EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.
TALKING AT CONCERTS.—MP. R. J. BUITOW, Central House,, 48 Kingsway, W.C. 2, writes :—I should like to ascertain through your columns what remedy, if any, there is for the musical enthusiast whose enjoyment is entirely marred by loud and persistent talking ata concert ? I have recently had such an experience, first at one of Sir Dan Godfrey's Symphony Concerts at Bournemouth, and only a few evenings later at. one of Pavlova's performances at. Covent. Garden, where an aged- lady in the stalls discussed every personal and private detail of each of her many friends to an admiring audience in such a high-pitched tone as to drown the music of the fine orchestra for at least a score of people. Does, the purchaser of a seatat a. concert secure the right to talk ?- REPARATIONS AND BRITISH PROSPERITY.—AFRICANIIS (Zulu, land, South Africa) writes :—The Allies insist on Germany paying huge sums, yet they are aware that thereby their own trade would suffer for decades. There remains Africa, north of the Zambesi. In that vast continent, surpassingly rich in minerals and timber, with large tracts of fertile soil, all the Allied' Countries have huge Colonies awaiting development. Rut that is dependent on railway- and' port facilities, on the building of bridges and on the establishment of saw miffs,, cotton gins and' other factories, and on the opening of mines.. For all such work it is almost impossible to obtain capital in Europe while the political unrest and the economic uncertainty remain. My suggestion then is this : Set up Colonial Development Boards, one for each African Colony : the Sudan, Kenya, Tanganyika, NyassaJand, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Algiers, Morocco, the French Sudan, the French Congo, the Belgian Congo, and for Portuguese Possessions in East and West Africa. Let these Boards determine on big develop- ment schemes, each with a definite plan for working mines,; agricultural lands and forests that are likely to give fairly immediate returns, and:which will, in addition, afford prospects
of employment for the excess population of Europe. •
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