15 APRIL 1978, Page 18

Not out

Sir: Auberon Waugh (1 April) is wrong 10 thinking that the works of Tleomas Hardy went out of copyright in January of this year. For much the same practical reasons that motor cars and race horses all have their birthday on the same day, copyrights always expire at the end of the calendar year, fifty years after the year in which the author died.

Caroline Hobhouse 4 Little Essex Street, London WC2