CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICHOUSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5697, 16 October 1896, Page 6 (Supplement)

CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICHOUSES.

. Proof that the chief evils connected with, strong drink are inherent quite as much in the licensing system as in the drink itself iB provided, by the experience of a number of cp-pjieratiye pubjic-houses, of which five ':'©*': -wxv^are; now -;in- existence -in ~EnglanS.'" -pie'of them: is at Jlarlestbn, in:N!orthaj^js*7 tonshire, hear "the seat of Earl Spencer,"'' and it has now been in operation since 1887, so that the plan has passed beyond the region of experiment. The management is in the hands of a committee, the vicar being permanent chairman ; the local schoolmaster was made secretary, and the rest of the . committee are villagers elected at stated intervals. A manager was appointed at a fixed salary, to which was added a bonus on . all sales of nonintoxicants. The villagers, through their committee, regulate the hours in compliance with the licensing laws, fix the prices, select their brewers, and so on, and on the co-operative principle divide 3s 6d in the £ on all members' purchases, and half that sum on those of non-members. Eventually the beerhouse license was transferred to the village shop, and a branch store for convenience added. The few hundreds of capital necessary were easily raised in £1 shares. The practical result of the experiment is that drunkenness, formerly common, is practically unknown, for the manager dare not let anyone get drunk, and the responsibility of the good conduct of the house rests upon the whole society, which means for all practical purposes the inhabitants of Harloston. These facts form valuable testimony to the efficacy of a State monopoly of the traffio which in New Zealand would be the same as a large co-operative concern.