19 APRIL 1945, Page 14

UNIVERSITIES AND " INDEPENDENTS "

SIR,—None could dissent from the paragraph on university M.P.s in "A Spectator's Notebook" last week.

May I, however, remind " Janus," my fellow graduates and your readers in general, that, more than any other factor, it is the use of the proportional system of voting, with the single transferable vote which has enabled us to elect these outstanding persons " of independent

mind."—I am, Yours, &c., B. EVANS. 146 Laleham Road, Staines, Middlesex.

[Janus writes : Only sometimes. At the Scottish Universities contest last week, when Sir John Orr (Independent) was elected by a large majority, there were only two candidates.]