21 NOVEMBER 1941, Page 13

A LETTER BY MR. PICK

Stn,—The manner in which a letter to The Spectator sent by a dynamic person like the late Frank Pick may inspire useful action, is proved by the following facts: In your issue of July 25th Frank Pick described a " sandbag defence- post steadily falling into disrepair." He had passed it at the top of Whitehall almost daily and wrote (what many of us might write about other glaring cases of official neglect) a brief letter for your columns. Reading this and seeing the almost collapsed structure from a 'bus top, the writer telephoned the News Editor of the Sunday Express, which promptly published a picture and a good story, likewise (on the following Sunday) a further picture showing soldiers and a lorry clearing away an eyesore, which, but for Frank Pick, might have dese- crated Whitehall to this day. His preliminary work towards the resuscitation of our canals might be helped forward by letters to the Press.—Yours, &c., JOSEPH W. SAULT. 46 Brockswood Lane Welwyn Garden City.