6 NOVEMBER 1915, Page 14

If they were to shut the public-houses during the war

and forbid the sale of intoxicants, we could, as we have pointed out before, not only save some hundred and fifty millions a year, but greatly increase our industrial efficiency, while at the same time setting free a very large amount of foodstuffs which could be turned into meat in the shape, say, of bacon or used directly as human food. Till the Government can make up their minds to this practical way of checking expenditure, the less they any about it the better. They only draw attention to a scandal. The whole matter is treated by us elsewhere.