'INSIDIOUS PROPAGANDA" [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, — The question
of cyclists' rear-lights was thoroughly thrashed out by the authorities coneern'ed years ago, and dismissed. In view of this, your reiteration of the statement, "there will be no real safety till rear lamps are made com- pulsory," amounts to nothing more than insidious propaganda, and is an insult to one's intelligence.
I took out a subscription to The Spectator in the belief that it was a fair-minded and responsible paper of liberal views ; but your persistent bias on a small subject such as this leads me to the conclusion that you are as likely to be biased on other subjects of greater importance on which I may be less well informed and in no position to judge.
I shall not, therefore, renew my subscription on expiry.— M.A. (Cantab.), M.R.C.S. (Eng.), L.R.C.P. (Lond.).
Oak Cottage, Downderry, Cornwall.
[The day before this letter was written the Coroner at a London inquest observed: "I have been a Coroner for a quarter of a century, and I have never found out why cyclists think it is sufficient to follow blindly the regulations and rely on a red reflector, which, in many cases, is the cause of their death. . . . I think this boy met his death simply on account of having a reflector instead of a rear lamp."—En. The Spectator.]
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