20 MAY 1905, Page 15

[To THE EDITOR OF THE ..spEcrATon. - 1 you allow me to

substitute " about the fifties" for " about the sixties,'" in your amusing article, " A Million Stamps" (Spectator, May 13th) P Early in 1856 I sailed for India as a cadet in the H.E.I.C.S., and previously, during ray schoolboy days, had assisted in collecting stamps " to provide the dowry of a lovely girl, whose hard-hearted parent would not allow her to marry the man of her choice until she had collected a million stamps,"—for so ran the myth in those days. Is not the survival of the craze due to the fact that unscrupulous persons have discovered that among a million stamps there are many which, after simple chemical treatment, may be used again ?—I am, Sir, &c., C. E. B.