It is a well known that the number of arrests for drunkenness is no adequate guide to the amount of intoxication. Speaking in the House of Commons, 13th March, 1877, on this point, Mr.Chamberlain said: "I have come to the conclusion that for our purpose police statistics are no good at all. As an evidence of this I will mention something with which I am acquaited in Birmingham. On a certain Saturday the number of persons arrested for drunkenness and brought before the magistrates was said to be 29--that was the total number of drunken cases credited, or rather, as I should say, debited to the town, according to the police statistics. During three hours of that same Saturday night, thirty-five houses in different parts of the town, beer houses, spirit shops and shops of other descriptions, were watched by different persons appointed for the purpose; and these persons reported that during those three hours 9,159 males and 5,006 females came out of these shops; and, out of these numbers, of the male persons there were 622 drunk, and 176 females in the same state. There is a total of 798 drunken persons, alleged to have been seen coming out of 35 houses in three hours; while the police returns only reported 29 for the day."

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