17 MARCH 1939, Page 22

AIR-RAID SHELTERS AND INCOME

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—While nobody will question the Government's policy in providing free air-raid steel shelters for those with very small means, there are many of us who question the income limit under which these shelters are supplied.

A family with an income of, say, £251 a year is in no posi- tion to pay even £7 or £8 for a shelter, and he and his family are as deserving of protection as the man with £249.

My suggestion is that this income limit should be raised to at least £350, and that thereafter the householder should pay on a sliding minimum according to the size of his income.

If Income Tax is graded in this way, according to family responsibilities and the ability to pay, surely a means of saving the family from possible death or injury in time of war should be established on a similar basis.—Yours faith-

fully, G. B. J. ATHOE, Secretary,

The Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors. 75 Eaton Place, Belgrave Square, London, S.W. i.