F L JONES' suggestion concerning race relations merits serious consideration. All too often, misunderstandings arise which can be readily resolved with a little empathy.

Recently, I was in conversation with an Asian neighbour. It was very much amicable until he twice referred to me as "old man".

Now, I am no spring chicken, but I don't need reminding of it, and nearly said so in no uncertain terms. But then I remembered my experience nearly 60 years ago when I was shore-based in Sri Lanka.

Its official name was at that time Ceylon but it was Sri Lanka or the Island to those of us who took the trouble to learn a little of the local lingo.

I recollect the word, "Nakia", which meant "Old one". Addressed in this way, an elderly person's face would light up with a smile, and often the head would bow in acknowledgement of a gracious compliment.

I was forgetting how Easterners respect and revere the elderly for the wisdom of their years. I am in no doubt that my neighbour intended a similar compliment.

He was hardly likely to realise that in our parlance he was calling me a silly old buffer fit only for the knacker's yard.

J HINTON,

Worcester