Policy for the environment
Sir: In his article 'A policy for the environ- ment' (11 April) Mr Heath expounds Con- servative views on problems such as clean air, noise, water resources and so on and asks the very pertinent question: 'are people prepared to pay extra for freedom from fumes, dirt and ugliness of every descrip- tion?'
But he does not even mention the prob- lem of population growth, which he must know is the root cause of all the environ- mental evils he deals with, nor does he ask the still more relevant question: are people prepared to relinquish the freedom to breed without limit? Yet the only way we can pre- serve other and more precious freedoms is by relinquishing this one. It is the role of edu- cation to reveal to all the necessity of aban- doning unlimited freedom to breed. And it is the duty of government to see to it that all education authorities recognise the role they have to play in this respect. For unlesathe size of the population is stabilised very soon what chance is there of providing the high quality environment which Mr Heath and all of us desire?
H. R. Pelly Novar, Edgar Road, Winchester
Sir: I am prompted to write to you by your inclusion in last week's SPECTATOR (11 April) of a piece by Mr Edward Heath.
I would rather you favoured him with a prize in one of your (most enjoyable) com- petitions, or allowed him a column about boating, if he is bent upon a journalistic career, rather than turn him loose among the cupboard of contemporary anaesthetics, amongst which 'the Environment' may be found.
So celebrated a yachtsman is surely aware of the correct manner of procession through dense fog—with great care, to the accom- paniment of sonorous blasts upon a horn.
I dimly heard the sonorous blasts—there was little evidence of care in preparation for the voyage or in the taking of bearings. Please, only sail him in the cleaiest weather. George Henry Hotel George v, 31 Avenue George v, Paris
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