23 JUNE 1917, Page 3

The only sane and honourable way out of the situation

is to buy the Trade out and place it in the hands of the State. Then we shall at list be masters in our own house. We shall be able to turn the taprof the beer barrel and the whisky keg on or off exactly as we like. Further, we get a plain issue between those who think it safe and

necessary for the nation to drink intoxicants and those who do not— an issue not complicated as it is now by the fears of that very con- siderable and perfectly innocent part of the population whose money happens to be invested in breweries and distilleries, and whose one aim is to protect from destruction the property on which the happiness of their wives and children depends. Wo at any rate have no desire to ruin them, but want to save them from destruction.