08 THE ALCOHOL PROBLEM 
10 p.m., whilst restaurants, where food must be taken 
with the liquor, be allowed an extra hour, and be 
closed at 11 p.m. 
DIFFERENTIAL TAXATION OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS. 
The question of influencing sobriety by appropriate 
taxation will be referred to again in Chapter VII., when 
the principle of differential taxation will be discussed. 
This principle is already in force, in so far that the 
highly alcoholic spirits are much more heavily taxed 
than the less alcoholic beers, and a beginning has been 
made of extending it to beers of various gravities. 
The reduction of the beer duty in 1923 was so arranged 
that it had the effect of lowering the retail price of all 
beers by 1d. a pint, whatever their gravity. That is 
to say, light beers reaped a relatively greater benefit 
than heavy beers. We shall see that this principle 
ought to be widely extended, so that very light beers 
pay hardly any tax at all, and heavy beers a greater 
one in proportion to their gravity. By this means, 
little or no loss of revenue on the total sales would 
ensue. 
The principle of differential taxation has for a long 
time been applied to wines, for in 1862 wines (in 
cask) containing less than 26° of proof spirit were 
taxed 1s. a gallon, and wines containing less than 
42°, 2s. 6d. per gallon. The tax was raised from 
3d. to 6d. in 1899, and in 1920 it was raised to 
2s. 6d. for wines under 30° and to 5s. for those 
under 42°, with a further ad valorem tax of 33} per 
cent. on sparkling wines. In 1927 the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer, Mr. Churchill, increased the taxation