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In the wake of the end of prohibition but with temperance sentiment still riding high, the Liquor Control Board was created and empowered to control the sale of alcohol in BC.
In 1921 the BC Provincial Government introduced The Moderation Act to combat the excessive use of alcohol. Through the Act, the BC Liquor Commission was empowered, with Chairman A.M. Johnson, Colonel W.N. Winsby and James H. Falconer, to organize the Liquor Control Board (L.C.B.) as the sole agent for the control and sale of alcohol in BC. British Columbia had held a plebiscite in 1920 and voted 'wet', thus making it the first province in English Canada to repeal prohibition.
In April 1921, it was announced that the Commission planned to open a warehouse in each of the large cities in the Province and to make deliveries direct to the purchaser's home. Permit offices were to be scattered throughout the cities where purchasers would place their orders and the head cashier would examine their permit with all their purchases recorded. He could then advise the customer to change the brand of liquor he was drinking or to mix his drinks in some other way. By this advice, the Board hoped to get rid of much of the abuse of liquor and reduce excessive drinking to a minimum.
Bootlegging (the illegal sale of alcohol as a beverage) was to be eliminated by stamping all liquor that came into the Province and assigning every liquor buyer in BC with a number that would be registered in the Board's head office in Victoria. All liquor sold would have to be stamped with the number of the purchaser. This created a legal problem that landed in court. The Dominion Department of Inland Revenue issued an order that householders in any Canadian province could manufacture liquor and beer for their own consumption by notifying the department to this effect in writing. The idea was largely to protect the householder who made his or her own rhubarb wine or the citizen who had their own recipe. The L.C.B. prevailed and the provincial approval was required.
The following month, the Board's plans mushroomed and it was announced that several BC breweries were to be taken over and operated by the...