31 MAY 1957, Page 26

SIR, — Lord Templewood Writes that although some think we should have

fought in 1938 "others will remain convinced that we were right to postpone the clash until our Hurricanes, Spitfires and radar were ready and we could rely on a united front in the Commonwealth. Between these two views there may now be no bridge but that is no reason why the arguments on each side should be bolstered up with partisan inventions.' Exactly I—but surely it is a partisan invention that Chamberlain made the Munich settlement in the spirit Lord TemplewoOd implies. Chamberlain thought he could handle Hitler, he hoped to put off the war for good; he did not make the settlement primarily in the light of his beliefs about the state of the British defences in a year's time.—Yours faithfully,