In the House of Commons on Tueeday. Mr. Leif Jones
pointed • out that the country's expenditure upon drink was much too heavy a burden to be borne during the war. The drink bill for 1914 was 164 millions ; for 1915, 182 millions; for 1916, 204 millions ; and for 1917, 259 millions. On the other hand, the amount received by the Government through taxation from this source, apart from excess piofits, was actually diminishing. For 1915 the amount was 62 •millions, and for 1917, 35 millions. Sir Charles Bathurst, who supported Mr. Leif Jones, was particularly convincing because he approached the subject from the point of view not of a teetotaler but simply of ' a war-winner. The uneasiness about drink, he said, was by no means now confined to temperance extremists. It was- growing, and would continue to grow, until some action was taken by the Government or by working men themselves to put a stop to the present high consumption of cereal food in the form of beer. Over half-a-million tons of barley were being converted into beer alone, apart from other intoxicants.
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