THE LICENSING BILL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The spirit of the letter signed " J.P." in your last issue seems to me to breathe that suspicion of clubs and that belief in "control" as a remedy for excess which are, rightly or wrongly, believed by the working-class clubs to be characteristic of the Bench of Licensing Magistrates. This belief is one ground of the objection of such clubs to the Licensing Bill, inasmuch as it draws them more closely into the legislative machinery used to " control " licensed houses. The basis of Mr. Asquith's proposals regarding clubs is the statement that as licensed houses are closed clubs take their places. Had this been so, the tendency would, in my judgment, have shown itself more clearly. In the town in which I am a Club Union official, at any rate, this is not the case ; for whilst last year eighty-six " on-licenses " were abolished, the number of clubs has decreased from a hundred and forty-seven to a hundred and forty-three. During the last three years, however, the increase in clubs has been three hundred and eighty-nine, whilst the number of licensed houses closed has been three thousand seven hundred, and it may be rightly assumed that the vast majority of these owe their existence to the natural growth of a social movement. With regard to "control," the enormous discrepancy in our large towns between the convictions for drunkenness and the prosecution of publicans (in our town there are eight thousand convictions for drunkenness and only some thirty-five con- victions of publicans) suggests either that the law is an in- effective weapon to "control" the public-house, or else that the drunkenness is due to the "consumption off" the premises. One of our Councillors, an ex-detective of the local police force, is reported to have stated in a recent speech against the Bill that there was more drinking in private houses than public-houses, and I mention this because it also touches the ground of objection,—viz., the right of police entry into clubs. In the small manufacturing towns of Lancashire an artisan has to choose for his social recreation between the public- house and the club, and he regards his club largely as an extension of his home. The objection of working-men's clubs to police entry is usually believed to justify the suspicions entertained of them, but police entry is regarded as a step in the direction of police entry of his house, and is objected to on this account.—I am, Sir, &c., A TEETOTAL CL1TBMAN.
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