Carlisle To-day—II

AFEW facts and figures concerning the Carlisle and District State Management Scheme (which I pro- pose to call the Board for convenience) will serve to refresh the reader's memory concerning one of the most remarkable experiments ever conducted in these islands.

To the outsider there can be no question that in. Carlisle you can drink better- beer in more comfortable surroundings than in any other city in the Kingdom. This will shock the Stigginses, and annoy the brewers. But facts are facts ; let us see where they lead. To save space, however, my facts must be approximate rather

than technically precise The Board controls 192 places of refreshment in the Carlisle area, which covers 320 square miles and contains 110,000 inhabitants. Its powers were conferred upon it by "Dora " in 1915, at a time when the city of Carlisle was being invaded by some 20,000 munition workers from the cordite factory at Gretna, not all of whom were desirable citizens. The Scheme proved such a success that it has been continued, and to-day the majority of all classes in Carlisle would unhesitatingly vote for its perpetuation. .

The Board has a virtual monopoly of drink in its area, and its employees receive no inducement, direct or' indirect, to increase the sale of intoxicating liquor ; they are frequently inspected to see that the premises of which they are in charge are properly conducted. All , grocers' licences have been suppressed. Bad premises have been entirely rebuilt ; others have been converted or rearranged. In a few cases new buildings have been erected to meet new needs, for crowded drinking is as had as" velocity of consumption "and " anxiety thirst " : the publican must be able to serve his customers in a spacious and comfortable room if he is to fulfil his difficult and delicate task of promoting temperance. Some £600,000 was spent in acquiring the business, and all this, and more, has been repaid to the Treasury out of profits,

including interest, which at one time was as high as 711. per cent. The Board pays all licence and other duties

and taxes with the exception of Income Tax -(Sch. D.), and it shoulders the burden of the rates on houses it has voluntarily closed as well as those it is operating. In the city itself it has reduced the number of licensed houses from 166 to 59. The properties of the whole area would now be valued at about £1,000,000;, and it is reasonable to suggest that their educative value on the community, as centres of beauty and dignity, must be worth many millions more. Finally, as a sop to the Stigginses, I will record the welcome fact that the consumption of both beer and spirits in the area (and particularly spirits) is below the national average. Carlisle is not qUite free and not quite sober : it has not achieved Utopia, but it has taken a step in that direction. .

There is no doubt that there has been a great and universal change of public opinion throughout England in regard to alcoholic drink, and we should not, therefore,

give the Board more credit than is its due. For instance, you cannot carry yourfiancee on a pillion if you have had• too much to drink ; nor can you adjust a wireless set. Indeed, there is no pastime which cannot be better indulged in with a clear head, and people are amusing themselves more than they. were, and drinking less. But

to those who believe that the brewers, given a monopoly, could do what the State has done in Carlisle, I would suggest a visit to Penrith, not twenty miles away, where practically all the public-houses are owned or controlled by one firm. After comparing the two cities, I am emphatically for State Management. Brewers must consider their shareholders. They make beer (more power to them, provided they make it good) and must sell beer. They cannot be really interested in selling tea and biscuits, or milk and soda. The Control Board, on the contrary, is, and does.

The Board, moreover, makes a net profit of about 170,000 a year, which goes back into the Exchequer.

Only those who look on alcohol as a thing accursed can object to this source of revenue, multiplied a hundredfold, as it would be if the system were extended. One more

point. The Control Board, in touch with local needs, provides in each district exactly what the people require : a restaurant in one place, a cafe in another, a tavern in a third. It is hard to see how a firm primarily interested in selling drink could achieve similar flexibility.

In all the licensed premises which I visited (six under a kindly escort and two alone, as a further test) I found

jugs of water on the tables. In many of the houses there is a room in which tables are laid for tea. Flowers were conspicuous in the cafes, and, I may add, extremely well arranged. Every new house is a model of good taste in its exterior and interior feature.

Every inn must have its individuality.. There should be no standard design for public-houses, for in one place the workers may need little but fluid and in another.

chiefly solid refreshment. At the 'Pheasant,' for instance, near Messrs. Carr's biscuit factory, children

come with their plates. and saucers at midday to buy a hot meal. There is a separate entrance and a separate room for them, where., of course, no alcohol is served.

Many women and girls use the Pheasant ' ; they

have a special café upstairs, and a rest-room. In some parts of the city . working men have an old-fashioned objection (which they share with the members of the Athenaeum and other sanctuaries) to drinking in the company of their womenfolk. In such places separate rooms are allotted to the sexes, but in the newer houses it is found (as it is in the younger London clubs) that there must be ample accommodation for wornen. That

is all to the good, to my mind, although I know that there are those who think differently.

As regards the amenities of the inns of Carlisle there cannot be two opinions : their every detail is a delight to anyone who admires simplicity and fitness of design : here you will find good furniture, good lettering, conve- nient service arrangements, comfort, cleanliness, civility. I daresay on Saturday nights you will find some drunken. men and women, and I know that there arc" reformers" who would abolish public houses for that reason, but that is merely another and more unchristian form of intoxica- tion. There is beauty as well as comfort in the inns of Carlisle, and beanty lights an answering spark in every human soul, whether that soul possess a frigidly Prohibi- tionist mind, or one that believes that

"Malt does more than Milton Can, To justify God's ways to man."

, It would be pleasant to write of the' Coach and Horses,' a charming old brick inn of the suburbs, with its small back garden of stocks and gladiolas and roses ; and of the 'Blue Bell,' where the farmers' wives come on market days ; and of the Horse and Farrier,' with its bowling green and its air of a country club. But my space is done. I can only commend any doubter to visit Carlisle for himself, to taste its beer, and talk to those who drink it. What conclusions can we draw ? Of course there is a risk that abuses may creep into any Government enter- prise, but surely the advantages of a State monopoly outweigh the dangers ? The Carlisle Scheme points the way to saner, cleaner, soberer, and at the same time