STATE CONTROL OF LIQUOR IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3183, 6 September 1917, Page 6

STATE CONTROL OF LIQUOR IN BRITAIN

VIEW'S OF THE CONTROL BOARD. The purchase by the State o£ Uio liquor trade was recommended by the British Central, Control Board (Liquor Traffic) in a memorandum issued to the public rfccently, but submitted to the Government in December last. State control would, says the board, securo the following iinIjortaut. results ;— Strict observance of the lair. Elimination of private profit on pales. Suppression of redundant licences. Regulation of the quantity, quality, and strength qf liquor, facilitating economies in foodstuffs and transport. 'Extended facilities for sunnljin; food and non-alcoholic refreshment. Ecouomies in manufacture and wholesale business. Release of men aud women for war work. The board thinks that the limils of effective action by order have, been roachc<l, because strict observance cannot be secured owiij" to redundancy of publichouses and the consequent competition in the trade. It rejects the policy of niohibition as not essential to the conduct of the war, and points to the good results obiflined by State control at Carlisle, ' Gretna, Invergordon, unci Enficld, Tn spito of exceptional difficulties. In support of its recommendation of State purchase outright, Lord D'Abernon says: Asqujsition, except on a permanent basis, would make it impossible to bring into full effect a Tevised and improved system of management—the central feature of which is undoubtedly tho substitution for tenants of salaried managers having no financial interest in tliß sale of liquor. The expedient would bo a costly one, involving Hie payment of large sums from the Exchequer in the form of compensation, without securing to the. State the advantage of permanent control. If State control is to ljo adopted, purchase outright appears to .the board to lie the most practical and the only financially sound procedure.