4 JUNE 1932, Page 17

"RAGS" (To the Editor of the Smc-raron.1 - It is

with considerable surprise that one reads the views of your correspondent, " J. K S.," on " Rags," wondering if the ignorance he betrays is real or feigned. Surely everyone knows the existence of the cat-burglar, and can easily under- stand that like every other expert he needs training to attain to proficiency. Many people also have heard the gibe directed against the elder Universities that they do not keep pace with the times, and fail to equip students for the stern realities of life. A course of lectures on cat-burglary could not, one can well understand, be publicly announced, as that would be inconsistent with the secrecy which is essential to success : but evidence that some instruction must be given is furnished by the practical work that has been done, necessarily during the hours of darkness, in sealing the pinnacles of King's.

Yet " J. E. S. " writes : served no conceivable public end, and conferred not the smallest benefit upon any single human being.- Might not a correspondent, inspired by similar ignorance, make exactly the same co llllll ent on the experi- ments conducted in the Cavendish laboratories, or on the

bumping races on the Cam ? I am, Sir, &c., ('rerun.