1 AUGUST 1952, Page 16

The Increasing Male S1R,—Earlier this year there was a correspondence

in the Spectator about whether in this country there were more women than men in the marrying age-groups; the correspondence rather petered out for want of reliable contemporary statistics. The one per cent. sample of the results of the 1951 census, just published, is not yet absolutely reliable. but it is better than what we had before. It shows that in 1931 there were 894 men for every thousand women between twenty and forty-five, and in 1951, 964. The gap is thus narrowing, but has not yet closed.—Yours faithfully, W. HILTON YOUNG. Leinster Corner, Lancaster Gate, W.2.