3 MAY 1940, Page 5

The drink trade and the Government are at odds about

other things besides taxation. The Government has for months been uttering repeated warnings against idle chatter about the war. "Careless talk may cost lives "—and so forth_ The drink trade is standing for none of that nonsense. Here, in extenso, is an astonishing—for so I find it—advertisement in Tuesday's Times, headed invitingly "Skagerrak and Kattegat ":

This war has been called many things. It might also be called " an education in itself."

Who had heard of Trondheim a month ago? Who knew where Narvik was?

Yet, in the pubs these evenings, you will find such names are the common coin of conversation. You will hear men whom you had never suspected of such specialised knowledge—talking of fjords and iron-ore as if they had spent their lives inside a geography book!

And it is often wise strategy that they talk. The pub brings out the wisdom from a man, because he can talk at ease there. HE HAS A FRIENDLY AUDIENCE.

And there is beer there. The barley malt and hops, in beer, revive your spirits. Beer puts you in a cheerful, natural mood. It makes you yourself. That is why beer is best.

Come to the pub tonight and talk things over—over a glass of beer!

So here is the drink trade's contribution to public security. Come to the pub—in naval ports as much as anywhere else ; a your tongue well loosened (beer is best) and talk things over with the local Quislings. God Save the King.

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