SIR: Regarding my letter which you printed in the issue of June 18, you misquoted the Government spending on the appeasement of the Gun Lobby as £130,000, this should have read £130,000,000. But since that letter was published I have had information given to me that £130,000,000 covers only the Conservative ban. Now that the Labour Party have extended the categories involved, the total cost is in the region of £450,000,000.

What a difference this could make to the NHS. Even Bolton could have a truly modern hospital, not the present 1860 hotch- How the medical, nursing and ancillary staffs carry out their caring work under these conditions is one of the wonders of the world.

Finally may I comment on the letter from A E Ivers regarding honours. The Conservatives have worked for theirs, while the present Prime Minister has to create peers at the outset because the new Labour are too inefficient/amateurish to provide ministers from the Lower House. What a joke!

Dorothy B Waters

Winifred Road, Farnworth

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.