Sir, - I was deeply shocked on Sunday when, en route to Masham Sheep Fair, I passed through Nosterfield and saw that Tarmac had begun further quarrying.

The site chosen has desecrated burials containing the cremated bodies of our distant ancestors whose last resting place had hitherto remained undisturbed for thousands of years until the greed and avarice of twentieth century man finally destroyed them over one autumn weekend.

Is it any wonder the archaeologist for the Highland Region was so shocked at the attitude of Mr Campling - our own county archaeologist - when he can so blatantly wash his hands at such wholesale destruction of irreplaceable archaeology now lost forever?

PAULINE WRIGHT

St Francis Cottage,

Thornborough,

Bedale.

Grateful centre

Sir. - On behalf of everyone at Barnard Castle Tourist Information Centre, I should like to thank everyone who supported our World's Biggest Coffee Morning event in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

We had a very successful morning with 65 visitors and raised a total of £80.47 for Macmillan.

Winner of the free prize draw was Mrs Moseley of Barnard Castle who wins a framed print of the Market Cross.

It was a pleasure to see so many local people in the TIC and we look forward to hosting similar events in the future.

VAL WILSON

Tourist Information Officer

Teesdale District Council

GM crops

Sir, - Following the outcome of the GM Nation? debate where the majority of respondents showed very clearly against GM crops, Government and industry spin-doctors are trying to downplay the report by implying that the public do not feel that they understand enough about GM to be able to make an informed decision and that if they were more informed on the issue of GM crops they would take a different decision.

In fact, the case is that the more impartial special focus groups learnt about GM technology, the more they became opposed to it.

GM crops are not the solution to starvation in developing countries, even if they were, less than 1pc of all GM research is being directed towards poor farmers. 98pc of the market in GM crops is controlled by Europe and the US, and 91pc of all GM crops grown worldwide in 2001 were from Monsanto seeds.

There is already more than enough food being produced in the world. The problem is distribution, not production.

So why did the Government run this exercise? Was it a focus group exercise to find out where the opposition lay?

In reality Tony Blair has very little impact on the decision-making process.

Laws on GM and agriculture in general are being implemented by the E.U. and the final outcome of this issue will be decided there.

This is one of the reasons it is so important for people to vote at the European elections next June, and ensure that the public get their opinion on these matters heeded where it matters.

Coun NIC BEST

North-East England Green Party

Olympia Gardens,

Morpeth.

Alien threat

Sir, - Your September 19 issue carried a long article by Bob Dales on the threat to native wildlife posed by alien species. He is right to emphasise that threat.

Signal crayfish, grey squirrels, zebra mussels, and the Australian swamp stonecrop, among others, are all causing real problems for land-owners and others wanting to protect our native wildlife.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust volunteers have spent many hours hand-pulling Himalayan balsam from some of our important sites, and to help ease the plight of the water vole, we have been working closely with local authorities in the West Riding on the mink problem.

I am pleased that Mr Dales mentioned Sylvia Jay. Her hard work has been a major factor in our efforts to encourage the spread of otters throughout Yorkshire.

Your correspondent should remember that seeking to control mink with mink hounds on a watercourse known to be used by otters would put him on the wrong side of the law for recklessly disturbing a protected animal (Countryside & Rights of Way Act Schedule 12).

Moreover, the Game Conservancy does not advocate using hounds to control mink.

I am sure that Mr Dales would not advocate law-breaking. Many nature conservation bodies have been tackling the problem of alien species for years.

That is why they welcome greatly the recent Review of Policy on Non-Native Species published by Defra.

The Government is shortly to respond to that review, and we earnestly hope that resources will be made available to address a really serious threat to our wildlife.

Any readers wanting more information on otters and water voles could visit our web site www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk and click on the conservation projects link.

STEPHEN WARBURTON

Conservation manager,

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Live exports

Sir, - I was horrified to read that we may soon be seeing wild ponies exported live to the Continent for meat (J Reynolds, D&S letters, Sept 12).

The barbarity of this must be obvious to most decent people, though I wonder if many are aware that we already export live farm animals to the Continent for meat.

This abuse can easily be eliminated, for we can do as the Dales farmers in your article (Sept 12) are doing and export carcases instead.

I have written to my MP more than once to object to the exporting of live animals.

I do hope that this outrageous proposal to allow the live exporting of ponies for meat will encourage others to protest in similar fashion via a letter to the House of Commons.

C TWEDDLE

Byland Abbey,

Coxwold