28 APRIL 1950, Page 5

Someone, I feel sure, can solve for me the mystery

of Dumbarton and Dunbarton. In the newspaper reports of the recent by-election the two forms seem to have been used indiscriminately, but there is no doubt some distinction between them. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives only the " m " form for both town and county ; so does the massive gazetteer on which I normally rely ; so does Whitaker. The new Chambers gives " Dumbarton " for the town, and " Dumbartonshire (officially Dunbartonshire) " for the county.

Why this singular official partiality for the " n " ? * * * *