is he not mistaken, however, in thinking that " calamity " may come? India is certainly experiencing the painful consequences which Malthus taught that any long-settled countr3i with a high birth-rate must all along endure. But what will happen when India begins to approach saturation of population—i.e., begins to increase her food-supply more and more slowly—is that the high death-rate will gradually rise still higher until it equals the birth-rate, and so gradually in most years that the continuous worsening will not be felt acutely.—