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SIGNATURE DONNA D. BRYEN
TITLE ASSISTANT VP
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</TABLE>
Report of Independent Auditors
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors
Delaware Group Equity Funds III, Inc.
In planning and performing our audit of the financial
statements of Delaware Group Equity Funds III, Inc. (the
"Fund") for the year ended June 30, 1998, we considered its
internal control, including control activities for
safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing
procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the
financial statements and to comply with the requirements of
Form N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on internal
control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing
and maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are
required to assess the expected benefits and related costs
of controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an
audit pertain to the entity's objective of preparing
financial statements for external purposes that are fairly
presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of
assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors
or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of
any evaluation of internal control to future periods is
subject to the risk that it may become inadequate because of
changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the
design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily
disclose all matters in internal control that might be
material weaknesses under standards established by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A
material weakness is a condition in which the design or
operation of one or more specific internal control
components does not reduce to a relatively low level the
risk that errors or fraud in amounts that would be material
in relation to the financial statements being audited may
occur and not be detected within a timely period by
employees in the normal course of performing their assigned
functions. However, we noted no matters involving internal
control and its operation, including controls for
safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material
weaknesses as defined above at June 30, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use
of the board of directors and management of Delaware Group
Equity Funds III, Inc. and the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
July 31, 1998
