It was impossible to listen to the B.B.C. radio family "The Archers" any night without hearing someone being offered a drink, whether it was beer or a glass of sherry, a temperance speaker claimed at Exmouth today. The assertion was made by Mr. G. H. Dennison, a national trustee, at the annual conference of the Order of the Sons of Temperance Friendly Society, 'which has a membership of nearly 100,000. He said it seemed that every time anyone on the programme met they were offered a drink. He did not believe this was truly representative of country life. He continued "I am never going to believe that country life demands that every man, youth or woman, when meeting together, needs a drink. I suggest it is an absolute lie."
He was moving, on behalf of the National Executive, a resolution on the Government's Proposed new Licensing Bill. This regretted that the Government had seen fit to Increase the facilities for the sale and supply of Intoxicating liquor when, by so doing, the danger of lowering the moral and spiritual values of young people especially would be greatly increased. It considered the bill to be "a deplorably retrograde step which can only result in a greater threat and menace to society as a whole."