30 NOVEMBER 1934, Page 18

THE INCREASE IN DRUNKENNESS

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

your comment on the increase in drunkenness convictions in 1983, you conclude with the suggestion that it is particularly desirable that the Carlisle experiment, whose success may be regarded as proved . . should be repeated in other areas."

May I be permitted to point out that at Carlisle the con- victions for drunkenness rose from forty-nine in 1932 to fifty-nine in 1933, and that sobriety in that city, measured in terms of convictions for drunkenness, is no better than in those places where the trade is in private ownership'? OWEN WILLIAms. 48 Gladstone Road, Wimbledon, S.W. 19.