LIBRARY NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14184, 9 April 1908, Page 3

LIBRARY NOTES

, THE LIQUOR I'ROBLh.M. During the last few months three or four important works dealing with the liquor question have been added to the Dunedin Athenajum library. The latest one is entitled "The Licensed Trade: An Independent Survey." The author, Edwin A. Pratt, is a journalist, who in the work under notice Attempts " to deal with ' The Licensing Problem ' from the point of view of tho actual traders, as seen, however, by an iiKlepenchmt investigator, rather than from the more or less academical, theoretical, or idealistic standpoint of outfide critics." The author states that he started bis inquiry of tho subject with a good, deal of prejudice. Teetotal opinions, passively adopted and acted on since the days of his youth, had led him to assume that the makere and dispensers of alcoholic drinks were all that the teetotallers said of them. "But," lie says, " when I began to question the foundations of the faith that was in me I found that the real facts were very different indeed from ;wbat I had supposed; that the case for the teetotallers (as distinguished from;the advocates for that moderation in drinking which seems to constitute the Teal 'temperance') was based largely on exaggerations, misconceptions, and ideal conuiuons altogether incapable of attainment, short of a complete revolution in soma of the fundamental tradts and instincts of human'nature; that, whatever the faults and shortcomings, of the traders m alcoholic drinks, neither the trade nor the 'great majority of the; person* engaged therein really der-erved the bitter denunciations 1 had read or heard; ,ahd that many of the attempted reformers of the licensing system might do far more harm than good. I found also tltat, so long as our human nature .remains what it is, prudent legislators would do well! to recognise as indjspensable a ' trade which evidently responds directly ' to a strongly pronounced human want, taking such precautions as may be necessary to ensure effective oohtrol, but not allowing themselves to be influenced by idealists , . into a , policv- of unduly, harassing, if not of showing injustice towards, the representatives of' a trade whose history goes' back to the very earliest days of- 'our race." .Mr Pratt proceeds to deal with the licensing 4 llas " tion from various points of view, arid, howevei" opinions may differ in regard to the conclusions lie "arrives utj it will generally be admitted by readers of his book that lie lias made, a pretty thorough investigation of the'subject. His reriiarks and statistics with reference to prohibition in America .and, New-;Zea.liind will bo found particularly interesting to readers iii this Dominion.

The following works dealing with the temperance question will also be found in the AtheiHcum library:—"Drink, Temperance, and Legislation,"; by Aithnr well; "-Alcohol: Its Place and Po.wer in legislation," by Robin,?an Souttur; "Temperance Problem and Social Reform," by Joseph Kowntreo and Arthur Slierwell; " Tho Liquor Problem in its Legislative Aspects, by Fred Wines and John Koren; "The Psychology of ■Alcoholism," •by .G. B. Ciitten; "The Drink Problem in its Medico-Sociological Aspects," edited, by ' T. N. Kelynack; "Licensing and Temperance in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," by Edwin A. l'ratt; "Local Option," by W. S. Caiiil, Wm. Hoyle, and Dawson Burns; "Proving Our Case: A' Scientific Exposition of the Nature and- Effects of Alcohol"; "- Study ; and : Stimulants; or, The Use of Intoxicants and Narcotics in' Relation to •Intellectual Life''; i"The Commonwealth qs Jlublican :. An ■Examination of the Gothenburg •'" K' : . ,'V FICTION 1 . The. following- is. a'list- of the.-most r^ceiit /sVorks of fiction added to the library :—•* i ''The Ancient Law," by Ellen Glasgow: ''Born to the Blue," by Florence Kimball Russell; "Caroline," by Clementiji'a Black; "Confessions of a Dctecjttv'ej"''by'Alfred Henry Lewis; "Eve :Noiris," by Claire De Pratz; ",The Girl and the Deal," by Karl Edwin jH,ttiHh)an; "The Girl Out There," by '.KSl'ji .-Edwin Harriman; ■'Huntington, Juii.;"'by Edward Clary Hoot; "Island Pharisees," by John Galsworthy; "Money Magic," by. Hamlin Garland; " Miss Frances Baird, by Reginald Wright Kauffmati; "E, Holmes and C 0.," by, John Kendrick Bangs; "The Silver Zone," by Kathleen P. Emmett; " The Settler," by Herman Whitaker; "Stand Pat," by David A. Curtis; "A Tangled Web," by L.* G. Moberly; "The • Treasure' Trail." 'by 'Frank L. 'Pollock; "Trusia,"'by Dowis Brinton; " The Unseen Jury," by Edward Clary Root; "The White.Cat," by Gelett Burgess; "The World's Awakening," by "Navarclius"; "The Love of Susan Cardigan," by L. T. Meade; "Rodwell," by Valentino: Hawtrev; "The Broken Lance," by Herbert Quick; "Their Marriage," by Curtis Yorke.