THE PUBLIC-HOUSE EXPERIMENT AT CARLISLE [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] Sui,—This successful experiment in public management and 2ontrol of the Liquor Trade has been in operation for some eight and a half years. By its means have been secured an equitable settlement of vested interests, the elimination of private ownership, and substantial reforms on constructive lines. The scheme has received the emphatic approval of the Chief Magistrate of Carlisle for successive years, the Chief Constable, the clergy and ministers of Carlisle, the Trade Unionists, and the old established newspapers, as well as of experts in licensing administration and social reformers in all parts of the country.
Last year the Temperance Legislation League arranged two Week End Study Conferences at Carlisle for Licensing Magistrates and Social Workers. The importance of giving such persons the opportunity of personally studying the system at first hand so much impressed a member of the Executive that he has promised that if the Committee will raise a fund of £1,000 for the purpose of organizing similar visits to the .Carlisle area during the present year and assisting those to go who could not afford to pay all the expenses, he will contribute £250 to that amount, provided that the balance of £750 is subscribed by other interested people.
• The League is now appealing to sympathisers for donations towards this fund. For many years past, the merits of the Carlisle scheme have received full recognition in the columns of the Spectator, and my Committee would welcome con- tributions from readers who see in the Carlisle scheme a practical experiment on constructive lines, which has been carried through without either hardship to the Trade or loss to the State. Donations to the funds may be sent to the Treasurer of the Temperance Legislation League, Sir John Mann, K.B.E., 8 Frederick's Place, Old Jewry, E.C. 2.— Secretary, Temperance Legislation League. Parliament Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W. 1.
[This is a very interesting appeal, and we sincerely hope that the £750 required for the educational work in regard to the Carlisle experiment will be contributed, and so make the generous offer of the member of the Executive operative. Mr. Harvey is Otte right in thinking that the Spectator has always regarded the Carlisle experiment with the greatest sympathy.. The experiment gives the force of practical example to the Spectator's policy of eliminating private profit from the production and sale of intoxicants. That policy, as Mr. Harvey says, can be carried out without unfairness to the Trade, or loss to the State, and again, without adopting the system of Prohibition which has proved so difficult, and so provocative of resistance, in America. Pecple forget that Prohibition is one of the most poignant forms of advertisement. In this context we desire to call attention to the third edition of the pamphlet on Constructive Licensing Reform, which describes the Carlisle experiment. It is iFsued by the Tem- perance Legislation League, Parliament Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W. 1, and can be obtained from them, price one penny.—En. Spectator.] .
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