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State Purchase of the Liquor Trade in the First World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

John Turner
John Turner
Affiliation:
Bedford College, London
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Extract

In 1915 and again in 1917 the British government almost decided to buy out the whole of the licensed liquor trade in the United Kingdom. An examination of the circumstances in which this ambitious proposal was contemplated poses serious questions of interpretation for the historian of the first World War. The episode figures in the historiography of temperance as a missed opportunity to use the power of government to solve a longstanding social problem; this, however, was a minor part of the story. In 1915 state purchase was to have helped to reduce industrial absenteeism, and thus to increase munitions production. In 1917 it was to have conserved foodstuffs and saved shipping during the submarine crisis. It can thus be seen as yet another manifestation of ‘war socialism’: but it has two distinctive characteristics. First, the government had little understanding of the economic and social phenomena which it sought to control by assuming ownership of the liquor trade, though much political effort was put into the manoeuvre. Second, the private interests concerned were quite eager, partly because of pre-war conditions, to be expropriated for their own good as much as for the nation's benefit. It is an unexceptionable part of conventional wisdom that the first World War, like the second, was a major catalyst of change, and especially of state intervention in society. The history of state purchase shows how tenuous and haphazard the causal connexion between war and social change could be. The demands of war were (almost) translated into major state intervention, but the process was mediated by the political mythology of drink, by the operation in the political system of a powerful business pressure group, and by the shifting priorities of governments which subordinated all policy to the need to guide a war economy to victory.

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Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 1980 , pp. 589 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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References

1 Useful summaries of drink statistics can be found in Wilson, G. B., Alcohol and the nation (London, 1940). Wilson, secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance and a staunch prohibitionist, was sufficiently impartial in his collection of liquor statistics to earn a Ph.D. from London University for the basis of this work. Trade organizations conceded the accuracy of his annual publication of consumption, expenditure, drunkenness and taxation, even though it appeared in the press as ‘The National Drink Bill’.Google Scholar

2 See the annual official publication of Judicial statistics in Parliamentary Papers (hereafter P.P.), and the summaries given by Wilson.

3 The exact proportion was and is a matter for argument; see Dingle, A. E., ‘Drink and working-class living standards in Britain, 1870–1914’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser. xxv (1972).Google Scholar

4 See, for example, Chamberlain, Joseph, Licensing reform and local option (Birmingham, 1876)Google Scholar; ‘The right method with the publican’’, Fortnightly Review, n.s. xix (1876)Google Scholar; ‘The municipal public house’, ibid, xxi (1877). For these and many other references the author is obliged to Brian Harrison's ‘Drink and sobriety in England 1815–1872. A critical bibliography’, International Review of Social History., XII (1967).Google Scholar

5 Rowntree, J. and Sherwell, A., The temperance problem and social reform (London, 1901)Google Scholar; Public control of the liquor traffic (London, 1903).Google Scholar

6 Final report of Her Majesty's commissioners appointed to inquire into the operation and administration of the laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquor. P.P., 1899, Cd. 9379, xxxv, 1. Sir Thomas Whittaker, M.P. for Spen Valley, a keen temperance reformer and a member of the commission, had a lengthy addendum on municipalization and local control incorporated in this report, ibid. pp. 307–93. Other commissioners did not sign it, and the main report did not mention municipalization.

7 The 1904 act created a vested interest in retail liquor licences, and Radical opponents of the measure alleged that it was passed at the behest of the Trade to make further reform impossible. The 1908 bill was drafted to restore the position that Liberal back benchers thought existed before 1904. It was rejected by the Lords. During the Commons second reading municipalization was not prominent among the schemes of reform which the new measure was supposed to facilitate. See 187 Parl. Debs., cols 1107–1224 (28 Apr. 1908), 1270–1338, 1418–1527 (29 Apr. 1908), 1675–1786 (4 May 1908).

8 George Barnes, a Labour sympathizer with temperance, urged municipalization as a desirable extension of the government's bill. 36 H. C. Debs., 5 s, cols 902–3 (1 Apr. 1912). The bill was intended to facilitate local prohibition.

9 Rose, M. E., ‘The success of social reform: the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic) 1916–1922’ in Foot, M. R. D., ed., War and society (London, 1973).Google Scholar

10 Rowntree, J. and Sherwell, A., Slate purchase of the liquor trade (London, 1919), p. 64.Google Scholar

11 Vaizey, J., The brewing industry, 1886–1951 (London, 1960).Google Scholar

12 Harrison, Brian, Drink and the Victorians (London, 1971).Google Scholar

13 The Alliance had published pamphlets on the ‘Medicated wines fraud’: damages and costs were assessed at £7,753, which can be compared with the Alliance's average yearly income for this period of less than £5,000. United Kingdom Alliance Executive Committee minutes, 21 July 1915. U.K.A. M[inute] B[ook] J. The Minute Books of the Alliance, now in the custody of the Christian Economic and Social Foundation, were consulted by courtesy of the Foundation and with the help of Mrs L. Brown and Mrs G. Brake. The Foundation is not responsible for any opinion expressed in this article.

14 Brake, George Thompson, Drink: ups and downs of Methodist attitudes to temperance (London, 1974), PP- 32–40.Google Scholar

15 See the Report of the committee on the disinterested management of public houses [the Southborough committee] P.P. (1927), Cmd. 2862, x, 1119.

16 See Harrison, pp. 395–405; Brown, J. B., ‘The pig or the stye: drink and poverty in late Victorian England’, Int. Rev. Soc. Hist, XVIII (1973).Google Scholar

17 The minute books of the Brewers 'society and the National Trade Defence Association were examined by courtesy of the Brewers' Society. The author is obliged for help in this matter to Mr R. J. Webber, the Society's information officer, who wishes it to be understood that the Society does not share responsibility for opinions expressed in this article.

18 See, for example, the complaints registered in N.T.D.A.M.[inute] B.[ook] 2, 17 Feb. 1905.

19 Brewers' Journal, 15 June 1914.

20 Total U.K. consumption of beer had reached a peak of 1,326 million standard gallons in 1899, declining to 1,163 million in 1909. Thereafter consumption increased until 1913, whose consumption of 1,2 7 2 million standard gallons had only been exceeded in four earlier years (1898, 1899, 1900, 1901). Per capita consumption was at its highest in 1876 (34.4 standard gallons), dropping to 26.1 in 1909. The 1913 figure of 27.8 was lower than any recorded between 1865 and 1904. The brewers could only hope that the increase of population would mitigate the effects of changes in drinking habits.

21 Vaizey, pp. 17–19.

22 Ministerial justifications are in 66 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols 201–18 (27 Aug. 1914).

23 Alliance News, 20 Aug. 1914.

24 N.T.D.A., M.B. 3, executive committee, 11 Nov. 1914.

25 Brewers' Journal, 15 Nov. 1914.

26 Ibid. 15 Sept. 1914.

27 Alliance News, passim after 13 Aug. 1914.

28 Ibid. 3 Sept. 1914.

29 Undated N.T.D.A. circular, Brewers' Society library. In his war budget speech of 17 Nov. 1914, Lloyd George remarked that ‘Every half-pint that a man drinks, he will be contributing to the carrying on of the war’. 67 H.C. Debs., 5s, col. 363. The N.T.D.A. took this up as ‘Every half-pint of beer drunk is a blow struck against the Kaiser’.

30 T. E. Lovibond at the annual general meeting of Newcastle Breweries, Ltd, on 30 Dec. 1914, Brewers' Journal, 15 Jan. 1915; G. F. Thompson in the directors' report to the shareholders of the Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, Ltd, on 10 Dec. 1914, Brewers'Gazette, 7 Jan. 1915.

31 On 13 August 1914 the Alliance News met the news of war with a leader on ‘The Crisis’: ‘ For us the way is plain. A burden, not of our seeking, has been placed upon us grievously to be borne. It is our duty cheerfully, unhesitatingly, unselfishly to take up that burden, bearing it ungrudgingly as long as it lies upon us - but ever and always praying to the Father of our spirits that He, in his infinite mercy, will make plain His Will, and bid the warring host, “Be still; and know that I am God”.’ A week later it quoted with approval Harold Begbie's tart appeal: ‘Honour may call us to fight, self-preservation may force us into the slaughterhouse; but let us wear on our sleeves the crape of mourning for a civilisation that had the promise of joy, and strike our enemy without a hiccough or a curse.’ Alliance News, 20 Aug. 1914.

32 Hazlehurst, Cameron, Politicians at war (London, 1971), pp. 210–15.Google Scholar

33 Stubbs, J. O., ‘The Conservative party and the politics of war, 1914–1916’ (Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 1973), pp. 138–60.Google Scholar

34 D. Lloyd George, ‘some further considerations on the conduct of the war’, C.I.D. Paper G. 7, 22 Feb. 1915, Public Record Office, CAB 37/124/40.

35 Asquith to H.M. King George V, 24 Feb. 1915, CAB 37/124/47. Photographic copies in the P.R.O. of original letters preserved in the Royal Archives are made available by the gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen.

36 Text in House of Lords Record Office, Beaverbrook collection, Lloyd George papers C/32/2/2. The Lloyd George papers and the Bonar Law papers were consulted with the kind permission of the Clerk of the Records, the first Beaverbrook Foundation, and Mr A. J. P. Taylor.

37 Negotiations with the industrialists were conducted by Walter Runciman, the president of the Board of Trade, while Lloyd George was negotiating with trade union leaders. The Munitions of War Act, which legalized both control of factories and the Treasury Agreements, was only introduced in the Commons by Lloyd George on 28 June 1915 after the Coalition government had been formed. 72 H.C. Debs., 5s, col. 1183. It received the royal assent on 2 July.

38 ‘Acceleration of output of government work’, n.s. 19 Mar. 1915, CAB 37/126/16.

39 A full report is in CAB 37/126.

40 Stamfordham (the king's private secretary) to Lloyd George, 30 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/5/6/14. The letter was, of course, widely publicized.

41 George, David Lloyd, War memoirs (2nd edn London, 1938), i, 196.Google Scholar

42 It was believed that young spirits were more inclined to cause drunkenness than spirits properly aged.

43 Rose, op. cit., gives a modern account of the Board's work and full references to the printed sources for its history.

44 Pugh, M. D., ‘Asquith, Bonar Law, and the first coalition’, Historical Journal, XVII (1974), 836.Google Scholar

45 The Admiralty's almost obsessive interest in drink can be seen in the documents brought forward in the very first days of March, which originated in February. See F. C. T. Tudor to Churchill, 4 Mar. 1915, with enclosures, CAB 37/125/14, and the correspondence cited in notes 54 and 65 below.

46 Asquith to the king, 24 Feb. 1915, CAB 37/124/47.

47 Kitchener of Khartoum, ‘Remarks on the Chancellor of the Exchequer's memorandum on the conduct of the war’, 25 Feb. 1915, CAB 37/124/50.

48 ‘Interim report to His Majesty's government of the committee on production in engineering and shipbuilding establishments engaged on government work’, 16 Feb. 1915, CAB 37/124/29; ‘second interim report...’, 20 Feb. 1915, CAB 37/124/38.

49 Lloyd George, War memoirs, i, 184.

50 Lloyd George made much of their forbearance in the introduction to his speech. Lloyd George papers C/32/2/2.

51 Brewers' Journal, 15 Mar. 1915.

52 Alliance News, March 1915.

53 H. P. Hamilton (Lloyd George's private secretary) to C. Masterton-Smith (Churchill's private secretary), 12 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/16/18.

54 Graeme Thomson, ‘Transport difficulties’, 6 Mar. 1915, CAB 37/125/22.

55 Asquith to the king, 10.Mar. 1915, CAB 37/125/22.

56 Churchill's latter contributions to the debate on government control of the war economy had lauded the virtues of free enterprise for manufacturers and an abrogation of the right to strike, all to be ‘gilded by State bonuses to the workers and sustained by a restriction of public house hours’. W. S. Churchill, ‘Armamentfirm’,3Mar. 1915, CAB37/125/9;seealsoW. S. Churchill, 'seven practical steps’, 5 Mar. 1915, CAB 37/125/17.

57 Askwith to Lloyd George, 24 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/2/3.

58 R. Meade to H. P. Hamilton, 19 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/5/7/26.

59 Lloyd George to Bonar Law, 7 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/5/8/3.

60 Ibid.; McKenna's report, ‘Drinking in the shipbuilding trades’, n.d., is in CAB 37/127/23.

61 Board of Trade, ‘Report and statistics of bad time kept in ship-building, munitions and transport areas’, 1 May 1915, P.P., 1914–16 (220), LV, 947.

62 Lloyd George to Derby, 9 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/4/3/5.

63 Forwarded in Askwith to Lloyd George, 24 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/2/3.

64 Sir Percy Girouard's views, transmitted ibid.

65 Correspondence from the Admiralty in Lloyd George papers C/23/1/34.

66 F. S. Hopwood to Churchill, 6 Apr. 1915, enclosed with Hopwood to Churchill, 3 May 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/16/37. Churchill made the point to Lloyd George: Churchill to Lloyd George, 7 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/16/25.

67 See n. 58 above, and the statistical material from Vickers passim in the Lloyd George papers, C/23/1.

68 ‘Drinking in the shipbuilding trades’, CAB 37/127/23. The questionnaire has not been found, but its outline can readily be inferred from the common features of the replies.

69 Reaction to the original speech was far less extreme: another illustration of the government's tactical error of judgement.

70 Addison, C.Four and a half years (London, 1934), 1, 73.Google Scholar

71 Younger to Lloyd George, 11 Mar. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/8/11/1.

72 Asquith to the king, 10 Mar. 1915, CAB 37/125/31.

73 W. Plender, ‘Government and the licensed trade’, 30 Mar. 1915, with supplements of 31 Mar. 1915 and 6 Apr. 1915. Lloyd George papers C/23/2/11.

74 President of the Local Government Board.

75 Attorney-General.

76 Governor of the Bank of England.

77 Joint Permanent Secretary to the Treasury.

78 Senior partner in Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths; former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

79 Conservative M.P. for Lewisham; stockbroker, member of the Unionist Business Committee, and known Trade sympathizer.

80 Conservative M.P. for Liverpool (Everton); accountant and director of iron companies; member of the Unionist Business Committee and Trade sympathizer.

81 Labour M.P. for Blackburn. Snowden had written extensively on temperance from a Labour viewpoint.

82 Liberal M.P. for Spen Valley. Whittaker was prominent in the temperance movement as president of the Temperance Legislation League. He favoured municipalization or local option.

83 The brewers' almanack published lists every year of M.P.s who were friendly to the Trade, whether by virtue of brewery directorships or of expressed interest in licensing matters. The practice lent weight, perhaps unduly, to the complaint that this body of 20 or so members gave the liquor interest a stranglehold on British politics.

84 Unsigned note of the committee's discussions of 4 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/23/2/13.

85 So Lloyd George reported to the cabinet that day. Asquith to the king, 8 Apr. 1915, CAB 37/127/14.

86 Bonar Law to Austen Chamberlain, 2 Apr. 1915. University of Birmingham Library, Austen Chamberlain papers 13/3/39. The Chamberlain papers were consulted by courtesy of the librarian of Birmingham University.

87 Austen Chamberlain to Bonar Law, 4 Apr. 1915. House of Lords Record Office, Beaverbrook Collection, Bonar Law papers 37/1/7.

88 Long to Bonar Law, 4 Apr. 1915, Bonar Law papers 37/1/8.

89 Cf. Memorandum by Lansdowne, 6 Apr. 1915, Bonar Law papers 37/1/9; Carson to Bonar Law, 5 Apr. 1915, ibid. 37/1/11; Midleton to Bonar Law, 6 Apr. 1915, ibid. 37/1/14.

90 Memorandum by Hamilton, 1 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/23/2/10.

91 Brewers' Society M.B. 4, minutes of extraordinary general meeting, 7 Apr. 1915.

92 N.T.D.A., M.B. 3, minutes of executive committee, 26 Mar. 1915.

93 Chamberlain to Bonar Law, 7 Apr. 1915, Bonar Law papers 37/1/17. Negotiations had been going on since 25 March, if not before. Asquith, H. H., Memories and reflections (London, 1928), 11, 68.Google Scholar

94 Samuel to Lloyd George, 9 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/7/9/8.

95 Simon to Lloyd George, 9 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/8/3/7.

96 ‘Report of the liquor trade finance committee (England and Wales)’, 14 Apr. 1915, CAB 37/127/26. Printed as ‘Report of the advisory committee on proposals for the state purchase of the licensed liquor Trade’, P.P., 1916 Cd. 8283, xii, 529.

97 Asquith, Memories and reflections, 11, 73.

98 Ibid. 11, 74; cf. Asquith to the king, 19 Apr. 1915, CAB 37/127/31.

99 Younger to Bonar Law, 21 Apr. 1915, Bonar Law papers 37/1/57.

100 The McKinnon Wood committee's report was annexed to the Samuel report (n. 96 above) and printed in P.P., 1916, Cd. 8319, XII, 535.

101 Younger to Lloyd George, 19 Apr. 1915, Lloyd George papers C/8/11/3.

102 71 H.C.Debs. 5s, col. 864.

103 'shadow Cabinet this morning to consider the Government's drink proposals, but we have no information as to what they now are and believe that the real Cabinet was trying to make up its mind at the same moment.’ Austen Chamberlain to Mrs A. Chamberlain, 28 Apr. 1915, Austen Chamberlain papers.

104 71 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols. 904, 918.

105 Long to Bonar Law ‘early in May’, Petrie, C., Walter Long and his times (London, 1936), p. 191.Google Scholar

106 N.T.D.A., M.B. 3, executive committee minutes, 30 Apr. 1915.

107 A note of the meeting is in Bonar Law papers 49/E/6.

108 Asquith, Memories and reflections, 11, 75.

109 Asquith to the king, 5 May 1915, CAB 37/128/1.

110 Taylor, A. J. P., ed., Lloyd George: a diary by Frances Stevenson (London, 1971), p. 47Google Scholar; Stubbs, J.O., ‘The Conservative party and the politics of war...’, pp. 155–8.Google Scholar

111 71 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols. 1035–45 (Redmond's speech).

112 The proposal was made through Augustine Birrell, the chief secretary, in Lloyd George to Birrell, 7 May 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/8/5, and the beer proposal rejected the same day, in Redmond to Birrell, 7 May 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/8/9. Lloyd George explained to Bonar Law that he was not inclined to press the scheme of beer taxation, which had been proposed by Younger with the assent of Bass and Guinness, over Irish opposition, in Lloyd George to Bonar Law, 7 May 1915, Lloyd George papers C/5/8/2. The Brewers' Society learned of it from Younger on 7 May, Brewers' Society M.B. 4, minutes of the parliamentary sub-committee, 7 May 1915.

113 71 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols 2171–203 (18 May 1917).

114 71 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols. 1295–1310. Redmond's speech is at cols. 1298–9. Redmond had earlier accepted the D.O.R.A. proposals ‘cordially’, Redmond to Birrell, 7 May 1915, Lloyd George papers C/3/8/9.

115 71 H.C. Debs. 5 s, cols. 1529–71 (11 May 1915).

116 The Immature Spirits Bill was the last measure passed.

117 For the Board's membership see Rose, ‘The success of social reform...’.

118 N. Chamberlain to D'Abernon, 26 June 1916, P.R.O. H.O. 185/263.

119 ‘... Because if you give representation to “interests” you get advocates - & long discussions unsuited to an Administrative Body’, D'Abernon to Lloyd George, 25 May 1915, H.O. 185/231.

120 See the extensive correspondence in H.O. 185/343. The Board let the matter drop after D'Abernon had annotated a proposal from the Trust's management ‘Not much in this. Tone not satisfactory’.

121 ‘I should be willing to accept a seat, but on the distinct understanding that I am not to be looked upon as in any sense a delegate of the Trade, and consequently, in any action of the Board to which I might be a Party it could not be said that the Trade's Representative approved of the same.’ Butler to D'Abernon, 20 Jan. 1916, H.O. 185/231. Cf. Carter to D'Abernon, 15 Jan. 1916, ibid. Butler's view of his position was confirmed by the general committee of the Brewers ‘Society on 21 Feb. 1916, Brewers’ Society M.B. 5. Carter was criticized in 1918 by members of his Connexion for his activities on the Board, but he convinced the annual conference that his position was justified. British Weekly, 25 July 1918.

122 Paper G. 107, CAB 24/3.

123 P.P., 1916, Cd. 8283, XII, 529.

124 United Kingdom Alliance M.B. J, executive committee minutes, 24 May 1916 and 29 Nov. 1916. The campaign was rather slow to take public shape.

125 ‘Memorandum on compulsory state expropriation’ prepared for the parliamentary com mittee by H. H. Fuller, R. J. Holme and Reginald Mason, 12 Sep. 1916. Brewers' Society M.B. 5; minutes of the general committee, 20 June 1916, and of the parliamentary sub-committee, 28 June 1916, ibid.

126 U.K.A., M.B. J, executive committee minutes, 31 Jan. 1917, reveals how far the opinion of the Birmingham auxiliary had alarmed the committee, whose composure had already been disturbed by W. Batty, a former honorary secretary, who had written articles in support of state purchase in August 1916. See ibid., minutes of the executive committee, 30 Aug. 1916.

127 Minutes of W.C. 12, 20 Dec. 1916, CAB 23/1.

128 W.C. 33, 12 Jan. 1917, CAB 23/1.

129 Printed as an appendix to W.C. 42, 23 Jan. 1917, CAB 23/1.

130 D'Abernon to Lloyd George, 18 Jan. 1917, H.O. 185/263.

131 W.C. 42, 23 Jan. 1917, CAB 23/1.

132 W.C. 65, 14 Feb. 1917, CAB 23/1.

133 Brewers' Society M.B. 5, minutes of the general committee, 19 Jan. 1917.

134 Ibid., minutes of the general committee, 31 Jan. 1917.

135 The brewers on the committee were Younger, Gretton, Colonel Gaskell (a country brewer), and Whitbread. Colonel Addison of Guinness's was withdrawn by his Board when state purchase was raised.

136 ‘Report of the Home Office committee appointed to enquire into the position created by the approved restrictions on the output of beer, spirits and wines’, 21 Mar. 1917, Paper G.T. 241, CAB 24/8.

137 Brewers' Society M.B. 5, minutes of a general meeting of the Society, 15 Mar. 1917. All wholesale brewers, whether or not members of the society, were invited, and it was recorded that between 500 and 600 persons were present.

138 See D'Abernon's annotation on his copy of the Cave committee's report in H.O. 185/226, and W.C. 102, 22 Mar. 1917, CAB 23/2.

139 W.C. 106, 27 Mar. 1917, CAB 23/2.

140 Transcript in Lloyd George papers F/228.

141 Ibid.

142 Paper G.T. 643, n.d., CAB 24/2. Cf. W.C. 132, 4 May 1917, CAB 23/2.

143 D'Abernon's undated draft comments are in H.O. 185/226.

144 W.C. 133, 7 May 1917, CAB 23/2.

145 Lloyd George papers F/228.

146 Brewers' Society M.B. 5, minutes of a special meeting of the general committee, 14 May 1917.

147 Daily Express, 12 May 1917.

148 Paper G.T. 885, n.d., CAB 24/14.

149 W.C. 153, 31 May 1917, CAB 23/2.

150 Milner, ‘Necessity for immediate control’, Paper G.T. 1070, 19 June 1917, CAB 24/16.

151 D'Abernon did not send in his comments on G.T. 1070, which are in H.O. 185/266.

152 W.C. 167, 21 June 1917, CAB 23/3.

153 Astor to Thomas Jones (assistant secretary to the war cabinet), 21 Feb. 1949, National Library of Wales, Thomas Jones papers A/2/12. The Thomas Jones papers were consulted by courtesy of the Baroness White and Mr Tristan Jones.

154 Milner to Astor, 22 June 1917, University of Texas Humanities Research Center, J. L. Garvin papers.

155 Diary of Sir Hugh Thornton (Milner's private secretary), 22 June 1917, Milner papers 21. The Milner papers were consulted by courtesy of the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford.

156 Brewers' Society M.B. 5, minutes of the general committee, 20 July 1917.

157 ‘state purchase of the liquor trade: reports of the English, Scotch and Irish committees’, P.P., 1918, Cd. 9042, xi, 145.

158 Brewers' Society M.B. 6, minutes of the general committee, 14 May 1918.

159 Ibid., minutes of a joint meeting of the parliamentary and law sub-committees, 3 Jan. 1918. A special sub-committee on licensing reform was set up, and the N.T.D.A. consulted.

160 Vaizey, The brewing industry, pp. 25–31.

161 The absolute size of the drinking population is unknowable. If the large increase in female drinking, noted by every social commentator, was a real one it seems likely that the drinking population increased as a proportion of the total population. For gross figures see Wilson, Alcohol and the nation, p. 333.

162 Ibid. pp. 432–3.

163 Shadwell, A., Drink in 1914–22: a lesson in control (London, 1923), p. 99Google Scholar, makes the point that the Board's regulations had an effect on drinking before supply restrictions took effect, and it may be inferred that the restrictions which remained after the war retained that effectiveness. Unfortunately the fairly steady decline in crude levels of consumption and drunkenness proceedings probably conceals complex changes in drinking habits, the relative real cost of drink, the size of the drinking population, and the prosperity of the drinking classes.

164 The Labour party, Labour and the liquor trade (London, 1923).Google Scholar

165 Report of the royal commission on licensing, P.P., 1931–2, Cmd. 3988, xi, 573.

166 Rowntree and Sherwell, State purchase of the liquor trade.

167 Lloyd George, War memoirs, i, 197.

168 Whittaker, T., ‘The drink trade and state purchase’, The Contemporary Review (June 1915), p. 702.Google Scholar

169 On manufacturers' pressure groups see Stephen Blank, Industry and government in Great Britain (Farnborough, 1973)Google Scholar; Turner, John, ‘The British Commonwealth Union and the general election of 1918’, English Historical Review, XCII (1978).Google Scholar

170 For the view that Lloyd George's wartime premiership was a period of dynamism and efficient mobilization of the nation's resources, see Lloyd, E. M. H., Experiments in state control at the War Office and the ministry of food (Oxford, 1924)Google Scholar, Beveridge, W. H., British food control (London, 1928)Google Scholar, Hurwitz, S. J., State intervention in war (New York, 1949)Google Scholar, and Hancock, W.K. and Gowing, M. M., British war economy (London, 1949). The difficulty is to distinguish the effective from the purely symbolic intervention, and to decide whether the ends achieved justified the costs to economic efficiency, freedom, fiscal responsibility, and administrative smoothness.Google Scholar