23 APRIL 1927, Page 15

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If the no-licence option

was dropped from the Oxford Bill and the electors offered the choice of allowing things to remain as they are or transferred to a Government department it would win the support of many more people than it does at present. As one who has studied the development of the Present temperance situation I cannot help feeling that the inclusion of a reorganization option in the Bishop of Oxford's Bill is not intended to be taken seriously, but that the promoters are simply after getting some form of local option on the Statute Book with the idea of using it as a step towards