24 JUNE 1949, Page 17

" THE CROSSNESS

Sm,—Your reviewer of ht. Charles Graves's book .on Ireland contradicts his statement that the troubled times in Southern Ireland were known as " The Crossness." Our Irish housekeeper, the seventh of a family of twelve from a small farm near Newport, Co. Mayo, was a child during the fighting with the Black and Tans, Which went on round, and sometimes in, her native farm." She has many macabre and some diverting stories to tell of her childhood memories, and invariably` refers to these times as The Crossness." It would appear, therefore, that Mr. Charles Graves is better informed than Mr. Rawle Knelt on one point in spite of the

speed of his motor-car.—Yours faithfully, A. S. ROBERTS. 22 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W. z.