THE GOTHENBURG SYSTEM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 23

THE GOTHENBURG SYSTEM.

Some information was published recently in England with regard to the first experiment made iu tho direction of t.io municipalisation of publ.'chouses, or in other words the adoption in principle of tho Gothenburg system. It is the Birmingham Corporation, writes a correspondent, animated no doubt by general sympathy with Mr Chamberlain’s views, which has put the matter to the tost. A municipal publichouso has now been open for 18 mouths in the village of Elan, and has become a very considerable financial success, in spite of the very strict lines on which it is conducted. It is open for an hour and a half in tho middle of the day, that is to say, during tho dinner-time of the ordinary workman, and from 5.30 to 0 o’clock in tho evening. On Saturdays the hours are from 1 o’clock till 9, but tho houso is shut all day on Sunday. The amount sold to eacli person, too, is strictly limited. Tho customer may have a quart of beer in the morning, and two quarts iu the evening. This sounds a pretty lair quantity, but a couple of quarts is not much to a thirsty English villager, especially if ho has two or tlireo hours to dispose of "it in. The municipal publichouso is naturally not altogether popular with people who support tho regular trade, and I liavo heard it suggested that its profits are mainly made by the sale of liquor to ho drunk off tho premises, llut the temperance people are satisfied; and as a matter of fact tho publichouso, which was regarded by tbe villagers at first with some suspicion, has been steadily growing in popularity. Tho profits go to maintain a reading-room and a sort of club for the village. Since the terrible ‘’ facer ” which local veto received at the last general election tho temperance people in this country have been, as far as my experience goes, growing steadily more disposed to give the Gothenburg system a trial, and it is very likely the Birmingham experiment will he repeated in other parts ot the country.