18 MARCH 1916, Page 2

Taking "this passage, and judging also by the general tone

of Mr. Lloyd George's remarks, we cannot help thinking that what he-s:meant to convey to his hearers was 'that he still has hopes of carrying through the thoroughly -well-planned scheme of State purchase which he devised last year. That plan 'was unfortunately—we must speak plainly—wrecked by tho folly and fatuity of the extreme Temperance Party, but not, remember, by the Temperance Party as a whole. The -brewers had consented, the distillers' had consented, and fair and just terms had been unanimously settled by the representatives of the 'Trade, the Government, and the moderato teetotalers— then the greatest opportunity for delivering the country from the worst evils of the drink traffic was deliberately destroyed by the extremists.