25 MARCH 1949, Page 18

OFFICIAL MISTAKES

SIR,—The second paragraph of A Spectator's Notebook this -week con- tains the diverting implication that costly mistakes never occur in private businesses. Does Janus really believe this ?—I am, Sir, &c.,

23 Mitfield Road, Coulsdon, Surrey. R. M. WALKER.

[Janus writes: I should be surprised to hear of a private firm con- tinuing to pay rates mechanically for premises with which it had long ceased to have any concern. And a private firm would soon find it could not afford to do this kind of thing. A Government Department can do it with impunity indefinitely.]