Flies

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30593, 9 November 1964, Page 12

Flies

Sir, —Before this correspondence reaches a starry height of irrelevance may I tip a respectful hat to “Engine” for his sensible solution to the fly problem. Individual effort in killing flies

could accomplish much, but the elimination of the human race, sans fish, sans fruit, sans meat, sans everything, would be the ideal remedy. I own neither cat nor dog but realise that both bring welcome companionship to lonely people. The fly scare affords a Heaven-sent opportunity to those who want to exterminate domestic animals to air their individual prejudices, though it is to be hoped that not all of them, like “Z,” will try to invoke Divine approval for this wholesale destruction. A patina of piety on ruthless acts does not make them any more morally acceptable. If dogs are regarded as “sacred” (whatever that may mean) this is not, as “Z” avers, a sign of “immaturity” but rather of decadence—just a matter of semantics which I cannot expect him to understand.—Yours, etc., I.S.T. November 7, 1964.