30 SEPTEMBER 1899, Page 15

WITNEY BLANKETS.

[To TUE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your notice of "A History of Oxfordshire," by J Meade Falkner, in the Spectator of September 23rd, the

following sentence occurs In the same chapter Mr.

Falkner describes the decay of local industries. Some of the names still survive— Witney blankets, for instance, is a familiar term—but the realities have passed away." (The italics are my own.) So far from this being the case, oar local Witney blanket trade has never been more flourishing than at the present time, both as regards home orders and the export trade, which is very extensive.—I am, Sir, cke, G. H. F. NORRIS.

Witney Rectory, Oxfordshire, September 26th.