I read with much interest the letters about the police dog Bruce (April 17).

I am very sorry they decided to put him down. He was only doing the job he was taught to do.

The Government is to blame for a lot of this. Years ago, if I laughed or talked in the classroom, the teacher would hit me over the hand with a cane or stick.

I went to Isfield School from five to ten years of age and the headmistress smacked me once or twice in those years.

In later years, though, when she had retired, my wife and I used to have coffee with her. When she died, we both went to her funeral.

If the schools were more strict there would not be the trouble with youngsters there is today.

Additionally, the Government should put more police on the streets. Whoever sees a policeman walking up the streets of Uckfield these days?

I have lived at Isfield, Little Horsted and Uckfield since I was born in 1910.

-James B Frances, Hempstead Road, Uckfield