1 MAY 1959, Page 24

MR. SMYLLIE, SIR

SIR,—In his otherwise admirable feat of prehensilisa- tion, Patrick Campbell makes the serious error of suggesting that the Maestro would ever have been so meticulous as to file the brandy in the appropriate alphabetical section of the filing cabinet. To my clear recollection, a much more flexible system of filing was in force. This, admittedly, had its disadvantages, re- sulting as it did in the complete disappearance of a contributor's version of the end of Edwin Drood —a manuscript which, after some years work, he had submitted in the hope that it might be serialised by the newspaper. Nevertheless, the system did have the merit of encouraging a spirit of research among the staff.—Yours faithfully