LIQUOR TRADE IN BRITAIN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 113, 16 May 1918, Page 5

LIQUOR TRADE IN BRITAIN.

DRUNKENNESS REDUCED TO ONE-FOURTH. PROGRESS OF STATE .CONTROL. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. May 16, 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, May-15. The Liquor Control Board reports steady continuous progress of control of the liquor trade for the better prosecution of the war. Drunkenness is now one-fourth the former amount. Whether the improvement will be permanent depends on future legislation; but three y sears' experience .shows no inherent difficulty in maintaining the present level of sobriety. The Board shows a profit of 15 per cent, on the premises taken under direct control, known ,*».« food taverns, wherein advertising matter regarding liouor is abolished. The Board has been greatly successful with "the 840 canteens at national factories and docks, providing workers ■with good meals cheaply amidst healthy surroundings. GREAT DROOP"'IN. FEMALE DRU*NXE.NINESS. ■ (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Rec. Mav 16. 11.15 a.m.) "LONDON.. 'May 15. The Liquor Control Board' records fall in female drunkenness in London ! from 18,577 cases in 1914. to 5736 in | 1917. ' WHEN "THEY'RE EVERLASTI'NCj ~ LY SOBER.' | The embarrassing, effects of _ a com- j t rrmnity which adopted prohibition and | became "everlastingly sober" are pointed out in a lively way in the New Re- ! public. "Hopeville" seems to laave_ been : a typical mining place in the United States. _ , On the whole "Hopeville went dry •with surprising simplicity. A great many of the miners were neither lisli, Scotch, Cornish.. Welsh, nor Irish, but Austrians, and Italians ana Poles, and these were lmt so inured to drink- ' ine and -bitine each other as Mr Harrod ; Tin"eht have thought. The mudm Hopeville. it is true, was often from nine i inches to four feet deep, and there were ! no named streets, and no known amuse- ' mentf, and a' very slim possibility of distraction for-the' unmarried men. After prohibition. however, a I s "' from unpleasant club house was founded. with lots of reading material, and a place for home-made music. and brischt licrhts and a fire, and a place to' write letters, and a .pungent odour of something like syndicalism in {ho air. . _ j.j I That was the beginning. The men did i did not detonate on pay-day except m 1 livelv conversation. There was less diTi blas-ohemy. It concentrated rather | particularly on one or two eminent ' men. And when the virtues and dei fects of these men wer sufficiently can- ) vassed. 2he 'system' beyond them was i analved . . , , "Well. Robert, mcimred the man of migraine, back lii the'home office, "how is your precious-' prohibition woiking. It seems "to me the" doctor's wife is the sole beneficiary so far. _ _ l "Working?" the rubicund Harrod responded urgently. "I don't- know what we're goirig to do about it. lon cant' relv on the men for anything. A few years atto. after all. t.liey took their waees and Trent oyer to Mason and blew it all in, or they soaked up enough, rum in Hooeville to satisfy themselves, and came back on* the job. "Now:, what do they do? They nine ( for two" weeks when they want to. quit for a month at a t'me. And still thev have a balance. You can t deal with such men. They're infernally independent. They're impudent with prosperity. 1 I never saw anything like it. We cari't stand it % I don't, know what we're eoing to do." r 'You're going to back the liquor traific, Robert, of course. That's simple ienough. s ' i *. "You may laugh, but it is too late, I tell vou, the harm's done. We can t remedy it. National prohibition is right on too ; of us. I don't know what we ll do." '- , , "Yoii're going to back th— . i - "Well, aren't they more efficient? "Of 'they're more efficient. They're too' damnably efficient. _ They ■wanted- Hopeville ! drained, and they re getting, it (drained. They'll insist on having it paved next. They" 11 wont hot and col'd water; They'll want bathtubs/ That'll .be the. end." . , ' , "The- end? Now come, Robert, you ve successfully survived a bathtub?" "It's-yery amusing to you, Preritiss, but you're in on this with mo." We- ye forced '.these working men into prohibition. and now they're everlastingly sober They're ynaking demands and! getting 1 away witn it.. We've got to go on or |o under. Wake up,- man. plaved'my cards. What can .we do? "Wliat can we do? That is not the point how. Now the point is, what'll they cto?' " ' . .