The only work around I thought of was to open MText; type the letters of the alphabet in the font and size I want; insert into drawing; draw a vertical line from insert point, offset line (in this case) 3000mm showing the letter place where the text column needs to end. Delete the rest of the alphabet and I have a line of text (my own text ruler so to speak) I can now insert the text I want under this to the width I want and lastly delete the part alphabet (the ruler) and locate the column of text in the drawing.  Bit of juggling the first time but can copy the text around the drawing and place on to my drawing template for future drawings.  I suppose this explanation is something else to add to the proposed manual I am working on!  I hope this helps others.

Regards Nigel