24 AUGUST 1944, Page 14

OFFICIAL IDIOCY SIR,—In this rural area a picturesque pond for

moor hens and wild duck is being filled in by " Army " authorities as a waste dump, to the material benefit of our villagers, who have salvaged, inter alia, ammunition, a case of orange juice, tins of jam, a porcelain sink, lip- stick, hundreds of packing-case timber, iron discs suitable for table-tops, complete set of fishing tackle, a new pair of ladies shoes, &c. The dump is a conglomerate of tin-cans and cardboard, and now it is on fire. As I write, for the third day a fire-engine has just dashed past— to safeguard adjoining cornfields waiting to be harvested.—Yours, &c., W. KIRKPATRICK.