19 NOVEMBER 1965, Page 12

War on the Beatniks SIR,—After re-reading Denys Val Baker's article

several times I assume that he is being gently sar- castic when he refers to several dozen beatniks4 sitting 'in all their pleasant eccentricity.'

The idea that dirty, untidy, ill-mannered lay- abouts who contribute nothing to the upkeep of a town have a proscriptive right, as the same article put it, to sample the delights of the town and its surroundings, is something that I find impossible to accept, quite apart from their sleazy appearance• I suspect they may well also (since they are not gainfully employed in the ordinary way) be tempted at least into the fringe of drug trafficking i.nd no doubt are a potent means of spreading disease. B. ENGERT

Vansghyll House, Peasmarsh, Rye, Sussex