2 JANUARY 1942, Page 13

SOME PRODUCTION DEADLOCKS

SIR,—Mr. True's allusion. in your issue of December 26th, to the im- position of unnecessarily fine standards of accuracy reminds me of something said to me not long ago by a wheelwright friend of mine. He is continuously occup:ed sawing timber for the Ministry of Supply, and has prepared many thousands of beechwood blocks for the heads of mallets for driving tent-pegs. He told me that the firm who finish the blocks which he roughs out have had a considerable number rejected on the ground that they were one-sixteenth of an inch too small across the flats. It is difficult to see what advantage can accrue to the nation, at such a time as this, from rejecting otherwise sound pieces of wooden equipment for so slight a reason.—Your obedient