Sta,—As the correspondent referred to by the Secretary, Churches' Com-
mittee on Gambling, Rev. J. Clark Gibson, may I suggest that he reads my letter with more care. I have not undertaken a " survey " of gambling. My committee, under the chairmanship of B. Seebohm Rowntree, are, in association with the internationally known Mass-Observation, con- cluding the first social survey of all forms of gambling in the British Isles. This social survey is directed by trained research workers, who have a high reputation for accurate and objective investigation. Neither did I state that "for the first time" the statistics of commercialised gambling would be put on record. I did state, however, that our report would, " for the first time, place on record the statistics of commercialised gambling, and, we hope, the reasons why it has become such an essential part of our social structure." The whole sentence conveys a different, and to my mind more important and positive view. Our report will contain enough statistical tables to satisfy the most intense statistician. They will be useless without the material on which they are based.
If I did not mention the late Allen job, that does not imply a lack of knowledge of his thirteen years' painstaking work in the collection of figures relating to gambling. He was one of the first people to be inter- viewed by Mass-Observation, and they, as I always did, found him kind, courteous and very helpful. Shortly before he tied I had an interview lasting nearly two hours with him. The death of Allen Job was as untimely as that of my predecessor, John Gulland. He was, for over forty years, the recognised expert on gambling. His vast knowledge died with him, and we are the losers.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, H. C. LAWTON
(Secretary, National League for Education Against Gambling). Parliament Mansions, Abbey Orchard Street, S.W.1.
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