7 MARCH 1987, Page 26

Worse off

Sir: In your edition of 14 February, Christ- opher Booker (`How far have we sunk?') quotes with approval. Goldsmith's lines: 11l fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay as an epitaph for our age as much as for the 18th century. But the years 1979-1987 surely are the age of Belloc's riposte come true:

But how much more unfortunate are those Where wealth decays and population grows.

Perhaps anyone living in Africa feels this especially keenly.

Richard Graham

British High Commission, PO Box 30465, Bruce House, Standard Street, Nairobi