This page needs to be proofread.
LINTON—LIQUOR LAWS
771

on Oct. 8 when the German-Austrian troops captured the Rus- sian positions, while the operations which the Russians initiated nine days later resulted in their breaking the Austro-German front on Oct. 20. In March 1918 Linsingen led the advance into ' the Ukraine, and was advanced to the rank of Generaloberst. In the following June he was appointed chief-in-command in the Mark, i.e. in the province of Brandenburg including Berlin. In this capacity he was responsible for the disposition of the troops which had been left in Berlin and neighbouring garrisons for the purpose of preserving order. On the eve of the revolution he and the officers in command under him failed to maintain their authority, and, on Nov. 9 1918, the troops made common cause with the revolutionary workmen, who overthrew the imperial and royal regime and secured the proclamation of the German Republic.

LINTON, SIR JAMES DRUMGOLE (1840-1916), British painter, was born in London Dec. 26 1840. He was educated at Cleveland House, Barnes, and afterwards studied art. He frequently exhibited his works and was best known as a water-colour painter. From 1884 to 1899 he was president of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and was again elected in 1909, holding the office till his death. He was knighted in 1885. He died at Hampstead Oct. 3 1916.

LIQUOR LAWS AND LIQUOR CONTROL (see 16.759). In the following article, the later developments on this subject are dealt with as regards the United Kingdom and the United States, but the article PROHIBITION should also be consulted in this connexion, especially as concerns the United States.

UNITED KINGDOM

1. Pre-War Legislation. Two legislative enactments relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors in the United Kingdom are to be recorded respecting the four years from 1910 to the begin- ning of the World War.

(a) The Licensing (Consolidation) Act of 1910 codified the greater part of the existing licensing laws of England and Wales. The changes introduced by this Act were few and of minor importance. It was designed to bring within one code the complex legislation outlined in 16.7634. This Act remained the statute law at the open- ing of 1921, although during the period 1915-21 it was superseded, in many of its main provisions, by the Orders of the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic); (b) The Temperance (Scotland) Act, 1913, appointed 10 A.M. as the opening hour for licensed premises through- out Scotland; strengthened the law respecting clubs supplying liquor; and gave powers of Local Option to Scottish Local Government electors on the three resolutions of " n<5 licence," " limitation of licences by one-fourth," and " no change." Under the terms of this Act, the first local option polls were taken in Scotland in 1920 (see SCOTLAND).

2. Emergency Legislation in 1914. The necessity for more stringent measures of control over the sale of drink was manifest in the opening days of the war. Insobriety in the services was too obvious a peril to be disregarded. Steps were at once taken under the first Defence of the Realm Act (Aug. 1914). Com- petent naval and military authorities were empowered to reduce hours of sale, and, in cases of emergency, to close licensed premises in naval and military areas; the supply (except under doctor's orders) of intoxicants to sailors or soldiers undergoing hospital treatment was prohibited; as was also the bringing of liquor into dock premises used for naval or military purposes. Nearly 500 restrictive orders were made by service authorities during the first ten months of the war. But the question was speedily recognized to be one affecting civilians as well as service men. The Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restriction) Act, passed on the last day of Aug. 1914, and intended to apply to the conditions of civil life, was asked for by the service author- ities. It gave licensing justices power, upon the recommenda- tion of the chief officer of police, to vary within narrow limits the opening and closing hours of sale. The Act applied also to the supply of liquor in clubs. The ground for action was " the maintenance of order, or the suppression of drunkenness." Within four months restrictive orders were made in 427 out of the 1,000 licensing districts in England and Wales.

3. The Demand, for Further Action. As the growth of the army and munition industries drew the vast majority of the

adult population into national work, spread camps and muni- tions works throughout the kingdom, and made efficiency the national watchword, the need for much more drastic action was realized. Lord Kitchener in Oct. 1914, and Lord Roberts a few weeks later, appealed to the public to avoid treating men of the new armies to drink. Sir Edward Henry, the chief commissioner of police for the metropolis, called attention " to the serious difficulties with which the military authorities are at present faced owing to the late hours to which the numerous public houses are kept open." The chairman of the Birmingham jus- tices, announcing an order under the Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restriction) Act, said, " the order has been made owing to the accumulated evidence in the hands of the authori- ties as to the delay in the execution of Government orders, aris- ing from the bad time-keeping and drinking habits of a minority of the workmen employed on such orders." On March 29 1915, a deputation from the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation waited on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to urge " the total prohibition during the period of the war of the sale of exciseable liquors," basing their claim on serious delays in shipbuilding and repairs. The statement of delays submitted by the depu- tation was forwarded to the King, who, resting his action on the evidence thus furnished, " set the example by giving up all alcoholic liquor himself, and issuing orders against its con- sumption in the Royal Household, so that no difference should be made, so far as His Majesty is concerned, between the treat- ment of rich and poor in this question." The Royal example stirred public thought, yet it was seen ere long that only new legislation could effectively meet national requirements. A speech by Mr. Lloyd George at Bangor on Feb. 28 1915 riveted public attention. The " lure of drink," he affirmed, was delay- ing the output and transport of stores of war. This was true of only a minority of manual workers, but " a small minority of workmen can throw a whole works out of gear." There was an extraordinary consensus of opinion in favour of entrusting the Government with whatever new legislative powers they deemed requisite. Possible remedies for the impairment of efficiency by alcoholism were widely canvassed. These included total prohibition; the prohibition of spirits; the sale of light instead of heavy liquors; a general restriction of drinking facilities; State purchase, to be followed by drastic curtailment of the traffic in drink; and the provision of works' canteens to supply wholesome meals for war workers.

4. Control Board (Liquor Traffic). When the Government plan was announced in the Commons, on April 29, it was seen that neither prohibition nor national purchase was to be adopted. " Control " was the key-word of the policy. A new national authority was to be established, with unprecedented powers. It was further proposed to increase substantially the taxes on intoxicating liquors. The fiscal plan, devised partly to aid revenue and partly to promote sobriety, did not survive hostile Parliamentary criticism. But the " control " proposals, sup- ported by a White Paper " showing the effects of excessive drinking on the output of work on shipbuilding, repairs and munitions of war," were approved by Parliament as the Defence of the Realm (Amendment) (No. 3) Act. The new authority, entitled the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic), was set up on May 27. The Board, as finally constituted, comprised representatives of the Admiralty, War Office, Home Office and Treasury Departments; men expert in licensing law and pub- lic health administration; well-known employers and Labour leaders; and leaders of the temperance movement and liquor trade. Lord D'Abernon served with great distinction as chair- man for five years (1915-20). Sir John Baird was appointed chairman in May 1921; in the year preceding his appointment the acting chairman was Sir John Pedder. The secretary of the Board was Sir John Sykes. By the death of Mr. Richard Cross in 1916, the Board lost a member of unusual vigour of mind and long experience in licensing administration.

The Board could take action where, and only where, war material was being made or loaded or unloaded or dealt with in transit, or where men belonging to H.M. naval or military