Page 9 Advertisements Column 2

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 195, 15 May 1922, Page 9

Prohibition Fails-in Iceland I ICELAND “GOES WET.” ' ViTA. REYKJAVIK, April 26. U"OI /TO The Iceland Parliament has D a ssed a YU Vh f U-. )l /7 & resolution abolishing the law prohibiting V / vCT the importation of wines containing up to 7 ’ 21 per cent, of alcohol. The prohibition law has been in force for ten years.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)— Y AU N.Z. Newspapers. Mpgjg.uj Iceland. — ICELAND provided ideal conditions for a real test of ProMntion- The I Island is a self-contained community of a unique kind it » ■»»£ * 1 a singularly complete manner, standing alone in the North Attanuc, some six hundred mites from Great Britain or Norway, and having infrequent communication with the rest of the worl • . , A Prohibition Law was enacted in 1912. That law, however such a disastrous failure that, after a Ten years tna.it as now Althirm The leader of the party which secured its passage in the Althing (Parliament) was the REV. SIGURDUR STEFANSSON, but after a trial of Prohibition he actually became the leader of those who demanded and carried its repeal. . , , The Rev. Sigurdur Stefansson, in a speech on this subject before the Icelan Parliament, stated: — “7/ is my opinion that it mill not he long before experience has shown the Prohibitionists to what a mad pass and into how wretched a condition of embarrassment their case has come, and that every further stringency will only make it still worse " stocks would soon be sent in place of The Dream. the o jd. "An alcohol-free country, within reach "Every day you can see signs here in in the near future, was an idea that Reykjavik and in other towns that filled the people with enthusiasm and (hg conijUmpt i O n ep i r it , 10 smaller now hope. They hoped that morals would was i e f ore Prohibition law. improve. They hoped that the well- ' being of the people would increase, for, Drinking Hair Tonic. ' unhappily, there were too many Peopl o „ It lg not the case that aU spirlt con . who, owing to indulgence In ale , S umed in this country is legal spirit, were unable to save money or look after Th _ g y&ar the Althing ha 3 been ©bilged their means of subsistence. Prohibition to & duty on cooking hair was expected to bring as well gplrit . an<J perfumo> Why Is that? Beas material, blessings. ’cause people have started to drink these But dark clouds soon-gathered over that fluids. It may not be enjoyable, but dream, and “the fatal prophecies of the one sometimes does things even if they enemies of Prohibition have been ful- are not exactly enjoyable. Cooking filled.” Mr. Stefansson goes on:— spirit, owing to this duty, has become i bo dear that people can hardly afford to “I do not speak as a fanat c, nor do bo aear rnar p p . I go to extremes. I am stating facts, utl > epmc LU •purely and simply, and lam sorry to T n{ . r ea<ted Cost of Livinff. have to speak them. Experience shows Increasea or living. . that people have not gained by the Pro- “As the Althing was not Sufficiently hlbition law, but, on the contrary, they foreseeing and sensible to find a prachaVe suffered losses. There are others tlcal and just duty in place of the 'spirit ■ who have gained, and that to an extent duty, it has been obliged to put a high which I cjn only describe as unfor- rate of duty on all imported articles of tunate a-nS foreboding. These are the necessity, and this duty has been inbreakers of the law.” creased from time to time. It is now such that the poor cannot get a crust of ' After showing how the health of the breadwithout paying duty on it, nor can, young people of Iceland was being ruined k e buy a piece of timber for his hut by the "undrinkable poison brew” which . or a piece of material for his has taken the place of alcohol/"which no a handful of salt or cement, a bag of—man would have dreamed of drinking be- coa j or a piece of wire. Possibly this fore the time of Prohibition,” Mr. Stefans- duty w-ill remain in force, but it originson made this cogent rejoinder to the ates from the time this country lost its fanatics of the wait-and-see school: — revenue from spirit on the; introduction „ ~ of the Prohibition law." 1 ne Keaitty. After narrating how the home manufac"What I imagined. ln . 1 ture of poisonous spirit had become a voted in favour of the Prohibition law, thriving industry, Mr. Stefansson indicated was that, even if the older generation g 1 t £ th prohibl . were weak, and would endeavour to circumvent the law in order to satisfy uou law ’ . a desire for alcohol, yet the generation "Other evil things are taking place, now growing up would be better placed Illegal import of spirit grows rapidly, than before. It was this hope which and is probably now larger than the decided me to cast my vote in favour of legal importation. There are rumours Prohibition, but this hope has not been of large stocks of wine which have fulfilled. It is clear that it is not the reached us from Spain and other counolder generation that is 'more clever in tries. They are fetched in boats out defeating Prohibition; it is the younger here in the bay, or stored at the bottom generation. This is the saddest point o f the water, to be fished up and landed of all, and it gives extremely small later on when the opportunity oners, ground for hope in the future of the law. The forbidden fruit is more tempt- Worse to Come. Ing to youth .than to the older people. d UI -ing the war, spirit reached Power this harbour to the extent mentioned, a Beyond Haman h f^ n W a harbour which was the only and excluIt is impossible to see such a law ca one £or ghipg from foreign por t s , a rled through to any extent. That s b harbour where the control by the police yond human power. If the police c , }g mQre gtrlct tban anywhere else, then like the old womenfolk in our ,f y can imagino what quantities will tales, look through hills and mountain rgach ug of nlegal gplrit when sbipa can sides,’ they would see stocks of spirits mQre gan frggly Into any bay or dug down here and there in the hills, where there is no control or also in the neighbourhood of the capital, Bupe rvislon by the police." and even at the bottom of the sea right p out here. I would not guarantee that Finally, Mr. Stefansson pointed the it would do them any good to catch the moral which is also being made evident in smugglers who stock their goods in America. In Iceland the lack of respect this fashion, for if they did from time for the Prohibition law is "undermining to time seize some of these goods, new respect for other laws. -■ Prohibition has failed in Iceland, in Canada, in Anierica, in Finland, in Norway, in Sweden, and in Russia. It would fail in New Zealand!

The Last Peg Finished at 10 o’clock MIA SOAP

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