Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1908. SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS IN SWITZERLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 14 February 1908, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1908. SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS IN SWITZERLAND.

THE STATE MONOPOLY. , THE issue of State control of the liquor traffic has ceased to bo prominent in New Zealand, and little if anything is now heard of the orators of a couple of years ago or of- their league. But the operation of tho system elsewhere is still of interest, and tho information on the subject with regard to Switzerand, obtainable in the posthumous work of the. late Mr Henry""Dumarest Lloyd, just, readable information. " The book published 'at lew York, may furnish does not deal solely with tho drink question, as it is descriptive of all social and political conditions in Switzerland. Its title is "A Sovereign Popple: A Study of Swiss Democracy." In 1901 and 1902 Mr Lloyd, whose books on Australian and Now Zealand social questions will be remembered, paid two long visits to Switzerland in order to make a close, study of tho structure and working of democracy as expressed in the social institutions of that country, ' ' and, ' ho says, ' ' a test issue of democracy is the public treatment of the drink traffic." » • • • a Mr Lloyd points out that during tho last generation Switzerland has grappled with this issue more resolutely than any other State.. In Switzerland the drink habit held greater and growing sway among various classes of the population, and, in particular, the increased sale of spirits had become a grave menace to public health and order. A powerful interest had grown up, consisting of distilleries which were getting an even stronger hold upon the purses of the workmen -of the industrial towns. The special drink problem in Switzerland, however, had not been so much a growth in drunkenness as in the wider spread of the use of alcohol, especially of cheap spirits, among all classes of the working population,., and in order to control, in the public interest, tho trade in spirits, .the Swiss people decided that the State must own it. . .. • * * * " . • * Working under the . constitution of ' 1848 which gives the cantons the right of regulating their liquor traffic and of levying cantonal duties (the latter privilege nominally expiring in 1890) the Federal message of 1884 set the State monopoly in motion. It was not an extreme temperance pronouncement. It main object was to devise means of checking the growth of the consumption of spirits, which, being cheaper than wine, beer, or cider,, had made great encroachments in the standard of. consumption both of the peasants and the town labourers. -The substance of the proposal was a raising of the import duty on brandy, attended by a corresponding rise of excise upon Swiss spirits, and accompanied by a lowering of duties upon the relatively innocuous wines, beer, and cider imported or domestic. The message concluded with the proposal of a new article, to be embod- 1 ied in the Constitution, giving the ( Federation tho right to legislate upon 1 the distilling industry, and upon the i sale of its product, both foreign and 1 domestic, and abolishing the right at 1 present exercised over these matters < by tho cantons. The taxes to be \ levied by the Confederation upon im- j ported and domestic spirits were not ' to be retained by the Federal to- a venue, but divided among the cantons, c ■_•«■•»- s Tho proposal was accepted by the c cantons in 1885, and then ensued a c struggle of views and interests — jr.- t dußtrial, financial, and moid.l. The, p Federal Council approved a law based* 1 1

pon a report of a Commission np- i ointod by itself in favour of a Fedo- I L al monopoly, and the experiment n •hich is now tho law of Switzerland w ras instituted. The main provisions £ f that monopoly are as follows:— a 'he law assigns to tho Federal O'*- | B -eminent tho Bole right to mauu^ac- , \ ure distilled liquor^ *-_l<_ to distribute * tin bulk. Tile' Government need s lot, however, undertake the manu- -j 'acture itself, but may contract for ' ;he supply fVom foreigh- or domestic listillerics, wit. _ ptoyiso that _bt . less than one-foUrth o. the SUj^l.y Is ; of domestic production-. iii the actual administration Oi this law the Government licenses a number of distilleries for domestic production, importing the rest of tho spi.it directly from abroad. Tlie home tenders are distributed among about 70 distilleries, the quantities allotted to each varying from about 150 to 1000 hectolitres. In the apportionment of tenders distilleries worked on a co-operative basis are supposed t«J have preference. No other _ist_"le_ios are permitted to exist. » k _ t> . One of the ne'tessary implications of thp St". .t% "monopoly waa the closing n". a, large number of small distilleries. About 1200 estabishnionta were closed, and the compensation sum paid to a distiller Wa_ _al_._t__.ted to amount to the depreciation bf his buildings- machinery, and 6t'hd_ plant suffered by it being no loajgr..? available fo. distilling. Fo". goodwill orJ future profits he i*eceived nothing, The distilleries whose continuance was needed for domestic Droduction were not taken over by the Government. They were left in the possession of their 6"wners, but were placed under the . _' i. isest system of supervision •re^tttding the quantity of their ott_j>V*_, the materials they employed, and their methods of accounts. The distilleries nre supposed to make no profit on tile process of distillation.. The Oovefrhment pays them cost plfiee foS* what, they produce; the only pfofit, allowed them is thei* eX'-prOilucts in residuary liquors tth-d stuffs for tho feed of cattli). Government even takes cognisance of the ill-treatment of employees. In one case- where tt dl_tiler had cut wages down tod faf t_e department said to hiitt, ''ii' yoii do not troat your m.n better, when wo give out 6\s'r licenses or authorisations fiext year, you will not be among the number." • • * . . In Mr Lloyd 's work the measure of success and of failure of tho State control ox the traffic in spirits is impartially set forth. Mr Lloyd says that whon M. Milliet, the head of tho Swiss Alcohol Bureau, was probed with regard to the success of tho State monopoly, he replied, "It all depends upon what is meant by success." M. Milliet further said:— ' ' So far na tho salo of spirits is concerned, it has been distinctly successful; we have put down the numerous small distilleries which sold bad, cheap spirits amongst the peasants; the quality of- tho spirits sold is better, for tho retailer seldom adulterates, except with water, and the total luantity sold has declined by 40 per cent, since the estabishment of the monopoly. b u t from the standpoint of the more rigorous temperance folk, 't is a failure. Fot the declining use of spirits has been more than eonipeniated by a growth in the consumption of wine, beer, and cider, so that in ictual alcohol the amount per head of the population is larger than before." M. Milliet was not enthusiastic about the result, but as a practical politician and reformer he considered that the policy adopted was a sound ono. The public opinion against spirits was not strong onough for drastic methods; it was necessary to fortify i moral sentiment by app*eals to the business interests of an intensely practical people. Each year a sum between 5 000,000 and 7,000,000 francs is divided amoncst tho cantons, with the express provision that one-tenth of it should be devoted to "combatting alcoholism." The fuller efficacy of the Federal monopoly requires the active co-operation of the cantonal or municipal governments m the control of the .retail sale of 'iquor but though a few of the cantons have made recent progres-B both m the restriction of numbers of saloons and in "ni e h license "it cannot be said that the local governments have gone very far « ■ _ ■ a ' _r ln ,.-,^ clusion * Mr L, °y d says that M. Milliet is entitled to congratulate himself upon the checking of the perilous dram drinking. Tho head or the alcohol bureau knows that the people cannot bo weaned at once from drink, but by a judicious preference of less injurious drinks, like light wines and beers, and by restrictions upon spirits, they can be educated out of the moro injurious tastes. Already dram dnnkine has become not respectable in Switzerland; tho decline in w.ne and beer may follow I Meanwhile, though there is not less drinking, tl.nrc is less drunkenness and other v. -eg and diseases close] v associated w':h spirit drinkin-r ;1 , 0 diminishod.