17 JANUARY 1941, Page 15

THE ELGIN MARBLES

Stx,—According to Fisher's History of Europe, it was Italian troops, mainly Venetians assisted by German mercenaries, who about the year 1699, " in a bombardment of the Athenian Acropolis inflicted irreparable damage on the Parthenon." It would, therefore, appear that in existing circumstances the return of the Elgin Marbles to the Greek nation would be not merely a generous token of friendship, but an act of singularly appropriate restitution.—I have the honour to