Two communications, bearing rather curiously on the paper- question, have
reached me from different quarters simul- taneously. One encloses a thick package of the familiar birth- control, rejuvenation, female-remedies puffs, dealing with ques- tions on which any sensible man or woman in need of advice would consult a doctor. There appears, as the sender points out, to be paper available all right for this kind of thing. The other communication is from the headmaster of a well-known provincial school. Writing to express regret that the number of Spectators supplied to his school, where the paper " is used in the same way as a text-book, as part of the Advanced Course of this school," has inevitably to be cut down owing to paper- rationing, he adds " a fact of some importance is that while we are compelled to restrict the boys' chances of reading The Spectator, cheap editions of books which were previously asso- ciated with certain shops in the Charing Cross Road seem to have made their first appearance in this town within recent months. . . . A generation is growing up which is desperately anxious to understand problems which it is going to face, and wants information. Every source of information and serious discussion is being cut down. At the same time there seems to be paper available for an increase of literature which, if not pornographic, is at least unhealthy." These are pertinent words.
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