n IN reply to George Cowley (You Say, September 1) I do not doubt that nuns have minds of their own these days and I think that they possibly did in days long ago.

However, I only referred to nuns in order to illustrate the frame of mind in which young women entered the nursing profession in the days of draconian discipline, exercised by the types of matrons Mr Cowley and his friend, apparently, want to bring back.

Sixty years ago, female children were conditioned to be subservient in a way male children were not. However, things are different now and young women, understandably and rightly, are not prepared to submit to harsh discipline.

D E MARGRETT,

Worcester.