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THE TEMPERANCE PROBLEM AND
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" The elaborate treatise on 'The Temperance Problem
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aspects of the subject." Times.
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more clearly or dispassionately reviewed." The Daily
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" The completest, the best informed, and the sanest
work on the drink traffic, and the various remedies
proposed for it, that has yet been published."- West-
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" An important book both for the extreme lucidity with
which the facts are presented, and for its width of view.
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only of social reformers, but of all electors who wish to
form a judgment on the subject." Literature.
" Few contributions to the study of social questions that
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LONDON : HODDER AND STOUGHTON
British
4 Gothenburg' Expen
and Public -House Trusts
By JOSEPH U&OWNTREE
fc? ARTHUR SHERWELL
Joint Authors of The Temperance
Problem and Social Reform . . .
THIRD
EDITION
London: HODDER G? STOUGHTON
27 Paternoster Row -*> -+> MCMIII
PrtMltd by Heuell, Watson 6- Vinty, Ld., London and Ayltsbury.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
> I. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND CONDITION'S OF
>.
SUCCESS ....... 1
: II. "THE BOAR'S HEAD," HAMPTON LUCY,
WARWICK 9
III. THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE ASSOCIA-
TION, LIMITED 15
IV. THE GRAYSHOTT AND DISTRICT REFRESHMENT
T " 4 ASSOCIATION. LIMITED . . 43
ca
I
V. THE ELAN VALLEY CANTEEN, NEAR RITAYADER,
RADNORSHIRE 50
VI. SCARGILL WATERWORKS CANTEEN, HARHOGATE . 58
3 VII. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND . . 63
VIII. PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND . 87
vi CONTENTS
CHAP. PACK
IX. OTHER ISOLATED EXPERIMENTS . . . .91
X. PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES ... 93
XI. CONCLUSION 128
APPENDIX 141
LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS
PLAT! PAGE
1. THE SPARKFORD INN, SPARKFORD, SOMERSET Facing 20
2. THE BAR-ROOM, "PLUME OF FEATHERS," SHERBORNE,
DORSET Facing 34
3. THE " Fox AND PELICAN," GRAYSHOTT, HANTS Facing 44
4. THE COFFEE-ROOM, " Fox AND PELICAN," GRAYSHOTT,
HANTS ......... Facing 48
5. THE KELTY PUBLIC-HOUSE SOCIETY'S TAVERN, KELTY,
FIFESHIRE ...... Facing 74
CHAPTER I
Statement of Principles and Conditions
of Success
r I ^HE past twelve months have witnessed a significant
JL movement, under which extended efforts have been
made to withdraw a portion of the public-house trade
of the country from private hands. These months have
seen the formation of Public-house Trust Companies in
Great Britain and Ireland under the leadership of Earl
Grey, 1 the rapid extension of the People's Refreshment-
House Association, formed in 1896 by the Bishop of
Chester and Major Craufurd, and of other similar
enterprises upon a smaller scale. In all these Companies
it is provided that the dividends of the shareholder
shall be limited to 4 or 5 per cent, per annum, and
that the surplus profits shall be appropriated to objects
of public utility.
It is difficult to determine the full import of this
movement, but it almost certainly marks a perception
1 Already (July 6th, 1901) it is announced that "Arrangements
have been, or are being, completed for the formation of Public-
house Trust Companies in the following localities : The East of
Scotland, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Northumberland, Kent, and
Belfast. Preliminary steps to that end have also been taken in
Bradford, Durham, Essex, Leeds, Liverpool, Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, and Hertford-
shire."
1
2 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND
of the futility of all attempts to exercise effective
restriction and control over the public-house trade so
long as it continues in private hands. It marks also
a growing sense of the absurdity of permitting the
enormous profits of a monopoly created by the State
to pass into private hands.
And, beyond all doubt, the rapid extension of these
company experiments bears witness to the universal
feeling that " something must be done " to stay the
evils of intemperance. Their formation has been wel-
comed by a large portion of the press, and they have
enlisted the support of many men of wide influence who
have hitherto stood aloof from the temperance movement.
Impatient of the endless delays in legislation, conscious
that the Trade is year by year entrenching itself more
firmly and promptly occupying all new ground, the
promoters of these companies have determined to do
what they can under the existing law, and, if possible,
to ensure that any new licences granted shall be held
as a trust in the interest of the public, and not be
handed over to private individuals to be used for private
gain. Public opinion will support the appeal of Lord
Grey in his letter to the licensing magistrates in the
various Petty Sessional Divisions of Northumberland, that,
if they can see their way to do so, they shall offer him,
" on behalf of the People's Refreshment-House Associa-
tion, or some kindred organisation, the refusal of any
new licence they may be disposed to grant, before they
confer it upon a licensee under conditions which will
enable him to lawfully appropriate to his own pocket
profits which, under the plan I propose, would accrue
to the community."
It is well, however, to recognise from the outset the
limitations which, until a large measure of temperance
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS 3
reform has been carried, must necessarily attach to these
experiments, and the difficulties, in some directions almost
insuperable, under which they will be conducted.
These difficulties have already been experienced in the
rural experiments that for some years past have been
carried on in different parts of the country ; they will
press even more heavily upon the Trust Company houses
which it is proposed to open in the towns. The true
character of these difficulties will probably best appear
in a review of the conditions that are essential to the
success of company control.
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN COMPANY CONTROL
The fullest evidence as to these conditions is to be
obtained from an examination of the working of the
system in Norway and Sweden, where it has been carried
on for more than thirty years under the guidance of
able and disinterested men. Before, however, we tabulate
this evidence, the question should be answered : What
is the success that is sought? Is it merely to havo
an orderly public-house in which drunkenness shall bo
forbidden, in which the licence law shall be observed,
in which no credit shall be given, in which gambling
and all immoral accessories shall be done away with,
in which, in short, the present consumption of alcohol
(or that part of it which is not distinctly intemperate
in character) shall be carried on, though under improved
conditions ? Is this the whole of the success that is
sought, or does the success aimed at go further and
seek to bring about a substantial reduction in the normal
consumption ?
This question is fundamental, as upon the answer that
is given to it will probably depend the lines of policy
4 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND
of the Trust Companies. It is often assumed that the
problem to be solved is solely one of intemperance, by
which we mean flagrant and manifest excess, and that
apart from this the normal consumption of alcohol calls
for no special attention on the part of statesmen and
temperance reformers. But surely this view of the
problem is inadequate, if on no other grounds, certainly
on this, that it leaves out of consideration the serious
economic danger that results from the present average
expenditure upon alcohol ! The present writers have
elsewhere 1 conclusively shown that the average family
expenditure of the working classes in this country upon
drink cannot be less than six shillings per week a sum
that is probably more than one-sixth of their average
family income. This expenditure clearly leaves no
sufficient margin for the maintenance of that standard
of physical and mental efficiency which is now seen to
be of primary importance in the industrial competition
of nations. In view of this fact it would seem to be
self-evident that no experiment could be considered
really " successful " that did not bring about a substantial
reduction in the normal expenditure upon drink.
With this preamble we may consider what in Norway
and Sweden have been found to be the conditions of
success in company management.
1. The elimination of private profit from the sale of
drink.
This principle carries us further than is sometimes
seen. Not only must the actual dispenser of the
drink have no pecuniary interest in the amount of
liquor sold, but the manager of a company who
1 The Temperance Problem and Social Reform
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS 5
appoints and determines the position of the staff
should also know that his salary is independent
of sales. This vital principle of the elimination of
private profit would also be invaded if those from
whom the liquor is bought could as shareholders
or directors influence the policy of the company.
2. Public cupidity must not take the place of pi'ivate
cupidity, and to this end the appropriation of
the profits must be determined by clear statutory
law.
The experience of the Scandinavian countries
upon this point is exceedingly suggestive. In
Gothenburg, as is well known, the city rates are
aided by the profits of the Bolag, 1 and an amount
equal to about one-third of the total municipal
revenue is annually received from this source. The
ratepayers of the city have thus a direct interest
in encouraging the sale of liquor. The enlightened
founders of the system did not intend that the
profits should be so used, but were driven to accept
this arrangement owing to the absence of statutory
law determining their appropriation. In Norway
the company system was introduced later than in
Sweden. The Norwegians recognised the danger
lurking in the Swedish system, and the Norwegian
law of 1871, under which the companies were
established, expressly provided that the profits of
the Samlags should be devoted to " objects of public
utility." It was further provided that the bye-laws
of each Samlag should be approved by the central
1 Bolag is the Swedish, and Samlag the Norwegian, word for
" Company."
6 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES AND
Government. This system was admittedly far better
than the Swedish, yet the temperance reformers of
Norway justly regarded with apprehension a scheme
under wliich ordinary charities and valuable town
improvements were dependent upon the profits of
the local drink traffic. To guard against this danger
the temperance party were able to embody in the
Act of 1894 a change in the method of appropriating
profits under which 65 per cent, of the whole now
goes to the State. In both countries there has
been but an imperfect recognition of the need for
providing upon an extensive scale out of the profits
of the trade counter-attractions to the public-house.
3. In any town in which a Company is established
it must have a monopoly of the retail licences,
both " on " and" o/."
This monopoly is essential to the full success of
the company system. In reducing the hours of
sale, in the non-serving of young persons below
the age of eighteen, in prohibiting sales on credit, in
abolishing adventitious attractions in their houses,
and in many other ways the controlling companies
have been able to exercise a powerful restrictive
influence ; but such influence obviously could not
have been exercised if within a few doors from
the company shops other licensed bouses had been
open in which none of these restrictions were
enforced. The companies, with few exceptions
(those which do occur are mischievous), have a
complete monopoly of the sale of spirits, but
unfortunately neither in Sweden nor in Norway is
beer included within the scope of the controlling
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS 7
system. By common consent this is its weakest
point. The Scandinavian experience distinctly points
to the need of a monopoly extending to the retail
sale of all kinds of alcoholic liquor.
4. The system must provide for the full liberation
of the progressive sentiment in a locality.
" There can be little doubt," to quote words which
the present writers have used elsewhere, 1 " that if
temperance reform is to advance upon the ordinary
lines of social progress in this country, it must do
so by giving the localities a large measure of self-
government in relation to the drink traffic, and,
subject to the observance of a few conditions to
be laid down by Parliament, everything is to be
gained by the grant of such liberty. The public
opinion of the large towns, with their intelligence
and municipal spirit quickened by the possession
of power to deal effectively with intemperance, will
shape itself in definite forms. But there must be
a real liberation of the local forces."
This liberation of the local forces can be accom-
plished under a system of company control if the
company is in close association with the municipal
government, as in Norway and Sweden. In the
Bergen Samlag, for instance, out of forty members
of the committee of management twenty-five are
chosen by the shareholders and fifteen by the
municipal council. The committee, therefore, acts
with full knowledge of the wishes and opinions of
the locality. The close association of the Samlag
with the municipal council is further maintained
1 Preface to The Temperance Problem and Social Reform.
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
by the fact that the latter, in conjunction with the
magistracy, are (subject to the veto of the State
governor) the licensing authority from whom the
companies at the expiration of each quinquennial
period have to apply for the renewal of their licence.
A controlling company so constituted is a responsible
body responsible, in the first instance, to the
municipality, and through it to the local community.
This system is quickly responsive to an enlightened
public opinion. The temperance reformer can
influence it either by direct service on the city
council or by furthering the return of those in whose
policy he concurs.
5. Lastly, if these Companies are to achieve any high
success they must be conducted as undertakings
having for their object a distinct temperance
end, to which commercial considerations 'must
be strictly subordinated.
It may be confidently asserted that the success
of the various controlling companies in Sweden and
Norway as agencies for the advance of temperance
has been proportionate to the degree in which they
have carried out the five principles enumerated
above. The efficacy of these principles does not
depend upon anything peculiar to the Scandinavian
soil ; they would be as potent in this country as
elsewhere. If kept steadily in mind they should aid
us in forming an opinion of the value, as temperance
agencies, of the companies which have been or are
about to be formed in this country.
CHAPTER II
"The Boar's Head," Hampton Lucy,
Warwick
Date started. Population of Parish.
1877. 500.
ONE of the first persons in Great Britain to attempt
an experiment upon " Gothenburg " lines was the
Rev. Osbert Mordaunt, Rector of Hampton Lucy, Warwick.
On his appointment to the parish a quarter of a century
ago, Mr. Mordaunt found himself sole trustee of a village
inn which had belonged to the former incumbent, but
had been bequeathed by him to his successors in trust
for the parish. 1 The population of the parish was small
and much scattered ; but as the inn was the only licensed
house in the parish the nearest public-house being two
miles away Mr. Mordaunt determined upon an ex-
periment upon the general lines of the Gothenburg
system, the main principles of the experiment to be:
(1) the purity of the liquor sold a point upon which
Mr. Mordaunt lays great emphasis; and (2) that "the
person who sells the beer must have no interest in
the profits. He must merely be a dispenser."
In practice, and as a matter of convenience, the rector
1 The rent of the inn is devoted to the payment of the organist's
salary.
io "THE BOAR'S HEAD,"
has always appointed one of his own servants a gardener
or a coachman as manager. He is allowed the house
rent free and a small sum for management, and receives
whatever profits he can make upon temperance drinks
and food. He is also allowed to take " the profits upon
the stablings, such as they are." The sale of food is
small.
No spirits are sold, the spirit licence having been
abolished when the experiment was begun. A certain
quantity of spirits is, however, brought into the village
by the grocers' carts. The abolition of the spirit licence
was at first extremely unpopular, but complaints are not
often made now. It should be added that to meet cases
of emergency where the doctor orders spirits, the rector
is always willing to supply them gratuitously from his
own home. Mr. Mordaunt is clearly of opinion that the
abolition of the spirit licence has lessened the consumption
of spirits in the village. " People have no opportunity
now," he says, " of going to the public-house and asking
for threepenny-worth or sixpenny- worth of gin or brandy,
or whatever they want. I am certain, for instance,
amongst women that that kind of thing has ceased
altogether."
The usual public-house hours are observed, and no
limit as to the quantity supplied to sober people is ever
attempted. No one, however, is allowed to be served who
shows any sign of drunkenness. " If anyone is decidedly
drunk," said the rector in his evidence before the Royal
Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws, in June, 1898,
" I expect to be informed. I am hardly ever told of a
case now. I admit this may sometimes happen, that
a man will come in the worse for liquor who has been,
perhaps, to market or to town somewhere, and who comes
in and possibly gets served with some beer before his
HAMPTON LUCY, WARWICK 11
condition is found out. We sometimes get the credit for
having made such a person drunk, and even that seldom
occurs."
Sales on credit are absolutely forbidden.
Nearly all the profits go back to the parish in some
shape or other to assist the charities. For instance, a
" harvest home " is given to the entire parish every year,
chiefly out of the profits of the public-house. 1
On being asked if he had ever felt any temptation to
increase the profits for the sake of conferring a general
benefit on the parish, the rector replied : " Oh, no !
I never felt any inclination to do that at all." Asked,
further, if he could conceive of such a temptation existing,
he replied : " I can conceive it, but not in anyone's
mind who was really interested in the sobriety of the
people."
GENERAL RESULTS
Speaking of the general results of the experiment, in a
statement published a few years back, Mr. Mordaunt says :
" I have reason to believe that on account of the liquor
being pure and wholesome, and therefore satisfying, much
less is consumed than formerly. Low wages may have
had something to do with a decrease of consumption.
But when wages were higher, some years ago, I noticed
that less beer was purchased with a good quality of liquor,
although the price remained the same. Before the
' public ' changed hands perhaps drunkenness was no
worse here than in many places ; but cases were common
enough. I am thankful to say now they are compara-
tively rare, and seldom occur, except people have come in
1 " About two years' profits were once devoted to the sinking of
wells and erection of pumps in various places, the water supply
being improved at the expense of the beer."
12 "THE BOAR'S HEAD,"
from other places the worse for liquor, and have been
accidentally served with more."
In his evidence before the Royal Commission, in June,
1898, the rector said : " I cannot say that there is never
any drunkenness, but I think I can safely say that
drunkenness is reduced to a minimum. We very rarely
have a case of drunkenness, and hardly ever in connection
with the public-house."
In concluding his evidence before the Commission,
Mr. Mordaunt was asked whether the improvement in
the parish was not rather due to the elimination of spirits
than to the special virtue of the management ? And he
replied : " It may be partly due to that, no doubt. It
is chiefly due to drinking not being encouraged." He
added : " Perhaps there is more done parochially than
there used to be. For instance, I established a reading-
room some time ago for young men. They sit there and
spend a good deal of their time in the winter evenings in
these reading-rooms. That has a negative good influence,
and I hope keeps them out of the public-house."
In summing up elsewhere 1 the results of his experience,
Mr. Mordaunt says : " My experience leads me to the
following conclusions :
" 1. Temperance reformers do not agitate sufficiently
against the evils of adulteration, or, to say the least,
against the injury caused to the community by the sale
of unwholesome liquor. . . . Certain I am that it is
not pure beer, but the mixture sold under the name,
which is a potent cause of drunkenness and of the
craving for drink amongst thousands who scarcely ever
touch spirits. . . .
1 Pojyular Control of the Liquor Traffic : Two Successful
English Experiments, p. 11.
HAMPTON LUCY, WARWICK 13
" 2. There are many villages and country towns in
which property is not divided, where the public-house
or houses belong to one squire or landlord. Why
should not such proprietors take the matter into their
own hands this could be done with very little trouble
to themselves and so promote health and sobriety
amongst their people ? . . . . The enormous number
of public-houses now in the hands of the brewers must,
of course, make a change difficult or impossible for
many landlords who might be willing to make it. I
only plead in such cases for my system to be attempted
as soon as the emancipation of the ' public ' is
possible. . . .
" 3. As regards profit and loss, the business which
has paid the publican may be less profitable, but
certainly no loss, to the landlord. I am told that it
can hardly be made to answer if less business than
to the amount of 300 per annum is done. My
own figures seem to show that at 300 there is some
profit, and that at a figure considerably below this
there might be no loss."
Mr. Mordaunt adds : " I am not prepared to say
anything very definite by way of advising an experiment
of this kind being tried in the face of opposition from
other ' publics,' over which a landlord may have no
control. But I am very much inclined to think that
it would answer, even under such circumstances, simply
because the really moderate drinkers (who are still, let
us hope, in a majority) would soon discover where they
could get the most wholesome return for their money,
besides knowing that the manager had no interest
whatever in encouraging them to drink or in selling
cheap stuff for the sake of extra profit."
H "THE BOAR'S HEAD"
In the same pamphlet, however, Mr. Mordaunt states
that, as " the possessor of a monopoly undisturbed," he
has " succeeded with the system pursued better than
could have been expected were there other houses to
contend with " ; and this conclusion seems to be fully
borne out by the history of similar experiments elsewhere.
Experience in all such experiments points conclusively
to the fact that only limited and imperfect results can
be obtained when there is not a complete monopoly of
the local traffic.
CHAPTER III
The People's Refreshment>House Association,
Limited
THE first important attempt to apply some of the
essential principles of the Gothenburg system to
the management of the retail liquor traffic in this
country was made by the People's Eefreshment -House
Association, Limited. This Association was formed in
1896, with the Bishop of Chester as chairman of the
executive council, and, from small beginnings, it has
steadily extended its operations until it has now (July,
1901) eighteen houses under its management. So far
its operations have been confined to the rural districts,
but this has been the result of accident rather than of
design, and the Association proposes, as opportunity offers,
to acquire possession of town houses also.
According to its published statements, the aim of the
Association is "to give wider facilities for the adoption
of the system of public-house management, with limited
profits, already successfully at work in various parts of
the United Kingdom.
"With this object, it seeks to lease existing public-
houses, to acquire new licences at places where the
growth of the population obliges the licensing magistrates
to create new ones, and to establish canteens and
15
16 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
refreshment-bars where required on large public works,
at collieries, and elsewhere."
The salient features of the system introduced into the
public-houses managed by the Association are set forth
as follows :
(a) In order to remove all temptation to the manager
to push the sale of intoxicants, he is paid a fixed
salary, and is allowed no profit whatever on the
sale of alcoholic drinks.
(6) On the other hand, to make it to his interest to
sell non-intoxicants in preference to beer and
spirits, he is allowed a profit on all trade in food
and non-alcoholics.
(c) To enable the customer to get tea, coffee, temper-
ance drinks, or light refreshments just as easily
as beer or spirits, these are made readily accessible
at the bars, and are served promptly. In this way
the beer and spirit trade is deposed from the
objectionable prominence into which, from motives
of profit, it is pushed in the ordinary public-house,
the aim of the Association being to maintain the
house in a general sense as a public-house, but to
conduct the trade on the lines of a respectable
house of refreshment at popular prices instead of
that of a mere drinking-bar.
(d) To guard against the evils of bad liquor, great care
is taken that everything supplied is of the best
quality.
The capital which is from time to time required to
carry on the Association's increasing business is offered
for subscription to the public in the form of 1 shares,
entitled to a dividend out of profits at a rate not ex-
ceeding 5 per cent, per annum, after payment of which
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 17
and making provision for a reserve fund, the surplus profit
is devoted to objects of public utility, local or general,
as the president and vice-presidents in consultation
with the council may determine. The dividend is not
cumulative.
The rules of the Association provide :
1. That the business of the Association shall be
managed by a council consisting of not more than
fifteen persons, who shall be elected from a list
of persons nominated by the shareholders.
2. That any officer or council-man may be removed from
office by a majority of two-thirds of the members
voting at a special general meeting called for that
purpose.
3. That no member, other than a registered society,
shall hold an interest exceeding 200 in the shares
of the Association.
4. That each member shall have one vote only in
respect of the share or shares held by him.
Major Craufurd, who co-operated with the Bishop of
Chester in the formation of the Association, in a letter to
the present writers, dated July 7th, 1901, says in respect
of this rule : " My idea in framing the rule was to
safeguard the voting power getting into the hands of
interested parties, who might buy up shares and parcel
them out in blocks of two hundred to their nominees.
This one shareholder one vote plan, which would apply
to a poll as well as to meetings, would, it was thought,
prevent this."
The following is a complete list of the inns now under
the control of the Association. It will be noticed that
they are widely distributed over the country :
2
1 8 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
Date
acquired. Name of House.
1897. Sparkford Inn.
1898. Meynell Ingram Arms.
The Green Man.
1899. Red Lion Inn.
Rose and Crown.
Plymstock Inn.
Jubilee Inn.
1900. Mermaid Inn.
Royal Oak.
Plume of Feathers.
Dog and Doublet.
Failand Inn.
Buck's Arms.
Norfolk Hero.
1901. Wharf Inn.
Rose and Portcullis.
Broad Oak.
Carnarvon Arms.
Locality.
Sparkford, Somerset.
Hoar Cross, Burton-on-Trent.
Tunstall, Wickham Market.
Broad Clyst, Exeter.
Thorney, Peterborough.
Plymstock, Plymouth.
Flax Bourton, Bristol .
Wightwick, Wolverhampton.
Ramsden, Charlbury.
Sherborne, Dorset.
Sandon, Stafford.
Failand, Bristol.
Blickling, Aylsham.
Stanhoe, Norfolk.
Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Butleigh, Somerset.
Strelley, Notts.
Tiversall, Notts.
The report of the Association for 1900 shows that there
was a net profit on the last year's working of 1,107 11s.
(or, with the amount carried forward in the previous year,
of 1,166 6s. 4d). Of this amount 699 Is. lid. went
to meet the expenses of the central office ; 20 17s. Id.
for legal expenses, interest on manager's guarantees, and
depreciation of office furniture ; 225 6s. 4d. was devoted
to the payment of dividends ; 65 was carried to reserve,
and 56 Is. was carried forward ; leaving the sum of
100 to be "distributed for public utility."
The net profit on capital (4,993) l was 22 per cent.
Inasmuch as the houses managed by the Association are
for the most part small, consisting almost exclusively of
village inns, situated in thinly peopled districts where
the local sales are small and the expenses of management
The present capital of the Association is 8,742.
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED ig
(including reconstruction and repairs) often unusually
heavy, this statement of profits affords useful evidence of
the lucrative nature of the traffic and of the large sums
that will be available for wise public purposes when the
system of monopoly, either by companies or by direct
municipal action, is made possible by law. It remains
true, however, that on the purely commercial side the
Association is at a disadvantage by the fact that its
operations are confined to the rural districts. Public-
house profits are determined by the volume of trade done,
and in this respect there can be no comparison between
a rural and an urban trade. The fact that no more than
9 per cent, of the net profits is as yet available for
purposes of " public utility " is due to the somewhat
heavy expenses of the central office, which, " being those
of a propagandist body operating over a very large area,
are much in excess of the requirements of a purely
commercial undertaking." The objects to which this
portion of the surplus profits is appropriated are described
elsewhere. 1
In the actual work of management a large measure
of freedom is necessarily left to the local manager, who,
in the official instructions issued by the central executive,
is asked " to regard himself as an agent in the cause of
temperance and good behaviour, who by the general tone
and system of management of his house will make it a
place where recreation and social intercourse of a harm-
less nature may be enjoyed, and where refreshments
of the best quality may be obtained under conditions
that encourage temperance."
There are no special rules or restrictions as in Norway
and Sweden, the Executive holding that "to subject
persons using a licensed house to rules and restrictions
1 See p. 41.
20 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
other than those prescribed by law or sanctioned by the
licensing authorities would be an infringement of the
rights and freedom of the public for whose convenience
the licence was originally granted and is yearly renewed."
In a general way, and apart from the prominence given
to the sale of food and non-intoxicants and the absence
of all inducement to push the sale of alcoholic drinks,
it may be said that the method of management is closely
similar to that of an ordinary well-conducted village inn.
By the courtesy of the Secretary of the Association
(Captain Boehmer) the present writers have had an
opportunity of personally inspecting several of the houses
managed by the Association, and a brief description of
these, which are said to be typical, may be of interest
as illustrating the methods and aims of the Association.
SPARKFORD INN, SPARKFORD, SOMERSET
Date when acquired by Association. Population of Village.
October, 1897. Between 200 and 300.
In some respects the Sparkford Inn furnishes the most
interesting and useful illustration of the methods of
the Association. It was the first inn acquired by the
Association, and has been under their direct control
since October, 1897, or nearly a year longer than any
other house. It is situated on the main road, near to the
Grreat Western station at Sparkford, but away from the
village proper, which is exceedingly small and contains
but one shop a small general store.
The house is fully licensed, and has a complete
monopoly of the local trade, the next nearest licensed
house being more than a mile away. The local trade is,
however, small, and quite inadequate to support the
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 21
inn, which depends mainly upon passing traffic and other
extra-local trade. The fact that the house is situated
on the main cycle road attracts to it many cyclists and
tourists, while at the back of the inn is a large stock-
yard where sales of stock are held every fortnight. It
is from these sources that the main custom of the house
springs.
The house itself, which, like all the other houses
managed by the Association, is rented and not owned,
is a picturesque, old-fashioned country inn, with rose-
trees in front, a garden at the side, and orchard,
stock-yard, stables, etc., at the rear. The inn and
garden cover slightly more than an acre of ground,
while the orchard and stock-yard comprise about 4
acres.
The bar proper is a small room 15 ft. by 10 ft., fitted
with a table and a few chairs, and used chiefly by the
farmers and other local customers of the " better clas."
Immediately adjoining this is the smoke-room, 20 ft.
by 12 ft., which has a stone floor and, like the bar is
furnished with a table and chairs. This is used by the
villagers generally. The tap-room is a much plainer
room. It has the flag-stone floor common to such rooms,
and is furnished with rather rough benches, tables, And
a few chairs. It is used only in the daytime, and is
chiefly frequented by the field labourers, drovers, etc.
It measures about 17 ft. by 16 ft. On the other side
of the house, and a little away from the bar, is what
is called the commercial-room, a bright, clean room,
about 18 ft. by 15 ft., furnished with a long table,
" Windsor " chairs, and a few pictures. It is here that
teas and other refreshments of a similar character are
generally served.
Upstairs there are six bedrooms. Two of these belong
22 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
to the Association and are let out to visitors at two
shillings per night (one-half of this charge going to
the Association and the other half being credited to the
manager). The rooms are simply furnished, but are
scrupulously clean and comfortable. The other four bed-
rooms belong to the manager and his family.
There is also an upstairs parlour or sitting-room, which
belongs to the manager, but is used on occasion as a
ladies' tea-room or as a sitting-room for summer visitors.
The fittings throughout are simple but sufficient, and
the scrupulous cleanliness which everywhere prevails
reflects great credit upon the manager and his wife.
The public-house trade proper is of a general kind,
a varied stock of liquors being kept, while there is also a
large trade in cider, the quantity of cider sold amount-
ing to about one-fourth of the total sales of " draught "
beers. All liquors are of the best quality, and the age
of the spirits sold is plainly marked upon the label
attached to each bottle. The " off " sale is small,
amounting on an average to no more than a dozen jugs
of cider or beer a day. No credit is given, nor is any
attempt made to push the sale of intoxicants. There
are no games or other adventitious attractions. The
Association did at one time propose to build a skittle-
alley, but subsequently decided not to do so. In the
judgment of the present writers it was well advised in
its later decision. It is noteworthy that no advertise-
ment of alcoholic liquors is allowed in the bar or in
any of the rooms. On the other hand, advertisements
of tea, coffee, and other temperance drinks are con-
spicuously placed in all the passages and rooms, and the
sale of these appears to be encouraged in every possible
way. Ordinary meals and other light refreshments are
also easily procurable, This free advertisement and
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 23
ready supply of food and non-intoxicants of a good
quality is a conspicuous feature of the management,
but it probably represents all that an ordinary manager
is able to accomplish in the way of counteracting the
sale of intoxicants. In the bar trade proper it would
seem to be impossible in a direct way to "push" the
sale of non-intoxicants. The customer, it is said, comes
in " with his order on his lips," and the manager cannot,
when the order for beer or whisky is given, suggest that
the customer should take lemonade instead. In this strict
sense there are obvious limits to the " pushing " of non-
intoxicants ; but it is clear that in less aggressive ways
the sale of such drinks can easily be encouraged, and
this the Association, through its managers, evidently
seeks to do.
The manager is paid a fixed salary, with allowances for
fuel, lighting, etc., and he also receives the whole of the
profits on food and two-thirds of the profits on the sale
of mineral waters. He further receives all profits on
cigarettes and tobacco, the Association reserving to itself
the profits on cigars.
There are no special regulations or restrictions. In
such matters as the hours of sale, Sunday sale, and the
serving of children, the Association adheres strictly to
the provisions of the licensing law. In other matters
reliance is placed on the manager's discretion. There is
no express limit as to the quantity of liquor which a
customer may purchase, the practice being to supply
whatever is asked for in the ordinary way. The manager
stated that in cases where he thought a man had had
enough it was his practice to " put up his finger " as a
warning sign, and also as a hint of his refusal to serve
toore.
The extent to which the locality benefits from the
24 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
profits of this house is largely determined by the result
of the Association's operations as a whole. Not all of its
houses are equally remunerative. In some cases where
the expenditure for alterations and repairs has been
exceptionally heavy, the trading for the first few months
or even for the first year may show an actual loss, and in
dividing its profits the Association is bound to recoup
itself for such loss out of the profits of the more prosperous
inns. In this way it happens that the grants assigned
to objects of " public utility " in Sparkford have hitherto
borne no direct relation to the profits earned in Sparkford.
The effect of this arrangement is largely to diminish the
direct interest of the community in the local sales, and
from this point of view it is to be commended. So far
the grants made for local purposes have not been large.
Last year, when the profits for 1899 were -disposed of,
a sum of 15 was allotted to Sparkford, and this sum was
spent in improving the water supply of the village. This
year a sum of 14 has been voted out of the profits for
1900, the grant being slightly less than in the previous
year, although the profits earned in Sparkford were larger.
The grant has this year been assigned to the Sparkford
school. The usual procedure is for the Council of the
Association to notify the sum which it proposes to allot
to the locality. A village meeting is then called and
a resolution passed fixing the object or objects to be
benefited. This resolution is forwarded to the Secretary
of the Association by the chairman of the meeting, and
a cheque is at once sent.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
In summing up the general impression produced by
our visit to the Sparkford inn, it may be said at once
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 25
that the aim of the house is not so much to restrict sales
as to regulate the conditions under which such sales are
made, and especially to secure the comfort and orderly
behaviour of those frequenting the house. While alcoholic
liquors are freely sold they are in no sense " pushed," and
the customer has at all times a free choice of temperance
drinks of a good quality.
If it be asked whether the change of management
has led to diminished drinking or to a decrease of in-
temperance, it must be said that the natural assumption
is that it has. It is generally agreed that before the
Association took over the house it was neither clean nor
well conducted, so that the change in these respects would
seem to be marked. The entries in the visitors' book
point to a very real improvement under the management
of the Association, and upon a review of all the evidence
it would be difficult to suppose that this has not been the
case. The Rev. F. S. M. Bennett, Vicar of Portwood,
Stockport, who is part owner of the inn, writing on
September 4th, 1898, a year after the transfer had taken
place, stated : "In my opinion the results from the
temperance point of view are most admirable." Similar
testimonials have been received from others.
It is nevertheless matter for disappointment that the
Association has not seen its way to attempt experiments
in earlier closing, and especially to discontinue Sunday
sales. The position which the Association assumes in
reference to these matters is frankly stated in the published
statement of its methods and aims, and its reluctance to
proceed in advance of the licensing law is easily to be
understood and sympathised with; but the value of its
experiments as object lessons in public-house reform is
clearly lessened when no experiments of the kind suggested
are made. In a small and isolated community such a?
26 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
Sparkford, where the Association has a complete monopoly
of the local trade, such experiments would seem to be
comparatively easy. This is especially the case in refer-
ence to Sunday sales. Such sales are at present extremely
small, the bar takings amounting to no more than ten or
twelve shillings for the entire day, while it is stated that
there is practically no Sunday trade until after 8 p.m. It
would appear, therefore, that this is distinctly a case where
the Association might with advantage apply for a six days'
licence.
In other respects the conduct of the house appears to
be excellent. It may be added that in the village itself
little provision seems to be made for the social life and
recreation of the people. There is, it is true, a small
reading-room in the village, but it is altogether inadequate
as a contribution to the recreative needs of the place.
THE "RED LION" INN, BROAD CLYST, DEVON
Date when acquired by Association. Population of Village.
March, 1899. A Few Hundreds.
The inn at Broad Clyst is also situated in an entirely
rural district. The village proper contains but a few
hundred inhabitants, but it is part of a large and scattered
parish which stretches across country for a distance of
seven miles and contains about two thousand inhabitants.
The conditions at Broad Clyst are different in some im-
portant respects from those at Sparkford. The Association,
to begin with, has no monopoly of the local sales. In
addition to the " Red Lion," and only half a mile distant,
is the New Inn, which until recently was a beerhouse
only, but has now acquired a full licence. There is also
another fully licensed house at the station, a mile and a
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 27
half away. The next nearest licensed houses are two and
a half miles and four miles distant respectively.
When the owner of the New Inn first applied for a
full licence the Association instructed its manager to
oppose, but on the last occasion, owing to a strong local
feeling in favour of the application, no opposition was
offered. The effect of the competition is, however,
apparent.
In its structural arrangements the "Eed Lion" is
distinctly inferior to the inn at Sparkford. The bar
proper consists of a private enclosure for those serving.
In front of it is a passage leading from the main doorway,
but divided into a sort of compartment by a separate
door. It is here that " transients " are served.
At the side of the bar, and communicating with it,
is what is called the " glass "-room. It is a cosy room,
25 ft. by 12 ft., furnished with small tables and leather-
cushioned bench seats, and provided with a " polyphon,"
draught-board, etc. On the night of our visit it seemed
to be chiefly frequented by young men. Behind the bar
is a small private sitting-room. On the other side of the
main passage is the tap-room, a somewhat bare and unin-
viting room, with whitewashed walls and a stone floor, and
furnished with a table and rude wooden benches. This
room seemed to be exclusively used by the village
labourers, 1 a number of whom regularly spend their
evenings there. The only games provided are draughts
(when the board is not required in the " glass "-room),
and " ring and peg."
In another part of the building, but on the ground
floor, is the tea-room. This room, which measures about
25 ft. by 19 ft., has a separate entrance, and is brightly and
1 "We were, however, informed that women sometimes use the
tap-room.
28 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
pleasantly furnished with basket chairs, small tables, an
overmantel, etc. It is here that cyclists and other visitors
are served. The room is also let once a month to the
" Young Club " a local sick benefit society, which pays
a rent of thirty shillings a year, and is said to order
little drink.
Upstairs is the dining-room, a fine room, 40 ft. by
20 ft., which is used for " rent dinners." It contains a
good piano. The manager and his wife would like to
use the room in the winter for " smoking-concerts," etc.,
but the Council of the Association wisely refuses its
consent.
The trade done is of a general kind, but " a lot of gin "
is said to be sold. The "off" sales are said to be only
" fair." Gin is sold a penny per quartern cheaper for
"off" consumption, but no reduction is made on other
spirits or on beers. There is a moderately large Sunday
trade, the average takings amounting to about 3. For-
merly the Exeter 'bus called twice on Sundays namely
at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. but the customers it brought were
so disorderly that the manager at last refused to serve
them, and the 'bus now calls at the New Inn.
There is evidently much local prejudice against the
inn, especially on the part of some who formerly fie-
quented it. A good deal of this prejudice appears to be
either unfounded or based upon resentment against the
dispossession of the former tenant, a local man. At the
same time, there is evidently a strong feeling on the part
of some of the villagers that the conduct of the house is
not what it might be, and it must be admitted that our
own observation went to show that the management was
less strict than in the case of the other houses visited.
In one case that came under our own notice a man left
the tap-room obviously worse for liquor, but was allowed
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 29
to return shortly afterwards. As he was notorious in the
village for his drunken habits, the case could hardly have
been an oversight.
There were also complaints that tea and other light
refreshments were not always readily forthcoming. Our
own visit gave us no opportunity of judging of these
complaints. The proportion of temperance drinks and
food sold is, however, small.
The effect of the change of management is undoubtedly
less marked in Broad Clyst than elsewhere. The inn
apparently does less trade than under the former manage-
ment, but this is probably due less to increased restrictions
than to local prejudice, and especially to the competition
of the now fully licensed New Inn. It certainly does
not appear that the aim of the present management is
to restrict sales. The house is conducted much as an
ordinary village inn is conducted, but with an evident
desire on the part of the manageress and her daughter for
" trade." Their motives in this are, however, apparently
single, for they have absolutely no pecuniary inducement
to push the sale of alcoholic liquors. The explanation is
probably to be found in the fact that they are keenly
sensitive to the competition of the rival inn. The force
of this competition certainly tells powerfully against the
Association in Broad Clyst. 1
The pecuniary benefit resulting to the village from the
operations of the Association has not so far been great.
Last year a total grant of 15 was made to the village,
1 We are informed by the Secretary of the Association that Sir
Thomas Dyke Acland, the owner of the inn, has confessed himself
well satisfied with the management of the house, and has stated
that " if he had another house vacant he would offer it to the
Association, although he would like to have a voice in the selection
of the manager."
30 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
of which 5 was devoted to the Nursing Fund, 5 to the
Clothing Club, and 5 spent on village lamps and the
village green. This year (1901) a grant of 20 has been
made to the village, of which 5 has been devoted to
the Nursing Fund, 5 to the Clothing Club, 5 to the
extinction of a debt incurred in erecting a bathing-place,
and 5 has again been spent on village lamps and the
village green.
Of direct counter-attractions to the public-house there
are practically none. The social needs of the village are
supposed to be met by a small reading-room, which
is open during the six winter months only and is
under the charge of the sexton. There are forty-five
members, who pay a weekly subscription of one penny.
The average attendance is said to be fifteen. Several
of the young men who were seen in the " glass "-
room of the " Red Lion " were formerly members of the
reading-room, but left owing to a disturbance. Members
are now elected by ballot. We were informed that there
had been but one concert in the village during the
previous winter.
PLYMSTOCK INN, PLYMSTOCK, DEVON
Date when acquired by Association. Population of Village.
May, 1899. Between 200 and 300.
Plymstock is a small agricultural village situated less
than two miles from Plymouth, and forming part of a
wide parish containing several villages, all of them at
least a mile apart. Plymstock itself has a comparatively
small labouring population, the village consisting chiefly
of a few farmhouses and scattered villas.
The public-house is a simple country inn, small, but
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 31
pleasant-looking, and scrupulously clean. It has a glass-
covered porch in front which admits to a wide lobby
leading to the bar. The drink is drawn at the bar, but
served in either the tap-room or bar-parlour. The former
is a small but cosy room, 12 ft. by 10 ft., warmed in
winter by a bright fire and furnished with a table and
wooden wall-seats. The bar-parlour, which is used by
the farmers, is also a snug room, 15 ft. by 12 ft.
Opposite the bar is the tea-room, a pleasant and bright
room, furnished with chairs and small tables. This room
is reserved for teas and similar refreshments.
There is one bedroom for visitors, but this is rarely
used.
The inn seems to be largely used by the villagers as
a social meeting-place in the evenings. There is a small
reading-room in the village, but this is shortly to be
superseded by a new parish-room, which the vicar, with
the help of the Duke of Bedford (who owns the estate)
and others, is arranging to build. This room, when
ready, will be used as a social institute.
The trade done is small and of a general kind; a
good deal of whisky is sold, the farmers and small
gentry buying it by the bottle. The " off " sale is said
to equal the "on," the former being more than usually
large owing to the fact that the house has only a six
days' licence. 1 No reduction in price is made for "off"
sales. Light refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks are
easily obtainable, but the demand for them is not great.
The manager and his wife both urged that it was im-
possible to " push " the sale of temperance drinks, but
they evidently do their best to encourage such sales,
and the usual advertisements are prominently displayed.
1 No change was made in this respect when the Association
acquired the management of the house.
32 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
Altogether, the management of the house appears to
be admirable. While no deliberate attempt seems to be
made to restrict the sales, the manager is careful to
discourage intemperance, and he is especially firm in
refusing to allow loafing during the day. Local testimony
points clearly to a marked improvement in the conduct
of the house since the Association became responsible
for its management, and our own observation entirely
supports this presumption. The Association has been
fortunate in its choice of a manager, and it is upon the
manager that the success or failure of such experiments
largely turns. It is necessary also to remember that the
Association has in this instance a complete monopoly
of the local traffic a fact of considerable importance in
estimating its success.
We may add that the only grant from profits made to
the village last year was one of 5 towards the village
reading-room. This year a grant of 6 has been made
towards the new parish-room.
The Kev. C. B. Collyns, Vicar of Plymstock, testifies as
follows to the good influence of the new management :
" I am glad to be able to tell you that the new order
of things is a very great improvement on the old, and
appreciated as much by the frequenters of the house
as by others. I am convinced that the temperance cause
is being quietly but really helped by the Association.
Many of those who sat and drank by the hour under the
old regime, and left the house very drunk at closing-time,
now think it too respectable for them, and stay at home.
Under the old management the village was often disturbed
by rowdyism at night ; this has quite disappeared since
the Association acquired the house."
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 33
THE "PLUME OF FEATHERS," SHERBORNE,
DORSET
Date when acquired by Association. Population of Town.
February, 1900. 6,000.
This house, prior to its acquisition by the Association,
was a badly kept and somewhat disreputable place, whose
evil reputation and low class of trade were serious
obstacles in the way of the new management. It was also
so ill-adapted for the purpose for which it was licensed
that important structural alterations, involving an expen-
diture of more than 300, had to be undertaken by
the Association before it was fit for their work. It is a
low, old-fashioned building, somewhat " ramshackle " in
arrangement, and apparently constructed without regard
to the practical requirements of the trade.
On the ground floor is the bar proper, a room 14 ft. by
12 ft., and fitted with a table and chairs. Immediately
opposite is the bar-parlour, a room 13 ft. by 12 ft., in
which only a " glass " trade is done. It has the usual
photographs of houses belonging to the Association and
the ordinary advertisements of temperance drinks, and,
like the bar, is furnished with chairs and a table. A little
to the rear of this room, and approached by the central
passage, is the ruder tap-room, with its stone floor and
wooden benches and the customary table. It is a rather
dark room, used by labourers and others during the
daytime, and on Saturdays by women from the surround-
ing country districts, who come into Sherborne for
shopping.
All beers, etc., are drawn straight "from the wood."
The cellar is immediately behind the bar, at the rear of
the building, and the "off" trade is supplied direct from
3
34 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
the cellar and not from the bar. In this way children
and others entering with jugs do not enter the bar, but
pass direct to the cellar.
Adjoining the main building, but communicating with
it, is the newly added tea-room, a very bright room,
measuring 20 ft. by 13 ft., and pleasantly furnished with
cane chairs, small tables, an overmantel, pictures, etc.
This room has a separate entrance, and from its close
proximity to the famous old Abbey (a popular resort for
visitors in the summer months), it should be freely
patronised for teas and other light refreshments. At
present the trade in this department is small.
In the first few weeks of its management the Association
encountered much prejudice and suspicion, and did very
little trade. The manager, who appears to be in full
sympathy with the aims of the Association, was careful
from the first to discourage loafing and the loose practices
that had formerly prevailed, with the result that the old
customers left and others were slow to take their place.
Gradually, however, the house has won its way, and the
trade now done is said to compare favourably with that of
other houses in the town. The Association is heavily
handicapped in its experiment by the competition which
it has to encounter, and the manager was fully alive to
this in his statement of what was possible in the way of
restrictions and reforms.
There are no less than twenty-six licensed houses
(i*. public-houses and beer-shops) in Sherborne, in
addition to grocers' licences and wine and spirit stores,
and this fact has to be considered in attempting any
reform.
The manager pointed out that even to attempt to close
earlier on Sundays would mean a loss of ordinary trade,
since it would place the house at a disadvantage with
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 35
other licensed houses in the town, and also revive a
prejudice against the Association which it has hardly yet
had time to live down. It is scarcely to be wondered at,
therefore, that the result aimed at in the management of
the house is general good conduct rather than definite
restriction of sales. In this respect the Association can
fairly claim to have succeeded. The house seems to be
largely used as a place for social intercourse, but no
encouragement is given to intemperate drinking, nor is
it knowingly allowed. There are no games nor other
adventitious attractions, and this despite the fact that
skittle-alleys are provided by other publicans in the town.
The " off " trade of the house is small, averaging only
about twelve quarts a day. In accordance with the
custom of the town, prices for "off" sales are reduced.
Pale ale, for example, is sold a penny per pint cheaper
for "off" consumption, and old beer, Burton, and stout
a halfpenny per pint cheaper. No reduction is made
in the case of cheap ale. Other houses in the town also
make a reduction of one penny per gill for all spirits
sold for "off" consumption, but the Association makes
such a reduction in the case of gin only.
The proportion of spirits sold both for "on" and "off"
consumption is not, however, great, the bulk of the trade
consisting of beer and cider.
Temperance drinks are well advertised and are always
readily accessible, but the demand for them is small, a
curious fact being that considerably less mineral waters
are sold under the new management than under the
old. This statement is made on the authority of the
manufacturer who supplied the former tenant and now
supplies the Association. That this does not result
from any lack of eagerness on the part of the present
manager or his wife is certain. They naturally desire
36 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
for their own profit to increase the sale of such drinks,
but state that they can do little directly to " push " them
without running a great risk of driving their customers
away. It is an interesting fact, however, in this con-
nection that the manager regularly opens his house at
6 a.m. (i.e. two hours before the other licensed houses
in Sherborne), in order to supply tea to working men on
their way to their employment. He is able in this way
to sell on an average from thirteen to fifteen cups of tea
every morning before 8 a.m. He has occasionally sold
as many as thirty in one morning, but that has been
due to special causes.
Whether the house under its new management has
actually lessened the amount of intemperance in the
town it is difficult and, indeed, impossible to decide. In
view of the competition that surrounds it, it could hardly
be expected to accomplish much in this direction. It is
certain, however, that the character of the trade in the
house itself has greatly improved. The loafers and other
disreputable persons who frequented the inn under its
former management no longer cross its threshold; they
have probably merely transferred their custom to other
houses where the management is less strict, but it is
something gained to have closed the doors of one public-
house against them. Inasmuch, also, as it was not at
any time a question of abolishing the licence, but only
of changing the conditions under which it was exercised,
the Association is entitled to full credit for the unques-
tionable improvement that it has in this respect effected.
SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS
The foregoing instances, which are said to be typical
of the houses rented by the Association, will probably
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 37
suffice to illustrate the methods and aim of the People's
Refreshment-House Association, and they furnish evidence
enough to allow of a just estimate being made of the
advantages and limitations of the experiment.
ADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM
1. The first and most obvious virtue of the system is
that it completely eliminates the element of private
profit from the sale of intoxicants in the houses managed
by the Association.
2. The Association in no way authorises or sanctions
any attempt on the part of its managers to push the
sale of alcoholic liquors. On the contrary, it has clearly
done its best to withdraw all inducement in this direction.
That it could greatly increase its sales if it cared to do
so is, we think, certain.
3. The utmost prominence is given to the sale of
temperance beverages, and a powerful pecuniary induce-
ment is offered to the managers to foster the sale of such
drinks. Although the Association provides and furnishes
the tea-rooms, and supplies all china and other utensils,
the whole of the profits on food are given to the manager,
as well as two-thirds of the profits on the sale of mineral
waters.
4. There are no sales on credit.
5. Gambling and all the immoral accessories of the
public-house are abolished.
6. Music and other adventitious attractions are not
allowed except by the special permission of the Central
Council. In practice no such permission seems to be
given, the only apparent exception to this being the case
of the Red Lion Inn at Broad Clyst, where draughts and a
" peg and ring " board were in use. In this respect the
388012
38 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
Association has wisely modified in practice the theory of
recreative attractions which was a feature of the scheme
as originally proposed.
7. Full attention is given to the purity of the liquors
sold and only those of good quality are admitted. A
careful system of inspection is provided for by the
Council. In practice the inspection is done by the
Secretary of the Association, whose method is to enter
a house without notice and take samples of the liquors
sold in the bar. These samples are sent back to the
merchants who supplied them, to ascertain whether the
liquors are of the same strength as when first supplied,
and also if the liquors are actually the same. So fai,
according to the statement of the Secretary, there has
never been "a single case of detection or suspicion in
that connection."
8. All possibility of collusion between the brewer or
distiller and the local manager is rigorously excluded. 1
Wines and spirits are ordered by the central office. In
the case of beer, orders are sent by the local managers,
but the central office chooses the brewer. All invoices
(whether for beer or spirits) go direct to the central
office, and the liquors are then charged to the local
managers at selling prices. The local managers are
further charged 2| per cent, for " unaccountable profit " 3
on all liquors sent.
9. The Association rents all its premises, which,
1 Rule 31 provides that " It shall be the duty of the Council to
discharge from the service of the Association any person em-
ployed by the Association who directly or indirectly shall receive
from any other person supplying or dealing with the Association
any gift, bonus, commission, or benefit."
2 This is a trade term used to denote a margin of profit that
accrues from certain uncontrollable causes, such as the impossibility
of filling a glass absolutely full, etc.
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 39
generally speaking, are simply furnished and scrupulously
clean.
10. Finally, it is to be noted that the Association has
in no case added to the number of licences in a locality,
but has simply acquired existing licences where suppres-
sion was not a practical issue. 1
LIMITATIONS AND DEFECTS
The defects of the system arise chiefly out of the
limitations by which, in the present state of the law, it
is necessarily bound, and for these it is not properly
responsible. It is nevertheless important to notice them,
since they serve to indicate the legislative reforms that
are necessary before a true demonstration of the value of
the Gothenburg system can be given in this country.
1. The most obvious drawback to the experiment is the
fact that the Association has only in certain cases a
monopoly of the local traffic. In many cases it has
to encounter the full force of local competition, and the
effect of this is always to create a set of conditions un-
favourable to complete or even important success. It is,
of course, obvious that even with competition certain
improvements are possible, and it is clearly a gain to the
cause of temperance when the element of private profit is
eliminated from even a single public-house ; but the
motives that underlie the Gothenburg system include
much more than the elimination of private profit and the
institution of minor reforms, and the value of the system
as a temperance instrument is seriously diminished when
it has to withstand the practically unfettered competition
1 The Association is not, however, opposed to the policy of
acquiring new licences. It would "always be ready to come
forward and apply for a new licence to save it from falling into
private hands."
40 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
of a privately conducted trade. It must always be
remembered that in a struggle of this kind competition
tells against reform rather than for it, and even where no
actual injury is done to essential principles there will
always be limitation of effort and the interposition of a
serious obstacle in the path of progressive reform. It is
for this reason that the present writers have elsewhere l
attached so much importance to the need of permissive
powers under which private companies such as the
People's Refreshment-House Association, or municipal
councils, can acquire a complete monopoly of the licences
granted to a village or town.
2. It is further to be regretted that the Association
has not so far felt itself at liberty to proceed in advance
of the law (as the companies in Sweden and Norway have
done) in such matters as reducing the hours of sale,
Sunday closing, raising the age limit for children, etc.
It is true that in such cases as Broad Clyst and Sherborne,
where the Association encounters the competition of other
licensed houses, it would be difficult, and, from a com-
mercial point of view, probably suicidal to attempt it ;
but in other cases where the Association has a complete
monopoly of the local traffic it would seem both reasonable
and useful to introduce reforms of this kind. The fact
that the licensing law prescribes the hours of sale is
not in itself (as experiments elsewhere have shown) an
insuperable barrier, and it is likely that local sentiment
would, as a general rule, support any action of the
Association in this direction. Certainly experiments in
the public management of the liquor traffic lose much
of their practical value as object-lessons when reforms of
this kind are not attempted.
3. The appropriation of profits to objects of "public
1 The Temjwance Problem and Social Reform.
ASSOCIATION, LIMITED
utility " has so far (owing to heavy expenditure in other
directions) been so small that the present writers hardly
feel justified in alluding to it as a defect ; but in view of
their strong conviction that the first charge upon surplus
profits should always be the provision of efficient counter-
attractions to the public-house, they cannot regard the
present method of appropriation as completely satisfactory.
Last year the total sum voted to objects of utility was
, and grants were made as follows 1 :
Sparkford, 15, Improved water supply to village.
Hoar Cross, 10 towards fund for erection of
fountain.
30 towards fund for district nurse.
15 as follows : Nursing Fund, 5 ;
Clothing Club, 5; Village lamps
and green, 5.
30 as follows: Mutual Improvement
Association, 15; Peterborough In-
firmary, 5 ; Thorney Flower Show,
5; and Thorney Foal Show, 5.
Plymstock, 5 towards village reading-room.
Flax Bourton, 7 towards School Fund.
It will be seen that while all the objects were in
1 In the present year (1901) a sum of 100 has been voted as
under :
Sparkford,
Hoar Cross,
Tunstall,
Broad Clyst,
Tunstall,
Broad Clystj
Thorney,
Thorney,
Plymstock,
14, Sparkford School.
6, Fund for fountain.
23, District Nurse Fund.
20 as follows : Village green and light, 5 ;
Clothing Club, 5 ; Nursing Fund, 5 ;
Debt incurred in erecting bathing-place, 5.
21 as follows : Thorney Horticultural
Society, 4; Thorney Foal Show, 4;
Mutual Improvement Society, 13.
6, Parish Room.
Flax Bourton, 10, Voluntary School Fund.
42 THE PEOPLE'S REFRESHMENT-HOUSE
themselves good, they could only in a few cases be
regarded as " counter-attractions " to the public-house,
72 (out of a total of 112) being spent either upon
objects properly chargeable to the rates or upon forms of
charitable aid usually supported by private philanthropy.
In the present instance the matter is chiefly important
because of the serious deficiency of social institutes and
other centres of recreation in the villages in which the
Association carries on its operations.
In judging of the work of the Association as a whole,
however, it is to be observed that the Executive do not
regard their sysjtem of management as having " reached
finality," nor as having yet reached the stage where it can
be described as entirely fulfilling the aim which the
promoters had in view. All that is claimed is that in
their short career they have covered " a good part of the
way on the road towards an ideal which is kept clearly in
view." Meantime there are said to be "a good many
directions in which the Executive are tentatively trying
improvements, all of which will come in due time."
CHAPTER IV
The Grayshott and District Refreshment
Association, Limited
THE "FOX AND PELICAN," GRAYSHOTT, HANTS
Estimated Population
Date opened. of Village.
August, 1899. 600.
experiment made in 1898 by the Grayshott and
District Refreshment Association, Limited, of which
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., is the president, marked in
some respects a new departure in the attempt to apply
the principles of the Gothenburg system to the manage-
ment of the liquor traffic in this country. In all previous
attempts a benevolent despotism had been present to
assist either in the promotion or the management of
the undertaking, the owner of the estate or the local
clergyman being responsible for the licence. The Gray-
shott experiment began on strictly co-operative lines,
the villagers themselves taking up many of the shares.
It was also the first house in England l to receive a new
licence for the express purpose of an experiment on
Gothenburg lines.
1 The Hill of Beath tavern in Fifeshire was an earlier instance.
The Elan village canteen, although established much earlier than
the Grayshott experiment, was not an ordinary public-house.
44
The history of the experiment is clearly set forth in
a statement issued by the Committee of the Grayshott
Association in 1899, from which a few facts may be
quoted. In the winter of 1897-8 the rapid growth
of the village of Grayshott and the surrounding district
forced upon the attention of residents much interested
in its welfare the question of public-house accommoda-
tion, as it was felt that very soon application would be
made, from one quarter or another, for permission to
open a fully licensed house. Some time previously, when
the place was much smaller, an off-licence had been
granted, but it seemed to the large majority of those
interested that, if a fully licensed house were to be
opened in the village, it would be in every way desirable
that it should be one in which no prominence should
be given to the sale of alcoholic drinks, but rather a
refreshment-house in which alcoholic liquors of the best
quality should always be obtainable, but where food and
non-alcoholic beverages of good quality and at moderate
prices should also be freely provided and their con-
sumption encouraged.
" Preliminary meetings were therefore held, information
from various quarters procured, the assistance of the
People's Eefreshment-House Association enlisted, and,
as a first practical step, the purchase of the plot of
land on which the "Fox and Pelican" stands secured.
Subsequently the Grayshott and District Refreshment
Association, Limited, was registered under the Industrial
and Provident Societies Act, 1893, with a capital of
2,500, and subscriptions solicited.
"So sympathetic was the feeling as to the importance
of the project that liberal applications for shares were
speedily received, and, in preparation for the licensing
sessions of the Alton Bench of magistrates in September,
REFRESHMENT ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 45
1898, plans of a house suitable for the business contem-
plated were prepared. At those sessions, on September 6th,
the application was heard, preceded by an application
by an Alton firm of brewers for a similar licence for a
house to be erected on a plot of land adjacent to that
belonging to the Association. The magistrates, after
hearing evidence in support of both applications, decided
to grant a licence to the Association and to refuse one
to the Alton firm, and in due course the licence was
confirmed by the County Licensing Committee.
"Thereupon building operations were proceeded with
as speedily as possible, and early in July, 1899, the
building was practically ready for occupation. After
some slight delays incidental to the starting of a new
business, the house was formally declared open by Mrs.
Randall Davidson (in the unavoidable absence of the
Bishop of the Diocese), at an afternoon reception on
Wednesday, August 23rd, 1899, and on Monday, the 28th,
business commenced."
The whole of the capital (^2,500) was subscribed either
locally or by friends of residents, and the full amount
has been practically absorbed by the purchase of land,
erection of house and stables, furnishing, etc. The
Articles of Association expressly provide that no dividend
exceeding 4 per cent, per annum shall be paid to
shareholders, and that, while making provision for a
reserve fund not exceeding in amount 25 per cent, of
the Company's capital, the balance of profit shall be
applied to such charitable, educational, or other legal
purposes as the shareholders at a general meeting may
from time to time decide upon.
The house is artistically designed and thoroughly well
built, and is fitted and furnished throughout in excellent
taste. In addition to the bar (the passage of which is
48 THE GRAYSHOTT AND DISTRICT
against the movement, it is risking too much to impose
regulations in advance of the licence law. It is necessary
to remember that the Association has not a complete
monopoly of the local traffic, but only of the " on " trade. 1
In addition to the " Fox and Pelican " there is an " off "
beer-house in the village, as well as two grocers' licences,
while it is a not unimportant fact that the site adjoining
the " Fox and Pelican," for which a full licence was sought
by a firm of brewers at the time the Association was
formed, still remains in the possession of the brewers who
applied for the licence.
These facts, together with the additional fact that
the district appears to contain a somewhat unusual
proportion of lawless spirits in its population, must
be carefully borne in mind in estimating the success
of the Grayshott experiment. That it has not realised
all the expectations of its promoters they themselves
freely acknowledge. The experiment has been handi-
capped throughout by a not always scrupulous opposition
on the part of the least reputable portion of the
inhabitants ; and the committee has, moreover, been
singularly unfortunate in its managers. But the in-
tention that underlies and governs the experiment is
unquestionably single and sincere, and when all limitations
and imperfections are allowed for, it is incontrovertible
that the interests of temperance in the district are much
more securely safeguarded than they could have been if an
ordinary public-house had been allowed to be established
in the village.
The situation is well expressed in a letter which the
Rev. J. M. Jeakes, a member of the committee, addressed
to one of the present writers in May, 1901. Mr. Jeakes
says : " I am very glad that you have seen the " Fox and
1 The nearest fully licensed house is a mile away.
REFRESHMENT ASSOCIATION, LIMITED 49
Pelican." The conditions under which this experiment
is made are, I think, exceptionally difficult ; but the
difficulties we have passed through do not at all alter my
conviction that we are, in the main, on the right track,
and that we did the best we could do under the circum-
stances, in view of the great probability of a tied house
entirely out of our control." Looked at from this point
of view simply, the efforts of Sir Frederick Pollock and
his colleagues are completely justified.
On its commercial side the experiment has been en-
tirely successful. The financial statement for the first
thirteen months (i.e. August 28th, 1899, to September 30th,
1900) showed a balance of profit on trading account of
213 11s. 3d Of this sum 99 14s. Id. was set aside
for depreciation of furniture and buildings and one-third
share of preliminary expenses, leaving a net balance of
.113 17s. 2d. Of this amount 99 9s. Id. was absorbed
in payment of a dividend of 4 per cent, on the paid-up
capital of the company, leaving a final balance of
14 7s. Id. to be carried forward to next account.
CHAPTER V
The Elan Valley Canteen, near Rhayader,
Radnorshire
Average Number of
Date opened. Men Employed.
September, 1894. 1,200 to 1,500.
The Elan Valley experiment, the first of its kind in the
United Kingdom, owes both its origin and its success
to the practical wisdom of the Waterworks Committee of
the Birmingham Corporation. It was established in
September, 1894, to meet the requirements of the men
employed upon the construction of their new reservoirs
near Rhayader. To accommodate the navvies and others
employed, the Committee had practically to construct a
village some three or four miles from Rhayader, and the
supply of liquor at once became an urgent problem.
Prohibition was felt to be impracticable, so that the only
alternatives open to the Committee were either (1) to let
or lease a building to a private publican in the ordinary
way ; or (2) to themselves apply for a licence and establish
a canteen on their own property. The first of these
alternatives, although simpler, was open to grave objec-
tion. While the publican, as the tenant of the Committee,
would to a large extent have been under their control, it
was nevertheless felt that if the house " were run as a
50
trade venture in the interests of the publican, his own
interest doubtless would be to promote rather than to
restrict the sale of drink." The second alternative was
therefore chosen. The Committee accordingly applied
for a licence, which was granted subject to certain special
terms which the Committee itself suggested. The chief
of these conditions was that the canteen should be placed
in charge of a manager who should be paid a fixed salary
and have no direct or pecuniary interest in the sale of
intoxicants. The second main condition related to the
hours of sale, the Committee not wishing to open during
the whole of the usual public-house hours.
The conditions governing the experiment are, of course,
in certain important respects exceptional and more than
usually favourable to success. In addition to a certain
benevolent despotism which the Committee (unlike a
voluntary company, such as the People's Kefreshment-
House Association) is free to exercise, the works are to a
large extent isolated. Ehayader is three or four miles
distant, and access to the works, which are situate on the
left bank of the river Elan, is completely under the
control of the Committee. The only approach for vehicles
is by a suspension bridge which the Committee itself
constructed, while a narrow footway leading to a foot-
bridge at the other end of the village is the only other
means of access. The public have no right of way, and
tradesmen from the neighbouring town are only allowed
to use the suspension bridge on the express undertaking
that they will not introduce intoxicants into the village.
Moreover, the bridge-keeper has instructions to examine
every cart. It is an interesting fact that so far there has
been no shebeening.
The monopoly enjoyed by the Committee is, neverthe-
less, not quite complete. On the other side of the river,
$2 THE ELAN VALLEY CANTEEN,
but at a comparatively short distance from the village,
is the Elan Hotel, 1 a fully licensed house, which is said
to be much frequented by the men from the works. 2
The licence for this house was applied for when the
Birmingham Corporation first began its works, and
although the Corporation applied to be heard in opposi-
tion to the licence, the magistrates refused to hear its
representatives, but granted the licence despite their
protest. It is undoubted that the close proximity of
this house militates against the complete success of the
canteen experiment. As a fully licensed house it does
so directly in respect of the sale of spirits. At the
canteen itself no spirits are sold, the sales being strictly
confined to beer and mineral waters. The sale of the
latter is, however, exceedingly small. 3 There is no sale
of food. It was at first proposed to sell tea, cocoa, and
other similar beverages, as well as food, in the canteen,
but the idea was relinquished owing to the absence of
any demand for them. The selling price of the beer
(5d. per quart) is fixed by the market price in the
neighbourhood.
Orders to the brewers are sent direct by the Secretary
of the Waterworks Committee, who charges the goods at
selling prices to the manager of the canteen. Stock
1 The distance separating the Elan Hotel from the village
canteen is, by way of the suspension bridge, exactly a mile;
but from the right-hand end of the village it is little more than
half a mile.
2 The Secretary of the Waterworks Committee, in his evi-
dence before the Royal Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws
(July 6th, 1898), estimated that the sum spent by the men at the
Elan Hotel, and at the public-houses in Rhayader equalled in
amount the takings of the canteen.
* The Secretary of the Waterworks Committee stated that out
of a total week's takings of 104 18s., only 7s. 6d. was derived
from the sale of mineral waters.
NEAR RHAYADER, RADNORSHIRE 53
is taken each week on specially prepared forms. The
canteen manager, according to the Secretary's statement,
" quite understands that he is thought no more highly of
if his sales are high than if they are low, whereas should
there be any disturbance or drunkenness he would be
held responsible for it." To ensure the good quality of
the beer sold, the Committee has established a system
of taking samples of all the beer in the canteen at
irregular times without notice to the canteen manager.
In response to a private order from the Secretary of the
Waterworks Committee, a man attends at the canteen
and takes samples. The bottles are then sealed in the
presence of the canteen manager and sent to Birmingham,
where they are submitted to the examination of a brewing
expert.
GENERAL REGULATIONS
The management of the canteen is governed by a series
of regulations of quite exceptional stringency :
1. No credit is given.
2. Music, games, etc., are strictly prohibited.
3. The hours of sale are severely restricted. The
canteen is open on ordinary week-days (i.e. Monday to
Friday) from 12.30 p.m. till 2 p.m., and from 5.30 p.m.
till 9 p.m. On Saturdays it is open from 1 p,m. till
4.30 p.m., and from 5.30 p.m. till 9 p.m. At first it
was kept open continuously on Saturdays from 1 p.m.
till 9 p.m., but it was found that there was a tendency
on the part of the workpeople to remain too long in the
canteen, and so the canteen was closed between 4.30
and 5.30. p.m. It was originally proposed to open the
canteen for half an hour in the morning on each
week-day, and provision for this was made in the scheme
54 THE ELAN VALLEY CANTEEN,
of management sanctioned by the magistrates, but
ultimately it was not found necessary to do so. There
is no sale on Sunday, the licence being governed in
this respect by the Welsh Sunday Closing Act.
4. The quantity of beer to be served to any one
customer is strictly limited, the rules providing that no
person shall be allowed more than two quarts of beer
during the evening for consumption on the premises,
nor more than one quart during the dinner-hour. The
total quantity which a customer can thus purchase
during the day is three quarts. The Secretary states
that, in practice, it is found impossible in the rush of
business to keep an eye upon every individual customer,
and it may sometimes happen that in the " great
rushes " of trade this rule is sometimes evaded, but,
speaking generally, it is enforced.
In the case of "off" sales the rules provide that " no
hut-keeper [i.e. a workman in whose hut from eight
to ten other workmen are lodged] shall be supplied
with more than 1 gallons of beer in any one evening,
nor with more than 2 gallons for the mid-day meal
from the jug department, except on Saturday evening,
when a hut-keeper may purchase double the quantity."
The latter proviso is to cover Sunday consumption, the
canteen being closed on that day,
5. It is further provided that " no person who is in
the slightest degree intoxicated shall be supplied with
drink on any pretence whatever." This rule is said
to be enforced absolutely and without regard to the
quantity of beer which a man may have had.
6. Women are not allowed to enter the bar, but are
strictly confined to the jug department, where only
"off" sales are made. The total number of women
in the village is not more than from 120 to 150.
NEAR RHAYADER, RADNORSHIRE 55
7. An " age limit " is imposed both for " on " and
" off " sales. In the case of the former the rules
provide that only men above the age of eighteen shall
be allowed to enter the bar ; and in interpreting this
rule the management " leans to the side of strictness
rather than to the side of laxity." In respect of " off "
sales the rules provide that no boy under the age of
sixteen, nor any woman under the age of twenty-one,
is to be served with beer or porter in the jug
department.
COUNTER-ATTRACTIONS TO THE CANTEEN
As already pointed out, no music, games, or other
attractions are allowed in the canteen ; but a public hall
or recreation-room has been built near to, but entirely
separate from, the canteen, and there newspapers,
magazines, games, and amusements of various kinds are
provided. A supply of non-intoxicating drinks was also
formerly on sale there, but the demand for them was
apparently not great. This room is said to be " a great
success " and " tends to minimise the drinking in the
saloon." The Secretary of the Waterworks Committee,
in his evidence before the Royal Commission on Liquor
Licensing Laws, stated he knew that " in many individual
cases men who had been addicted to drink, having had
the means provided them of spending their evenings in
a more rational way, had been kept away from the
drink."
FINANCIAL RESULT'S
On its financial side the experiment has been an
unquestionable success, and is said to make " a very
considerable profit." For the three and a half years
ending March 31st, 1898, the gross profits amounted to
56 THE ELAN VALLEY CANTEEN,
5,450, and the net profits to 3,262. The ratio of
net profit on takings was 22 per cent. This latter figure
is noteworthy in view of the heavy cost of carriage and
the further fact that an eighth part of the total capital
outlay is annually written off the profits. The average
percentage of profit on capital invested was slightly over
93 per cent, per annum. These surplus profits are
devoted to the maintenance (wholly or in part), of the
various village institutions, of which the chief are the
day school, the public rooms (including the free library,
reading-room, and recreation-room), and the hospital.
GENERAL BESULTS
In its general results the experiment has certainly
justified the policy of the Committee. There has been
very little disturbance, and only on one occasion, or at
most on two, has the management had to have recourse
to the power which it reserves to itself of closing the
canteen. "Very shortly after the house was opened,"
said the Secretary of the Waterworks Committee in his
evidence before the Royal Commission, " we had to close
it on one night. Our people had not then been got
to realise the lines on which it was intended the public-
house should be conducted, and they began to comport
themselves as one would suppose they would do in an
ordinary public-house. We immediately cleared them
out and closed it. Since then we have had no trouble."
There have been cases of drunkenness, but these have
been comparatively few, and in general orderliness and
sobriety the settlement is said to compare " extremely
well " with similar settlements in other places. The
Chief Constable of the county, writing in October, 1896
(two years after the opening of the canteen), said :
NEAR RHAYADER, RADNORSHIRE 57
" Drunkenness in the Elan village is undoubtedly sup-
pressed through the stringent rules and measures adopted
by the canteen ; and, further, I have no hesitation in
saying that it is attributable to those regulations."
In June, 1898, he wrote again as follows : "Drunken-
ness has slightly increased in the village; I do not,
however, think it is attributable to any bad management
of the canteen. I still adhere to my former opinion
expressed in my letter to you, dated October 5th, 1896."
The slight increase in drunkenness referred to (of
which the letter quoted above was the first intimation
received by the Committee) may or may not have been
attributable to the canteen. The probability is that it
was not, for it happened to coincide with an actual
falling off in the takings of the canteen.
It is interesting, finally, to notice that while the rules
and regulations of the canteen have been altered slightly
from time to time according to circumstances, such
changes have always brought the management more
and more within the original conditions laid down when
the Corporation first applied for the licence.
CHAPTER VI
Scargill Waterworks Canteen, Harrogate
Average Number of
Date opened. Men Employed.
September, 1898. 350.
ONE of the most interesting of the experiments that
have come under the personal observation of the
present writers is that carried on by the Waterworks
Committee of the Harrogate Corporation in connection
with their works at Scargill, six miles from Harrogate.
The experiment has much in common with the canteen
established by the Birmingham Corporation at their works
in the Elan Valley, Khayader, but was started without
knowledge of that experiment.
In beginning the construction of reservoirs at Scargill,
nearly three years ago, the Waterworks Committee found
themselves compelled to provide the men employed upon
the works, numbering sometimes as many as five hundred,
with facilities for purchasing beer. The nearest public-
house was two and a half miles away, and the men refused
to work unless nearer facilities were provided. It occurred
to Alderman Fortune, the chairman of the Waterworks
Committee, that the circumstances furnished a good
opportunity for an experiment on the lines of the
Gothenburg system, and, the Committee approving, a
SCARGILL WATERWORKS CANTEEN 59
large canteen (with additional but separate accommodation
for a general store) was accordingly erected, and a manager
appointed to conduct the business on clearly defined lines.
The ends aimed at are : (1) to restrict as far as possible
the sale of intoxicants, and (2) absolutely to eliminate
private profit from such sale. Alderman Fortune, to
whom the success as well as the inception of the experi-
ment is chiefly due, has from the first strenuously set
himself against any arrangement likely, directly or
indirectly, to interfere with the full attainment of these
ends. 1
Beer is the only intoxicant sold, spirits being expressly
.excluded. The manager receives no commission on the
sale of beer, but is allowed to sell for his own profit all
kinds of food, as well as tea, coffee, mineral waters, etc.
In addition, he is paid a fixed salary and provided with
a house, coal, and light. He is not allowed to purchase
the beer nor to fix the price at which it is sold. It is
invoiced to him at selling prices, a small allowance being
made for waste.
The hours of sale are severely restricted. The canteen
is open on the ordinary week-days from 9 a.m. to 9.30 a.m.,
12 noon to 1 p.m., and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. On
Saturdays the hours are from 9 a.m. to 9.30 a.m., 12 noon
to 2.30 p.m., and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Sundays it
is open from 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to
8 p.m. At first the final hour of closing on week-days
was 10 p.m. ; it was subsequently altered to 9 p.m., and
is now 8 p.m. If circumstances appear to demand it,
1 It is a noteworthy illustration of the consistency with which
these aims have been pursued, that when some months ago
Alderman Fortune discovered that one of the brewers, acting
in conformity with a trade custom, had given the manager of
the canteen a Christmas present, he at once gave instructions
that no further orders were to be sent to that brewer.
6o SCARGILL WATERWORKS CANTEEN,
the manager is instructed to close still earlier. On
" Mafeking " day, for example, the canteen was closed
early in the afternoon, and kept closed for the remainder
of the day. It is also kept closed after the annual
dinner at Christmas. In this respect the management
is closely modelled upon the practice of the Norwegian
companies.
The manager is not allowed to serve beer at other than
the recognised hours, nor is he, under any circumstances,
permitted to send beer to the men at work ; but he may
send tea, mineral waters, and other temperance drinks.
During a spell of hot weather last summer the men
petitioned to be allowed to purchase beer during work
hours. Alderman Fortune refused the petition, but gave
instructions for oatmeal water to be freely supplied to
men who desired it.
It is interesting as an indication of the extent to which
temperance drinks are sold that the manager sells from
forty to fifty pints of tea a day. At the time of our visit
he was also selling a fair quantity of mineral waters,
chiefly, however, in conjunction with beer. He stated
that the sale of mineral waters could not be " pushed "
to any considerable extent ; the men " know what they
want," and " resent being interfered with " in respect of
their orders.
No one is served with beer who shows the least sign
of drunkenness, and it is an interesting fact that so far
not a single case of drunkenness has been traced to the
canteen. There have been a few cases of drunkenness
in the village, but inquiry has shown that these were
always attributable to spirits purchased elsewhere.
The canteen itself is a somewhat rude wooden structure
with a concrete floor and furnished with benches and
tables. The bar proper is a plain compartment stretching
HARROGATE 61
across one end of the building, and is only used for supply-
ing the orders. Liquor is not consumed at the bar.
There appears to be very little "off" sale, but what
there is is carried on at a window in a separate part of
the building, so that children or others fetching the beer
have no contact with the bar. Women are not served
in the canteen. The number of women and children at
the colony is, however, small.
No credit is given, nor are any games allowed in the
canteen. A small mission-hall has been erected by the
Committee, and is used on week-evenings as a reading-
room and institute for the men, and in the mornings
as a school for the children. A missionary lives at the
settlement, and one-third of his salary is paid by the
Committee. The reading-room is supplied with daily
and weekly newspapers and magazines, and a bagatelle-
board and other games are provided. During the winter
a fortnightly concert is given.
The balance-sheet of the canteen for the year ending
March 25th, 1900, showed a gross profit of 826, and a
net profit of 720. Last year (i.e. year ending March
25th, 1901) the gross profits were 886, and the net
profits 799. The percentage of net profit on takings
was, in the former year, 31 per cent., and in the latter
38 per cent. It should be noted, however, that nothing
is charged against the canteen in respect of rent and
lighting. The method of appropriating the profits is
hardly satisfactory too small a proportion, in the judg-
ment of the present writers, being devoted to recreative
agencies and other counter-attractions to the canteen.
Some of the appropriations (as, for example, the 200
devoted last year to the payment of compensation for
injuries received by workmen employed on the works,
and the 82 spent on pensions to old servants) also
62 SCARGILL WATERWORKS CANTEEN
partake too much of the character of relief to the rate-
payers. But this is the only serious criticism to be
urged against what is in the main an admirable and
useful experiment. No better proof of its general success
could be given than the fact that, although the works
have been in progress for nearly three years, the services
of a police officer have not yet been required. The
absence of competition is, of course, an important factor
in its success.
CHAPTER VII
Public Management in Scotland
SINCE 1895, when the Aberdeen proposals called public
attention to the question, suggestions for the public
management of the liquor traffic have received increasing
support in Scotland, where several important experiments
are already in active operation. The earliest of these
owed its inception to Mr. Charles Carlow, the managing
director of the Fife Coal Company, Limited, but it was
left to Mr. John Boss, a well-known educationist in
Dunfermline, who is solicitor to the Fife Coal Company,
to develop and extend a tentative experiment by organising
the present public-house societies in Fifeshire.
THE HILL OF BEATH TAVERN, NEAR CROSS-
GATES, FIFESHIRE
Date established. Estimated Population of Village.
June, 1896. 1,300.
The first of the experiments referred to above was that
established in 1896 at the Hill of Beath, a small colliery
village in Fifeshire. The village was built and is owned
by the Fife Coal Company, Limited, who rent the cottages
to the miners in their employ. The miner's tenancy
of a cottage ceases with his employment.
The present public-house is situate just outside the
village proper (i.e. outside the property of the Coal
Company), and was erected by its original owner for the
express business of a public-house, and he evidently chose
the site in order to escape the control of the Fife Coal
Company. He appears to have made unsuccessful appli-
cation for a licence on two occasions, and the Fife Coal
Company, believing that a licence was inevitable, decided
to transform certain of their cottages into a small public-
house, and themselves to apply for a licence. The first
application (made in 1895), although supported by the
Chief Constable, was refused by eleven votes to nine, and
the matter remained in abeyance until the following year,
when the Fife Coal Company again made application for
a licence, a similar application being made by the owner
of the private premises. Mr. Carlow, in support of the
Fife Coal Company's application, stated that, in the event
of the licence being granted, the Company would restrict
themselves to a dividend of 4 per cent, on their outlay,
the balance of profit being spent for the benefit of the
village. In the result a licence was granted to the
Company by eleven votes to eight. The owner of
the rival house, evidently feeling that he no longer
possessed any chance of obtaining a licence, subsequently
sold his premises and all fittings to the Fife Coal Com-
pany for 1,500, and the Company at once transferred the
business from their own house in the centre of the village
to the present premises. Until the end of last year
(1900) the public-house was managed by a committee of
five, three of whom were representatives of the Company,
and the remaining two were elected by the miners them-
selves. This committee seems to have been somewhat
careless in its appointments and arrangements, and two
successive managers proved unsatisfactory. In December,
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 65
1900, however, the Hill of Beath Tavern Society, Limited,
was formed, part of the capital of which was subscribed
by the miners themselves, and the Fife Coal Company
sold the public-house to this Society for 1,200. This
sum included not only premises, fittings, stock, furniture,
but also a balance of nearly 300 in the bank.
The objects which the Society sets before itself in its
printed rules are " to carry on, in or near the village
of Hill of Beath, in the county of Fife, the businesses
of innkeepers, publicans, alehouse-keepers, cafe 7 -, and
restaurant-keepers, manufacturers of aerated waters and
such other commodities as may be agreed upon by the
members from time to time, and purveyors and caterers
for public entertainments and amusements." The capital
of the Society is raised in shares of 1 each. No member
other than a registered society may hold more than 200
worth of shares. Each shareholder is allowed one vote in
respect of his holding and irrespective of the total amount
of his shares. Shares are entitled to a dividend not
exceeding 5 per cent, per annum. The surplus profits,
after making provision for (1) depreciation of assets,
(2) a reserve fund for the redemption of capital, or other
purposes, if the committee of management resolve to
establish such, and (3) share dividends, are to be applied
" to such purposes of public or quasi-public utility in the
village of Hill of Beath or neighbourhood as the Society
in general meeting may from time to time determine."
The management of the Society is vested in a local
committee composed of six members and the Secretary.
The chairman of the present committee is the manager
of the Fife Coal Company's works, and the rest of the
committee are working men. The executive work is in
the hands of the Secretary, who receives a small salary,
and who, subject to the committee, orders and pays for
5
66 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
all liquors. The promoters seem to have been somewhat
unfortunate in the appointment of their first Secretary,
but the present Secretary (Mr. W. Keir, who is an employe
in the office of the Fife Coal Company) appears to be
thoroughly in sympathy with temperance ideas and work,
and although he only entered upon his duties in March
of this year, he has already accomplished several valuable
improvements. One of his earliest acts was to induce the
committee to close the house at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m.
as formerly. The manager of the public-house receives
a fixed salary (2 per week), with free house, coal, and
light. He is allowed the assistance of two helpers, a lad
and a woman, both of whom are paid by the committee.
The woman helper is not allowed to serve in the bar.
By way of security for fidelity, the manager is required
to take shares in the Society to the amount of 50, the
share certificate, together with a signed transfer of
the shares, being deposited with the Secretary. In his
agreement with the Society the manager binds himself
" to carry out all the instructions of the committee of
management, to secure the good conduct of the business
and the diminution of excessive drinking, and he binds
himself strictly to conform to all the conditions on which
the licence is held, and not to contravene these in any
respect. He binds himself particularly not to supply
liquors to intoxicated persons or to suffer persons in a
state of intoxication to remain on the premises." He
further binds himself " to refuse all perquisites what-
soever, and to report to the committee the names of any
merchants who may offer perquisites to him or induce-
ments to deal with them." He has nothing to do with
the ordering of the liquors; they are ordered by the
Secretary, who invoices the liquors to him at selling
prices. The present manager appears to be a thoroughly
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 67
respectable man, and fully capable of carrying out any
policy that the committee may decide upon.
The public-house itself is a good building and superior
to the ordinary public-houses in the district. It contains
five or six plainly furnished rooms downstairs, all of them
provided with seats, and a better furnished room upstairs
for the accommodation of travellers, cyclists, etc. As
already pointed out, it was originally erected as a private
public-house, and was only sold to the Fife Coal Company
when the man who built it failed to obtain a licence.
The house is the only licensed house in the village ; but
there are several public-houses in Crossgates, which is less
than half a mile away, and it would seem to a stranger
that they are sufficiently near to have rendered the house
at the Hill of Beath unnecessary. There can be no
doubt that the experiment is prejudiced in the eyes of
temperance people in the district from the fact that its
establishment meant an additional public-house ; but the
responsibility for this is perhaps not strictly to be laid
upon the Fife Coal Company, since there appears to be
a general opinion that, if they had not taken action, a
licence would have been granted to a private publican
sooner or later.
No games or other amusements are allowed in the
house, nor is any credit given. There is no explicit
rule in respect of sales to children, but the manager
stated that he refuses to serve very young children, and
suggested thirteen as the age below which he would not
serve. No attempt is made at a " Black List," but it is
said that such a list is unnecessary, owing to the fact
that all the regular customers are in the employ of the
Fife Coal Company, and a man could at once be dismissed
if ha were guilty of disorder. No provision is made
for clubs, nor is there any stable accommodation for
68 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
carts, etc. The hours of sale are from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ;
the house is thus closed an hour earlier than the public-
houses in Crossgates, the change dating from the appoint-
ment of the new Secretary in March last. This reform
is said to be possible because the house is the only one
in the Hill of Beath. Owing to the Forbes-Mackenzie
Act, there is no sale on Sunday.
A general public-house trade is done, spirits being sold
as well as beer. The purchases of liquor show that about
one gallon of spirits is sold to six gallons of beer. There
is a fair "off" trade, the same prices being charged as
for " on " sales. The trade in mineral waters is relatively
small, and there is little demand for food.
COUNTER-ATTRACTIONS TO THE PUBLIC-HOUSE
These consist of (a) a reading-room and institute, and
(6) a bowling-green, both of them separate from the
public-house. The institute has 110 members, which,
considering that the total population of the Hill of Beath
is not more than 1,200 or 1,300, is a fair proportion.
A yearly subscription of sixpence per member is charged.
The Public-House Society has, however, in the course of
erection a much larger and better building, which it
proposes to open as a new institute to take the place
of the present inferior building. The new building,
which will be ready by the autumn, will cost fully
1,000, a sum which seems small considering the char-
acter and quality of the building. The institute will
consist of four good rooms, one of which will be devoted
to the loan library, another will be fitted as a good
reading-room, and a third will be supplied with two
billiard-tables and also furnished with side-tables for
other games, such as dominoes, draughts, etc. There
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 69
will also be a temperance bar in the building. The
building is certainly a good one, and, so far as it goes,
will well carry out the idea of a counter-attraction to
the public-house.
The bowling-green is also to be strongly commended.
It is situated in a central part of the village, and covers
a moderately large piece of ground given by the Fife
Coal Company. The sides and one end are stocked with
shrubs and plants, and give a pleasing effect, while the
green itself is about as perfect as a bowling-green can
be. There is a well-built pavilion, where the bowls,
etc., are kept.
It is important to note that the counter-attractions are
entirely separate from the public-house, where no games
of any sort are carried on. In each case the counter-
attraction is a good distance from the public-house. In
this connection we may note a statement made by Mr.
John Eoss, the chief promoter of the Fifeshire Public-
House Societies, when discussing the subject with one of
the present writers. Mr. Ross stated that he had originally
proposed to associate the games and recreative features
of the experiment with the public-house on the lines
originally proposed by the Bishop of Chester, and now by
Lord Grey, but that the miners themselves had repre-
sented to him that such an arrangement would not do,
and that the recreation must be entirely separate from
the sale of liquor.
STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE
The following statements give particulars of the receipts
and expenditure of the public-house for the last three
years. The third statement, it will be noticed, is for
nine months only, owing to the change from the old
70 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
regime to the new, which began on January 1st, 1901.
The figures thus relate in all cases to the earlier manage-
ment of the house under the committee appointed by the
Fife Coal Company.
Year ending March 31st, 1899.
EECEIPTS.
Bar receipts
Stock on hand, March
31st, 1899
s. d.
2,216 9 2
240 6 8
Total ... 2,456 15 10
EXPENSES.
Stock on hand at end
of previous year...
Cost of liquors, etc.
Depreciation
Working expenses
Balance profit
*. d.
210 16
1,413 17
25
244 3
562 18
7*
Total ... 2,456 15 10
Year ending March 31st, 1900.
RECEIPTS. EXPENSES.
Bar receipts
Eent (i.e. for a
cottage on their
property which
is sub-let)
Stock on hand.March
31st, 1900
Total
2,344
600
219 13 9J
2,569 14 10J
Stock on hand at end
of previous year...
Liquors purchased
Working expenses
Depreciation
Balance profit
Total
t. d.
240 6 8
1,570 11 10
328 1 11
27 1 4
403 13 1J
2,569 14
For the nine months ending December 31st, 1900.
RECEIPTS. EXPENSES.
t.
d.
#.
d.
Bar receipts
2,156
16
8
Stock on hand at end
Rent of cottage
6
of previous year. . .
219
13
it'
Bank interest
3
4
10
Cost of liquors
1,328
11
4
Stock on hand, Dec
Working expenses
435
4
2
ember 31st, 1900..
265
18
Depreciation
21
18
9
Balance profit
426
8
r 'i
Total ...
2,431
-
16
~
6
Total
2,431
16
6
The reduced profits in 1900 appear to be chiefly
accounted for by the defalcations of the manager then
employed, and we were informed that they are also
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 71
partly explained by the fact that formerly spirits were
bought at distillery strength and reduced to selling
strength by the manager. Now they are bought at
selling strength, and only the better qualities are
purchased.
APPROPRIATION OF PROFITS ,
The profits are devoted to various objects of public
utility in the village, among which are the lighting of
the village by electric light, the maintenance of the
reading-room and institute, bowling-green, etc. The
disbursements for these objects in 1898-9 and 1900
were as follows :
Year ending March 31st, 1899.
s. d.
Electric lighting of village 242 8 6
Bowling-green 124
Football-club 23
Singing-class 570
394 15 6
Year ending March 31st, 1900.
s. d.
Electric lighting of village 23819
Bowling-green 357 3 5
Reading-room 94 9 9
Singing-class __*^=- 6 13 10
G97 6
For the nine months ending December 31st, 1900.
s. d.
Electric lighting of village 99 Oil
Bowling-green 48 14 6
Reading-room 77 5 8
Football-club 12 16
Singing-class 6 19 6
244 16 7
72 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
These objects were selected under the earlier regime,
and the appropriation annually made for electric light is
certain 1}" questionable. Inasmuch as the Fife Coal Company
are the owners of the village and, apparently, the sole
ratepayers, they in the natural order of things must have
borne the expense of lighting the village, so that the
allocation of profits to this purpose, made when they had
the control of the public-house, actually relieves them
of rates they would otherwise have had to pay. 1 In any
case the allocation of profits to this purpose is mischievous,
being a direct subsidy in relief of rates. The other
appropriations are of a character that can be heartily
approved, this being especially so in the case of the
bowling-green and the reading-room, which are direct
and efficient counter-attractions to the public-house.
GENERAL RESULTS
In estimating the general results of the Hill of Beath
experiment it is necessary to distinguish between its
present management and its past. Like all similar ex-
periments, it has met with much criticism, some of it
undoubtedly just, but a part of it unquestionably hasty
and ill-founded. In the latter category must certainly
be placed the suggestion made by outsiders, but dis-
credited by temperance workers in the village itself, that
the establishment of the house has been responsible for a
decline in the activity of certain temperance societies, etc.,
1 It is not of course suggested that the appropriation was
deliberately designed to this end, but the fact of relief appears
to be clear. It should, however, in fairness be noted that the
Company, in disposing of the property to the new Society in
December, 1900, appear to have acted with great generosity.
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 73
in the village. That the establishment of the house
has not led to a diminution of drunkenness is perhaps
true, as also the allegation that, by increasing the
facilities for obtaining liquor, the establishment of the
house has actually increased the amount of liquor con-
sumed in the village ; but the indisputable defects of the
experiment as at present conducted appear to be of a
negative rather than a positive character, and lie chiefly
in the fact that there is little actual difference in methods
of management between the Society's house and an
ordinary well-conducted public-house. Certainly the
restrictions aimed at and imposed do not appear to be
as great as a somewhat exceptional opportunity would
permit. Probably the objection which more than any
other has influenced, criticism against the experiment is
the fact that it has introduced a public-house where no
public-house previously existed, and where the neigh-
bouring facilities appear to have been sufficient to meet
any legitimate demand. Against this it is urged that in
taking the action they did the Fife Coal Company did no
more than anticipate events by keeping out a private
licensee, and that from this point of view the question
really resolves itself into one of choice between an
ordinary public-house conducted for private gain and
one from which the element of private profit has been
eliminated. Without committing themselves to a definite
pronouncement upon the question of fact here raised, but
admitting its probability, the present writers feel com-
pelled to acknowledge that a consideration of all the local
circumstances (especially the close proximity of Crossgates,
where licensed premises exist) induces in their minds a
doubt of the wisdom and expediency of this particular
experiment,
74 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
THE KELTY PUBLIC-HOUSE SOCIETY, LIMITED
Date started. Population of Village.
January 1st, 1900. 4,700.
The rules and constitution of the Kelty Society are so
closely similar to those of the Hill of Beath Society that
detailed description is unnecessary. The chief differences
are : (1) that the share capital is raised in shares of five
shillings each instead of 1 , and (2) that the committee
of management consists of eight instead of six members.
Kelty is another mining village belonging to the Fife
Coal Company. Its population at the recent census was
nearly 4,700. It is the centre of a very prosperous mining
district, and work has been plentiful and wages high for
some years past. A proof of this prosperity is seen in the
fact that at one pit alone the daily output is from 1,600
to 1,800 tons of coal. The miners work eleven days a
fortnight, and their wages range from 6s. to 7s. ^d. per
day, while mere lads can earn from 2s. Qd. to 4s. per day.
It thus happens that the family income is, as a rule, high.
The proposal to establish a " Gothenburg " public-house
originated with Mr. John Ross, of Dunfermline. Mr.
Ross paid a visit to Kelty in the autumn of 1899, and
lectured on the Gothenburg system. Shortly afterwards
a meeting was summoned to consider a definite proposal,
which Mr. Ross then submitted, to establish a " Gothen-
burg" public-house in Kelty. The proposal aroused
considerable local feeling, and encountered much opposi-
tion from religious and temperance people in Kelty, with
the result that at the meeting the proceedings were
somewhat excited. Mr. Ross's resolution failed to find a
seconder, while a resolution against the establishment of
the house was carried. In the end it was decided that a
I t
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 75
plebiscite should be taken on the question, and a com-
mittee was appointed for the purpose. The promoters of
the new public-house were asked to co-operate by ap-
pointing to the committee a number of representatives
equal to those appointed by the public meeting. This
they declined to do, but the committee, nevertheless,
included some who were in favour of the scheme who had
been nominated at the public meeting. The question put
to the voters was : " Are you opposed to the granting of a
licence to the Kelty Public-House Company ? " The result
of the voting was as follows :
Opposed to licence
Householders and resident voters l ... 318
Non- voters, men ... ... ... 124
women ... ... ... 296
Total 738
In favour of licence
Householders and resident voters ... 153
Non- voters, men ... ... ... 117
women ... ... ... Ill
Total ... ',-.;' ,.. 381
Majority opposed to licence ... ... 357
About 1,200 voting-cards were issued.
It seems unfortunate, in face of such a pronouncement;
that the proposal was persisted in ; at the same time it
is highly probable that an additional licence would have
1 This heading is said to cover resident parliamentary voters
and such other male householders as had not qualified for the
parliamentary vote.
76 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
been granted to Kelty in any case, so that the respon-
sibility of thrusting an additional licence upon the place
is not strictly to be charged against the promoters of
the scheme. Practically everyone agrees (and the chief
officer of the local police entirely endorsed this view in
conversation with one of the present writers) that an
additional licence had become almost inevitable owing
to the pressure of trade at the other houses and the
growing population.
The new public-house stands in an exceedingly good
position, and is a substantial stone building much superior
to the other public-houses in the village. It was built
specially for its present purpose by the Kelty Public-
House Society at a cost (including furniture and fittings)
of 3,500. It is rated at 180 per annum. It has a
large bar, with accommodation for a crowd of customers ;
also a small separate jug compartment, and four rooms off
the bar. Upstairs there is a large room, 30 ft. by 20 ft.,
furnished with seventy chairs and used for Cricket-club
dinners and teas, dinners of the local Burns Society,
smoking-concerts, etc. There is also a restaurant room on
the ground floor with a separate entrance from the street.
The house was visited on Thursday and Friday, June 13th
and 14th, 1901. The latter day was the fortnightly pay-
day, and we were told that the house would be well
patronised. We visited the house at 9.40 p.m. The
public bar was tolerably full of miners, and two men were
also drinking in the private jug department. Trade was
evidently brisk. The manager and two other men were
serving in the bar, and the place was full of the loud
voices usual in a busy public-house. The manager stated
that they had been exceedingly busy all the evening. In
addition to the general bar, the four rooms off the bar
were also full, the orders from these rooms being taken
by two young women who were busily engaged carrying
liquor between the bar and the rooms. At ordinary times
the bar is served by the manager and his assistant, but
when trade is busy the women-helpers also serve. They
occasionally serve when trade is slack if the manager and
his assistant happen to be in another part of the house
when customers come in. The manager much dislikes
the side-rooms off the bar, since he finds it impossible to
keep them under his own personal supervision and control.
He mentioned that he had " rushed out of the bar to get
a flying look at them at least twenty times" that evening.
The manager is a fairly young man, smart and respect-
able, who has had previous experience of the public-house
trade, and he evidently does his best to keep the place
respectable. There are no special restrictions governing
sale. He will not knowingly serve liquor to any man who
shows signs of intoxication, and although there is no
" Black List" or anything approaching to one, he is able
in a broad and general way, from his knowledge of the
place, to sort out his customers. 1 He mentioned, for
example, that in some cases he would probably refuse to
serve a man who he knew was addicted to excess with
more than two pints, whereas he might serve other men
with four pints. In this respect observation would lead us
to say that the house is conducted much as an ordinary
public-house is conducted where there is a good manager.
The house is managed by a committee of the miners,
which meets every Monday. They have the assistance of
a Secretary, who receives a salary of 16 a year. The
1 Speaking at Dunfermline on March 21st, 1901, Mr. John Ross
stated that " tricks had been played by putting men in the house
who were already under the influence of liquor, in order that blame
might be attached to it ; but the greatest care was exercised, and
the manager was strongly backed up by the committee."
78 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
latter is a teetotaler and thoroughly in sympathy with
temperance work, and the opponents of the scheme speak
in the highest terms of him. He orders all the liquors,
and they are debited to the manager at selling prices.
The usual hours of sale are observed, and there are
no special restrictions concerning the sale of liquor to
children. No credit is, however, given. A general public-
house trade is done, but beer-sales preponderate. The
manager stated that, speaking generally, they would sell
about one hogshead of spirits and thirty-two barrels of
draught beer a month, besides bottled " Bass " ; also about
two hundred and forty dozen of " minerals " a month.
(He explained that the mineral waters were being largely
used in conjunction with beer for what is known as
"shandy gaff").
He further stated that there was a fair "off" trade,
but that the " off " sales would not amount to more than
a tenth of the whole. In accordance with local practice,
beer is sold a halfpenny per pint cheaper for " off "
consumption.
The manager is paid a fixed salary of 2 per week,
with house, coal, and light. He receives no commission
upon sales, even in the case of mineral waters, but it was
stated that it is intended to let him have the profits on
food in the restaurant as soon as the restaurant gets
properly established. This restaurant is a good room
with a separate entrance. It has, however, only been
running a short time (being opened at the end of 1900),
and at first involved a loss, but it is now paying its way.
It is not likely ever to do a great business, inasmuch as
it must depend upon cyclists and other visitors, the
miners themselves having their meals at home. The
manager at Kelty, as also the manager at the Hill of
Beath, confirmed what had been stated elsewhere, that
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 79
it is not really possible for a manager of a public-house
to do much in pushing the sale of non-intoxicants. If
it were possible, the high profits upon mineral waters
would probably induce private publicans to do their
utmost to sell them.
FINANCIAL RESULTS
The " takings " of the house average at the present
time from 60 to 70 per week. They are, as elsewhere,
heaviest at the end of the week, and are specially affected
by the fortnightly pay-day.
The following particulars give the takings for two
recent consecutive weeks :
1901. s. d.
Monday, May 20th . ;<. . . . 11 16
Tuesday, May 21st 755
Wednesday, May 22nd 780
Thursday, May 23rd 6 16
Friday, May 24th 588
Saturday, May 25th 17 8
Total .56 2 1
1901. s. d.
Monday, May 27th . . . . . 6 15
Tuesday, May 28th . . \,^--^-^f=- . 4 16 1
Wednesday, May 29th 580
Thursday, May 30th 5 11 6
Friday, May 31st (fortnightly pay-day) . . 21 10
Saturday, June 1st 24 14 2
Total . 68 14 9
The full effect of pay-day is further shown in the
particulars of another week to which the manager called
our attention
So PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
1900. s. d.
Monday, November 26th 6 10
Tuesday, November 27th 564
Wednesday, November 28th . . . .510
Thursday, November 29th . . . .557
Friday, November 30th (fortnightly pay-day) . 20 18
Saturday, December 1st 41 2
Total . 84 211
Full particulars of the first year's working results are
given in the following statement, which is copied from
the balance sheet for the year ending December 31st,
1900:
Profit and Loss Account for Year ending
December 31st, 1900.
*. d
To interest on loans, licence
duties, rates, taxes, and
insurance 164 8 5
,, wages of manager and ser-
vants, salaries of secretary
and treasurer, and fees to
committee of management. . 268 1 4
,, premiums on guarantee
bonds of officials, law
expenses, auditor's fees,
stocktaking expenses, etc. . . 37 19 6
, bottles and tumblers . . . . 17 17 9
,, sundries, including books,
printing and stationery,
newspapers and miscel-
laneous expenses . . .. ISO 12 8
. railway carriage* and cart-
ages 22 10 6
coal and light 34 5
,, depreciation on fittings,
furnishings, and utensils,
25 per cent, on 468 8. Od. 117 2
,, proportion of formation ex-
penses written otf. 20 p*r
cent, on 180 2. 22.
balance being profit carried
to balanc* sheet . .
1,415 18 11
*. d. .
By drawings
Bar .3,164 S 11
Restaurant .. .. 627
3,170 11 6
Less purchases 2,592 1 7
Less stock on
hand 325 5 8
2,266 15 11
Discount
.Sales of rules
Miscellaneous receipts
903 15 7
497 8 10
18 6
14 1
1,415 18 11
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 81
Balance Sheet as at December 31st, 1900.
LIABILITIES.
& s. d.
I. Share capital 3,473 shares
of 5s. each, fully paid . . 868 5
II. Trade debts . . 297 4 9
Less discount 55 9 8
241 15 1
III. Interest and feu-duty out-
standing 59 12 6
IV. Sundry accounts .. . . 22 17 1
V. Loan from John Ross, Esq. 240 10 9
VI. Balance on profit and loss
account 602 1 9
2,C35 2 2
ASSETS.
t. d.
I. Outlay on premises owned
by the Society . . . . 2,914 11 9
Less loan by Dunfermline
Building Company, Ltd. 2,000
914 11 9
II. Ptoek-in-trade at cost . . 825 5 8
III. Fittirnjs, furnishing and
utensils . 468 8
Less amount
written off. . 117 2
IV. Balance due by Royal Bank
of Scotland, Kelty, on
account current
V. Cash in hands of manager
VI. Formation ex-
penses ..130 2 2
Less amount
written off. . 26 5
351 6
209 17
40
104 1 9
2,035 2 2
It will be seen that the net profit on the year's trading
was 602.
APPROPRIATION OF PROFITS
Only a portion of the profits has so far been appropriated.
The appropriations already made include a grant of 50 to
the local library, and the maintenance of a certificated
district nurse. The district nurse is a great success, and
is very popular in the village. Her maintenance will
mean an expenditure of at least 100 per annum. The
general rule of the Society governing the appropriation
of profits is the same as that adopted by the Hill of
Beath Society.
COUNTER-ATTRACTIONS TO THE PUBLIC-HOUSE
As the experiment is only eighteen months old, and
has only completed one financial year, not much has been
done so far in the way of direct counter-attractions to the
6
82 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
public-house. As already explained, out of the last year's
profits a grant of 50 was made to the local library.
This institution is an excellent building, containing a loan
library and reading-room, and a billiard-room with one
table, in addition to accommodation for the caretaker and
his family. The members pay a subscription of 2s. 6d. a
year, and the building seems to be fairly well patronised.
Although excellent in its way, it is quite inadequate to
meet the recreative needs of the village, and especially
inadequate as a counter-attraction to six public-houses and
a drink-club. The Public-house Society, however, proposes
shortly to lay down a bowling-green away from the public-
house at a cost of about 500, and there is also some vague
talk of a people's park, but there is little likelihood that the
latter will be established just yet. It should be mentioned
in this connection that some at least of the other public-
houses in Kelty provide games for their customers.
GENERAL RESULTS
In estimating the general results of the experiment in
Kelty it is but just to make full acknowledgment of what
the present writers believe to be the absolute sincerity
and disinterestedness of aim which led to the establish-
ment of the scheme. Mr. John Ross, the actual promoter
of the Society, is a well-known and influential citizen,
whose devotion to the cause of education and other public
questions in Fifeshire has won him widespread respect ;
and it is unquestionable that in promoting the Fifeshire
public-house societies he has been actuated by a sincere
desire to make a practical contribution to the solution of
a difficult and dangerous problem. He himself regards
the local public-house societies as little more than
experiments. " They are," he says, " picking their way,"
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 83
and he urges that they have been in existence for too
short a time to show decisive results.
On the other hand, it is clear that in Kelty local feeling
is strongly opposed to the experiment, and many com-
plaints are made of increased drunkenness, and of persons
who did not formerly frequent the public-houses of the
village, but who now are said to visit the " Gothenburg "
house owing to its supposed greater respectability. It is not
clear that there is much in this last charge, although one
or two instances were given, nor do we think that it is
quite fair to charge the alleged increase of drunkenness
in Kelty against the new public-house. The fact seems
to be accepted that an increase of drunkenness has taken
place during the last year or so, but this would appear to
be due to (1) the very prosperous times which the miners
have been having ; (2) the growth of the population ; and
(3) the establishment of a club which is really no more
than a drinking-saloon without the restrictions of an
ordinary public-house. The chief officer of the local
police was especially emphatic in his condemnation of this
club, to which he evidently attributes the increase of
drunkenness. He went so far as to say that the Sunday
closing of the public-houses in Kelty is being rapidly
undone by the heavy sales in the club on Sunday, and
he gave illustrations of what he had himself seen in
support of this. The club was opened about a year ago,
and its establishment seems to have been the familiar
case of a man thwarting the licensing justices who had
refused a licence. In any case, its evil influence must
be kept very prominently in view when considering the
alleged increase of drunkenness in Kelty. The police
officer, in speaking of the " Gothenburg " public-house,
stated that in his experience it was well conducted, and
he had no complaints to make against it. He seemed to
84 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
think (in common with many others) that its chief virtue
was that it diverted the profits of some part at least of the
local liquor traffic to public purposes. On the whole, his
testimony was favourable to, rather than against, the
" Gothenburg " house.
Mr. Terris, J.P., chairman of the Kelty School Board,
who has always been a supporter of the experiment,
evinced no great enthusiasm for it in discussing the
matter with one of the present writers. His great point
was that in a choice between an ordinary public-house
and a Company house it was better to have the Company
house. He practically admitted that the chief value of
the experiment was that the profits were diverted to
useful ends.
The opponents of the scheme (some of whom are very
hostile) chiefly take the ground that the way the profits
(which were 602 for the first year) are likely to be
appropriated may injure the cause of temperance by
giving the people a direct monetary interest in the con-
tinuance of the traffic. Some of them also feel that the
establishment of the house has increased drinking and
drunkenness ; but the chief objection is clearly the appre-
hension of an appeal to the cupidity of the village. In
some respects the most weighty opinion was given by a
resident doctor a comparatively young man and a regular
Church worker. He was, on the whole, distinctly opposed
to the experiment, and especially felt the difficulty likely
to arise out of the villagers' pecuniary interest in the
scheme. It was, however, generally acknowledged that
if a scheme of local option could be devised whereby the
whole of the public-house traffic in Kelty could be brought
under effective and stringent public management, and
arrangements made under which the locality would derive
no profit from the traffic save and except a fixed grcmt for
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND 85
direct and efficient counter-attractions to the public-houses,
the objections now felt would largely disappear.
The present writers are of opinion that it is practically
impossible to decide whether the house has or has not
increased drinking in Kelty. Upon the whole they would
be inclined to suggest that its effect has not been great
either way. That it has not diminished drinking and
drunkenness may be accepted as certain. It could not
well be expected to do this, in view of the fact th?t it
has increased the facilities for obtaining drink ; and it is
further possible that to some slight extent it has increased
drinking among those to whom its respectability is said
to appeal. 1
It is clear, however, that with the competition which
the house encounters it is hopeless to look for very
satisfactory results. In addition to the " Gothenburg "
house there are five other public-houses in Kelty (one
of them immediately opposite), as well as two grocers'
licences and a drink-club. The manager himself is fully
alive to the injurious effect of this competition upon his
own efforts. " My principal bother here," as he recently
informed the special commissioner of the Alliance News, 2
" is drunken people coming from other places. This place
is doing no good. One of its kind in a place is no use.
If we had all the houses in the place under our manage-
ment we could do some good j but what would be the use
1 That this is not the result of the Gothenburg system, rightly
applied, is strikingly shown by the declaration of Mr. Lars O.
Jensen, Right Worthy Grand Templar of Norway, at the Inter-
national Alcoholic Congress at The Hague, in 1893. Mr. Jensen
said : " When the Gothenburg system was introduced, it was
feared that this system would throw an air of respectability about
the drinking-customs. This has not been so. On the contrary, it
is regarded as a far greater shame to enter a Samlag shop than to
enter an ordinary drink-shop or restaurant."
' Alliance News, June 13th, 1901.
86 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN SCOTLAND
of us closing earlier, or anything like that, when our
customers would just go across the way to the public-
house opposite ? " In conversation with the present
writers he was equally emphatic.
Summed up briefly, the defects of the Kelty experiment
do not indicate any inherent defect in the principle of
public management, rightly applied and directed, but
rather the urgent necessity of legislation which shall
allow localities to acquire a complete monopoly of the
local traffic under conditions that will give free play both
to restrictive and constructive agencies, and prevent the
traffic being conducted for local pecuniary gain. At
present there is a distinct danger that localities may drift
into experiments before the necessary safeguards are
properly understood.
THE COWDENBEATH AND DUNFERMLINE
PUBLIC-HOUSE SOCIETIES, LIMITED
Similar societies to those at Hill of Beath and Kelty
have recently been formed at Cowdenbeath and Dunferm-
line. In neither case, however, has an additional licence
been applied for. At Cowdenbeath an existing public-
house was purchased for 7,000 (4,000 of which was
said to represent the value of the licence alone) ; while at
Dunfermline a smaller house was provisionally acquired
for 3,600. In the latter case the sale was conditional
upon a transfer of the licence being obtained. The
transfer was, however, subsequently refused by a majority
of the licensing justices, with the result that the proposed
sale was not completed. At Cowdenbeath the Society has
already begun operations, but the experiment has been
working for too short a time to justify comment here.
CHAPTER VIII
Public Management in Ireland
extent to which the movement in favour of the
r*- public management of the liquor traffic is rapidly
spreading is further illustrated by the recent formation of
the Ulster Public-Houses Trust Company, Limited, which
began operations at Carnmoney, near Belfast, in May, 1901.
The promoters have but one inn at present, but they
hope shortly to extend their operations and acquire
other public-houses. The principles of management are
practically the same as those adopted by the Bishop of
Chester's Association.
The inns are to be conducted as " refreshment-houses
and not ' drinking bars ' ; food and non-intoxicants will
be supplied as readily as intoxicants and during the
same hours." The surplus profits, after allowing a
sufficient sum for depreciation, reserve, and interest not
exceeding 5 per cent, on invested capital, " will be
administered by carefully selected trustees for the benefit
of the community."
"THE CROWN AND SHAMROCK," CARNMONEY,
NEAR BELFAST
Date opened. Local Population.
May 31st, 1901. 1,500.
The Company began operations by acquiring an inn
in the parish of Carnmoney, about a mile beyond
87
88 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND
Glengormley, and seven miles north of Belfast. The inn,
which is now named the Crown and Shamrock, had a
bad reputation, and, according to the Belfast News-Letter,
was formerly " the scene of frequent disturbances and
irregularities of various kinds, and gave the police of the
district continual trouble. The magistrates had, indeed,
threatened to withdraw the licence, but the Company
stepped in and saved the situation, and the house has
ntered on a new chapter in its history, which promises
ro be more satisfactory than its past career."
Considerable alterations were made in the premises in
order to adapt them to the new requirements. "The
areas in front of the house have been enclosed with neat
fences of ash and oak, and provided with seats, and on
the west side they terminate with a verandah of similar
construction, leading to a glass door, by which entrance
is gained to the principal room of the inn. This is a
long, low-ceilinged apartment, containing a bay window
of the old English type, with a cosy seat running round
it, and not far from the window is an antique chimney-
corner, such as may still be seen in old farmhouses and
cottages in the counties of Antrim and Down. ... On
each side of the fireplace is a 'seat for one,' and it is
easy to imagine that on cold and damp days these cosy
ingle-nook seats will be favourites with frequenters of the
inn. The room is furnished with beech tables and rush-
bottomed seats, and it is altogether as snug an apartment
as one could desire. Adjoining it is the bar-room, which
has undergone a complete transformation. The bar has
been entirely remodelled, and arranged more in accord-
ance with the requirements of such a hostelry, no undue
prominence being given to intoxicating liquors." 1
Persons frequenting the inn are not to be subjected to
1 Belfast Nnvs-Letter, June 1st, 1901.
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND 89
any rules or restrictions " other than those prescribed by
law or sanctioned by the licensing authorities, but every-
thing possible will be done by influence and example to
prevent misconduct or the use of objectionable language,
and to maintain the high standard of the establishment."
There is no hard and fast rule about the amount of
liquor to be supplied to a customer, but "the manager
is under strict orders to carry out the spirit as well as
the letter of the law, and refuse more to anyone who,
according to his judgment, has had enough. And the
judgment of the manager," it is added, " is not liable
to the bias which might ensue from his personal loss, for
he gets a fixed salary with a percentage or bonus on
non-intoxicants, and has no interest in the sale of
spirituous liquors at all." l
The precise method of appropriating the surplus profits
has not yet been fixed, but the promoters, among whom
are several local clergymen, " hope to be in a position to
give generous assistance to many deserving projects which
will benefit the large parish of Carnmoney for instance,
a coal-fund, a poor-fund, or a fund for the support of a
nurse for the sick poor in the district. This, however,
is a matter for future consideration." It is certainly to
be hoped that when this " future consideration " is given,
these suggested appropriations will be modified, for in
giving the inhabitants of the parish so direct an interest
in the sales, they appear to be hardly less objectionable
than the direct relief of rates sanctioned in Gothenburg.
The customers are drawn from three distinct classes;
namely, (1) neighbouring mill-hands, (2) small farmers
on their way to and from market, and (3) cyclists. At
present the house is said to do most with the third class.
1 Rev. B. C. Hayes, in an article in The Visitw, the organ of
the Church of Ireland Temperance Society, July, 1901.
90 PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN IRELAND
The inn, which was opened on May 31st, 1901, has
been working for too short a time to show decisive
results, " but already," according to the testimony of the
Kev. E. C. Hayes, one of the promoters of the experiment,
" there is much to interest and very much to hope. Of
course many are exceedingly puzzled as to what it all
means. Difficulties daily arise for solution. And even
after years of working it is not to be expected that one
reformed house among scores of the normal type will
have any startling effect upon the country-side. But a
beginning must be made in every movement, and if this
little social experiment succeeds, its originators are not
without ambition for a wider activity. It was with that
view they formed themselves into 'The Ulster Public-
Houses Trust Company, Limited.' By increasing their
capital according to need, they hope, as occasion affords,
to buy up other houses or even apply for new licences
when they are becoming necessary, and run them on the
Oarnmoney model." 1
1 Article in The Visitor, July, 1901.
CHAPTER IX
Other Isolated Experiments
IN addition to the foregoing instances, several isolated
attempts have been made in various parts of the
country to eliminate private profit from the local liquor
traffic. Among these may be mentioned the inn at
Wantage, Berkshire; the Spencer Arms Inn at Chapel
Bampton, Northamptonshire 1 ; the New Inn at Childs-
wickham, Broadway, Gloucestershire; the Spital Beck
Inn, Yorkshire ; the Plymouth Arms at St. Fagan's,
Eedditch ; and the late Sir E. Lechmere's Inn at Hanley
Castle, Worcestershire.
WANTAGE, BERKSHIRE
Referring to the first of these, the late Lord Wantage
said 2 : " The public-house here continues to succeed
perfectly. It has now been working about ten years. The
manager receives a fixed salary of 100 a year. He has no
profits on the sale of intoxicants. One room is reserved
for those who call for tea, coffee, etc. It is an open house,
1 The Harleston Inn, Northamptonshire, is not here included,
since it is carried on entirely in the interests of the local Co-
operative Society.
* Quoted by the Rev. Osbert Mordaunt in his pamphlet entitled
Reformed Public-Houses, published in 1898.
91
92 OTHER ISOLATED EXPERIMENTS
and beer is obtained according to the wishes of those
who are served. The fixed rent to me as owner is 20
a year. The profits, after all expenses, average about
150 a year, and are distributed according to the decision
of a committee, of which I and my agent are the chief
members. The money has been used in paying all
expenses of management of a Friendly Society, also in
putting up lamps in the two parishes, and providing all
expenses in the maintenance of them, lighting, etc. The
facilities of having the best room in the house specially
reserved for those who do not take beer or spirits is
decidedly advantageous. The usual newspapers are
provided free."
Brief particulars of the remaining houses are given
by the Rev. Osbert Mordaunt in his pamphlet on
Reformed Public-Houses published in 1898, and they
need not be further referred to here. The houses are
all small.
CHAPTEE X
PubliC'House Trust Companies
AMONG the Public-house Trust proposals which are
before the country none have claimed so much
attention as those which are associated with the name of
Earl Grey. 1 In a letter dated September 6th, 1900,
addressed to the licensing magistrates in the various Petty
Sessional Divisions of Northumberland, Earl Grey thus
describes the circumstance which forced on his attention
the need of a drastic change in the present method of
allotting licences : " Last year, it having been represented
to me that it would be a convenience to the people of
Broomhill if an additional public-house could be provided, I
applied to the licensing authorities, in my capacity as chief
landowner in the district, for the necessary licence. The
magistrates, having decided that the requirements of the
population called for an additional public-house, granted
me the licence. I immediately discovered that the State,
in conferring upon me a monopoly licence, had also
granted me a commercial asset of enormous value. I
was informed that if I would consent to sell my licence
I could, without spending a single sixpence, obtain nearly
1 For a list of the Trust Companies formed, or about to be
formed, in connection with Lord Grey's movement, see p. 1
(footnote).
94 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
Now, it appears to me that large monopoly
values arising out of the possession of a public licence
conferred upon a private individual by the State ought
to belong, not to any private individual, but to the
community. I am, accordingly, making arrangements
by which the surplus profits, after a dividend of 10 per
cent, has been paid per annum (5 per cent, for interest,
and 5 per cent, for redemption of capital), shall be
expended by the trustees, to be appointed, in such a
manner as they may direct, for the benefit of the
inhabitants of Broomhill."
He further asks that the licensing authorities, when
they have decided to create new licences, shall give the
refusal of them to applicants who will undertake to run
them on Scandinavian principles, not for private profit,
but in the interest of the community affected. At first
it was intended that such licences should be worked by
the People's Refreshment-House Association, of which
the Bishop of Chester is the chairman ; but in a letter
to The Times, dated December 12th, 1900, Earl Grey
announced that : " It is intended to give practical
effect to the plan of temperance reform outlined by
the Bishop of Chester in his letter which appeared
in the press of December 3rd, by the incorporation
of Public-house Trust Companies for London and the
provinces."
1 In an interview at a later date with a representative of the
London Argus (March 22nd, 1901), Lord Grey said : " Up till that
time I had not thought out the question, but seeing that by merely
obtaining this licence a sum of, say, 10,000 had been put into my
pocket, it struck me that such a state of affairs was not in the
public interest. . . . There <rp hundreds of such cases which I
could mention,"
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 95
OBJECTS OF THE PUBLIC- HOUSE TRUST
In this letter the object of the Companies is thus
defined : " The object of these Companies will be to
acquire every new licence which the Licensing Authorities
may think it desirable to create, and to apply to the
public-houses so acquired, and to existing public-houses
whenever possible, a principle of administration which
will secure that they shall be managed as a trust in
the interests of the community, and not for private
profit. The two chief objections to the present system,
which allows licensed public-houses to be conducted for
private profit, are :
" 1. There is no security that the best liquor that
can be bought in the open market is supplied to the
consumer.
"2. It is the interest of the publican to push the
sale of intoxicants.
" The principle of management to be adopted by the
Public-House Trust Companies will remove both these
evils. In the houses managed by the Companies :
"1. Only the best drink that can be obtained in
the open market will be sold.
" 2. It will not be the interest of the manager to
push the sale of intoxicants ; he will receive no com-
mission on the sale of alcoholic liquors, but will be
paid a fixed salary with commission on the sale of food
and non-intoxicants, or a bonus on good management.
"3. The public-houses will be refreshment houses,
and not merely drinking bars. Food and non-intoxicants
will be supplied as readily as intoxicants and during
the same hours.
"4. The surplus profits, after allowing a sufficient
96 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
sura for reserve and interest not exceeding 5 per cent,
on invested capital, will be administered by carefully
selected trustees for the benefit of the community."
In a subsequent letter dated January 16th, 1901, the
position taken by the Public-House Trust Association is
still further explained :
" In the first place, let me state that our proposal does
not attack the licensees of public-houses. We do not
ask the licensing authorities to alter their practice with
regard to the renewal of licences. We do not propose to
expropriate existing interests without paying adequate
compensation. We do not ask the Legislature to come
to our assistance. We are content to make the best use
of the opportunities which the law. allows us.
"But while we do not attack private interests, we
propose to endeavour to place a limit on their growth.
It is stated by Messrs. Rowntree & Sherwell that the
net profits of public-houses and beer-shops in the United
Kingdom for 1899 were 19,400,000. These figures have
not been challenged, and are believed to be under the
mark. It is undesirable, for many rea?ons, that this
huge liquor interest should be allowed to grow indefinitely,
and we suggest means which, without robbing or injuring
any one, will provide that new public-houses created to
meet the requirements of new communities shall be
brought under the control of trustees who have at heart
the well-being of the community. We further propose
to purchase licences in the open market, whenever we
think such purchase is in the interests of our Company,
and consequently of the community which it will repre-
sent. The scope of our endeavours in this direction will
necessarily be dependent on the financial support we
may receive."
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 9;
POSSIBILITIES OF THE SYSTEM
Such, then, are the objects and method of the Public-
House Trust Company as explained by its promoters. In
view of the probable wide extension of these companies,
it is a matter of much interest to inquire what are the
possibilities of the experiment, and whether it is likely
to accomplish valuable temperance results. It will have
been noticed that Earl Grey says : " We do not ask the
Legislature to come to our assistance. We are content
to make the best use of the opportunities which the law
allows us." If, then, it should be found that the present
law affords opportunities for action upon a scale sufficiently
wide to secure important national results, full justification
will have been given to Lord Grey's proposals. If, on the
other hand, it should be found that the sphere within
which a Trust Company can advantageously work is,
under existing conditions, narrow, a powerful argument
will have been furnished for a large measure of legislative
temperance reform.
The crucial question which at once presents itself is :
In what way can the Trust Company secure licences?
The number of " on " licensed houses in Great Britain is
a diminishing quantity, 1 and in settled districts the full
number of licences likely to be granted has already been
allotted. The following are the principal ways in which
licences may be obtained :
(a) A few patriotic owners of licences may follow the
1 Comparing the returns for 1896 with those for 1886, we
find that 56 boroughs and 82 Petty Sessional Divisions show
a decrease in the number of " on " licences during the ten years.
One of the most noteworthy reductions has taken place in
London, where (taking the whole of the licensing divisions) 613
"on" licences disappeared between 1886 and 1896.
7
98 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
example of Earl Grey and transfer them to the
Trust.
(6) In newly settled districts the Trust may acquire
new licences which the magistrates may deem
it necessary to grant.
(c) The Trust may arrange to take public-houses from
town or county councils who have acquired
them for improvements.
(d) The Trust may purchase licences in the open
market or obtain them on lease.
The number of licences which the Trust will obtain
under method (a) will be small. Its main acquisition
of licences will no doubt be in newly settled districts as
suggested in (6). But even if the number so obtained
were more considerable than appears likely, the relation
they would bear to the existing licences of the country
must be insignificant. The national problem to be solved
would remain practically unaffected. In regard to method
(c) it is doubtful whether many licences will be obtained
from town or county councils. If these bodies, having
acquired licensed premises through improvement schemes,
etc., decide to carry them on under public management,
they may, as in the recent case of the Sheffield Corpora-
tion, transfer them to a Trust Company subject to certain
specific conditions. But the number of such licences
must in any case be relatively small. Eeferring to method
(<), no doubt plenty of licenes can be bought at a price.
But the price offered to the existing holder must be one
which will make it better worth his while to sell than
to hold. Such prices will generally be inflated Tied
houses owned by brewers and distillers in order that they
may have a secure outlet for their manufactures, now
constitute probably 75 per cent. 1 of the "on" licensed
1 Practical Licensing Reform, by the Hon. Sidney Peel, p. 22.
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 99
houses of the country. With few exceptions these houses
will only be obtainable at prices which no prudent
Trust Company would pay. If, then, licences are to be
purchased in the open market in such numbers as sensibly
to affect the conditions under which the retail drink
traffic of the country is conducted, the financial transac-
tions will have to be not only upon an enormous scale, 1
but upon a basis of inflated prices. 2 Public-house profits,
especially in the urban centres, are no doubt very great,
and a 5 per cent, interest would undoubtedly be
obtained upon the capital expended on such urban
premises, bought even at an extravagant price. There
is, however, a widespread and growing consensus of
opinion that the ground must be cleared for large reforms
by the enactment of a national time-notice to every
licensee. Prudence would therefore suggest that in the
case of every licence acquired by purchase, a sum far in
excess of the 5 per cent, proposed by Earl Grey must
each year be set aside as a redemption fund to secure
the Company against loss when the years of notice have
expired.
Looking at these various methods for the acquisition
1 In 1897, according to the estimate of Mr. E. N. Buxton, a
partner in one of the largest brewery firms in the country, the
aggregate value of the licensed houses in London (including
fully licensed houses, beer-houses, " on " and " off," and refresh-
ment-houses, but excluding the large hotels) was, at a low
estimate, 60,000,000 a sum which, divided among the whole of
the public-houses, beer-shops (" on " and " off "), and refreshment-
houses in the Metropolitan Police area, gives an average value of
between 5,000 and 6,000 per house. The average value of a
fully licensed house in the metropolis (excluding the large hotels)
is, of course, very much higher than this, and amounts, according
to Mr. Buxton, to between 10,000 and 11,000.
2 The recent experience of Messrs. Samuel Allsopp <fe Co.,
Limited is a striking warning in this connection.
loo PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
of licences from the temperance standpoint, no objection
can be taken to method (a). With regard to (6) no
application should be made if in opposition to the wishes
of the inhabitants of the district. And, further, as
magistrates do not announce beforehand that they intend
to grant a licence, the Trust Company will have to
exercise care that it does not, by its application, cause
a licence to be granted that would otherwise have been
withheld. To safeguard this point the Glasgow Trust
Company in making an application said : " We do not
press for this licence, but we ask you not to give it
to anyone else." The Glasgow Trust Company also
specifically state that the directors will " be prepared
to surrender the licence at any time if authoritatively
required, without a suggestion of compensation."
With regard to (c) i.e. the renting to Trust Companies
on special conditions of public-houses which town or
county councils have decided to continue under public
management much may be said for such a policy. 1 But
1 The dilemma in which temperance reformers are placed under
the present licensing system is strikingly shown in the experience
of the London County Council. Up to the present time the
Council has abandoned ninety-four licences of premises acquired
for various street improvement and other schemes, the approximate
premium value of such licences having been estimated at 254,000
in all (Municipal Journal, July 26th, 1901). It cannot be con-
tended that the value of these licences has been annihilated.
Probably the greater part of it has been transferred to the
pockets of neighbouring publicans.
Lord Grey, in a letter to the Chairman of the Improvements
Committee of the London County Council, dated January 17th,
1901, said : " We are prepared to undertake the management of
as many public-houses as the Council may decide to transfer to us
on the following terms : That the rent paid by us to the Council
shall be a fair commercial rent, without the element of the licence
being taken into consideration ; and in return for this concession
we will agree to spend the surplus profits realised by the public-
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 101
the case is different with regard to (d) i.e. the purchase
of licences. It will, we believe, be impossible for the
money of the Trust to be largely expended in the
purchase of licences without the Trust acquiring a great
stake in the drink trade and a dangerous interest in
the maintenance of the present licensing system. The
shareholders will feel that their 5 per cent, interest,
and, indeed, their share capital, are imperilled under the
operation of a time-notice such as Lord Peel has
proposed. 1
Under the Norwegian system there is no danger that
the interest of a man as a Samlag shareholder shall con-
flict with his interest as a citizen. The explanation of
this is plain. The controlling companies generally rent
houses so transferred to us, after 5 per cent, has been paid on the
capital invested in them by our Company, and an equivalent amount
credited to the reserve fund, in such a way as the Council may
approve, either (1) for the provision of counter-attractions to the
public-house and objects of public utility not properly chargeable
to the rates, or (2) for the purchase of licences, or (3) if the Council
should so insist, for the repayment of the sum expended by them
for the purchase of the licences transferred to our Company."
This offer has manifestly much to recommend it, but apparently
the members of the Council feel that the number of licensed
houses in London is already excessive, and are unwilling to
continue those that come into their hands even if the cost of the
policy of abandonment is great and actually adds to the value of
the neighbouring houses that remain. Surely this is a striking
illustration of the need for a large measure of temperance reform,
so that those who are responsible for the government of London
and other cities shall no longer be placed in a position in which
a reduction of licences can only be made at the cost of the rate-
payers, though the transaction confers a gift upon existing private
licensees.
1 The special and grave objections that attach to the purchase
of licensed premises do not, of course, apply to the renting of
such premises at " a fair commercial rent, without the element
of the licence being taken into consideration," as proposed by
Earl Groy in his letter to the London County Council.
102 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
their premises (which Have no value as licensed houses
beyond that of ordinary commercial premises), and con-
sequently their capital is exceedingly small. The total
paid-up capital of the fifty-one Norwegian companies in
1892 the year when the Company System in that country
reached its maximum was only 33,000. But in the
.same year the net profits of the Norwegian Samlags were
no less than 88,000, after paying the 23,700 due to the
municipalities for licence rights. The average profits of
four and a half months would therefore equal the entire
capital. A Norwegian company with its small capital is
thus able easily to create a reserve fund sufficient to pay
the shareholders in full should the Samlag be abolished
by a popular vote. The point to emphasise is that neither
the small capital, nor the high rate of profit, nor the ample
reserve funds of the Norwegian companies would be
possible if they paid vast sums for their licences. It is
a matter of history that in Norway the Company System,
so far from setting up opposing interests, has facilitated
temperance reforms. In the proposals which the present
writers have made elsewhere for the formation of com-
panies in this country, the safeguards suggested are even
more complete than those existing in Norway.
THE HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST
COMPANY, LIMITED 1
An examination of the Articles of Association of the
Hampshire Public-House Trust Company, Limited (" the
other companies will in each case be completed on these
1 It should be noted that the various local public-house trust
companies, although all of them the outcome of Lord Grey's pro-
posals, are in administration and finance absolutely independent
of each other, each having its own Articles of Association. In
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 103
lines ") 1 , deepens the conviction that the dangers in the
Trust enterprise will be found to gather round the pro-
posals for the purchase of licences. Earl Grey and his
colleagues, weary of the delay in securing legislation,
naturally wish to effect the largest possible amount of
present good, and they perceive that if their efforts are
to be limited to the acquisition of licences " which the
licensing authorities may think it desirable to create,"
their efforts will be confined within narrow limits. There
would be an ample field for all these efforts if the ground
were once cleared by legislation, but until then the diffi-
culties of wise Company action upon an extensive scale
are very great. An illustration of this is afforded by
Clause 50, under the head " Borrowing Powers," which
provides that " The directors may raise or borrow money
for the purposes of the Company's business, and may
secure the repayment of the same by mortgage or charge
upon the whole or any part of the assets and property of
the Company (present or future), including its uncalled
or unissued capital, and may issue bonds, debentures, or
debenture stock, either charged upon the whole or any
part of the assets arid property of the Company or not so
charged."
A clause of this kind is often found in the Articles of
a printed circular dated March 30th, 1901, Lord Grey said:
" Local companies, when formed, will be invited to affiliate them-
selves to this Association, and to send a delegate to the meetings
which will be convened from time to time for the purpose of dis-
cussing matters of common interest, and of organising, when
desirable, combined action. Such an Association will, it is hoped,
be able to obtain and give expert advice on all technical and legal
matters connected with the acquisition and management of Trust
houses, and upon all other matters affecting the welfare and
success of the movement."
1 Letter from the Secretary of the Central Association, dated
July 5th, 1901.
104 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
Association of Limited Companies, and may have been
inserted as a common form clause, but it is one not likely
to lie dormant if many licences are bought. The demand
for capital, if this policy were adopted, would be great ; and
to meet the absorption of capital, recourse would have to
be had on a large scale to the borrowing powers of the
Company. Such an arrangement would be perfectly
sound as a commercial transaction, but what its effect
may be upon the temperance policy of the Board will
be seen by a perusal of Clause 52, which provides that
" The Company may, upon the issue of any bonds, deben-
tures, debenture stock, or security, give to the creditors of
the Company holding the same, or to any trustees or other
persons on their behalf, a voice in the management of the
Company, whether by giving to them the right of attending
and voting at General Meetings, or by empowering them
to appoint one or more of the directors of the Company,
or othenvise as may be agreed." How considerable may
be the influence of a single director thus appointed for
the definite purpose of safeguarding the interests of the
creditors, and who may have little sympathy with the
temperance aims of the Company, is seen from Clause 79 :
" The number of the directors shall, until the ordinary
General Meeting to be held in the year 1910, be deter-
mined by the Board of Directors and thereafter by the
Company ; provided always that such number shall not in
any event be less than three or more than seven."
The danger would not be removed even though the
director or directors appointed by the creditors had no
connection with the Trade, for such directors could only
safeguard their clients' interests by a policy which would
ensure large profits, and this would necessitate large sales.
The two clauses, named above (50 and 52) are common
form clauses, and their importance may appear to be
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 105
discounted by this fact, but they will necessarily become
operative if large transactions in the purchase of licences
are embarked upon.
The promoters of the Hampshire Trust are alive to the
risk of a large number of shares passing into the hands of
holders who might be desirous of changing the policy of
the Company. This danger they endeavour to guard
against in two ways : (1) by reserving power to the
directors to refuse to register any transfer if they think
fit ; and (2) by placing the whole of the deferred shares l
in the hands of trustees, it being provided that " The
holders of the deferred shares shall be entitled to the
same number of votes as all the holders of ordinary shares
shall for the time being be entitled to collectively." The
Articles of Association provide that the surplus of the net
profits (i.e. after payment of dividends and providing for
a reserve fund and for depreciation of the Company's
properties) shall be paid to the holders of the deferred
shares, to be held by them as trustees, and to be applied
by them, with the approval of the Council, to such objects
as are provided for in the " Indenture."
The Council referred to consists of (a) the trustees
mentioned above, (6) the holders for the time being of
the offices of Lord Lieutenant for the county of Hamp-
shire, and Bishop of the diocese, and (c) not less than one
or more than six other persons to be appointed by the
directors.
The present Council consists of :
The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Northbrook, Lord-Lieutenant
(ex-officid).
The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Winchester (ex-officio).
1 It is to be noted that in the Glasgow and East of Scotland
Companies there are no deferred shares, and trustees are
appointed solely for the administration of the surplus profits.
io6 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
The Rt. Hon. Evelyn Ashley.
Sir Wyndham Portal, Bart.
The Very Rev. the Dean of Winchester.
The obvious aim of these arrangements is to guard
against the risk of change in the policy of a Company by
placing great voting power in the hands of men occupying
high social positions or public office of recognised respon-
sibility, and it is probable that anything in the nature of
a serious departure from the aims and policy of the
promoters will in this way be prevented. But it is well
to remember that it is upon the directors, who have the
detailed administration of the Company in their hands,
that the actual success of the Company as a temperance
instrument will ultimately depend, and that the influence
of a directorate in favour of temperance does not turn
upon the acceptance or rejection of any single act, but
rather upon wise, tactful, and persistent effort exercised in
regard to a number of details whose practical importance
can only be known to those who are responsible for the
daily management of the business. The provision giving
directors power to decline to register transfers would
indicate that the promoters of the Trusts were alive to the
danger of having upon their list of shareholders those who
are interested in the drink traffic. On the other hand,
many will have read with apprehension the passage in
Lord Grey's letter to The Times of January 16th, 1901, in
which he says : " In Norway and Sweden persons con-
nected with the liquor trade are prohibited by law from
holding shares in the Bolags, 1 but our proposal 2
1 This is not strictly accurate, but other safeguards exist in
Norway.
* I.e. the one giving great voting power to the holders of tho
deferred shares.
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 107
appears to me to render unnecessary an offensive prohibi-
tion which ostracises one class from a movement which
aims at the well-being of all." If one of the main objects
of a Trust Company be to lessen the consumption of
drink, it is surely imprudent to invite the co-operation of
those whose interest as traders is to increase its sale.
While it may be well to guard, by special provisions,
against dangerous developments within the Trust Com-
panies, it is better still to guard against their introduction.
RECREATIVE FEATURES
In an article upon the Public-House Trust Association,
which recently 1 appeared in the Westminster Gazette,
the writer says : " The second great principle of the
movement is that it proposes to improve, and even
to idealise, the public-house. . . . The Public-House
Trust Association proposes to supply every variety of
refreshment, to give facilities for games and recreations,
and, in a word, to make the refreshment-house something
more nearly approaching to a club, or at least to a cafd as
known in France. The exact details as to the arrange-
ment of the houses for this purpose have yet to be settled,
but it is proposed, we understand, to keep the alcoholic
and non-alcoholic sides of the house entirely separate."
With the proposal to give facilities for games and
recreations the present writers are in full accord, but
they strongly hold that the drinking and recreative
centres must be separated by a wider distance than the
two sides of a public-house. Subsequent observation has
led them in no way to depart from the view they have
1 May 22nd, 1901.
io8 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
elsewhere l urged, that the proposal to associate recreation
with the sale of intoxicants is not only opposed to the
express recommendations of several Parliamentary Com-
mittees, but is clearly prejudicial to the best interests
of the community, and calculated to hinder, rather than
to facilitate, the object it seeks to attain. Its importance
can be illustrated by a single consideration. Practically
all disinterested citizens are agreed that the consumption
of intoxicants in the United Kingdom is at present so
excessive as to be dangerous to morality, prosperity, and
health. Temperance workers, realising this, and knowing
how hard it is to break an established habit, have tried to
save the children from acquiring the habit of drinking.
It is stated that in 1897 the Bands of Hope and other
juvenile temperance associations in the United Kingdom
had a total membership of nearly three millions (2,800,000),
and that in addition to the ordinary work done by these
societies, lectures on the subject of temperance were
delivered to no less than 403,320 children in public
elementary schools. Do we want these boys and girls
when they leave school, with no acquired fondness for
drink, and the young men and women in shops and
factories, to be attracted to rooms in which games, music,
and newspapers are directly associated with the sale and
consumption of intoxicants? Do we not rather want,
by a strong and decided change in our national arrange-
ments, to break the continuity of the drinking habit,
and so reduce to reasonable limits our present stupendous
consumption of alcohol ? If we do wish this, what could
be more ill-judged than deliberately to attract young
men and women to places where, in seeking recreation,
they will perpetually have before them an example which
we desire they should not imitate ?
1 The Temperance Problem and Social Reform.
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 109
PAYMENT OF MANAGING DIRECTORS ACCORDING TO
FINANCIAL KESULTS
In reading the Articles of Association of the Hampshire
Trust Company one occasionally comes upon clauses which
suggest that those responsible for the drafting had over-
looked the altogether exceptional objects for which the
Trust Companies exist. This is particularly the case in
Article 100, which runs: "The directors may from time
to time appoint one or more of their body to be a
managing director or managing directors of the Company,
and may fix his or their remuneration, either by way of
salary or commission, or by giving a right to participa-
tion in the profits of the Company, or by a combination
of two or more of those modes." Such a clause might
rightly be included in the Articles of almost any com-
mercial undertaking, but it is in direct opposition to
the avowed purposes for which the Public-House Trust
Companies are formed. In his letter to The Times of
December 12th, 1900, Earl Grey says: "In the houses
managed by the Companies it will not be the interest
of the manager to push the sale of intoxicants : he will
receive no commission on the sale of alcoholic liquors,
but will be paid a fixed salary with commission on the
sale of food and non-intoxicants, or a bonus* on good
management." As is well known, by far the larger
proportion of the profits in the houses worked upon
" Gothenburg " lines arises, not from the sale of food
or mineral waters, but from the sale of alcoholic drink.
The more drink sold, the larger will be the profits upon
which it is provided that the managing director may
have a commission, or in which he may have a right
to participate. It is well to provide that the local
i io PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
managers and the actual dispensers of the drink shall
be paid only by a fixed salary; but the benefits of the
provision may be entirely neutralised if the managing
director, upon whose reports and advice subordinate
appointments and advances in salary will depend, has
a direct interest in the sale of alcoholic drinks.
VOTING POWER OF SHAREHOLDERS
In the Hampshire Public-House Trust, as in the
Bishop of Chester's Association, the dividend is limited
to 5 per cent. 1 In the Bishop of Chester's Association each
shareholder is entitled upon a poll to one vote only, irre-
spective of the extent of his holding, following in this the
example of some of the best of the Norwegian companies.
In the Public-House Trust Association each ordinary share
carries a vote. In a purely commercial undertaking the
voting power rightly goes with the number of shares, but
in bodies which exist for public purposes plurality of
voting should not be found. Seeing that these Trust
Companies have for their primary object "to promote
sobriety and dimmish drunkenness," there would seem to
be no reason why the holder of many shares should have
a more potent voice in determining the policy of the
Company than the holder of one share. 8
1 In the Bishop of Chester's Association and in the Hampshire
Public-House Trust Company the dividend is not cumulative.
It is, however, cumulative in the Northumberland Trust
Company.
' In a general way it may be said that no one should hold so
many shares in a Company that the financial success of the
undertaking would thereby become a matter of real moment
to him,
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES in
APPROPRIATION OF SURPLUS PROFITS
This important question is provided for in the Hamp-
shire Trust in an " Indenture," which, among other things,
sets forth the objects to which the trustees may apply the
surplus profits. We give in extenso the clause relating
to this point :
" (i) Making donations or subscriptions to any society
institution trust organisation or charity now
existing or hereafter to exist.
" (ii) In acquiring sites for and building and restoring
altering enlarging maintaining and endowing
churches chapels whether intended to be con-
secrated or not churchyards burial-grounds
hospitals colleges schools school-houses houses
of residence for any purpose mission-halls
parish-rooms institutes almshouses libraries
baths wash-houses theatres music halls
restaurants coffee-taverns eating houses cab-
men's shelters and houses for the working
classes and the like.
" (iii) Providing maintaining extending and testing
by examination or otherwise education and
religious and technical instruction.
" (iv) Doing all such things as may to them in their
uncontrolled discretion appear to be incidental
or conducive to the purposes aforesaid or
any of them and for that purpose to form any
new society institution trust organisation or
charity.
" Provided always that such property and money shall
not be expended or disbursed for or towards the direct
relief of rates taxes or assessments unless in exceptional
circumstances it is deemed expedient or for the benefit
ii2 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
of the Company so to expend or disburse the same or
some part thereof."
In cases where the drink trade is taken out of private
hands and put under some form of public control there
are, broadly speaking, two ways in which the surplus
profits may be appropriated. 1 The one is to make use
of these profits in the provision of counteracting agencies,
the aim of which shall be to weaken and restrict the
trade ; the other method is to make use of the profits
to enrich the municipal treasury, or to swell the incomes
of public institutions and private charities. These
methods are not only absolutely distinct, but in their
scope and tendency are in direct opposition to one another.
For while the first method weakens the hold of the
trade, the other gives the ratepayers, or the committees
of the institutions helped, a distinct interest in the
maintenance, if not in the extension of the traffic. The
former plan is meeting with wide and growing acceptance
from the churches, from temperance and social reformers,
and from men and women representative of the most
varied schools of thought. The latter plan is that
which has been adopted in the city of Gothenburg,
and, generally speaking, throughout Sweden. 2 It is
also the one which, unfortunately as we believe, has
been adopted by the Hampshire Public-House Trust.
We regard the choice as unfortunate, because (1) it
1 Mention is here made of local appropriations only. As we
have elsewhere shown (see p. 144) the most satisfactory method of
appropriation is that which, after allowing for the maintenance
of efficient "counter-attractions," provides that the residue of the
profits shall be handed over to the State Treasury.
1 Prior to the passing of the Act of 1894 the appropriation of
the profits in Norway was a union of the two methods, and the
change effected by the Act of 1894 was due to a recognition of its
defects.
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 113
diverts the profits from the sphere in which they are
imperatively needed for temperance purposes, and (2) the
proposed appropriation is in itself full of danger. So
far as the first of these two points is concerned it must
be remembered that the conditions under which so many
of our fellow-countrymen live create an urgent need for
healthy recreation and for satisfying the social instincts
apart from the sale of drink. The first call upon the
profits of the trade is for the establishment and main-
tenance upon a national scale of recreative centres. It
will have been seen, however, that the proposals of the
Public-House Trust Company given above provide for
"making donations or subscriptions to any society
institution trust organisation or charity now existing or
hereafter to exist," while the following section, among
other things, proposes that the profits shall be in part
applied " in acquiring sites for and building and restoring
altering enlarging maintaining and endowing churches
chapels whether intended to be consecrated or not," and
also towards colleges, schools, school-houses, etc.
Now religion and education ought to provide much
of the moral force needed in the struggle against in-
temperance, and hardly any scheme could be devised
more unfortunate than that of giving the churches and
the schools an interest in the drink trade by making
their incomes dependent in part upon the traffic. The
gift which " blindeth the wise " would exercise its
ancient and familiar power. A deadening influence would
inevitably pass upon those who should be the guardians
of the moral forces. To aid the rates, as in Gothenburg,
out of the profits of the trade is admittedly dangerous,
and the Trust Companies, recognising this, provide that
their profits shall not be so expended. But the proposals
under consideration might easily inflict a deeper injury
8
ii4 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
upon the true life of the nation than actual contributions
in relief of rates. It is true that, at the end of Section II.,
certain counteracting agencies are named, but these would
stand a poor chance of effective support if brought into
competition with public institutions and private charities.
The objection is less obvious to making contributions
from the drink profits in support of hospitals, but those
who have served upon the committees of such institutions,
and have realised how much could be accomplished with
ampler funds often so difficult to obtain will question
the wisdom of making the maintenance of the income
of these institutions dependent upon an undiminished
drink traffic.
Earl Grrey, in dealing with the question of the disposal
of the profits, says : " It is desirable that different
experiments should be tried." This is true if the ex-
periments are conducted within clearly defined lines and
on principles which experience has now established. But
to disregard experiments conducted on a large scale and
over a long term of years, and to put the whole question
afresh into the crucible, cannot be wise.
Happily these proposals for the disposal of the surplus
profits form no integral part of the general scheme of
the Public-House Trust movement. As will be seen in
a subsequent section of this chapter, the proposals of the
Glasgow Trust Company under this head are admirable.
It will be for promoters of the various local schemes to
see that the arrangements for the disposal of profits are
in each case similarly safeguarded.
THE NORTHUMBERLAND PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST
COMPANY, LIMITED
The general scheme of this Company is similar to
that of the Hampshire Trust, but in sucb matters as
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 115
the constitution and government of the Trust, and the
safeguards devised to prevent abuse, there are differences
that call for brief mention.
The government of the Company may be considered
under two broad divisions, the first having reference to
the work of administration and management, while the
second comprises the checks and safeguards that have
been provided to secure that the original intention of the
promoters shall be adhered to.
The ordinary administration of the Company is carried
on by directors who are appointed by the shareholders,
and to them belong virtually all matters of ordinary
administration and working other than the appropriation
of the surplus profits.
The scheme for safeguarding the policy of the Company
is based upon the power given to the trustees as holders
of the deferred shares. This power can be exercised in
two ways. First, the holders of the deferred shares, as
members of the General Meeting of the Company, have
a voting power equal to that of all the ordinary share-
holders, and so can exercise an enormous influence in
determining the broad lines of policy to which the
directors must adhere. Secondly, the appropriation of
the whole of the surplus profits of the Company rests with
the holders of the deferred shares acting under the in-
structions of the Council. The constitution of the Council
is therefore a matter of vital importance. As in the case
of the Hampshire Trust, it consists of ex-offido and of
elected members. The elected members are not, however,
chosen either by the shareholders or by the directors, but
are virtually self-elected, the ex officio and the elected
members uniting to fill up any vacancy that may occur
in the ranks of the latter.
Each elected member upon being elected, and each
ii6 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
ex-offido member, is required to sign, and is not entitled
to act until he has signed, an undertaking to observe
the provisions and the bye-laws for the time being in
force for the management of the Trust.
The " Deed of Foundation " provides that the following
shall be the Council :
(a) Ex-officio:
The Lord-Lieutenant for the time being of the County of
Northumberland.
The Chairman for the time being of the Northumberland
County Council.
The Chairman of the Standing Joint Committee of the County
of Northumberland.
The Mayor for the time being of the City and County of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Principal for the time being of the College of Science,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The President of the Northumberland Miners' Association.
The Chairman for the time being of the Wholesale Co-
operative Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
(6) Elected:
Viscount Ridley, Blagdon, Northumberland.
Sir Andrew Noble, K.C.B., Jesmond Dene House, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne.
Sir Edward Grey, Bart., M.P., Falloden, Northumberland.
Sir B. C. Browne, Westacres, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Sir W. H. Stephenson, Elswick House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
C. W. C. Henderson, Esq., The Riding, Hexham.
C. W. Mitchell, Esq., Jesmond Towers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Robert Knight, Esq., Highbury, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
This arrangement, giving great voting power to the
holders of the deferred shares, will be valuable as a safe-
guard against any serious departure from the intention
and policy of the promoters, especially when it is remem-
bered that the trustees, as members of the shareholders'
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 117
meeting, will have a powerful influence in determining
the choice of directors. 1
APPROPRIATION OF SURPLUS PROFITS
The objectionable features in the clauses governing the
appropriation of surplus profits which appear in the
Articles of the Hampshire Trust Company are modified
in the case of the Northumberland Trust Company.
Section I. is the same in both, but Section II. in the
Northumberland Articles is as follows:
" In acquiring sites for and building restoring altering
enlarging maintaining and endowing hospitals
infirmaries colleges schools school-houses clubs
institutes museums picture and other art galleries
libraries reading-rooms public baths gymnasiums,
parks gardens open spaces and other lands and
buildings dedicated or intended to be dedicated
to the public."
Section III. provides for the furnishing and equipping
of the above, while Section IV. reads :
" Generally in the uncontrolled discretion of the
Council in the establishment maintenance and
furtherance of objects of public utility education
amusement recreation or charity either local or
general in character."
1 In the case of the directors an additional safeguard is furnished
in the provision that, " The office of a director shall be vacated
if he becomes directly interested in the carrying on of the manu-
facture or sale of intoxicating liquors, but so that no person shall
be disqualified from being a director by reason only of his being
interested in a Company or undertaking having similar or partly
similar objects to those of this Company, or in a railway or other
company carrying on the manufacture or sale of intoxicating
liquors as an incident of its principal business."
u8 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
Many of the objects enumerated above may justly be
regarded as direct counter-attractions to the public-house ;
bat there are others concerning which considerable mis-
giving will be felt.
BORROWING POWERS
The borrowing powers of the Northumberland Trust
are substantially the same as those of the Hampshire
Trust, and the clause under which provision is made for
the direct representation of the creditors of the Company
upon the directorate also reappears. These clauses will
be necessary if extensive purchases of licences are made,
but the dangers implicit in them have already been
pointed out.
EEMUNERATION OF DIRECTORS
Article 82 provides that the directors' remuneration
shall be fixed by the shareholders in General Meeting.
GLASGOW PUBLIC-HOUSE TEUST, LIMITED *
One of the most interesting and promising of the
Company experiments about to be made is that of the
Glasgow Public-House Trust, incorporated March, 1901.
Its capital of 25,000 is divided into 25,000 shares of 1
each. The dividend, which is cumulative, is limited to
4 per cent, per annum. The chairman and directors
are influential Glasgow citizens, and the secretary of the
Company is Mr. John Mann, junior, who for many years
1 For the relation of this Trust Company to Earl Grey's
Association see p. 102 (footnote).
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 119
has been a careful student of the Company system : it is
probable that the provisions of the Glasgow Trust owe
much to his full knowledge of the question.
OBJECTS OF THE TRUST
In their prospectus the directors say that they " will
enter into the work prompted by a sense of public duty,
and deeply impressed by the dangers inherent in this
disagreeable but lucrative trade, and in the rapidly
growing monopoly of the traders." This passage strikes
the keynote of the policy of the Company as laid down
in their Memorandum and Articles of Association.
ITS NON-COMMERCIAL CHARACTER
While the directors state that they " are co-operating
with those who are organising similar companies through-
out Scotland and England, with the object of working
upon a common basis and constitution," their enterprise
has certain satisfactory features which are peculiar to
itself. Thus the dividend upon the shares is a dividend
of 4 per cent., 1 while in most other Trust Companies it is
5 per cent. Again, by Clause 79 of the Articles of
Association it is provided that " the directors shall receive
1 With Scotch caution the directors have, however, made the
proviso thus explained in their prospectus : " To meet any
difficulty, should it arise, in obtaining money at 4 per cent., and
to avoid the stoppage of a good work for want of capital, the
directors have thought it prudent not to make it impossible to
offer 5 per cent., should changes in the value of money or different
circumstances require the payment of this rate. Accordingly, the
Memorandum of Association authorises a maximum of 5 per cent.,
but this power can only be exercised by a majority of three-fourths
of an extraordinary meeting of shareholders."
120 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
no remuneration," while in other Trust Companies pro-
vision for their remuneration is usually made. This last
point is perhaps of more importance than may at first
appear. Men are not paid for services upon a town
council, or upon a school board, or upon a board of
guardians. The sacrifice of time and labour involved is
regarded as a public duty. In Norway, with, we believe,
the exception of two companies, the Samlag directors are
not paid. In the long run men of high social ideals are,
we think, more likely to be found upon the directorate
of a controlling company when the office carries no
remuneration than when it does.
METHOD OF ACQUIRING LICENCES
The Glasgow Trust " offers to take up and manage new
licences which the authorities may deem it necessary
to grant." To quote again from the prospectus, " the
directors of the Trust say in effect to the authorities, ' If
you grant a licence in this district at all, we ask that it
be granted to us in the public interest, to be managed as
a public trust. 1 We shall hold the profits at the disposal
of the trustees, and we shall be prepared to surrender the
licence at any time if authoritatively required, without a
suggestion of compensation.' " The Trust " may also
acquire existing licences, if obtainable on reasonable
terms." So far as the occupancy by the Trust of new
ground which otherwise would be occupied by the private
1 Referring to the application by the Glasgow Public-House
Trust for a licence for Anniesland, the Rev. D. M. Ross, D.D.,
writing to the Glasgow Herald under date April 9th, 1901, says :
" It seems to me unfair to suggest that Mr. Mann and his directors
are trying to foist a licence upon a protesting community. As
Mr. Mann has explicitly said, ' We do not press for this licence,
but we ask you not to give it to anyone else.' "
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 121
trader is concerned, the position of the Company is clear
and strong. But in the Glasgow as in the Hampshire
Trust, dangers gather around the proposals for the pur-
chase of licences. The large sums that may be involved
in such transactions, together with the demand for
capital that would ensue, necessarily lead to the adoption
of Articles for the protection of the creditors identical
with those which appear in the Articles of the Hampshire
Trust, and which have been discussed on a previous page. 1
It is, however, to be noted that in the Glasgow Articles no
restriction is placed upon the number of ordinary directors
who may be appointed.
APPROPRIATION OF PROFITS
The scheme for the destination ot surplus profits is
so excellent that with perhaps the omission of a few
words it might well serve as a model for other Associa-
tions. Clause 108 of the Articles of Association provides
in respect of the surplus profits : " (1) that no portion
thereof shall be applied in direct relief of the rates ;
(2) that the trustees, while not disregarding other objects
which they may consider of benefit to the public, shall
have special regard to such means of rational recreation
and entertainment as shall tend to diminish in the com-
munity the undue consumption of alcoholic liquors ; and
(3) that the trustees may pay over part or the whole of
the profits into the national exchequer if they deem it
expedient."
The Glasgow Company hands over the administration
of the surplus profits to a body of trustees. 2 The Articles
1 See p. 103.
* The duty of the trustees in the Glasgow Trust Company is
confined to the administration of the surplus profits ; they have
not the special voting power of the trustees in the Hampshire and
Northumberland Trust Companies.
122 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
provide that the first trustees shall be appointed by the
directors, and shall hold office until the Ordinary General
Meeting of the Company in 1904. Prior to that time the
trustees, together with the directors for the time being,
are to "prepare a scheme containing full provisions as
to the method of election or nomination of a body of
trustees ... it being understood, however, that any such
scheme shall be settled on the basis that at least half of
the trustees acting under it shall be appointed by the
Company or its directors, and that no alteration shall be
made by it in the destination of the surplus profits herein-
before set forth." The names under the first appointment
are as under :
Trustees
(For administration of surplus profits).
Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, Bart., M.P.
Sir James King, Bart.
Sir John Neil son Cuthbertson.
J. G. A. Baird, Esq., M.P.
Charles Douglas, Esq., M.P.
J. Parker Smith, Esq., M.P.
M. H. Shaw-Stewart, Esq., M.P.
John Inglis, Esq., LL.D.
J. 0. Mitchell, Esq., LL.D.
John Ure, Esq., LL.D.
Hugh Steven, Esq.
Whether it is expedient to withdraw from the directors
the responsible and interesting duty of administering the
surplus profits may be doubted. The best men are
wanted as directors, and such are not likely to look with
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 123
favour upon an arrangement under which important
duties are removed from their care and placed in the
hands of an outside body.
CHECKS AND SAFEGUARDS
The question may be asked : In what way does the
Glasgow Trust Company guard against its capture at
some future time by the Trade? 1 It has none of the
machinery for this end elaborated by Earl Grey of
deferred shares carrying great voting power and held
by occupants for the time being of high official positions
in the district. We should judge that reliance is placed
upon the objects of the Company as clearly set forth
in the Articles of Association, and more particularly
upon Clause 19, which runs: "The directors may, in
their- absolute discretion, without assigning any reason,
decline to register the transfer of any share, whether
wholly or partly paid up, to any person not approved of
by them, and in the event of any such refusal at any
time, the person to whose transfer such refusal relates
shall have no right or cause of action of any kind in
respect thereof."
Experience alone can show whether these safeguards
are sufficient. An additional safeguard might be found
by adding to the list of disqualifications of directors a
rule similar to that of the Northumberland Trust, which
provides that the office of a director shall be vacated if
he acquires a direct interest in the manufacture or sale
of alcoholic drinks.
1 It may be said that the experience of Norway shows the
danger of such capture to be unreal, but in that country all the
licences in a town are given to one company, and if it abused
its trust the licensing authorities would at the next issue transfer
the licences to another company.
124 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
APPOINTMENT OF LOCAL COMMITTEES
An arrangement of practical value remains to be
noticed in the power given to the directors " to appoint
local committees, not necessarily members or directors
of the Company, with such powers and duties as the
directors may think proper." The right conduct of the
counter-attractions will require much time and thought,
and probably many would gladly share in this duty who
would be unwilling to take part in the direct management
of the Company houses.
THE EAST OF SCOTLAND PUBLIC-HOUSE
TRUST, LIMITED 1
This Trust Company was incorporated in April, 1901.
Its capital of ^50,000 is divided into 50,000 shares of
1 each. The dividend, which is cumulative, is limited
to 5 per cent, per annum. The Articles of Association
provide that the remuneration of the directors shall
be fixed by the Company in General Meeting. The
" Methods of Management," as set forth in the pro-
spectus, are as follows :
" The methods of management adopted by the Company
must necessarily be subject to such modifications as
experience and a fuller knowledge of the districts in
which its operations are conducted suggest, but the
general objects at which the management will aim will
include the following :
"1. In each house a carefully selected manager will
be placed, and, where considered advisable, local
1 For the relation of this Trust Company to Earl Grey's
Association see p. 102 (footnote).
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 125
boards or committees will be appointed to super-
vise the management in different local areas.
" 2. Food and a variety of non-alcoholic beverages will
be provided, and every means will be taken to
encourage their consumption. The greatest
care will be taken that everything supplied is
of the best quality obtainable.
"3. The manager will be paid a fixed salary, with a
commission on all trade in food and non-
alcoholic liquors. No commission will be allowed
on the sale of alcoholic beverages.
"4. In selecting managers, every endeavour will be
used to obtain men who will be in hearty
sympathy with the policy of the Company, and
who will assist in carrying out (in the spirit as
well as in the letter) the licensing laws enacted
by Parliament for the regulation of public-
houses and the promotion of temperance."
As in the case of the Glasgow Trust Company, the
surplus profits of the undertaking, after payment of
dividend and "after making provision for depreciation,
for reserve funds, for loss arising from extinction of
licences and for other contingencies . . . will be paid
over to trustees, to be applied by them to such objects
of public utility and well-being as may be determined,
special regard being had to such means of rational
recreation and entertainment as shall tend to the
diminution of intemperance."
The provision governing the appointment of trustees
is the same as in the Glasgow Trust.
The first trustees for the administration of surplus
profits are :
Sir Ralph Anstruther, Bart., of Balcaskie, Pittenweem.
126 PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES
Sir T. D. Gibson Carmichael, Bart., of Castlecraig,
Dolphinton.
Professor John Chiene, C.B., F.R.C.S.E., 26, Charlotte
Square, Edinburgh.
T. S. Clouston, M.D., F.R.C.P., Tipperlinn House,
Morningside, Edinburgh.
Sir Mitchell Thomson, Bart., 6, Charlotte Square,
Edinburgh.
J. P. Wood, W.S., 16, Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh.
The Articles of Association contain the wholesome
provision, the substance of which is incorporated in the
Articles of other Public-House Trust Companies, that
" The directors may, in their absolute discretion, without
assigning any reason, decline to register the transfer
of any share, whether wholly or partly paid up, to any
person not approved of by them."
The elements of danger in this Trust Company, as in
the others, lurk in the provisions which are designed to
meet contingencies that may arise from the proposed
purchase of licences.
It is impossible to study in detail the proposals of
the promoters of the Public-House Trusts without being
impressed by the careful thought and seriousness of aim
that have been brought to bear upon the schemes. The
criticisms that the present writers have ventured to offer
are necessarily based upon the statement of policy in the
prospectus of each company, and upon the provisions for
giving effect to such policy in the Articles of Association.
Inasmuch as the companies have not yet begun actual
operations there is not, as in the case of the experi-
ments discussed in the earlier chapters of this book, any
experience to which to appeal. It may well be that
when such experience has been acquired it will be found
PUBLIC-HOUSE TRUST COMPANIES 127
that we have underestimated the advantages, or over-
estimated the dangers, of certain provisions. But it
needs no experience to show that such a policy as the
purchase upon a large scale of licences will give the
Trust Companies vested interests that must necessarily
conflict with their efficiency as instruments of reform.
Examination appears to show that under the existing law
the serviceable sphere of such companies must be of a
restricted character. Their chief value would appear to
be experimental, and, if carefully conducted, they will be
useful in educating and ripening public opinion for
further legislation. It is therefore of great importance
that nothing shall be done for the sake of extended
operations that will impair the value of the object-lesson.
It is of even greater moment that no policy shall be
entered upon which, owing to insufficient safeguards or
inherent defects, is likely actually to prejudice the principle
of public management by obscuring the possibilities of
the system when wisely conducted and controlled.
There are probably few earnest citizens who will not
sympathise with the eager desire of the promoters to avail
themselves of such opportunity for effecting reform as
exists under the present law; but one fact that stands
out clearly from the foregoing pages is the relatively
small result, in comparison with the problem that claims
attention, that the Trust Companies can hope to achieve.
Even under the dangerous policy of purchase the number
of houses they can hope to acquire will be but a very
small proportion of the total number of licensed premises
in the country. The attempt, therefore, earnest as it is,
only serves to emphasise the urgent need of legislation
which will make substantial results possible.
CHAPTER XI
Conclusion
IN considering some of the preceding schemes, and
especially the Public-House Trusts, it must be frankly
stated that they suggest the idea that the promoters look
to the present normal consumption of alcohol continuing,
though under less dangerous conditions than at present,
rather than to a substantial reduction. If such an idea
really exists in the minds of the promoters, then it marks
at once a fundamental defect in the schemes as instru-
ments of reform. Nothing is clearer than the fact that
the present consumption of intoxicants in this country is
not only excessive, but seriously subversive of the economic
and moral progress of the country, and no scheme of
reform can be regarded as satisfactory that is not solidly
based upon a clear appreciation of this fact and a deter-
mined intention to alter it. In the judgment of the
present writers the most decisive test of any scheme of
temperance reform is its ability to effect a considerable
reduction in the national consumption of alcohol. The
good conduct of the traffic is certainly a consideration of
high importance which no careful reformer will under-
estimate; but no one who studies the public-house
problem in its relation to the economic and moral progress
of the people and the present and ultimate needs of the
State, can fail to see that much more is required than
128
CONCLUSION 129
what is ordinarily understood by the good conduct of the
traffic and the discouragement of flagrant intemperance.
The advancement of civilisation, accompanied as it has
been by an increasing severity of international competi-
tion, has necessitated a stricter inquiry into the conditions
of national success and well-being, with the result that
we now see how seriously the welfare of the State is
threatened by the present excessive expenditure upon
alcohol.
The facts ascertained cannot fail to have far-reaching
effects in modifying the national attitude toward intem-
perance. While there is nowhere a disposition to restrict
the rightful prerogatives and freedom of the individual,
there is a growing appreciation of the power of law
and of social arrangements in educating public opinion
and tastes, and especially in directing thought and
effort towards moral development and self-control. Good
management may make the public-houses respectable,
and it may also diminish flagrant intemperance and dis-
order ; but if it accomplish no more than that it will fail
to make any important contribution to the solution of a
grave and pressing problem. The chief test of any scheme
of temperance reform, let us repeat, is its ability to bring
about a substantial reduction in the national consumption
of alcohol. It is not a small or unimportant fact that if
the consumption of alcohol per head of the population
in this country could be brought down even to the level
of the American consumption, our national drink bill
would at once be reduced by 66,000,000 per annum !
EELEASE OF LOCAL PROGRESSIVE SENTIMENT
Another essential requirement in any scheme of reform
is that it shall leave localities free to work out their own
salvation from the evils of the drink traffic. It is one of
9
130 CONCLUSION
the condemnations of existing licensing arrangements that
they fetter and retard the progressive instincts of a com-
munity, whereas substantial progress can only be made
under a system which will quickly register such pro-
gressive sentiment and give it full opportunit}' for effecting
reforms. At the same time, security must be taken that
local interests shall not alone determine the policy to be
adopted ; and especially is it necessary that the State, by
explicit legislative provisions, shall make it impossible for
municipal or local cupidity to take the place of private
cupidity. In such a matter as the appropriation of the
profits it would obviously be unsafe to give absolute
freedom of action to the locality. The theory that only
by allowing a wide variety of practice can we hope to
discover the best method of appropriation overlooks the
fact that already a large body of decisive evidence has
been established. Experience shows that, in the absence
of explicit legislative provisions, methods of appropriation
are likely to be adopted that would injuriously affect the
cause of temperance in certain localities by offering induce-
ments for the continuance of the traffic (in the form of
subsidies and other local benefits) which even an advanced
temperance sentiment could hardly hope to withstand.
"We would suggest that the true lines of policy to be
adopted in proposals for the public management of the
liquor traffic are suggested by the principles followed in
much of the best modern social legislation, and especially
in such cases as the Poor Law, Public Health legislation,
and the Education Act. All of these Acts have one
feature, or, more strictly, one general principle in
common. In each case the broad lines of policy are
explicitly defined and are subject to central supervision
and control, but the details of the policy and the actual
administration of the Acts are reserved as matters of local
CONCLUSION 131
arrangement. In this way local initiative and energy have
been powerfully called out, and release has been given
to the progressive sentiment in a community. In the
judgment of the present writers the promoters of public
management will move upon the lines of safety by
observing the general principles of the Acts named above.
If supervision and control by the Central Government are
needed in regard to the matters covered by those Acts,
still more must they be needed in connection with the
control of a monopoly so dangerous as that of the drink
traffic a traffic which, while it enriches private persons,
throws heavy burdens upon the State.
The first step is clearly to ascertain in the light of
available experience the limits within which localities
should be free to undertake experiments, and then, when
the necessary limitations and safeguards have been im-
posed by law, localities should be left free to work out
their own salvation in their own way.
A NEGLECTED FACTOR
But there is another point that must be considered.
The facts of intemperance are eloquent of moral enfeeble-
ment and economic waste. Do they not also testify to
a deep-lying moral and intellectual need ? In our
estimate of the problem hitherto, have we sufficiently
allowed for the fundamental needs of human nature, and
for the compelling force of those social and recreative
instincts whose legitimate gratification is a part of the
scheme of progress ? It is the conviction of the present
writers that no scheme of temperance reform can be
satisfactory that does not include a full recognition of
these social and recreative instincts. The attractiveness
of the public-house for the average man ov woman has
132 CONCLUSION
results that are often disastrous; but any one who has
knowledge of city and even of village life knows that
at bottom the public-house problem is largely (by no
means wholly) a question of forgotten needs the revolt
of certain neglected qualities in men which, when allowed
favourably to expand, become the instruments of progress.
It may be well to abolish the public-house, but it is ill if
our effort end there. But can it end there ? What is to
take the place of the public-house ? This is a question
which is by no means premature, and which cannot afford
to wait. The social instincts of the people will not be
denied, and we shall be wise as a community to recognise
this and to give them their legitimate place in the
scheme of human progress.
It is for this reason that the present writers attach
so much importance to the provision, in any scheme of
temperance reform, of adequate and efficient counter-
attractions to the public-house. Their criticism of the
arrangements made in some of the foregoing schemes for
the appropriation of surplus profits is not merely based
upon the fact that such appropriations are in themselves
inexpedient or calculated to hinder progressive temper-
ance reforms, but that they overlook or give inadequate
attention to one of the fundamental facts in the problem
of intemperance. So long as no really effective challenge
is given to the public-house as the working-man's club
and meeting-place, so long will it be comparatively useless
to expect an improvement in popular tastes and an
appreciable diminution of intemperance.
But here again it is necessary to observe that any
attempt to meet this need by associating recreations and
amusements with the sale of liquor must certainly fail
of its object. Such an arrangement might conceivably
lead to reduced drinking in the case of a few regular
CONCLUSION 133
frequenters of the public-house, but any good that it might
accomplish in this direction would be far outweighed
by the temptations and inducements it would offer to
multitudes of youths and girls who have not yet learned
to frequent the public-house. If the problem of reform
be really to break a tyrannous national habit which has
grown to disastrous proportions, it would seem self-evident
that nothing must be done that would make the attrac-
tions of the public-house more seductive. The aim and
effect of temperance reforms should be to draw men away
from, rather than attract them to, the public-house.
THE NECESSITY FOR A MONOPOLY
Further, in the working of the Company system it is
essential to its full success that a Company should take
over the whole of the retail licences in a town. A partial
experiment covering the operation of a few licences only
will necessarily be hampered by competitive conditions.
Even if no actual disaster arises, an experiment working
under such conditions can give no sufficient demonstration
of the possibilities of public management. In such a
matter as the retail sale of liquor, competition does not
make for betterment, but, on the contrary, is calculated
almost in the nature of things to lower the standard
of management. " The chief test of competition,"
according to Mr. Sidney Webb, " is success in attracting
the consumer." Gresham's law of currency namely, that
bad money drives out good is, in Mr. Webb's opinion,
" equally applicable to all forms of competition. In the
matter of municipal competition in the drink trade
the private drink-seller would drive out the municipal
one." A company or municipality could easily enforce
stringent regulations if it had a monopoly of the local
134 CONCLUSION
traffic i.e. when the choice open to the customer lay
between stringent regulations or no liquor. But when it is
a case of unattractive and carefully regulated sale versus
attractive and free sale, the former will have no chance.
It would, for example, be of little use providing that
in the Company houses no credit should be given, that
no female bar-tenders should be employed and that no
adventitious attractions should be added, if in their near
neighbourhood ordinary licensed houses existed in which
none of these restrictions were enforced. The full measure
of the competition which such isolated experiments must
encounter is made plain by the number of licensed
premises which already exist in the towns, of which we
append a few examples :
Total Number
~
of Licences,
"On"
" Off "
" On " and
Licences.
Licences.
"Off."
Southampton ...
468
100
568
Manchester
2,222
746
2,968
Sheffield
1,159
639
1,798
Leicester
456
389
845
Leeds
745
437
1,182
Bristol
1,038
329
1,367
Birmingham
1,600
567
2,167
Nottingham
595
488
1,083
In view of figures such as these, which reflect a condition
of things universal in the towns, what important results
can be expected from isolated experiments which control
a few licences only ? So, too, in the matter of those
constructive agencies which are now so widely seen to
be needed in the struggle against intemperance. Few
now dispute the fact that if important success in
temperance is to be achieved one chief factor in such
success must be the provision of efficient counter-
attractions to the public-house. But such counteracting
CONCLUSION 135
agencies, even if they could be provided on a scale far
greater than is likely to be possible in the absence of
a monopoly, would be placed under very unfavourable
conditions for success if they were exposed (as they would
be) to the competition of privately conducted public-
houses in which adventitious attractions were provided.
In this connection it is to be noted that the experience
of the United States, together with recent declarations
in the English Trade journals, point to a possible wide
extension of " attractions " in the public-houses of this
country. The Licensed Trade News, for example, in its
issue of December 1st, 1900, in referring to proposals
for the establishment of counter-attractions to the public-
house, said : " There is a growing disposition to meet
the publican ( with his own weapons,' it would seem,
and what the Trade has to do is to imitate the national
attitude in this warfare, and see that it provides itself
with the best weapons wherewith to meet the new
competition. ... It behoves us to see that we meet this
new attack with bold effectiveness. . . . The law very
rigorously prevents cards, billiards, and games of chance,
and perhaps, with the sporting inclination strongly
developed in our masses, the restriction at times is as
judicious as at others it is galling. But cards or no
cards, billiards or not, the public-house still contains a
perfect fund of unexplored possibilities, which the com-
petition of well-meaning ' enemies ' will compel us to
expose to view. If drinking is to be subsidiary to rational
entertainment, as indeed it should be, and the working-
classes, in whose electoral hands the power is, want to
extend the opportunities of the smoke-room, or will
wisely and well avail themselves of what the Trade,
prodigal in speculation, will offer them, we have not a
shadow of fear as to the future of the public-house. We
136 CONCLUSION
can respond to every call the legitimate opponent can
put forth."
Nor must it be forgotten that limited and partial
experiments will fail altogether to secure that release of the
progressive sentiment in a community which is one of the
primary aims of reform. They may, indeed, while inspired
by admirable and absolutely disinterested motives, actually
commit themselves (as in Kelty) to lines of action dis-
approved by an important and even preponderating body
of local opinion. They are in any case prevented from
securing the unity in method and administration which
is urgently needed in the local conduct of the liquor
traffic.
The promoters of these isolated experiments are
evidently well aware of the limitations that attach to
partial control, and they would probably unite with the
chairman of the Glasgow Trust in suggesting that the
raison d'etre of such experiments is "the despair of
receiving any early or effective help from Government "
which would make monopoly possible. But while such a
consideration appeals powerfully to many earnest reformers
at the present time, and has much on the face of it to
commend it, it should not be allowed to divert thought
from a common effort to remove the only serious obstacle
to monopoly by securing a Declaratory Act which would
solve once for all the vexed question of compensation.
The real hindrance to monopoly, as to all effective
temperance reforms, is the reluctance of the community
summarily to dispossess the private publican without
notice or compensation. This being so, it is clearly
imperative that temperance reformers of all schools should
unite in compelling a settlement of this difficulty by
the enactment of a national time-notice, accompanied
by a provision for money compensation (raised from the
CONCLUSION 137
Trade) if the time-period should be anticipated by the
action of the community. Once this were secured
" the field would be clear for any further legislation,
experimental or otherwise, which Parliament might be
disposed to enact."
Meantime, if these isolated experiments are to proceed,
it is desirable that they should proceed upon lines that
will not ultimately prejudice the larger undertakings
that their promoters desire to see inaugurated.
WIDESPREAD ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC
MANAGEMENT
The evidence we have given of the number and rapid
extension of companies worked upon " Gothenburg "
lines will be sufficient to show that the system has taken
firm hold of the public mind, and that, for good or evil, it
has come to stay. The hindrance at present to its wide
extension arises from the difficulty of obtaining new
licences. Were the ground once cleared by the adoption
of a time-notice such as is proposed by Lord Peel, the
Company system would probably receive immediate and
enormous expansion. And if the system were once
established on a wide scale without adequate safeguards,
legislation with regard to it would become extremely
difficult; communities which had for a few years found
themselves in possession of large incomes from the profits
of the trade would certainly be unwilling to surrender
them. The peculiar danger of the system as carried on
in the town of Gothenburg, of making the people interested
in the maintenance of the traffic by using the profits in
relief of rates, would then be experienced in this country.
A very few years might suffice to give the system such
lodgment that it could not afterwards be displaced. It
cannot, therefore, be too strongly urged upon temperance
138 CONCLUSION
workers, and not least upon those who are hostile to the
Company system, that the question is no longer whether
there shall be Companies or whether there shall not, but
* it is simply whether there shall be Companies under wise
and adequate control, or whether they shall exist without
such control ? The present is the " psychological
moment " which the Temperance party may either take
or neglect. They have it, we believe, now in their power
to make sure that any form of the Company system that
may continue or come into existence after the years of
notice to the Trade have expired, shall be upon wise lines.
It may be useful and necessary that they should criticise
with the utmost keenness the experiments now in force.
But if temperance effort ends with these criticisms, and if
no effort is made to unite the temperance forces in favour
of some policy for securing adequate control over these
Companies, the golden opportunity will soon be passed
and it is difficult to see how it can return. On every side
there is evidence that the nations will not much longer
allow the monopoly profits of the drink trade to pass into
private hands. One country after another is appropriating
these profits for public purposes. The State Spirit
Monopoly which Kussia tentatively applied to four of its
provinces in January, 1895, has from July 1st of this
year been extended to the whole of European Eussia. In
Sweden and Norway since the seventies the retail sale
of spirits has been in the hands of Companies, while under
the Dispensary System four of the States of the North
American Union have more or less taken the sale of liquor
into their own hands. 1
1 As we write, evidence reaches us that in South Australia
proposals are being pressed for State control of the retail liquor
traffic, and, as is known, the " South African Alliance for
the Reform of the Liquor Traffic " is urging that a Government
CONCLUSION 139
The inevitableness of this national movement and the
policy to which it so clearly points were thus referred to
by Lady Henry Somerset in the Contemporary Review
for October, 1899:
" Four-fifths of the amount of the profits from the
drink are monopoly profits, unearned by those who at
present enjoy them ; and if they must be earned at all,
they are rightly the property of the nation. The people
are awakening to this, and soon they will claim and
obtain their own. Would it not, therefore, be well, while
yet there is time, to ally with the inevitable transference
of the monopoly profit of the liquor trade of the nation
a scheme which, with the people's sanction, would restrict
the mischief of the trade within the narrowest limits,
and use the profits arising from it for the promotion of
the people's well-being, instead of, as at present, allowing
it to be used for the poisoning of local self-government,
the degradation of politics, municipal and national, and
the throttling of the Commonwealth ? "
monopoly of the traffic should be established in the Transvaal
and the Orange River Colony. It is also noteworthy that, more
recently stiJl (July 9th, 1901), a motion that the Natal Govern-
ment should introduce a Bill for the municipalisation of the
liquor trade at Durbar; was carried in the Legislative Assembly
without a division.
APPENDIX
TN attempting in an earlier volume (The Temperance
-*- Problem and Social Reform, 9th edition) to sum
up the broad conclusions to which their investigations
had led, the present writers endeavoured to concentrate
attention upon a few important points which they believe
to be fundamental in any effort to solve the problem of
intemperance.
For the convenience of those who have not access to
the last edition of the earlier volume, and to prevent
misunderstanding, the summary there given is now
appended :
1. Summary of leading propositions on which
legislation should be based
The propositions which we have attempted to establish
are chiefly these :
(a) That the present consumption of intoxicants in
this country is not only excessive, but also seriously
subversive of the economic and moral progress of the
nation.
(6) That the enormous political influence wielded,
directly and indirectly, by those interested in the drink
traffic, threatens to introduce "an era of demoralisation
in British politics," and that this menace to the in-
dependence of Parliament and to the purity of municipal
142 APPENDIX
life can only be removed by taking the retail drink trade
out of private hands.
(c) That when the retail trade is taken out of private
hands, regulations for its conduct can be quickly adapted
to the special needs of each locality, and reforms now
difficult to attain, such as Sunday closing, reduction in
the number of licensed houses, the shortening of the
hours of sale, the non-serving of children and of recognised
inebriates will then become easy of accomplishment.
(d) That in the present state of public opinion the
adoption of prohibition in the large towns is to be
regarded as in) practicable, although it is possible that
local veto might be successfully exercised in a suburb,
or ward, of a town.
(e) That in no English-speaking country has the
problem of the intemperance of large towns been solved.
(/) That an examination of the causes of alcoholic
intemperance shows us that, whilst some of these are
beyond our reach, others that are of the utmost importance
are distinctly within the sphere of legislative influence.
(<7) That we must recognise as among the chief causes
of intemperance the monotony and dulness too often the
actual misery of many lives, coupled with the absence
of adequate provision for social intercourse and healthful
recreation.
(h) That it is unreasonable to expect to withdraw men
from the public-house unless other facilities for cheerful
social intercourse are afforded. Such counteracting
agencies, to be effective, will cost a great sum estimated
by the present writers at 4,000,000 per annum.
(i) That this sum can be easily obtained if the retail
trade is taken out of private hands, but that it is not
likely that the necessary funds will be furnished either
from municipal taxation or the national revenue.
APPENDIX 143
2. The proposed lines of action and how to safeguard
them
A careful attempt has been made to frame practical
proposals in harmony with the foregoing propositions.
The proposals made frankly recognise : First, that reforms
to be effective must be constructive as well as restrictive.
Secondly, that they should reach as far as the progressive
spirit of the community will allow, and should be con-
sistent with further advance. Thirdly, that they should
educate and set free the latent progressive resources of
each locality.
The present writers are well aware that objection has
been taken to schemes for the municipalisation of the
drink traffic, on the ground of the possible danger of
the trade being run for profit in order to reduce the
rates. This danger is, however, not merely remote from,
but absolutely destroyed by, the present proposals.
These proposals provide for a system of local restriction
and control from which all that is commonly objected to
in schemes for public management has been effectually
and of set purpose excluded. 1
It is provided:
(a) That localities shall have permissive powers to
organise and control the retail traffic in liquor either
directly through the municipal council or through a
company (as in Norway), but always under the direct
1 " I have argued for years against every form of municipalisa-
tion. I have denounced it in a hundred towns. But Messrs.
Rowntree and Sherwell's scheme has met all the objections
which I have ever urged, and for the first time we are presented
with a plan which the sworn prohibitionist can adopt without
compromise of deep conviction and without fear of ultimate
danger and loss." REV. C. F. AKED, Paper read at the National
Council of Free Churches, March, 1900.
144 APPENDIX
supervision of the central government and only within
clearly defined statutory limits.
(6) That the whole of the profits shall be handed over
to a central State Authority for disbursement, the first
charge upon such profits to be the provision and mainten-
ance of adequate counter-attractions to the public-house,
the balance of the profits being paid into the national
exchequer. 1
(c) That the sole benefit which a locality shall receive
from the profits of the traffic shall be an annual grant
from the State Authority for the establishment and main-
tenance of recreative centres, the primary object of which
shall be to counteract the influence of the drink traffic
such grant to be a fixed sum in ratio to population and
not in ratio to profits earned.
(d) That similar grants shall be made to prohibition
areas, all inducement to continue the traffic for the sake
of the grants being thus effectually destroyed.
(e) That where municipal councils adopt the system
and elect to control the traffic, they shall, as in the case
of the present technical education committees, invite the
active co-operation of a fixed number of influential citizens,
other than members of the council, in the work of local
management. 2
(/) Finally, the right of prohibiting the traffic is
placed within the power of every locality.
1 In any scheme for the disbursement of profits regard would
of course be had to necessary appropriations for sinking-
funds, etc.
1 That the scheme, in its provision of recreative agencies, would
require for its full success the active co-operation in each locality
of earnest citizens is certain. But the experience of School Boards
especially has shown that there is no lack of high-minded and
gifted men and women willing to devote time and labour to
well-devised schemes of social service.
APPENDIX 145
It is evident, therefore, that the conditions would be
such as to destroy the risk of municipal corruption. That
the scheme, by enlarging and enriching the idea of
municipal responsibility, would have an entirely opposite
effect could, with equal explicitness, be shown. As Lord
Rosebery has admirably put it : " The larger the sense of
municipal responsibility which prevails, the more it reacts
on the corporation or the municipality itself. By that I
mean this, that the men outside the municipality, or
who have hitherto held aloof from municipal government,
when they see the higher aims of which the municipality
is capable, when they see the wider work that lies before
it, when they see the incomparable practical purposes to
which the municipality may lend its great power, are not
inclined any longer to hold aloof." *
3. How the scheme could be carried out
But it may be asked, How is this scheme to be carried
out ? What obstacles stand in the way of its adoption ?
There can be but one reply. It is the question of
compensation that blocks the way to all far-reaching
temperance reforms. Neither the proposals advocated
in this chapter, nor local veto, nor any other important
scheme of reform, can be carried out until the question
of compensation has been settled. The present writers
believe that this settlement must be effected upon the
basis of a national time-notice. On this ground, therefore,
if on no other, it would seem eminently wise for all
practical temperance reformers to endeavour to secure
legislation upon the lines of Lord Peel's Report, so that
at the end of the time-notice " no compensation of any
1 Glasgow Herald, January 24th, 1898.
10
146 APPENDIX
kind would be given, and . . .the field would be clear
for any further legislation, experimental or otherwise,
which Parliament might be disposed to enact." 1
Supposing, then, the time-notice to have expired,
what are the localities to do ?
The alternatives which would be open to them would,
broadly speaking, be as follow :
1. They might continue the present system of private
licence, either with or without high licence in some one
of its forms.
2. They might adopt prohibition.
3. They might take the trade out of private hands
and introduce a system of local restriction and control,
to be exercised by either
(a) A disinterested company, or
(6) The municipality.
It is with the third of these alternatives only that
we are at this point concerned.
(a) If it were proposed that local control should be
exercised through a company, as in Norway, a body of
resident citizens organised, or ready to be organised, as
a company, would make application to the licensing
authority to take over for a specified term of years 2 the
whole of the retail licences in the place, undertaking
that the shareholders should not receive more than the
current rate of interest (as defined by law) and further
undertaking that all conditions attached by the licensing
authority to the licences should be carried out. If more
than one company applied, it would be for the licensing
authority to determine which body would be most likely
1 Minority Repor of the Royal Commission on Liouor
Licensing Laws, p. 270.
1 The period would coincide with the period allowed by lo,^
for tVe recurrence of a prohibition vote.
APPENDIX 147
to carry on the work of effective control with disinterested
intelligence.
If the licensing authority declined all applications from
companies, then the inhabitants of the place could by a
popular vote compel the adoption of the Company system
at the first subsequent issue of licences.
(6) If a municipal council desired to work the con-
trolling system by taking the traffic into its own hands,
it could do so by formal resolution. But if a municipal
council was unwilling to take the initiative, or the licensing
authority to sanction the application, then the inhabitants
of the locality could by popular vote compel the adoption
of the system at the first subsequent issue of licences.
Local control, whether exercised by a company or by a
municipality, would of course be carried on in conformity
with the requirements of the central government, to whom
all profits would be handed over for disbursement.
4. The limited alternatives open to temperance
reformers
It is well to remember that the alternatives open to
temperance reformers are very few. There is a growing
feeling that the enormous monoply profits which at
present attach to the Trade, and which must grow, rather
than diminish, with an increasing population and a
diminishing number of licences, ought not to be reaped
by private individuals, but be used for the benefit of the
community. The question to be decided is, How best
may this be effected ? One method of effecting it is by
allotting the licences to those who tender the highest
licence fees, or if this method be objected to by largely
increasing the statutory fees ; in other words, by adopting,
in one or other of its forms, a system of High Licence.
148 APPENDIX
But apart from the fact that this suggestion touches part
of the problem only, its defects, as we have seen, are
obvious. It not only fails to destroy the political
influence of the Trade, but it gives the licensee an
even greater incentive to push his sales. The increased
cost of his licence must be met by increased sales.
Where prohibition is impossible, the only alternative
scheme to private licence is to take the traffic out of
private hands. This can be done either as in Eussia,
by a system of State monopoly, or by a system of local
restriction and control as proposed in this chapter. The
former system is clearly inadmissible. Its defects are
too obvious to call for further comment. We are there-
fore shut down to some such scheme as is here proposed
a scheme of local management carried out under strict
statutory safeguards. This being so, the only remaining
question to be decided is the appropriation of the profits.
Here again the alternatives are simple and clearly
defined. The profits might be devoted to (a) the relief
of local rates; (6) the subvention of local charities, as,
until recently, in Norway ; (c) State or Imperial purposes ;
or (d) the provision as is here suggested of efficient
counter-attractions. The first of these alternatives is
so inherently vicious, and would encounter such over-
whelming opposition, that it need not be further con-
sidered. The second and third proposals, although far
less objectionable, are still open to serious criticism.
Their inherent defect is that they would deflect and
absorb, for quite other purposes, resources that are needed
for directly combating the evils of the traffic. The
fourth alternative is free from these defects. It starts
from the position, which few will question, that the
public-house problem is largely by no means entirely
an " entertainment of the people " problem ; that it has
APPENDIX 149
its roots in ordinary social instincts as well as in depraved
and unenlightened tastes ; and that it can only be
effectively solved when provision is made for adequate
counter - attractions. It is claimed for the present
proposals that they make such provision possible in a
form that would powerfully contribute to the highest
interests of the individual and the truest progress of
the State. 1
5. Final appeal
The final appeal may be made in the eloquent words
with which, twenty years ago, the Lords' Committee on
Intemperance summed up the argument for local manage-
ment and control. Referring to the objections urged
1 An objection is sometimes taken against municipal or
company control on the ground that it would involve the
community in complicity with a demoralising traffic. The re-
sponsibility, however, is one that already exists. At the present
time both our national and local exchequers are directly and
substantially recruited from the proceeds of the sale of intoxi-
cants. Not only is a vast sum, amounting to thirty-four millions
sterling (or nearly one-third of our entire national revenue),
annually appropriated to national purposes from Customs and
Excise duties on alcoholic liquors, but a further sum of two
millions, annually raised from licence fees, is applied to local
purposes in direct relief of rates ; while a still further sum of
one and a half million, derived from additional taxes on liquor,
is allotted to local councils, chiefly in support of technical in-
struction. To add to these vast sums (or any remnant of them)
the further sums represented by the profits on such sales as must
for the present continue, is not therefore to introduce a new
principle, or to create a complicity which does not already exist.
To take a single illustration : Leeds already receives from its
liquor licences, in direct relief of local taxation, an annual sum
of 15,000, together with a further sum of 7,000 representing
its share of the special duties on beer and spirits imposed by
Mr. Goschon in 1890 and subsequently allotted to local councils
APPENDIX
against both the Gothenburg system and the system of
direct municipal control, the Committee say : " We do not
wish to undervalue the force of these objections ; but if
the risks be considerable, so are the expected advantages.
And when great communities, deeply sensible of the
miseries caused by intemperance, witnesses of the crime
and pauperism which directly spring from it, conscious
of the contamination to which their younger citizens
are exposed, watching with grave anxiety the growth of
female intemperance on a scale so vast and at a rate
of progression so rapid as to constitute a new reproach
and danger, believing that not only the morality of their
citizens, but their commercial prosperity, is dependent
in support of technical instruction, etc. The use which Leeds
has made of this latter sum in the last two years is shown in the
following table :
1900-1
1899-1900
Leeds School Board
1,920
1,920
Yorkshire College
Leeds Institute of Science, Art, and Literature
Public Library ......
1,500
1,250
1,000
1,500
1,250
1,000
Leeds Church Middle Class School
Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education
Holbeck Mechanics' Institute
Woodhouse Mechanics' Institute
Armley Evening Science Classes .
Wortley Working Men's Institute
Institution for Blind and Deaf and Dumb
Huuslet Mechanics' Institute
St. Peter's Church School, Dewsbury Road
Leeds Working Men's Institute .
Rodley Science Class ....
500
250
80
60
60
60
60
60
36
30
20
500
240
60
60
60
50
50
40
25
20
10
Stanningley Church School Science Class
Mount St. Mary's Science and Art Class
20
50
10
Totals
6,915
6,775
To the extent of 22,000 per annum, therefore, Leeds has at the
jrresent time a direct complicity in the liquor traffic in its midst.
APPENDIX 151
upon the diminution of these evils, seeing also that all
that general legislation has been hitherto able to effect
has been some improvement in public order, while it has
been powerless to produce any perceptible decrease of
intemperance, it would seem somewhat hard, when such
communities are willing, at their own cost and hazard, to
grapple with the difficulty and undertake their own purifi-
cation, that the Legislature should refuse to create for
them the necessary machinery, or to entrust them with
the requisite powers." *
The reasonableness of this appeal will probably be
To allot to Leeds, as is here proposed, an annual grant out of the
aggregate national profits of the liquor traffic, for the maintenance
of effective counter-attractions to the public-house, is not, there-
fore, to create a complicity. The complicity exists already.
Moreover, it must continue to exist under any conceivable
licensing system. The only way to eradicate complicity in the
liquor traffic would be to abolish all licences and all Customs and
Excise duties on liquor, and to throw open the traffic to anyone
who chose to engage in it a proposal that is manifestly utterly
impracticable.
But the question is really a practical one. We are all agreed
that for some time to come a considerable volume of trade in
alcoholic liquors will continue. Is it better that it should con-
tinue under a system which aggravates the evils of the traffic
and produces the maximum amount of social demoralisation and
loss, or under conditions of restriction and control which reduce
the evil effects of the traffic to a minimum ?
As Lady Henry Somerset, in discussing the present proposals
(Contemporary Review, October, 1899), pertinently asks: "Are
we to be regarded as ' having complicity ' with a trade for the
reason that when we cannot suppress it altogether we desire so
to change its form and character that we deprive it of three-
fourths of its power to harm, but permit a fourth of that evil to
continue for a time ? I hold that it is our duty to restrict the
evil as far as we can, and I hold that we are responsible only
for the amount of harm which we could prevent, but allow to
continue."
1 Report of the Lords' Committee on Intemperance, 1879, p. 25.
152 APPENDIX
generally accepted, and its force may justly be claimed
in behalf of the present proposals. That these proposals
would solve, absolutely and definitively, the entire problem
of intemperance, is neither claimed nor believed. This
no single scheme can effect. But that they offer a
reasonable basis for co-operation to all who are concerned
to achieve such a result, and would powerfully contribute
to bring it about, is fully and earnestly believed. If the
proposals fall short of the full aim of the idealist, they
in no way conflict with his ideal ; they simply lay the
foundations upon which he and others may build.
NOTE. The wide acceptance of the leading principles
and practical proposals outlined above is indicated by
the opinions which follow.
Some Personal Opinions
The Bishop of London. " I have read your book with
the greatest interest, and consider it the most valuable
contribution towards the solution of the temperance
problem which has yet appeared."
The late Bishop of Durham. " I heartily agree with your
main proposals, and congratulate you on the effect which
your book has already produced. Though I shall gladly
welcome every reform which tends to lessen the evils of
the drink traffic, I am satisfied that they cannot be dealt
with successfully till private profit is eliminated from the
retail trade. At the same time, ' constructive,' no less than
'restrictive/ measures are essential for the complete
solution of the social problems involved in the question."
The Bishop of Rochester. " I do not think that anything
could do a greater service to the cause of reasonable
and statesmanlike temperance reform than the widest
circulation of your book, and I am extremely glad to hear
that it is to appear in a more popular form.
"The value of its statistics and information is quite
independent of the particular proposals which you advocate;
but I have myself long felt that change in the direction
of those proposals is our best hope viz. that the trade
should cease to be a matter of private profit, and should
be controlled in the public interest."
The Bishop of Wakefield. " No book I have ever read
has given me so hopeful a feeling for the future of
temperance legislation. It treats the whole question upon
153
154 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
a scientific basis of facts, and offers a solution on which
temperance reformers ought to be able to unite, at least
in its main features. All earnest temperance workers owe
you an immense debt."
The Bishop of Liverpool. " I gladly express my general
approval of the main proposals in your weighty and con-
vincing book, The Temperance Problem and Social
Reform. I believe them to be just, reasonable, and
eminently practical."
The Bishop of St. Andrews. " I heartily hope that the
fundamental proposals of the book may soon be carried
into effect."
The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. " The book
appears to me a most useful work of reference on the
whole temperance question, and I am in full sympathy
with the writers in desiring that experiments should be
made on the lines of the system which in Sweden and
Norway has, in my judgment, produced excellent results."
Rt. Hon. Sir Henry H. Fowler, M.P. "I regard their
treatise as a most important contribution to the solution
of the very difficult problem of temperance reform. . . .
Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell have compiled facts and
statistics which must be considered by all true temperance
reformers."
Et. Hon. James Bryce, M.P. " Desiring to see the
temperance problem seriously and promptly grappled with,
I am glad to hear that Messrs. Rowntree and SherwelFs
book is being re-issued in a cheaper form. It ought to
stimulate reflection ; and I hope that its views and argu-
ments will receive a fair, candid, and careful consideration."
The Right Hon. A. H. D. Acland. "I am very glad
you are going to publish a cheap edition. The mass of
facts and figures which you have collected concerning the
working of different systems of control of the liquor traffic
155
are of the greatest interest and importance. It is in-
teresting, too, to see what importance you attach to the
problem of housing the poor, and to the need of further
facilities for recreation. It would be a great advantage
if it were made possible to try experiments on the lines
you suggest."
T. W. Russell, M.P. " I agree with Messrs. Eowntree
and Sherwell that the problem cannot be effectually solved
until the elimination of private profit is secured."
Rev. Charles Garrett. " This book will be of immense
value to the temperance cause, for it is a wonderful store-
house of temperance information. Its plan for grappling
with and destroying our national curse appears to me to be
admirable. I have long felt the unwisdom of attempting
to accomplish the impossible. If it were possible I would,
at all costs, sweep the drink traffic away for ever, but I
have hitherto seen no way in which this could be accom-
plished in my time. This book, however, opens before me
' a door of hope.' There are two ways of taking a fortress
one is by assault, the other by sapping and mining.
This book suggests both ways of dealing with the traffic :
first by bringing local veto into operation wherever it can
be successfully applied, and, having thus taken the out-
works, it shows how the citadel itself can be undermined
and taken. Every step seems to me to be in the right
direction, and I heartily trust that no prejudice will be
allowed to block the way."
Archdeacon Wilberforce. " Without endorsing all the
conclusions arrived at, I consider Messrs. Eowntree and
SherwelFs book a most valuable contribution towards the
solution of the greatest social problem of our day, and I
trust that it will be widely read and studied."
Lady Henry Somerset. " We are on the eve now of a
struggle which will probably be the decisive one, but
156 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
which will be fierce and prolonged. At this point, there-
fore, it seems to me of supreme importance that the
temperance forces should unite. Too long they have
been severed and weakened by differences which I believe
must be overcome before their attack can be efficient;
and it is for this reason that I, in accordance with many
others, hail the appearance of a remarkable book, which
is the most valuable addition to the literature of the
temperance cause that, to my mind, has yet been given
I mean the book called The Temperance Problem and
Social Reform, by Mr. Joseph Eowntree and Mr. Arthur
Sherwell."
Rev. C. F. Aked. " This fine book aims, as you know,
at the creation of a platform broad enough to include all
friends of temperance and all who are working for social
reform. ... I have argued for years against every form
of municipalisation. I have denounced it in a hundred
towns. But Messrs. Eowutree and Sherwell's scheme has
met all the objections which I have ever urged, and for the
first time we are presented with a plan which the sworn
prohibitionist can adopt without compromise of deep
conviction, and without fear of ultimate danger and loss."
Canon Hicks (of Manchester). " Yours is the weightiest
book I have ever read on the temperance question. Your
statement of the case for permissive prohibition is all the
more convincing because you are not so enamoured of it,
as some of us are, as the chief remedy for the terrible
drink evil. Especially do I thank you for pointing out
so clearly the obvious dangers that beset the cruder
proposals for municipalising the drink traffic. The
positive proposals of your volume deserve the most care-
ful attention, and may form a basis of union for all
advanced temperance reformers."
Lady Elizabeth Biddulph. " It interests me greatly to
\
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 157
hear that your valuable book, The Temperance Problem
and Social Reform, is to be popularised through a cheap
edition. The fundamental proposals it contains are to
my mind undeniable. I trust this generous endeavour
on your part will have a very great success."
Rev. James Paton, D.D. (Convener of Church of Scotland
Committee on Temperance). " In my judgment, after
five-and-thirty years of careful study of all temperance
literature, this book is the only one worthy of being
called a ' Classic.' Its unanswerable reasoning, and its
noble moral inspiration, have breathed a new and victorious
impulse into all men who believe that temperance reform
is the true pathway to further social progress ; and that
there are lines, such as those indicated by Messrs.
Rowntree and Sherwell, on which such reform can be
carried : (1) without delay ; (2) in accordance with the
recorded convictions of the community; and (3) with
vast benefit to the nation as a whole."
Principal Rainy, D.D. "No man should advocate
opinions on the way in which the drink traffic should
be dealt with unless he has read carefully Messrs.
Rowntree and Sherwell's book. Both for facts and for
discussion at the present stage it is indispensable."
Principal J. Marshall Lang, D.D. "No book on the
temperance problem has so deeply interested me as that
which is associated with the names of Messrs. Rowntree
and Sherwell. Its presentation of the facts connected
with the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor is
unrivalled for completeness and lucidity. Its examination
of the measures which have been adopted, or the plans
which have been suggested with a view to remedying the
evils, directly or indirectly attributable to indulgence in
intoxicating drink, is thorough ; and its proposals commend
themselves as worthy of the most serious consideration,"
158 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
Principal Salmond, D.D. "It is the most impressive
book that I have read on the drink question, and the
most enlightening. ... It is likely to make an epoch
in the history of temperance endeavour. . . . Other
methods surely should be attempted where Local Veto
will not work, and the plan of public control, stripped as
it is in the scheme of this book of the perilous element
of immediate civic gain, seems to me one that all reason-
able men should be glad to see tried. . . . The constructive
side of Messrs. Kowntree and Sherwell's scheme also
deserves serious and sympathetic consideration. If human
nature is to be taken into account, there must be such a
side in any ameliorative programme, and the authors of
this book have done a most important service in giving
it so essential a place in their proposals."
Rev. A. M. Fairbairn, D.D. (Principal of Mansfield
College, Oxford). " I am glad to hear that you think
of publishing a cheap edition of your book on The
Temperance Problem and Social Reform. It is a book
full of knowledge and instruction to all interested in
social problems, and its proposals deserve the most careful
consideration, not only of all temperance reformers, but
of all public men and statesmen."
Charles Booth, F.R.S. (author of Life and Labour of
the People in London, etc.). " I am very much interested
to hear of the projected cheap popular edition of your and
Mr. Sherwell's great book, and hope it may have a marked
effect in ripening public opinion for action in the direction
towards which your conclusions point."
Sidney Webb, LL.B. (Chairman of Local Government
and Taxation Committee, and Vice-Chairman of Technical
Education Board of the London County Council). " I
feel that these proposals contain a more promising scheme
of reform than any that I have seen. The evils of the
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 159
present situation are so great and far-reaching that
probably more than one remedy must be used against
them. Nor would I shrink from, or shut out, other and
more drastic expedients. But I am, as at present advised,
greatly attracted by the idea of replacing the present
retail trader in drink by a genuine " public-house," run
by the public for the public. I regard this work as a
striking demonstration of the value, in social problems,
of independent investigation and hard thinking."
J. A. Hobson, M.A. (author of Problems of Poverty,
etc.). " The longer I study social-economic problems in
their practical bearing on the life of the people the more
deeply I am impressed, not merely with the enormous
gravity of the drink question, but with the necessity of
treating it in organic relation to the other economic and
moral issues. ... I regard your work as by far the most
scientific in its method, and most practical in the hopes
of reform which it presents, among the books which I
have read, and I earnestly hope it may have the widest
possible circulation among all sorts and conditions of men."
Rev. Alexander Whyte, D.D. " I hail the prospects of
a popular edition of your masterly book. Your book has
made an immense impression on the minds of men in its
costly form, and I feel sure its appearance in a cheap
edition will begin a new era of thought and progress in
connection with the drink traffic."
W. C. Braithwaite, B.A., LL.B. (Chairman of National
Council of Adult Schools). " Messrs. Eowntree and
Sherwell's book is a careful and masterly examination
of the problem of temperance reform. They show con-
clusively that Local Option and Prohibition are not likely
to be effective at present in thickly populated areas, and
that accordingly some further method should also be
available in these cases.
160 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
" Their scheme for municipal control with payment of
profits into a central fund to be used for counteracting
the public-house deserves the close and unprejudiced
consideration of every temperance reformer, and, I believe,
shows the line of right action. It does not run counter
in any way to the proposals in Lord Peel's report."
Rev. John Smith, D.D. " I rejoice that Messrs. Rowntree
and Sherwell's volume is to be put into the hands of the
people. It is a perfect thesaurus of temperance teaching ;
and the whole discussion is carried through with such
amplitude of knowledge, freshness of view, transparent
honesty, and conspicuous ability that men of all schools
cannot fail to profit from it."
Rev. J. B. Paton, D.D. (Hon. Secretary of the National
Home Reading Union, and of the Social Institutes Union).
" The publication of the book has been epoch-making
in the history of temperance and social reform, and its
influence is bound to grow. I have read no book on the
social needs of our time with a more perfect and thankful
approval, and I entirely accept the two fundamental
principles which you so eloquently expound and vindicate.
. . . Like every temperance worker, however, I specially
welcome and support your second proposal namely, that
the profits arising from these public-houses, administered
so that they shall do the least possible evil to those who
frequent them, shall be devoted to the establishment
of places for social fellowship and bright and healthy
recreation, because I believe that the establishment
of such places is one of the greatest social needs of
our time."
Dr. Spence Watson. " The writers have brought together
an unparalleled collection of facts, the result of long and
patient research and wide and careful observation. They
have founded upon these facts the most practical and
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 161
probable scheme for dealing with the question, a scheme
which is gaining adherents every day, which fairly holds
the field and is destined to fill it."
R. B. Haldane, K.C., M.P. "I am glad to hear that
Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell are about to publish a
cheap edition of their book on the temperance problem.
This book has exercised already a very great influence on
the public mind, and has made many people reformers
who, until they read it, had not appreciated the magnitude
of the problem. The circulation of the work in a popular
form will probably extend largely the number of those
who now look upon its proposals as a practicable remedy
for a great evil. Speaking for myself, I attach most
value to the large portion of the book which describes
the mischief. In the proposals for a remedy there is much
that is valuable and also somewhat that is controversial."
Sir John Leng, M.P. " Too long have we been beating
the air, holding temperance meetings and demonstrations,
passing futile resolutions, and making no legislative head-
way, while the drink traffic, under the application of the
Limited Liability Acts, has become of vaster proportions,
more deeply entrenched, and more deadly in its moral
and social results. Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell point
to more practical methods and more hopeful achievements.
Their proposals merit consideration and discussion with
a view both to legislative measures and municipal and
individual action."
John Burns, M.P. " Undoubtedly the best book yet
written on the temperance question. Fair, accurate,
suggestive, and full of useful information, it is a worthy
contribution to the discussion of a very serious problem.
It ought to do much useful work."
J. W. Crombie, M.P. " I wish every success to the cheap
edition of your already successful book. It offers a serious
11
162 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
and practicable contribution to the solution of the most
urgent social and political problem of our day."
Captain Pirie, M.P. " You will be rendering one among
the greatest of national services if by a popular publication
of your work you can quicken public conscience as regards
the evils of intemperance into insistence on definite action
in order to lessen them. . . . More can be done by reaching
the masses with a work such as yours than by any other
method, and you have my sincere thanks and good wishes."
J. Keir Hardie, M.P. " It is no figure of speech to say
that this volume marks the beginning of a new epoch of
the temperance movement. I cordially thank the authors
for having brought temperance reform within the sphere
of the practicable."
Professor Marcus Dods, D.D. " I am very glad to hear
that Messrs. Kowntree and Sherwell mean to publish a
cheap edition of their book. It needs no recommendation
from anyone, and least of all from me, but I certainly
think that their proposals are more worthy of consideration
than any others before the public."
Professor W. M. Ramsay, D.C.L., LL.D. " I am in agree-
ment with the spirit of your two fundamental proposals.
The municipal control and regulation of traffic in drink,
and the affording of better opportunities for spending
leisure time to those who at present have difficulty in
finding such opportunities elsewhere than in the public-
house, seem to me the best auxiliaries to that raising of
the moral tone by education which will in time so far
diminish drunkenness as to place the remnants of it under
the control of wise legislation. At present legislation
could not (so far as I can pretend to judge) be profitably
called in to exercise such control directly."
Professor George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D. " The book
cannot be too highly praised. The treasury of facts
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 163
which they have collected and so admirably arranged, the
sanity and judgment of their conclusions, the wide view
they take of all the social questions with which that of
temperance is so closely connected, the high ideals of
national welfare and civic duty which inspire their effort
from first to last, render this the book of our time on the
temperance question."
Professor Kennedy, D.D. (Edinburgh University). "I
gladly welcome your proposal to issue a cheaper edition
of your epoch-making book, The Temperance Problem
and Social Reform. It has made itself indispensable to
every worker in the cause of temperance. I am certain
you will have no warmer supporters in any scheme of
reform on the lines laid down in that work than the many
friends of temperance in the Church of Scotland."
Professor James Denney, D.D. " No book has ever been
published on legislative temperance reform so rich as this,
both in facts and ideas. Even those who begin to read it
with a prejudice, and end not quite convinced, will readily
admit that it has enlarged and cleared their minds, and
no one will say that it has cooled his ardour in the cause
of temperance. It is a book to be studied by everyone
who wishes to know what the law can and cannot do in
this distressing subject."
Professor Dove Wilson (Aberdeen University). " It is
most satisfactory to hear that Messrs. Kowntree and
Sherwell's work on temperance reform is about to appear
at a price which will place it within the reach of every-
one. There has been no more valuable contributic-n
towards the practical solution of the difficulty. . . . Th<3
crying evils of selling liquor to the young, to the partially
intoxicated, and to inebriates, will never be effectually
checked till the liquor-seller ceases to have any interest in
promoting the sale."
164 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
Thos. Hodgkin, D.C.L. " I am heartily in sympathy
with the scheme of temperance reform sketched in your
book on The Temperance Problem and Social Reform,
and shall rejoice if the circulation of that book in a
popular form shall bring us in any way nearer to the
adoption of your programme."
George J. Holyoake. " The most practical, the most
readable, and most informing book on the temperance
question I have seen."
Dean Farrar. " I have read Messrs. Eowntree and
Sherwell's Temperance Problem with great interest. It
is a careful and valuable work."
Rev. Nehemiah Curnock (editor of The Methodist
Recorder). " The proposals contained in this work
which I have read with the greatest interest ought to
be tried. The experiment should have a fair field and
neither favour nor disfavour. Its assigned area should be
sufficiently large, with populations varying in density and
character. Its period should be sufficiently prolonged, so
as to afford opportunity for all conceivable reactions.
"The present system is hopeless. Bad in itself, it is
cumulatively mischievous. Even imperial total prohibi-
tion, with all its dangers, would probably be less injurious.
The plan proposed by Messrs. Kowntree and Sherwell is
the nearest approach to a true and safe solution of the
problem that has yet appeared."
Canon Barker. " The book contains such an exhaustive
statement of the whole problem, and such voluminous
and valuable facts from which every man can draw his own
conclusions, that nothing but good can come from as wide
a circulation of the book as possible."
Rev. F. B. Meyer. " The publication of this book, as I
venture to think, will date an epoch in the history of the
temperance movement. I have read and pondered it with
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 165
profound interest, and am convinced that the conclusions
to which the authors have come afford a working basis for
the ultimate solution of the vexed problem of the liquor
traffic. . . . The complete and satisfactory reform of the
liquor traffic is impossible so long as it is organised and
conducted from motives of private gain. . . . May I live
to see this system adopted ! "
Canon Barnett (Warden of Toynbee Hall). " Messrs.
Rowntree and Sherwell show the overwhelming danger
which threatens our commonwealth in sober language,
and suggest a remedy acceptable to sober people."
Rev. R. J. Campbell (Brighton). "I have for years
advocated the reforms you mention, and would be most
sincerely glad to see them adopted."
Archdeacon Wilson. "I heartily support your proposals,
and have long advocated them. All United Kingdom
Alliance men should support them, for if these permissive
powers were given to localities, some would adopt prohibi-
tion, and in all who used these powers prohibition would
be indefinitely facilitated. All Church of England Tem-
perance Society men should support them; for they
will effectively carry out what we have at heart the
diminution in number and the better regulation of public-
houses."
Rev. R. A. Armstrong (Liverpool). "The scheme of
Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell, as drawn by them, would,
it seems to me, be valuable and effective, if it can be
carried as a whole with all its safeguards and without
injurious amendments. All England owes a deep debt of
gratitude to the propounders for their toil and devotion."
Canon Moore Ede. " In the campaign against the liquor
traffic we have for long years tried the policy of frontal
attacks, only to find that at the end of the century the
enemy is more strongly entrenched in his position than
156 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
he was at the beginning. As wise men, we should alter
our tactics, and try to find some way round; and I believe
that the true way to outflank the position of the trade is
that indicated in your work on The Temperance Problem
and Social Reform.
" It stands to reason that if the liquor-sellers have no
interest in pushing the sale of liquor many of the worst
evils of our English system will disappear, for its worst
features consist of devices to induce people to drink.
" We cannot eradicate the social instincts of men, and
it is the social instinct which drives so many to the
public-house, which, as things now are, is the only avail-
able social gathering-place for, at any rate, the poorest ;
and those who go to the public-house must drink, and
must continue to drink as long as they remain. If,
however, the surplus profits from the trade are utilised
for the provision of various kinds of recreation, provision
will be made for the gratification of the social instincts
without imposing any necessity for cultivating the
drinking habit."
Eev. Mark Guy Pearse. " I feel most deeply that the
suggested solution has laid down the lines on which our
deliverance from this vast evil must come."
Rev. E. F. Horton, M.A., D.D. " To my mind, the most
attractive chapter in the book is the large-minded and
intelligent survey of the causes which lead our people
in the crowded streets to drink ; and it seems to me that
no remedy can be pronounced of any great value which
does not recognise that a large proportion of men go to
the public-houses not so much to drink but simply to
find a place of social communion, to find what one might
call a drawing-room, from the crowded tenements in
which they live."
Canon Armitage Robinson, D.D. "If we are to make
SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS 167
further progress with the problem of the liquor traffic,
we must stimulate the interest and claim the aid of the
great body of serious persons who at present hold aloof
from the question in perplexity or despair. It is to such
minds that the main propositions of Messrs. Rowntree
and Sherwell will, I believe, commend themselves as
offering a new hope of practicable reform. All who are
interested in the religious and social life of England
should study their book."
Rev. Alex. Mackennal, D.D. " Three things strike me
in the volume in addition to the valuable and carefully
given information, and the pleading for united action.
" One is the precision with which you have indicated
the first evil we have to conquer, and which, left un-
touched, will perpetuate all we deplore the private gain
in liquor-selling. Drunkenness itself is not so obdurate
an evil as this. ... I admire also the constructive part
of your book. I have long believed that mere demonstra-
tion will do very little for permanent deliverance of the
people from this snare; and I rejoice in the fact that
you have devoted so much space to this part of your
book."
Canon Scott Holland. " This book lays down admirably
the position which every sane man is bound to accept. . . .
The book's conclusion is most clear, intelligible, and
practical. . . . The whole scheme is perfectly practicable
to-morrow. It rests on unanswerable reasons for the
intervention of the State. It meets the broad human
needs and it assimilates the clearest teachings of ex-
perience. It combines those who are passionately bent
on restricting the evil and those who deem this futile so
long as social conditions are tintouched."
Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D. "The reading of this
admirable book has kindled in me a new hope for the
168 SOME PERSONAL OPINIONS
future of temperance reform. Nowhere else have I seen
the terrible facts so skilfully marshalled, or the remedies
so carefully examined. The suggestions which it throws
out for united action seem to me to be such as to commend
themselves to all who realise the necessity of the friends
of temperance acting together and acting at once."
Canon Gore, D.D. " I am exceedingly glad to learn that
you are going to circulate a very cheap edition of your
Temperance Problem, and Social Reform. I think the
book has really marked an epoch, because (1) it has
approached the problem as part of the whole social
problem, and because (2) you have provided such a broad
basis on which people of all sorts can co-operate. I am
most anxious that your fundamental proposal should be
carried into effect, and that nothing should be done in
the way of temperance reform which should block the
road towards the realising of your proposals."
Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, M.A. " These thoroughly
competent experts, after prolonged personal investigation
at home and abroad, have made the best statement of
the problem that has yet been printed. . . . We greet
its appearance with gratitude : it is by far the most
valuable and useful book on the whole temperance problem
that has been published. . . . We are convinced that the
method suggested by Mr. Kowntree and Mr. Sherwell is
the only practical method of dealing with this gigantic
evil in the towns and cities of Great Britain."
Kev. John Clifford, D.D. " The appearance of this book
is surely one of the best signs of the times. Every
patriotic citizen should read it, and read it at once, and
seek to promote legislation along the lines it suggests."
INDEX
Acland, Rt. Hon. A. H. D., quoted,
154
Acland, Sir Thomas Dyke, quoted,
29 (footnote)
Adventitious attractions to the
public - house. See under
" Games "
Age limit for sales, 40, 55, 67, 78
Aked, Rev. C. F., quoted, 143 (foot-
note), 156
Alcohol, excessive expenditure
upon, 4, 128, 141; need for
reducing consumption of, 4,
128
Alcoholic liquors, sale of, not
pushed under Company
system. See under " Company
control "
Alliance News, quoted, 85
Allsopp, Samuel, & Co., Ltd.,
quoted, 99 (footnote)
Alternatives open to temperance
reformers, 147
America, expenditure of, upon
alcohol, 129
Appropriation of profits. See
under " Profits "
Arg/us, London, quoted, 94 (foot-
note)
Armstrong, Rev. R. A., quoted, 165
Australia, South, proposed State
monopoly in. See under
" South Australia "
Bands of Hope, membership of,
108
Barker, Canon, quoted, 164
Barnett, Canon, quoted, 165
Beath, Hill of. See under " Hill
of Beath"
Beer, proportion of sales of, to
spirits. See under " Spirits "
Belfast News-Letter, quoted, 88
Belfast Public-House Trust, !
(footnote), 87. See also under
" Carnmoney "
Bennet, Rev. F. S. M., quoted,
25
Bergen Samlag, association with
municipality, 7
Biddulph, Lady Elizabeth, quoted
156
Birmingham Corporation, expeii-
ment in public management.
See under " Elan Valley Can-
teen "
Birmingham, number of licensed
houses in, 134
" Black List," absence of a, 67, 77 ;
attempt at a, 47
" Boar's Head," The, Hampton
Lucy, 9
Boebmer, Captain, quoted, 20, 29
(footnote)
"Bolag," definition of a, 5 (foot-
note)
Booth, Mr. Charles, quoted, 158
169
INDEX
Borrowing Powers of Trusts, pro-
posed, 103, 118
Bowling-green, provision of a, 68,
82
Bradford, proposed Public-House
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Braithwaite, Mr. W. 0., quoted,
159
Bristol, number of licensed houses
in, 134
Broad Clyst, Devon, 26, 41
Broomhill, public management
in, 93
Bryce, fit. Hon. James, quoted,
154
Burns, Mr. John, quoted, 161
Buxton, Mr. E. N., quoted, 99
(footnote)
Campbell, Rev. R. J., quoted, 165
Capital of Companies, 18, 44, 65,
81, 102, 118, 124
Carlow, Mr. Charles, quoted, 63, 64
Carnmoney, public management
in, 87
Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph,
quoted, 154
Chester, Bishop of, Experiments
in public management, 1,
15-42, 46, 110. See also tinder
" People's Refreshment House
Association, Ltd."
hildren, sales of liquor to. See
under " Age limit "
Chiklswickham, the "New Inn"
at, 91
Clifford, Rev. John, D.D., quoted,
168
Clubs, drink, effect of upon drunk-
enness, 83
Collyns, Rev. C. B., quoted, 32
Company control, conditions of
success iu, 3, 39, 128 et seq.,
141 et teq,; subordination of
commercial considerations in,
8, 16, 37, 59, 65, 87, 95, 119,
125 ; sale of alcoholic liquors
not "pushed" under, 16, 20,
22, 25, 37, 46, 59, 66, 89, 95,
125; good results of, 11 25,
32, 34, 36, 37, 48, 56, 60, 62,
142, 150 ; chief test of value
of, 4, 128 ; widespread accept-
ance of, 1, 137, 153 et seq. ; in-
evitableness of, 138, 139, 147 ;
how to effect, 13, 145, 147;
effect of, upon drunkenness,
see under " Drunkenness." See
also under " Public manage-
ment " and " Public-House
Trusts "
Compensation, declaration of
Glasgow Trust as to, 100, 120.
See aho under " Time-notice "
Competition, effect of. See under
" Monopoly "
Complicity in liquor traffic, fear
of, 149 (footnote)
Contemporary Review, quoted, 139,
151 (footnote)
Council, Public-House Trust, con-
stitution of a, 105, 115
Counter-attractions to the public-
house, 12, 26, 30, 31, 41, 42,
55, 61, 68, 81, 112, 113, 121,
125, 131, 134, 142, 144, 148-9
Cowdenbeath Public - House So-
ciety, Ltd., 86
Craufurd, Major, quoted, 1, 17, 39
(footnote), 42
Credit, sales on, abolished under
Company system. See under
each experiment separately
Crombie, Mr. J. W., quoted, 161
Crossgates. See under " Hill of
Beath."
" Crown and Shamrock," Carn-
money, 87
Curnock, Rev. N., quoted, 164
INDEX
Cupidity, public, necessity for
preventing, 5, 72, 84, 112, 113,
130. 137, 143. See also under
" Profits, appropriation of "
Declaratory Act, necessity of a, 136
" Deed of Foundation," provisions
of the, 116
Deferred Shares, arrangements as
to, 105, 115
Denney, Professor James, quoted,
163
Directors, proposed borrowing
powers of, 103, 118 ; ordinary
powers of, 105, 106, 109, 115,
122, 123, 126; payment of,
109, 118-20, 124; number
of, 104 ; influence of, 104,
106; disqualification of, 117
(footnote), 123
Dispensary System in America,
138
Dividends of Shareholders, under
Public-management, 1, 16, 45,
65, 86, 94, 110 (footnote), 119,
124
Dods, Dr. Marcus, quoted, 162
Drunkenness, effect of controlling
system upon, 10, 11, 12, 25, 29,
32, 36, 48, 54, 56, 60, 73, 77, 83
Dunfermline Public-House Society,
Ltd., 86
Durban, municipalisation of liquor
traffic in, 139 (footnote)
Durham, late Bishop of, quoted,
153
Durham, proposed Public-House
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
East of Scotland Public-House
Trust, 1 (footnote), 105 (foot-
note), 124
Ede, Canon Moore, quoted, 165
Education Act, general principles
of, 130
Elan Hotel, 52
Elan Valley Canteen, 43 (footnote),
50
Essex, proposed Public-house
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Expenditure upon alcohol. See
under " Alcohol "
Fairbairn, Rev. A. M., LL.D.,
quoted, 158
Farrar, Dean, quoted, 164
Fife Coal Co., Ltd. See under
" Hill of Beath " and " Kelty "
Flax Bourton, appropriation of
profits in, 41
Food, sale of, in public-houses, 10,
16, 20, 22, 23, 29, 31, 34, 36,
37, 46, 52, 59, 68, 78, 95, 125
Fortune, Alderman, quoted, 58, 59
Fowler, Kt. Hon. H. H., quoted,
154
" Fox and Pelican," Grayshott, 43
Gambling, abolished under public-
management, 37
Games and recreations in public-
houses, 22, 27, 35, 37, 46, 47,
53, 61, 67, 76, 135 ; necessity
for prohibiting, 47, 69, 107,
108, 132
Garrett, Rev. Charles, quoted, 155
Gibson, Rev. J. Monro, quoted, 167
Glasgow Herald, quoted, 120 (foot-
note), 145
Glasgow Public-House Trust, 1
(footnote), 100, 105 (footnote),
114, 118 ; chairman of, quoted,
136
Gore, Canon, quoted, 168
Gothenburg, relief of rates in, 5,
89, 112
INDEX
" Gothenburg" system of public-
management. See under
" Public - management " and
" Company control "
Grayshott and District Refresh-
ment Association, Ltd., 43
Gresham's law of currency, 133
Grey, Earl, quoted, 1, 2, 69, 93-7,
100 (footnote), 103 (footnote),
106, 109, 114. See also under
" Public-House Trusts '*
Haldane, Mr. E. B., quoted, 161
Hampshire Public-House Trust,
102 et $eq
Hampton Lucy, the " Gothenburg"
system in, 9
Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, 91
Hardie, Mr. Keir, quoted, 162
Harleston Inn, The, 91 (footnote)
Harrogate Corporation, Experi-
ment in public-management.
See under "Scargill Water-
works Canteen "
Hayes, Rev. E. C., quoted, 89, 90
Hertfordshire, proposed Public-
House Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Hicks, Canon, quoted, 156
High Licence, defects of, 147, 148
Hill of Beath, Public manage-
ment in, 43 (footnote), 63
Hoar Cross, appropriation of profits
in, 41
Hobson, Mr. J. A., quoted, 159
Hodgkin, Mr. Thomas, D.C.L.,
quoted, 164
Holland, Canon Scott, quoted, 167
Holyoake, Mr. George J., quoted,
164
Horton, Rev. R. F., quoted, 166
Hours of sale, monopoly required
for reduction of, 40, 47, 48, 63,
86, 86, 142. See also under
each experiment separately
Hughes, Rev. Hugh Price, quoted,
168
Inspection of public-houses, 38
Intemperance, causes of, 142
Ireland, public management in, 87
Jeakes, Rev. J. M., quoted, 48
Jensen, Mr. Lars 0., quoted, 85
(footnote)
Keir, Mr. William, quoted, 66
Kelty Public-House Society, Ltd,
74
Kennedy, Professor, quoted, 163
Kent Public-House Trust, 1 (foot-
note)
Lang, Principal Marshall, quoted,
157
Lechmere, Sir E., the late, 91
Leeds, proposed Public - House
Trust for, 1 (footnote) ; num-
ber of licensed houses in,
134 ; appropriation of spirit
tax in, 149 (footnote)
Lees, E. A. quoted, 52 (footnote),
53-56
Legislation, need of, 2, 86, 127,
131, 136, 137, 145, 151;
principles upon which should
be based, 130, 141 et seq.
Leicester, number of licensed
houses in, 134
Leng, Sir John, M.P., quoted, 161
Licensed Houses, number of, 134 ;
reduction in number of, 97
(footnote) ; dangers in pur-
chase of, 99, 101, 127; in-
flated values of, 94, 99;
methods of acquiring, 97,
INDEX
173
120. See alto under " Public-
Houses "
Licensed Trade News, quoted, 135
Licenses. See under ''Licensed
Houses" and "Public-Houses"
Liquor, limitation of quantity
sold, 23, 54, 77, 89
Liquor traffic, profits of. See
under " Profits "
Liquors, purity of, 9, 11, 12, 16,
22, 38, 53, 95
Liverpool, Bishop of, quoted, 154
Liverpool, proposed Public-House
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Local Committees, appointment
of, 124, 125, 144
Local sentiment, release of. See
under " Progressive senti-
ment "
London Argus, quoted, 94 (foot-
note)
London, Bishop of, quoted, 153
London County Council, temper-
ance policy of, 100 (footnote)
Lords' Committee on Intemper-
ance, quoted, 149
Mackennal, Rev. Alex., quoted,
167
Managers, remuneration of, 10,
16, 23, 29, 37, 46, 51, 59, 66,
78, 89, 91, 95, 109, 126.
Manchester, number of licensed
houses in, 134
Mann, Mr. John, Junr., quoted,
118, 120 (footnote)
Meyer, Rev. F. B., quoted, 164
Mineral Waters, sale of. See
under " Temperance bever-
ages "
Monopoly necessity for a, 6, 13,
14, 19, 27, 29, 34, 39, 47,
48, 52, 62, 68, 85, 86, 90,
98, 133
Monopoly Values, 86, 93, 98, 99,
139
Mordaunt, Rev. Osbert, quoted,
9-14, 91, 92
Municipal Journal, quoted 100
(footnote)
Municipalisation of liquor traffic.
See under "Public Manage-
ment "
Music, etc., in public-houses. See
under " Games."
Natal, municipalisation of liquor
traffic in, 139 (footnote)
Non-alcoholic drinks. See under
" Temperance beverages "
Northamptonshire, proposed Pub-
lic-House Trust for, 1 (foot-
note)
Northumberland Public - House
Trust, 1 (footnote), 114, et
seq.
Norway, Company system in, 3-7,
40, 60, 101, 106, 110, 112
(footnote), 120, 123 (foot-
note), 138, 148
Nottingham, number of licensed
houses in, 134
Nottinghamshire, proposed Pub-
lic-House Trust for, 1 (foot-
note)
" Off " sales in " Gothenburg "
houses, 22, 28, 31, 33-5, 46,
54, 61, 68, 78
Orange River Colony, proposed
State liquor monopoly in, 139
(footnote)
Paton, Rev. James, D.D., quoted,
157
Paton, Rev. J. B., quoted, 160
174
INDEX
Tay-day, effect of upon public-
house takings, 79
Payment of Managing directors,
109
Pearse, Rev. Mark Guy, quoted,
166
Peel, Hon. Sidney, quoted, 98
Peel, Lord, quoted, 101, 137, 145
People's Refreshment House Asso-
ciation, Ltd., 1, 15-42, 94,
110; aim of, 15; advantages
of, 37, 110 ; defects of, 39
Pirie, Captain, M.P., quoted, 162
" Plume of Feathers," The, Sher-
borne, 33
" Plymouth Arms," The, 91
Plymstock Inn, 30, 41
Pollock, Sir Frederick, quoted, 43
Poor Law, arrangements in respect
of, 130
Private profit, necessity for
eliminating, 1, 2, 4, 9, 50, 51,
94, 109, 110 (footnote 2 ), 141,
142, 148 ; elimination of, under
public management, 11, 37,
46, 51, 66, 78, 89, 91, 95
Profit, " unaccountable," 38
Profits of liquor traffic, 13, 18, 19,
49, 56, 61, 70, 80, 96, 102;
appropriation of, under con-
trolling system, 5, 6, 11, 17,
18, 24, 29, 32, 41, 45, 49, 56,
61, 65, 71, 81, 84, 87, 89, 92,
94, 105, 111, 115, 117, 121,
125, 130, 132, 137, 144, 148
Progressive sentiment, release of
under Company system, 7,
129, 136, 143
Public Health legislation, principle
of, 130
Public- House Societies. See under
"Hill of Beatb," "Kelty,"
Public-House Trusts," and
"Company Control"
Public-House Trust; Association,
constitution of, 103 (footnote).
See also under " Public-House
Trusts"
Public-House Trusts, 87, 93 et seq ;
objects of, 87, 95, 110, 119,
124, 125, 128; conditions of
success in, 3 ; possibilities of
the system, 97, 103 ; dangers
of, 5, 99, 101, 103, 106-8, 110,
112, 113, 118, 121, 127, 137;
serviceable sphere of, 103, 127.
See also under " Council "
Public-Houses, reduction in num-
ber of, 97 ; inflated values of,
93, 94, 98, 99; profits of, 13,
18, 19, 49, 55, 61, 70, 80,96;
Music, etc., in. See under
"Games." See also under
" Licensed Houses "
Public management of liquor
traffic, growth of movement
towards, 1, 17, 18, 87, 138;
possible forms of, 143, 146 ;
conditions of success in, 3, 39,
141 ; character of success
aimed at in, 3, 4, 15, 44, 59,
86, 89, 95, 119, 124; wide-
spread acceptance of principle
of, 1, 137, 153; how to
establish, 13, 145 ; recom-
mendation by Lords' Com-
mittee as to, 149. See alto
under " Company control "
and " Public-House Trusts "
Purchase of licences, dangers of.
See under " Licensed Houses "
Pure liquor, importance of. See
under " Liquors "
Rainy, Principal, quoted, 157
Ramsay, Professor, quoted, 162
Rates, relief of. See under
"Profits, appropriation of";
alto under " Gothenburg "
INDEX
175
Recreative features in public-
houses. See under " Games "
" Red Lion " Inn, Broad Clyst,
Devon, 26
Regulations, special. See under
" Restrictions "
Renfrewshire Public-House Trust,
1 (footnote)
Restrictions, special, absence of,
19,23, 29, 35, 47, 67, 77, 89;
enactment of, 53, 59
Robinson, Canon Arrnitage, quoted,
166
Rochester, Bishop of, quoted, 153
Rosebery, Lord, quoted, 145
Ross, Mr. John, quoted, 63, 69, 74,
77 (footnote), 82
Ross, Rev. D. M., quoted, 120
(footnote)
Royal Commission on Liquor
Licensing Laws, Minority
Report of, quoted, 137, 145
Rules, special, for conduct of
public - houses. See under
" Restrictions "
Russell, Mr. T. W., quoted, 155
Russian Spirit Monopoly, 138, 148
Salmond, Principal, quoted, 158
" Samlag," definition of a, 5 (foot-
note) ; capital of. See under
" Norway "
Scargill Waterworks Canteen, 58
Scotland, East of. See under
" East of Scotland "
Scotland, Public-management of
liquor traffic in, 1 (footnote),
63, 118, 124
Shareholders, voting power of.
See under " Voting power " ;
dividends of. See under
" Dividends "
Sheffield Corporation, transfer of
licences by, 98
Sheffield, number of licensed
houses in, 134
Sherborne, Company management
in, 33
Side-rooms in public-houses, dis-
advantages of, 77
Smith, Professor G. A., quoted,
162
Smith, Rev. John, D.D., quoted,
160
Somerset, Lady Henry, quoted,
139, 151 (footnote), 155
South African Alliance for the
Reform of the Liquor Traffic,
138 (footnote)
South Australia, proposals for
public - management in, 138
(footnote)
Southampton, number of licensed
houses in, 134
Sparkford Inn, Sparkford, 20, 41
"Spencer Arms" Inn, Chapel
Bampton, 91
Spirits, abolition of sale of, under
controlling system, 10, 52, 59 ;
proportion of, sold, 31, 35.
68,78
Spital Beck Inn, The, 91
St. Andrews, Bishop of, quoted'
154
St. Pagan's, Redditch, 91
Sunday sales, 25, 26, 28, 31, 34,
40, 47, 54, 59, 83
Surrey, proposed Public - House
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Sussex, proposed Public - House
Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Sweden, Company system in, 3, 4,
6-7, 40, 106, 112, 138
Temperance beverages, sale of, in
public-houses, 10, 16, 22, 23,
29, 31, 35-7, 46, 52, 55, 59, 60,
68, 78, 79, 91, 95, 125 ; Interest
INDEX
of manager in sale of, 10, 16,
23, 35, 37, 46, 59, 89, 95,
109, 125
Temperance Party, opportunity in
hands of, 137, 138, 145, 147
Temperance reform, obstacles to.
See under " Time-notice "
Terris, Mr., J.P., quoted, 84
Thorney, appropriation of profits
in,*41
" Tied " houses, number of, 98
Time-notice, proposed enactment
of a, 99, 136, 145
Times, The, quoted, 94, 106, 109
Towns, special legislation required
for, 142
Transvaal, proposed State liquor
monopoly in, 139 (footnote)
Trustees, powers of, 94, 96, 105,
115, 121, 125
Tunstall, appropriation of profits
in, 41
Ulster Public-Houses Trust Co.,
Ltd., 87
" Unaccountable " profit, 38
Visitor, The, quoted, 89, 90
Voting Power of shareholders in
Public-House Companies, 17,
65, 105, 109, 115
Wakefleld, Bishop of, quoted, 153
Wantage Inn, 91
Wantage, Lord, quoted, 91
Warwickshire, proposed Public-
House Trust for, 1 (footnote)
Watson, Dr. Spence, quoted, 160
Webb, Mr. Sidney, quoted, 133,
158
Westminster Gazette, quoted, 107
Whyte, Rev. Alexander, D.D.,
quoted, 159
Wilberforce, Archdeacon, quoted
155
Wilson, Archdeacon, quoted, 165
Wilson, Professor Dove, quoted,
163
Women, sales to, 27 (footnote),
54,61
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