24 APRIL 1964, Page 9

A Moderating Growth

It is the oddity

With every other commodity. It takes its turn and turn about And first is in and then is out— Which Chancellors call—to cover both

A moderating rate of growth.

But somehow this does not appear At all with beer.

The law of prices Is different when applied to vices,

And Malt does more than Maudling can

To implement the Tory plan. For then the rule is, as they say, The more we drink the more we pay, And when they raise the price of drink We drown our sorrows in the sink.

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS