18 FEBRUARY 1949, Page 5

Information, some of it direct from America, reaches me in

considerable volume about gas-chamber executions and the like. A fortnight ago, guarding myself cautiously against dogmatism, I said that no country seemed to have experimented yet with injections or the gas-chamber. I might (but would scorn to) defend the statement on the ground that so far as I know no country has. But I learn—and the information is very interesting—that several States of the American Union give " Lethal Gas " as their method of execution, while Utah says " Hanging or Shooting."

* * * *