26 AUGUST 1955, Page 28

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 289 ' Set by John Barlow Myxomatosis

is said to have started a 'chain-reaction' in the countryside (fewer rabbits—less food for stoats—stoats eat more squirrels—fewer squirrels means more wood-pigeons, and so on). A prize of £5 is offered for the most far-fetched chain-re- action among these lines, if all cats, TV sets. advertisement hoardings or civil servants were to vanish overnight from the earth. Limit 100 words.

Entries, addressed 'Spectator Competition No. 289,' 99 Gower Street; London, WCI, must be received by September 6. Results in the Spectator of September 16.