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The object of the Investment Profiles is to expose the bidden assumptions which lie behind valuations of investment properties, and in doing so to provide a more objective platform for debate and argument about any particular valuation. The traditional approach to valuation is to apply an ‘all risks’ yield to the flow of income from any property, reflecting the advantages and disadvantages of that investment. However, there is no sound objective basis on which to justify the ‘all risks’ yield used. In reality, the valuer arrives at the yield by making a number of subconscious mental adjustments to the yield based on the particular features or disadvantages of the property under consideration. Investment Profiles arrive at the same ‘all risks’ yield by an explicit approach, the valuer making a series of adjustments to the yield. These adjustments can then be debated and argued. The need to resort to unscientific cliches like ‘prime’, ‘semi‐prime’ and ‘secondary’ can be much reduced or avoided. The paper considers a number of example valuations, and demonstrates that the technique is easy to understand and simple to use.

The idea that “anything goes” in enterprise zones certainly is not the case, particularly as regards retailing. Floorspace size limits on new retail developments, stringent in some cases, are commonplace. John Dawson and Leigh Sparks look at the various schemes and compare the restrictions, which have been set to exclude superstores, hypermarkets, discount stores and the like.

Electroplated coatings of zinc have been successful in protecting steel components against corrosion for many years. However, with the introduction of more exacting standards, the performance of the traditional zinc finish has not been considered up to the mark. Alternative protective systems have been offered as replacements but none has been entirely able to compete cost‐effectively with the electroplating process.

In the matter of food purity and control Hospital Catering Services have been outside the law, a privileged position where the general law of food and drugs have never applied and the modern regulatory control in food hygiene has similarly not applied. In the eyes of the general public hospital catering standards have always been high above the general run of food preparation. As the NHS continued, complaints began gradually to seep out of the closed community, of dirt in the kitchens and prevalent hygiene malpractices. The general standard for most hospitals remained high but there were no means of dealing with the small minority of complaints which disgusted patients and non‐cater‐ing staff, such as insect and rodent infestations, and an increase in the frequency of food poisoning outbreaks.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

THIS journal is not devoted exclusively to public libraries; they are only part of the library fabric but, because the preponderant number of workers in our craft are in public libraries, they and their work naturally occur more often in our pages than do those of others. We have always urged that the profession is indivisable and that a librarian is a person who, in his fundamental training, should be equipped to serve in any kind of library. The tendency to create distinctions, based upon slight—and they usually are slight—differences of work, are unfortunate and have led to bickerings and sometimes recriminations. Even between the two arms of the public library service, the county and the urban, there has been an emphasis on the differences rather than the likenesses; and every wise librarian knows that the services of a fully‐engaged library in a town are exactly the same as those of a county except that the county has to cover longer distances. The emphasis is even stronger where public and nonpublic libraries are in question.

That competitiveness in the single European market is recognized by some companies as a challenge providing opportunities, that it is seen by others to be a threat, has been the message communicated in numerous publications. Contributes further knowledge by identifying the various active pursuits of companies in making their visions of successfully competing in Europe a reality, and by highlighting the requirements for a company to become successful post‐1992. Successful management is required to establish a long‐term strategic intent for Europe in order to be competitive and for a company to be a “winner” post‐1992. The “winners” so far are the companies which have pan‐European organizational infrastructure, and can manage manufacturing, brands and distribution, on a European‐wide basis.

This Food Standards Committee Report has been with us long enough to have received careful appraisal at the hand of the most interested parties — food law enforcement agencies and the meat trade. The purposes of the review was to consider the need for specific controls over the composition and descriptive labelling of minced meat products, but the main factor was the fat content, particularly the maximum suggested by the Associaton of Public Analysts, viz., a one‐quarter (25%) of the total product. For some years now, the courts have been asked to accept 25% fat as the maximum, based on a series of national surveys; above that level, the product was to be considered as not of the substance or quality demanded by the purchaser; a contention which has been upheld on appeal to the Divisional Court.

LPP solve problem of acidic effluent storage. Laminated Plastic Products were approached by a company who manufacture castings and pressings in aluminium and other non ferrous metals. One of their processes involves the use of various very corrosive acids. Specifically these include nitric, hydrofluoric, sulphuric and chromic acids at concentrations of up to 30%. After use these acids are run to an effluent pit where they are held prior to their removal by tanker for disposal.

In years past, when life seemed simpler and the Law much less complicated, jurists were fond of quoting the age‐old saying: “All men are equal before the Law.” It was never completely true; there were important exemptions when strict legal enforcement would have been against the public interests. A classic example was Crown immunity, evolved from the historical principle that “The King can do no wrong”. With the growth of government, the multiplicity of government agencies and the enormous amount of secondary legislation, the statutes being merely enabling Acts, this immunity revealed itself as being used largely against public interests. Statutory instruments were being drafted within Ministerial departments largely by as many as 300 officers of those departments authorized to sign such measures, affecting the rights of the people without any real Parliamentary control. Those who suffered and lost in their enforcement had no remedy; Crown immunity protected all those acting as servants of the Crown and the principle came to be an officials' charter with no connection whatever with the Crown. Parliament, custodian of the national conscience, removed much of this socially unacceptable privilege in the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, which enabled injured parties within limit to sue central departments and their officers. The more recent system of Commissioners—Parliamentary, Local Authority, Health Service—with power to enquire into allegations of injustice, maladministration, malpractice to individuals extra‐legally, has extended the rights of the suffering citizen.