20 MAY 1943, Page 14

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SPEAKING SIR,—Mr. Connely is mistaken on several

points. I am not a casual visitor to the USA., or a lecturer drawing conclusions from limited groups in the Eastern States. Over a period of thirty years I have studied the speech of North America in nearly all regions. If Mr. Connely will listen, say, to the Yorkshire members of Parliament, he cannot fail to note the contrast between their various Rs and the sound prevailing throughout great areas of the American West. His theory as to Yorkshire being the mother-county of Anglo-Saxon America should interest his fellow-country- men, particularly some of those who have carefully sought out their family [This correspondence is now closed.—En., The Spectator].