PROHIBITION IN CANADA

Evening Star, Issue 19522, 1 April 1927, Page 9

PROHIBITION IN CANADA

A BISHOP’S VIEW _ Canada went entirely “ dry ” in war time. Sinco then the Western provinces have reverted to Government control. By 1926 only Nova Scotia, dry sinco 1910, New Brunswick, and Ontario remained under Prohibition. Tho former Bishop of Ontario (Dr Bidwell) in the current ‘ National Review ’ gives an account of the last phase of the struggle in the richest and most populous of all the Canadian, provinces. A Conservative Ministry granted a reicrendum at the end of 1924, believing that the referendum would sweep away Prohibition. It was, however, disappointed, as the majority for Prohibition was still 34,000 though it had decreased from 243,000 on the previous occasion. The country districts, most of them “ dry ” by local option for some time before Prohibition, had shown that they were not anxious for change. The Ontario Legislature then passed an amendment allowing beer of 4.4 alcoholic strength, twice the strength of the temperance “ beer.” This did not help much, as Canadians do not drink much beer. The bishop thinks that direct action by Government is better in questions of this kind, which so acutely and fiercely divide public opinion. Bad conditions still prevailed after the amendment, and most respectable people employed their private “ bootlegger as they formerly dealt with their wine and spirit merchant. The drinking among young people, a peculiar feature of tho Prohibition regime, increased. “ Bootleggers ” made immense profits, one man who was sued for income tax on £16,000 income refusing to pay it because it had been earned by breaking the law. This case he carried to the Privy Council, where he lost it. The Premier (Mr Ferguson) decided to dissolve Parliament and go to the country, on the issue of Government control. This strong man who knew his own mind impressed the people, and he was returned with an unimpaired majority. The system is now about to be introduced. “I am inclined to think that in a system of Government control, wisely administered, Canada has found as nearly a solution of the problem as possible,” says Dr Bidwell. “The saloons were the curse of the country when the traffic was in private hands. They were just drinking shops where the liquor supplied was often bad and the iniquitous ‘ treating ’ system nourished. The abolition of these plague spots was the one benefit of Prohibition upon which all were agreed. They remain abolished under the Government control system. Tho trade will ho entirely in the hands of the State, and alcoholic beverages will be purchasable only at centres licensed by the Government. Every citizen of twenty-one years of age will bo furnished on application with a permit, entitling him to purchase a fixed amount of such beverages a month, and this permit will he forfeitable if it is improperly used. There will be no pushing or sales, which is so dangerous a feaure of the trade as long as it remains in private hands and is therefore competitive. The Government also guarantees the purity of tho liquor sold.” The bishop thinks that the danger is that liquor will ho sold at too high a price under this system, and that thus the bootlegger, trading in inferior liquor, will be brought back. “Tho bootlegger will he entirely eliminated,” he says, “only if the Government makes it possible for all to obtain what' they require at a reasonable cost at their own offices'.”