1 OCTOBER 1965, Page 12

SIR,—I must protest against Dr. A. L. Rowse's absurd protest

(September 17) against your editorial blaming Britain for the imbroglio in the Indian sub-continent. Dr. Rowse places the onus of blame on Pandit Nehru. But is it not natural for animals (and I mean no slight on my good friends in India and Pakistan) to fight over a bone? Surely the culprit in this matter is the individual who threw them the bone—Premier Attlee or Viceroy Mount- batten?

And does Dr. Rowse really believe that Britain is now a 'country without influence in the world's affairs'? No doubt this subject could constitute a pleasant polemical argument over port wine in the dyspeptic atmosphere of college dining halls, akin to the motion that 'This house prefers mad dogs to Englishmen.'

El Respiro, Marbella, Spain

SHAUN MANDY