v 
iE 
a 
THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM 
CLUBS. 
When considering the improvement of the public 
house, it is impossible to ignore the development of 
registered clubs, as they are tending to replace the 
public house to some extent. These clubs have the 
privilege of supplying alcoholic beverages to their 
members, and their numbers have increased rapidly 
of late. Whereas there were 6,371 registered clubs in 
1903, they increased to 8,902 in 1915, and to 11,780 
in 1925. Simultaneously with the increase in the 
number of clubs there has been a reduction in the 
number of public houses, owing to the cancellation of 
redundant licences. Between 1go5 and 1919 15,239 
public houses were closed, whilst 1,495 clubs, or less 
than a tenth as many, were opened; but between 1919 
and 1925 the number of clubs opened—namely, 3,731 
—exceeded the number of public houses closed (3,618).* 
Any twenty-five persons, on formal presentation of 
the necessary particulars, and on payment of a fee of 
five shillings, can automatically obtain registration. 
The club, once formed, has to obey the regulations 
applying to public houses in respect of the hours at 
which intoxicating liquor is sold, but it is free from 
inspection by the police unless a search warrant is 
obtained from a magistrate, based on the complaint of 
at least two witnesses. 
An enquiry into the membership of clubs has recently 
been made by the United Kingdom Alliance,* and 
they were able to secure returns of the membership 
of 10,712 clubs out of a total of 11,780 in 1925. ‘The 
expenditure of all the clubs together on intoxicating 
* <6 Alliance Year Book,” 1927, p. 100.