forces were assembled. Action must be " for the purpose of increasing directly or indirectly the efficiency of labour in such areas, and preventing the efficiency of labour in such areas from being impaired by drunkenness, alcoholism, or excess." It would be a mistake, therefore, to regard the Board's work as a designed contribution to temperance reform. Conversely, the fact that the vast experiment which the Board made in modes of liquor control was entered upon without bias, and dictated solely by concern for the industrial efficiency of the nation, gives it a unique public value.
The first areas were scheduled and restrictions applied in July-Aug. 1915. These areas included most of the seaports of England, Wales and Scotland, for it was speedily established that the intemperance of a minority of ship and shore workers had caused delay in the sailing of vessels laden with stores of war. Restrictive orders for London and the great industrial neighbourhoods of the Midlands and the North followed. Ultimately, the Board's orders came to apply to all the main manufacturing and transport areas; the only parts of Great -Britain excluded were certain agricultural districts, and a few x>f the smaller towns where military orders restricting the sale of drink made action by the Board unnecessary. The procedure was normally this: complaints that drink was delaying war work or efficiency in the services were received from the Ministry of Munitions, the service authorities, or other responsible quar- ters; a delegation of members of the Board, appointed for the purpose, held a one or two days' conference in the neighbour- hood concerned, taking evidence from naval, military, licensing and municipal representatives, the chief constables, employers and trades unionists, deputations from churches and temperance societies, and from the various sections of the local liquor trade; the delegation's report was considered by the Board; where action was found necessary, a restrictive order was prepared to apply to a definite area, usually an extensive one; a statement of the case for action in the area suggested was submitted to the Minister of Munitions; when the area had been defined by an Order in Council an Order was issued by the Board to take effect therein about ten days later. In the areas so defined, the Board was able, during the war emergency period, to vary the restrictions in force, to provide or encourage the provision of industrial canteens for war workers, or to exercise their power to acquire licensed property by purchase and thus directly con- trol the sale of drink.
5. Methods of Liquor Control. (A) The Restrictive Code of the Board. The most notable changes made by the Board in the hours and customs of liquor sale are summarized below. The main lines of policy were found applicable to all the sched' uled areas, but minor deviations were made to meet the requests of naval or military authorities, or the special circumstances of localities. The " Standard Order " comprised the following important divergences from statute law or popular custom:
(1) Weekday hours for "on " sale (i.e. for consumption on the premises). England and Wales: hours reduced by two-thirds; from I9i (London), 17 (large tpwns), and 16 (other places) to a maximum of sJ, divided between the mid-day and evening meal-time periods; no sale before noon; sale for 2\ hours at mid-day (12-2:30 P.M.); period of non-sale until 6 or 6 30 P.M. ; sale resumed for three hours in the evening, ceasing at o or 9:30 P.M. Scotland: hours reduced from 12 to a maximum of 5 J, divided into mid-day and evening meal- time periods, as in England; a special provision for the industrial areas of the Lowlands and North prohibited sale on Saturdays (the usual pay day) until 4 P.M., sale to continue until 9 P.M.
(2) Sunday hours for " on " sale. England : hours reduced from seven to five. In Wales and Scotland, where a Sunday closing law prohibited ordinary sale or supply from licensed premises, the Board's order brought clubs within the probihition. In Monmouthshire and the Forest of Dean complete Sunday closing enforced, in keeping with the practice in the adjoining Welsh counties from which there had been a considerable Sunday incursion of drinkers.
(3) Hours for " off " sale, i.e., for consumption off the' premises. " Off " sale and dispatch of brewed liquors, and wines, ceased one hour earlier at night than " on " sale. " Off " sale and dispatch of spirits (save to meet medical emergencies) limited to the permitted mid-day hours (12-2:30 P.M.). from Monday to Friday, and no " off " sale on Saturday or Sunday. No " off " sale of spirits from railway refreshment rooms.
(4) Additional restrictions on spirits, because of their greater
alcoholic strength. Before the war, whisky, brandy and rum might not be diluted, without notice to the purchaser, to a lower strength than 25 under proof ; the Board extended this limit to 50 and made dilution to 30 compulsory.^ To stop the trade in " nips " and small flasks of spirits, the " off " sale of a less quantity of spirits than " a reputed quart " prohibited.
(5) Treating prohibited, to stop the general and pernicious practice of pressing liquor on men in uniform, and the habit of "group drinking" among workmen, a custom to which a con- siderable amount of intemperance was due. (A " saving provision " permitted treating to liquor as part of a meal.)
(6) The " long-pull," or over-measure of beer, given by a publican to draw trade to his house, prohibited.
(7) Retail sale of liquor on credit prohibited, to stop the practice of running into debt for drink.
(8) Canvassing for liquor orders, elsewhere than on licensed premises, prohibited.
(9) In view of the fact that before the war clubs supplying liquor were not required to conform to the same restrictions as licensed premises, and could supply drink at any hour, it is important to note that the whole code of the Board's restrictions applied to clubs not less than to all classes of licensed premises.
When informed of police-court convictions showing that the restrictive order had been disregarded and the public interest im- perilled, the Board was empowered, after due enquiry, to stop the sale or supply 01 drink in the licensed premises or club concerned for the remainder of the current licensing year. This step was taken iii regard to 178 licensed premises and four registered clubs.
In two Scottish neighbourhoods of outstanding naval importance 1 , Glasgow Docks and the Firth of Forth, the Board supplemented the restrictive order by a system of direct supervision, appointing a "supervisor" to assure compliance with the restrictions and to recommend further action as required.
(B) The Industrial Canteen Movement. The Home Office investigators, whose reports were included in the White Paper of 1915 mentioned above, stated that in the shipbuilding areas " many of the workmen take insufficient food, which not only increases the temptation to drink, but makes the effect of the liquor taken more injurious, so that the result is to incapacitate the workmen for the strain of heavy work." They emphasized " the need for mess-rooms and canteens in the yards where the men could get good meals in comfort without having to resort to the public houses." " Such accommodation," they said, " is very rarely provided." The need was even more obvious in the munition areas. The answer of the Board was a widespread development of industrial canteens, ranging from the simplest of mess-rooms to " social centres " with extensive recreative as well as culinary provision. A canteen committee under the chair- manship of Sir George Newman was set up to direct the enter- prise. Employers were encouraged to erect canteens under a scheme which permitted them to deduct a proportion of the cost from the sum which would otherwise have been payable to the state as " excess profits." Between 800 and 900 canteen's were thus provided for over a million employees in transport or munition areas. Over 95% of the canteens were " dry "; where intoxicating liquor was retailed, the supply per person was restricted to one pint of beer served with a meal. The sale of " light beer " of a non-intoxicating strength was encouraged. The Health of Munition Workers' Committee attributed to this industrial canteen movement the improved nutrition of the workers in the industrial establishments affected, increased con- tentment and efficiency, and " a lessened tendency to excessive consumption of alcohol."
(C) The Direct-Control Areas. In three neighbourhoods of supreme importance to the nation at war the Board acquired the licensed premises, and carried on the trade in intoxicants under a stringent control. A group of licensed premises adjacent to the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, N. London, was purchased in Jan. 1916. All the licensed premises in a wide area around the Cromarty Firth were acquired in 1916-8 to enable the Board to repress intemperance at the then base of the Grand Fleet, which at a later date became a base for Amer- ican naval forces. The largest State Purchase enterprise, and the most famous, was on the Scottish Border, where a huge national explosive factory was erected, surrounded by the new township of Gretna.
.Table I shows the number of licensed premises acquired in the three State Purchase areas (from 1916 to 1921), and the number of these licences suppressed after purchase as redundant.
