able to alcoholic indulgence, deaths of children (under one year of age) from suffocation, and cases of attempted suicide. The figures refer to England and Wales. 1913, as the year imme- diately preceding the outbreak of war, is taken as a pre-war standard. The influence of the restrictions can be clearly traced. The convictions of males for drunkenness show an enormous decrease from 1915 to the close of the war, but the transfer of millions of men from civil to military discipline makes it difficult to determine the part in this reduction which is properly attrib- utable to the new drink policy. Students of the problem have accordingly turned to the statistics for drunkenness among women as a much more reliable index. In comparison with 1913, the convictions of females for drunkenness increased in 1914 by 4%, an indication of what was likeliest to happen as a result of the tension among women whose male relatives were serving with the forces. The influence of the restrictions is reflected in the figures for 1915. Repeated experience shows that in Great Britain the curves of spending power and convictions for drunkenness normally rise together; yet, notwithstanding the great increase in the spending power of women due to the fact that from 1915 to 1918 women were engaged in national indus- tries in very large numbers, and so became regular wage earners, convictions for drunkenness among females actually decreased in 1915 by 7%; in 1916 by 41%; in 1917 by 66%; in 1918 by 80%. The group of " vital statistics " which follows supplies confirmatory evidence. The deaths certified as due to or con- nected with alcoholism, in comparison with 1913, declined in 1915 by 20%; in 1916 by 48%; in 1917 by 68%; in 1918 by 83%. The deaths certified as due to cirrhosis of the liver, in comparison with 1913, declined in 1915 by 6%; in 1916 by 23%; in 1917 by 41%; in 1918 by 57%. The deaths of children under one year from " overlying " (a form of mortality frequently attributable to parental drunkenness), in comparison with 1913, declined in 1915 by 16%; in 1916 by 39%; in 1917 by 42%; in 1918 by 54%. "The suicidal impulse is the most frequent and most characteristic of the graver disorders of conduct to which the habitual drunkard is prone " (Sullivan) ; the recorded cases of attempted suicide, in comparison with 1913, declined in 1915 by 33%; in 1916 by 61%; in 1917 by 62%; in 1918 by 67%.
In estimating the significance of these statistics it should be borne in mind that from the autumn of 1915 to the spring of 1917 the Control Board's restrictive code was applied stage by stage to a territory equalling five-sixths of Great Britain, peo- pled by nineteen-twentieths of the population; and that, in the later months of 1917 and throughout 1918, the Food Con- troller's restrictions on output were operating side by side with the Board's restrictions on hours and customs of sale. It will be noted that in 1919 and 1920, years marked by some relaxa- tions of the Board's restrictions, and a progressive diminution leading on to complete revocation of the Food Controller's limitation of liquor output, there was a very considerable increase in convictions for drunkenness, and the curve of mortality began to move upwards again.
Apart from statistics, a mass of valuable evidence exists to show that the Board's restrictions led directly to an increase of discipline and health in the services, and a very marked improvement in efficiency in munition and transport industries. Numerous testimonies from the Admiralty and War Office, and from large employers of labour are cited in successive reports of the Board. Chief constables in all parts of the country noted in their annual reports a wonderful improvement in public order. The commissioners of prisons in successive reports pointed to the restrictive Orders as an influential cause in the reduction of crime. Hospital authorities recorded a diminution in street accidents and injuries arising from street brawls. Health visitors testified to the domestic advantages and gains to child welfare which were manifest as soon as the shorter hours for the sale of drink came into force. A mass of evidence respecting the bearing of the restrictive code on industrial and social life, and an examination of the available statistical data, will be found in The Control of the Drink Trade by Henry Carter (2nd ed., pp. 237-281).
8. Changes in Liquor Taxation. There were large increases in liquor taxation in the later years of the period under review. At the outbreak of war the duty on beer was 75. gd. per stand- ard barrel; on spirits 145. gd. per proof gallon. The beer duty was raised to 235. per standard barrel in Nov. 1914; to 255. in 1917; to 503. in 1918; to 703. in 1919; and to iocs, in 1920. The duty on spirits was raised to 305. per proof gal. in 1918; to 503. in 1919; to 703. in 1920. The Finance Act (1920) practi- cally doubled the pre-war import duties on wines. These heavy increases in liquor duties, which led to corresponding increases in the retail prices of liquor, doubtless had a considerable influence in checking the consumption of liquor in the years immediately following the war.
9. The Close of the Period of Control. The beneficial results of the policy of liquor control were widely recognized, and it was commonly expected that the Government would at an early date, when dissolving the Board, enact new legislation based on the experience gained through what the Scotsman had described as " the largest social experiment of our time." The Govern- ment were, however, pre-occupied with the terms of world peace. In Nov. 1919 the Prime Minister told a deputation from the Temperance Council of the Christian Churches that a bill dealing comprehensively with the subject " would be intro- duced before Christmas." No bill was introduced. The King's Speech in 1919 renewed the promise of legislation. In Nov. 1920 a bill was introduced which would have transferred for a limited period the powers and properties of the Board to the Home Office, but the bill did not survive the criticism directed against what was deemed to be a perpetuation of war emergency " control." The Board made various modifications in their code, to meet in some degree the changed conditions. At length, in April 1921, in a second reading debate on a private member's bill, the Government announced their decision; the Board's rule would continue for a while longer, but an effort would be made to reach agreement amongst moderate men of all parties as to the form in which the work done for national sobriety since 1915 could best be expressed in permanent legislation. There was sufficient response to enable the Government, in June, to set up a Round Table Conference of members of the Commons; the terms of reference were " to consider, with refer- ence to the law of licensing, how best to adapt to times of peace the experience gained in time of war." The attorney-general (Sir Gordon Hewart) was chairman of the Conference, which comprised members chosen as representative of the. temperance movement, the liquor trade, the clubs associations, and " average public opinion." Agreement was reached, and a bill, incorporat- ing the terms of the agreement, subsequently introduced.
The bill, treated for the most part as a non-controversial measure, passed with exceptional rapidity and ease through all its stages, and received the Royal Assent on Aug. 17 1921. Its main provisions were (i) the appointment of eight hours as the period for the sale and supply of intoxicating liquors on week- days outside the metropolis; (2) the appointment of nine hours for sale and supply within the metropolis; (3) the actual hours could be fixed by local licensing justices, provided that the first hour should not be earlier than n A.M., that there should be a break of at least two hours between the mid-day and evening periods of sale, and that the normal latest evening hour outside the metropolis should be 10 P.M., and within the metropolis ir P.M.; (4) an additional hour for sale and supply was permitted after the normal evening hour for premises habitually providing " substantial refreshment, to which the sale and supply of intoxicating liquor is ancillary "; (5) further safeguards against the hawking of liquor were provided; (6) credit for " on " sales of liquor was prohibited; (7) the " long pull " was prohibited; (8) the dilution of spirits to 35 under proof, without notice to the purchaser, was permitted; (9) the " bona fide " traveller was abolished; (10) all the foregoing provisions were applied to registered clubs as to licensed premises, and were extended to the whole of Great Britain, thus bringing within the scope of the Act those parts of the country to which the Control Board's restrictions did not apply; (12) the properties of the
