4 NOVEMBER 1966, Page 13

Living Below the Line

SK—The problem of family poverty is not confined to those who, like Arthur Barton's ex-pupil Selby (SPECTATOR, October 28), earn flO a week and have five children at twenty-four. A family with five children and an average rent needs an income of £16 to raise it above the new supplementary allowance (formerly National Assistance) scale. By this criterion Selby would be only just above the poverty line if he had only one child. Sex instruction and family planning alone, necessary though they are, will not solve his problem. Bigger family allowances are needed—and an end to the situation in which a man can legally be paid £10 for a week's work.

Secretary Child Poverty Action Group, Skepper House. 13 Endsleigh Street. London WCI