17 JANUARY 1925, Page 13

SMOKE AND CLEAN AIR [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

Sut,—In Dr. Owens' exceedingly interesting article on sunshine and clean air in the Spectator of January 10th, he calls special attention to the injurious products that result frcm the smoke produced from the domestic house coal, almost universally used at present.

These arc mainly soot, sulphuric acid, and extracts of tar, or the identical poisons so strongly commented on by Mr. Ellis Barker in his admirable book on cancer, as predisposing people who come in contact with them to that dread and ever-increasing disease. I happen to live in a house where we .have no open grates, and where we never bum an ounce of .coal, but depend on central heating for warmth and hot water, and on a gas-range for cooking. I am often asked whether we do not miss the open fireplace, and can say with truth that we never have done so. If the house is kept comfortably warm and well aired, you never feel that anything is. wanting, while there is no question as t) the dirt and dust and labour that is avoided, your bill for firing being about half what it otherwise would be.

If Londoners are going to submit to the type of fogs they have recently had, there is little more to be said, except that it is really np to-them, as the chief sufferers, to show the way how such a widespread evil can be overcome.—I am, Killacoona, Hythe, Rent.