SER.-1 shared Mr. E. O'Connell's amazement on reading Miss Sybil Connolly's assurance (February 7) that "the country (Ireland) never had it so good". I Charitably supposed that she had her head too high in the gossamer clouds of haute-couture to take notice of the traeic, ever-present, ever-growing tide of emigration at her feet, practically a tidal wave last year. "Downward they move. a melancholy band.
Pass from the shore, and
darken all the strand.
The politician's dreams In crease, the poor's decay ; There is a happy land, but far.
far away."
Apologies to Oliver Goldsmith.
Mary W. Byrne 16 Herne Hill. S.E.24.