4 JANUARY 1952, Page 20

Spinsters

SIR,--It is a pity that the author and the reviewer of The Single Woman of Today—and indeed many more who write on the same subject—do not trouble to consult the Registrar-General'stecords. They would find that many thousand more boys than girls are born in Britain every year, and that these boys do not die in infancy; and that consequently, during the marriageable years, there are far more British men than women. The reasons for " single blessedness " in either sex are manifold. The fact that the census shows more women than men in the country is due to women's relative longevity and the temporary absence of so many men in the Army, Navy and Merchant Service on census night.—Yours-

6 Broadwater Down, Tunbridge Wells.