In the House of Commons on Thursday Mr. Asquith intro-
duced his long-expected Licensing Bill. His two main purposes were the immediate and progressive reduction in the excessive facilities which are now allowed for the retail sale of intoxicating drink, and, "not less important," the complete recovery, with due regard to existing interests, of the monopoly which has been improvidently allowed to slip out of the control of the State. In the course of his speech Mr. Asquith informed the House that his Bill established a time-limit of fourteen years,—i.e., after the expiration of fourteen years no more compensation will be paid for the extinction of licenses. The present plan for the reduction of licenses is to be maintained, but accelerated, and some thirty-two thousand public-houses are to be abolished in the course of the next fourteen years. The system of compensa- tion is, however, to be largely modified. The maximum levy on the trade to provide compensation is to be made in all cases Ind paid into a central fund. Again, compensation is to be differently calculated, the new proposal being to regard the value of the license as the difference between the values of premises for Income-tax purposes when a license mares to them, and when it does not.
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