10 MAY 1924, Page 14

" FROM HELL, HULL AND HALIFAX." [To the Editor of

the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—In the interesting article, entitled " Stalemate in English Cities," the writer gives to thieves an aesthetic distaste for " muddled, dirty and exasperating " towns which they probably did not possess. The explanation of " From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good Lord, deliver us," given to me by a former barrister and stipendiary magistrate in the East Riding, is that the " thieves " dreaded the vigilance and severity of the authorities in Hull and Halifax. Grimy darkness of any smoky town would, like the mist, in Homer, prove to be better than right to the robber.—I am, Sir, &c.,

15 St. Mark's Road, Leamington. DARWIN WILMOT.