Booze ban on agenda as war effort steps up

A proposal to ease the nation’s wartime food crisis by prohibiting the sale of drink, was considered by Stirling Town Council 100 years ago this week.

Discussion was prompted by a meeting a few days earlier in Edinburgh of representatives of leading Scottish municipal bodies.

The meeting agreed a resolution which read that “in the national interest” the sale of “ardent spirits” should be stopped for the remainder of the war and period of demobilisation.

It was agreed to seek from councils their opinion on the proposal, which was aimed at saving food.

Councillor McLellan, who backed the move, said it was “not a temperance question but a national question”.

He believed the safety of the nation required “total prohibition”.

Councillor Neil said the meeting in Edinburgh had resolved to point out to the Parliament the necessity of conserving food supplies.

“If the Government can take action and restrict the sale of sugar to confectioners, surely they can take action to restrict the sale of barley and wheat to brewers,” he added.

Councillor Moores said the amount of edible products wasted on drink would go a long way to mitigate the current food shortage.

There was, however, laughter when Councillor Hay said they would never stop drinking unless a law could be invented to stop people from putting drink into their mouths. The matter was remitted to the provost’s committee for a report. and further consideration.