PUBLIC CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3674, 25 February 1899, Page 2

PUBLIC CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

U.—IN SCANDINAVIA. (By Eev. James Milne, M.A., Auckland.) In Scandinavia, the principle of elimination of private profit in the drink traffic has not been universally applied to the sale of intoxicating liqors, bt partially, to that of ardent spirits only, the sale.of, wine and beer, from which much drunkenness arises, being yet in private hands. This is an element to be kept steadily in view when judging of the success of the application of the .principle from statistics. Although we hope to hsow that the evidence from this source is altogether in favour of the principle, yet it is well to keep in mind that arguments from statistics are little worth unless concomitant circumstances are likewise considered, and the soundness of a principle cannot be judged by results, which may reflect more on the method of its appication than itsef. The principle saw its first application in Sweden, which, towards the end of the firs): half of the xiresent century, was the most drunken country in Europe, consequent on a kind of freetrade being permitted in the manufacture and sale of spirits. As a temperance reform an Act was passed in *>s giving to country districts the right of prohibiting the sale of brandy, and to towns the right of consigning it to a company. Gothenburg was the first town of any consequence to take advantage of the provisions of this Act; for a committee appointed by tbe municipality to inquire into the reason of the great social distress then prevalent in the city recommended to the Municipal Council that the authorities should hand over certain licenses which came under their own disposal to a company, which should receive only the current rate of interest on their shares, and whose profits should be paid into the town treasury. The council.decided to adopt this recom--jnendatiop. which.,,saw its. fulfilment ,in: October, 1565., At the end of the,first; tell; years,' however, of the company’s existence there was practically no improvement in the state of affairs, consequent on the fact that some twenty retail spirit licenses were during that time _in private hands, and the wine and spirit merchants competed with the company.' Accordingly in 1874 a monopoly of the spirit traffic was conceded to the company, and the beneficial result was at once anparent. In 1877 operations wore further extended by the opening of four eating-houses, where good substantial food is sold, and only one "drink”, can be procured with a meal. These restaurants have served their, purnose so well'that whereas at first almost every customer called for spirits with his food, now, with on average of eight hundred meals sold daily, only two hundred "drinks” arc called for. To further encourage temperance, the food is sold very cheap—in fact, the restaurants are run at a loss, which is, however, recouped from the general profits. Another departure was.made in. 1882, when five reading-rooms were opened in populous'districts, where light refreshments such as tea and coffee were sold, and newspapers, periodicals and books supplied. A special feature of the companies’ houses is n placard posted on the wall, recommending temperance, by showing how much money can'be saved per week, month and year, by giving up so many drinks, and how in this way, provision can bo made for old age. In 1871 a law was passed in Norway to give effect to the principle of the Gothenburg system, hut diverting the profits to public works and charities not supported by the Government, This diversion of the profits from the public purse was thought to be an improvement upon the Swedish plan, which was open to the objection of encouraging drinking, through its disposal of the profits. This 18 _ a u instance of l i ow the principle can be adapted to suit varied conditions, and another is found in a. Comparison between the conditions as they are found in the companies’ restaurants, say inGbthenburg.' and in the company-controlled houses of Bergin, a Norwegian town, where the pro ' ifiiscs are of ,the , barest,(description, not even seats being provided for customers, and where no food is sold • with drink. This - adaptability without loss of type,” to quote a writer on the subject, "is a great sign of vitality in institutions as in animals ” and so this system comes to our view greatly strengthened by the fact that varying circumstances it has. been able, while keeping its identity. to ! ' take various forms. It has been adopted hv every town, of importance in Sweden and Norway; surely in itself a proof of. its •utility. In 1890 the British Ambassador at Stockholm reported to his Government that n°i consuls at Gothenburg and Stockholm, and twenty-two vice-consuls under them, believed in it. Mr Lars 0. Jensen, Eight Worthy Grand Templar for Norway, 1894, says:—"l do think that the representative temperance men almost unanimously favour the company system as against individual licensing, and in this very year they have done their utmost to have the company system more fully carried out through the law just passed by Parliament.”

That the principle could easily be adapted to our local conditions is seen at a glance. Suppose, for instance, a community in New Zealand decided to try Public Com trol, the drink traffic in that community would be vested either in a public company, paying the current rate of interest on its shares, and dividing its profits among chanties, as under the Norwegian system • or in the municipality; or better still, in a public board, consisting of so many members from the municipality and a greater number from the community. It would he left to the people to say how many pubhehouses there should bo, and a vote would be taken every three years as to whether the system should continue or not. The profits, after payment of working expenses, would be devoted, first, to the refunding of such capital as was required to start the scheme, to the payment of such compensation as the community might think fit to present license-holders for the withdrawal of their licenses, thereafter to public and private charities. Temperance restaurants would als6 be opened, where tea, coffee and other temperance drinks would be purveyed and food sold. These would likewise be furnished with gymnasiums and reading-rooms, and so would act as counter attractions to the very publichouses themselves. ,In the case of large hotels, the purchase of which would entail, a heavy expenditure, an agreement could be made between their owners and the public authority holding the control of the traffic; whereby the latter might have the solo right of purveying liquor in the premises', of the former. Several modifications in such a scheme will at once suggest themselves to any who may consider it, but the main point to he observed in its application is the prim ciple of elimination of-private profit underlying it. We would commend it to all social reformers, as likewise to prohibitionists, who, by its adoption as part of their policy now, might lesonably hope in a few vears to see the " traffic ” removed from private lands, and thus shorn of its worst element. By.moving thus, one step at a time, they would receive the support of many who now oppose them, and yet more who in face of their present extreme position are lukewarm over the matter. Were municipalisation or some kindred form of, public control reached, there would be still opportunity to pursue their propaganda, while the sentiment of the people would be regularly gauged by the proposed triennial vote. Wo conclude this article by quoting the opinion of Dr Gould, the Commissioner sent by the United States Labour Department to Norway and Sweden to report on the working of the principle in its partial application to the sale of spirits, and who in the course of an exhaustive report rays:—"The deeper I study the problem, the more certainly I am convinced'that the'Scandinavian system of control is by far the best and most practicable method.'