17 JUNE 1966, Page 14

Indian Courage

SIR,—You advocate following the Indian example by devaluing sterling. But the rupee is not a reserve currency and sterling is. It is hard to imagine that you would be prepared for Britain to devalue the £4,000 million of other people's money for which she is trustee. Not only would she be robbing them of hundreds of millions of pounds of purchasing power—she would deal a shattering blow at the international co-operative system which has steadily been built up since the war—and probably start an avalanche of competitive devaluations.