STATE PURCHASE OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 285, 18 March 1919, Page 5

STATE PURCHASE OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Mr. Asquith Expresses String Views to a Deputation.

In speaking to a deputation from the Hritish Temperance Societies, Mr Asquith s|H»kc thus alxiul State Purchase: “As an old Chancellor of the Exchequer, one who had a long experience of financial matters, he had examined the subject from every point of view. It was true that some of the proposals had plausible attractions, but in his view the whole scheme was tinan< ially unsound. That, however, was rs .':.c and not the prim ipal consideration. I here were businesses, some of which had been plated under Government control during the war, which might lightly, and probably would, be acquired and carried on by the State. Hut this business was not a business of that character. It was a business the* owning and carrying on of which .is a business the State should not touch with its finger-tips. (,)n every ground, social, economic, moral, and intellectual, he was opposed to State Purchase, whether by the State as a whole or by smaller communities, and those who opposed sin h a proposal might rely on his uncompromising support.”