IMPRESSIONS OF FINLAND

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3719, 16 November 1926, Page 2

IMPRESSIONS OF FINLAND

EUROPE’S ONE "DRY" STATE THE METHODS OF SMUGGLERS (By a Correspondent ot the 1 Observer. ’) “Just like America,” is the reply I have received everywhere in Finland, the only Prohibition country of Europe, to my inquiries as to how the attempt to prohibit the consumption of alcohol is succeeding. _ Tills answer implies both the satisfactions and the dissatisfactions of friends arid opponents of the system. It means the sincere opinion that real Prohibition is practically impossible, and equally that tie law is likely to continue on the Statute Book, though there are possibilities of certain modifications. . ’

If you want intoxicants in Finland you can get them. Jt is said that in some parts you just ask for “strong tea.” When .1 dine in clubs and the bigger restaurants with friends, it is clear no such subterfuge is needed. Tho waiter—or, more often in Finland, the waitress —has only to he asked lor whisky for it to "make its appearance as swiftly as if you had asked for the national drinks of milk or Pilseuer—the latter with i per cent, alcohol. An American editor who readied Finland a day or two ago went straight to his hotel and made the ordering ol a,glass of spirits his first action, and was very favorably impressed—from his point .of view—with the promptitude with which the drink appeared. On, the following day, however ? he was disappointed, after ho had reiterated the word “ Cognac ” into the ears of a taxi-driver, and had been driven, with some reluctance, to an out-of-the-way part of the town, to be informed by’ the driver, who had apparently nonchalantly gone round the corner whistling that the “cache” had unfortunately been raided by the police before, and nothing was available. It is said that when a high police official is off duty and he wishes to have a quiet meal in one of the chief restaurants he is always met with the information on his arrival that all the tables are engaged. After a minute or two, in which it lias been possible to pass word round the tables that offending liquor must disappear, he is at once ushered into a vacant table. A BOOTLEGGERS’ PARADISE.

(All thife means a big bootlegging trade, and in the case of the less well-to-do the consumption of bad spirits at a high price. The Finnish coast, with its innumerable islets and inlets, is a bootlegger’s paradise. To watch the American coastline must be child’s play in comparison. The fishing industry, [ am assured, is being seriously interfered with by the big profits obtainable by the fisherman turned smuggler. Motor boats can skim across to Esthoma, whence most of the bootleg spirits come, in two or three ' hours, and, though the power and speed of motor boats is supposed to be restricted, so that their highest speed is less than that of the Government patrol boats, the rum runners usually seem to manage to give the Government vessels a very good chase, and “ catch as catch can ” round the Finnish islands is a game in which the smugglers usually win.

The visitor inevitably hears a good deal about the demoralisation of the people not only by the habit of law breaking, but by the consumption of raw spirits. The latter in price are usually high, but, though a bottle of wine of quite Ordinary quality may I*B charged to the visitor at 30s a bottle, it is said that bottles of quite passable whisky can be obtained, ii you know where to go, for about ten shillings. The price of a whisky and soda is about 3s or 4s. A doctor’s prescription will lead to your being handed, your drink in a bottle over the chemist’s counter Avitji very little delay. Ju this case it is the prescription which is the expensive thing! Is, therefore, Prohibition in Finland a success, or failure? I find that even the severest critics of the measure admit that it is unlikely that the law will be materially changed. It was actually placed on the Statute Book about twenty years aigo. But the Russian Government then allowed ten years’ grace before it was put into operation. Then came the war and “ war-time prohibition ” throughout Russian territory. After the revolution in 191S and the establishment of a free and independent state of Finland, it was decided to put the delayed law directly into operation. It appears that only the Socialist party is wholly in favor of Prohibition, but the present Government, a Conservative-Agrarian coalition, is afraid of losing votes if it attempts to repeal the measure, it appears, however, that there is a possibility that the Liberals may try to gain the wet votes of all parties by putting at any rate a modified Prohibition into their programme. A POSTPONED TEST.

The police are very active in the way of raids and seizures. Yet, as I have intimated, the bigger hotels and restaurants seem quite willing to risk infringements of the law, lor which {lie first penalty is closing for six months. .Nevertheless, by a more or less nominal change of proprietorship, I am assured, business can be carried on without much interruption. On the other hand, it is clear that whatever abuses ol the law there may be the people ol Finland as a whole have not been driven into a dull drinkless existence without joy and without hope. Helsingfors is a most stimulating city to be in, not from any artificial stimula id; that may be obtainable, but from ds general air of prosperity, industry, cleanliness, and rapid development. The calcs are crowded cverv nigbl with “tipplers” of the harmless' I’ilsener, of the porter, with rather more “ body,” and of various fruit and soft drinks, ol which, owing to the fact that they are less gaseous than those in Fnglaml, vast quantities can be consumed. fhe majority of people, il appears evident, are not dis-air-died with what their glass contains. I imagine that Ihe stories of great illicit drinking among young people are much exaggerated, though I. must admit that life only obvious signs of drunkenness I have seen in Helsinglors have heen two cases of youths of about nineteen.

Xcvitl lielcss, it Ls "rowing up which, broadly speaking, has not loan it. to drink alcohol. As in America, therefore, il seems th.it Ihe real test ol Ibe efficacy of Prohibit ion will be in twenty or thirty years’ time, when it. will be seen whether the dry section of