15 AUGUST 1941, Page 14

SWITZERLAND'S LANGUAGES

Sm,—May I supplement the facts about Switzerland in " A Spectator's Notebook " in your issue of August 8th by stating that the number o( the national languages is now not three but four? The Times et July, 1937, contains a brief reference to the rejoicings in the En. gadine when the Swiss Parliament decided :o give Romansch the status of a fourth national language. Switzerland today is, as you say, "an island of freedom surrounded by a sea of tyranny," and the action ct the Swiss Parliament in dignifying and sustaining the distinctive culture of a small section of its people—some 50,000 in all—forms'