THE GOTHENBURG PRINCIPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11162, 7 September 1899, Page 6

THE GOTHENBURG PRINCIPLE.

TO THE EDITOR. . ° ,r - Y . our correspondent, in your issue of l a J a l> ? * * :nt€restin extract from the Z ™ uT T e m PT Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, which was adopted at the last General Assembly. It i, interesting likewise, to learn that a minority report was also presented, of which the following is part, as copied from the report of the assembly* proceedings in the Scotsman X ' I n regard to management. . It' m wea a ' P resen t so far managing if ra x?' might well be questioned whether the community on moral grounds was entitled to stop short in their management i of the traffic at this point. On their present

Jj-Btem, the community, acting through «y§Bff diagistrates, exposed the men whom thf*!®*"" licensed to the temptation to cncoujj? fit drinking and drunkenness for the safe : of - pecuniary profit. If the community were tell off a certain number of men to sell drio?." moral considerations would indicate that |T• 'W< men who were thus told off should be freJ?lfl from this temptation. Again, the commnnjtV :i,: ' acting through the magistrates, licensed;,!^ certain number of men to sell alcoholio liquors as they liked within the limits of.-sK the law. The community would consult morjJtfS wisely for public morality if they would tejoff men to sell alcoholic liquors on such con. ' " ditions that they could impose restriction' on the sale of drink which went beyond tlj'ife'' statute, as, e.g., putting down the praclic* - of rounds of treating, excluding youths, lata '® opening and earlier closing, etc. As to ti*®|s profits which would accrue to the communitjiff -: from the liquor traffic, it was undeniablifjljls that it would demoralise a community toSi?>(f encourage drinkinz and drunkenness ;fac?\!§ pecuniary profit. But it could not well WIRI demoralising to a community to be in rt&=ion of profit wb'ch hud acc".i»d from K®§ honest effort to discourage drinking drunkenness. The national Government da-feffi rived money from the duties leviable on al. '"i'H ! roholic liquor, but that money was rained not jfe from an effort to encourage drinking and ''Jf| - drunkenness, but from a laudable effort e|l| discorrage those br so raising the mice aipip to make alcoholic liquors difficult to procure, As to the temptation to which the community would be exposed, to subordinate the df 'J?!' couragement of drinking to their desire for®® gain. In the first place, this temptation M would be reduced to a minimum by tISiJ surplus profits being devoted to Imperial,?" and not local objects: in the second placed*® they thought 'letter of the electors than to~4|f believe that, knowing, as they did. the enor-. j§£ mou? moral aid recuniary losses entailed on>.SSf the community throuih drunkenness, they; vtyl would push the sale of liquor for the sake of : "iVil a little"extra profit." In the issue of May 27 of the Scotsman, i'i." we have an account of the report of the Tern- % perance Committee of the Church of Scot-.', M land, from which it is seen that that assembly' has unanimously accepted the principle pHijj] public control. To quote part of tho condvjfP. vener's deliverance:—"Th» Temperance Be form Threefold Option (Scotland) Bill wasflp reintroduced into Parliament, and was clearly '|§; before the country as a clearly defensible,- i l ', and a thoroughly practical attempt to settle;|s| the problem of temperance reform so far aiW® that could be effected by any legislation. Ilj : was supported by representative men from®! all the churches in Scotland, and from alll|fj parties in the State. It was most gratifymg'sfo to report that since the introduction of thejH Bill a very considerable number of ptesby-Wla eries had sent petitions to Parliament in itj|||£ favour, and in all. or nearly all. cases, with •, complete unanimity, a striking indication to.-® the House of Commons, and to the country,. of what kind of legislation on this subject. ;t'§ would alone satisfy the Church of Scotland IS as holding out any hope of an effective and \ permanent reform of the evils created by tho.Sjfev present licensing system." Spjie It may be mentioned that the Triple Option Bill has as one of its options, local|ff? management on the lines of the Gothen"!.;/-'-burg principle, and it is on this feature that ™?!, controversy in regard to the measure chiefly turns.l am, etc., Jambs Milne, « Auckland, September 5, 1899.