Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/813

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TABLE I. Licensed Premises Acquired in the Direct- Control Areas.

Retail

licences

Total

suppres-

Brew-

"On"

" Off " '

retail

sed after

Area

eries

licences

licences

licences

purchase

acquired

because

redun-

dant

Entield

4

I

5

Cromarty Firth

Area

28

II

39

19

Scottish Border

Area, Gretna

(including An-

nan) . i

20

8

28

16

Carlisle (city). Carlisle (adja-

4

104

12

116

50

cent country

districts)

i

196

2

198

6?

Total

5

352

34

386

152

The rapid influx of a new industrial population overwhelmed the normal social life of Carlisle and district. Sixteen thousand navvies were at work at Gretna. The available housing accom- modation proved inadequate, and the public houses were packed to excess. " Broken time " at Gretna became a matter of grave concern; of 953 persons convicted for drunkenness in 1916 at Carlisle 788 were Gretna factory workers. The Board's restrictive code had been applied but was extremely difficult to enforce; the abnormal conditions demanded changes more fundamental. Consultations with the local authorities led to the decision to purchase the licensed properties throughout the area, and to institute under State ownership a firmer control of the traffic in intoxicants. The houses first acquired were those adjacent to the national factory; but the problem was speedily seen to be co-extensive with the district over which the industrial workers had spread, and in successive stages the purchase area was extended to a territory of 500 sq. m., flank- ing both shores of the Solway Firth, with a war-time pop. of 140,000, including the towns of Annan and Gretna in Dum- friesshire, and the city of Carlisle and the town of Maryport in Cumberland. The properties acquired in this Border area numbered five breweries and 342 licensed premises (320 " on," 22 " off " licences). Local advisory committees were set up at Carlisle and Gretna to cooperate with the Board in the work of administration. Sir Edgar Sanders, as general manager of the Carlisle undertaking, rendered unique national service.

The chief changes effected under the State Purchase regime at Carlisle, over and above the Board's usual restrictive code, were these:

(i) A vast improvement was speedily achieved in the observance of the restrictive code. (2) Redundant and undesirable licences were extinguished ; up to June 192 1 133 licensed premises were closed, and brewing discontinued at three of the five breweries; all " gro- cers' licences " were extinguished as soon as purchased. (3) The sale of spirits was stringently regulated. The number of houses sell- ing spirits for " off " consumption was greatly reduced, and through- out the war no sale of spirits ("on" or "off") was permitted on Saturdays. (4) The " on " sale of intoxicants to young persons under 18 was prohibited, excepting the sale of beer with a meal. (5) All display of liquor advertisements outside licensed premises ceased. (6) During the war complete Sunday closing was enforced in the State Purchase area of Cumberland to accord with the practice north of the Border. (7) Certain licensed premises were reconstructed and structural improvements made in others. (8) All private in- terests in the sale of intoxicants were eliminated, and a weekly wage paid to bar employees irrespective of the quantity of liquor sold. (9) The sale of food and non-alcoholic refreshments was encouraged, and a commission on these paid to the managers of licensed houses. " Food taverns " were established in industrial neighbourhoods, and tea-rooms provided at country inns. In 1920 570,000 meals were served in the Board's-" food taverns" at Carlisle. (10) Li- censed restaurants with ample recreative facilities were opened at Carlisle, Longtown and Annan, (n) Provision was made at Car- lisle for the meeting of Trades Union Branches and Friendly So- cieties on unlicensed premises. (12) Substantial economies in the manufacture and sale of liquor were secured as a result of the ac- quirement of many competing businesses by one organization.

The social results of this new system of administration were seen in a rapid decrease of drunkenness, and a marked improve-

ment alike in public order and in industrial efficiency at the neighbouring national factory. The annual reports of the chief constable of Carlisle testify to the reduction of insobriety. A convincing proof of the social value of the policy of direct con- trol in the Scottish section of the Border area was an official request to the Board from the local authorities of Dumfries- shire asking that the whole of the county should be included in the State Purchase area. Similarly valuable social results were achieved at Enfield and in the Cromarty Firth area.

The value of the assets of the Board's direct-control undertakings in the Carlisle and Gretna, Cromarty Firth, and Enfield areas amounted at March 31 1920 to 1,307,448; while the balance of Exchequer issues outstanding, after crediting interest amounting to 89,058, was 646,939; and the accumulated profits amounted to 435,335- The direct-control undertakings had at that date been in existence for about four years, and as the current annual profits were sufficient, after allowing for Exchequer interest, to admit of the Exchequer issues being repaid at the rate of 120,000 per annum, it was possible that the whole capital expenditure would be repaid with interest in about ten years from the commencement of operations.

(D) Investigation of the Effects of Alcoholic Beverages. Early in the Board's career it was found essential to obtain reliable data concerning " the physiological action of alcohol, and, more particularly, the effects on health and industrial efficiency pro- duced by the consumption of beverages of various alcoholic strengths." An advisory committee for this purpose was formed under the chairmanship of Lord D'Abernon, and their succes 1 - sive reports on the nature and action of alcohol were ultimately published under the title of Alcohol: its Action on the Human Organism. The impartial spirit of this volume, and the repre 1 sentative character of the distinguished men of science who served upon the advisory committee, combine to make the vot- ume the standard authority upon the field which it covers. '

6. The Food Controller's Limitation of Output. Within the! period under review another series of drastic restrictions on the liquor trade is to be recorded, a limitation of brewing and of the release of spirits and wines from bond. The Output of Beer (Restriction) Act, 1916, caused some reduction in the output of beer; but it was the activity of German submarines in the third year of the war which, by endangering the national food supplies, led to the policy of severe limitation of liquor output adopted by the Food Controller in the early months of 1917. On April i 1917, brewing was restricted to an output of 10,000,000 standard barrels per annum, compared with 36,000,000 standard barrels, the output for the year ending March 31 1914; and the quantity of spirits and wines to be released from bond was limited by one half. This policy of restriction of output was maintained for three years in varying degrees of stringency. After the Armistice, successive relaxations were made, and the restrictions on output were finally withdrawn in July 1919. The permitted average gravity of beer, and the retail prices of beers and spirits, were fixed by a series of Orders of the Food Controller; this system of control was continued until the passage of the Licensing Act in Aug. 1921.

7. Effects of the Policy of Liquor Control. The relevant sta* tistics point to a remarkable decrease in drunkenness, and in the disease and tragedies which follow alcoholic indulgence. The appended table displays, for the period 1913-20, the num- ber of recorded convictions for drunkenness, deaths from alco- holism and from cirrhosis of the liver, a disease often attribut- TABLE II. Drunkenness and other Alcoholic Phenomena in England

and Wales 1913-20.

Convictions for Drunkenness

Recorded Deaths from Alco- holism

Recorded Deaths from Cirrhosis of the Liver

Recorded Deaths from Suffoca- tion (Children under one year)

At- tempted Suicide

Males

Females

Total

1913 1914

1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

153,112 146,517 IO2,6oo 62,946 34,103 21,853 46,767 80,517

35,765

37,3" 33,2ii 21,245 12,307 7,222 11,180 15,246

188,877 183,828

I35,8U 84,191 46,410 29-075 57,947 95,763

1,831 1,816 I-45I 953 580 296 369 59i

3,880

3,999 3,632 2,986 2,283 1,671 1,507 1,763

1,226

1,233 1,021

744 704

557 525 593

2,426

2,385 1, 608

945 935 810

1,222

1,448