Licensing Laws in New Towns
SIR,—State management was introduced into Carlisle in 1917 because of the d:sorderly conduct of imported munition workers. It has yet to be shown that Carlisle people are happy under the scheme; the exodus on Sundays from town to outlying " free enterprise " public houses suggests that they are not.
What was efficacious in restoring order in Carlisle in 1917 would merely irritate peaceable residents in New Towns today, as local pro- tests have shown recently. These residents might have been less unwilling to become the " guinea-pigs " in a new State management experiment if they could have seen any purpose in it. But what could the experi- ment teach that we have not learned from Carlisle ? Except perhaps that, whereas State management helped in maintaining order among strangers to high wages and law-abiding habits, it provokes and disturbs the quiet licensed-house customer in the New Town areas.—Yours General Secretary and Manager, The Licensed Victuallers' Defence League. Bridge House, 181 Queen Victoria Street, E.C.4.
Previous page
