LIQUOR REFORM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LX, Issue 9382, 29 May 1909, Page 2

LIQUOR REFORM.

MR BANKING'S REPORT

NEW ZEALAND SYSTEM NOT FAVOURED.

INVESTIGATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. (From Brisbane Daily Mail). The report, of Mr R. A. Ranking, P.M., wlio iv January last was commissioned to visit New Zealand aud tlio Soutiliorn States, and inquire iuto and report upon tlio opeiatious of the various Licousing Acts iv force, has baeu made available. IN NEW ZEALAND. In the course of his long report Mr Ranking deals at length with tire logislatiou in force in New Zealand, paying particular attention to the licensing districts, and the result ol tho No-License poll. In connection with the latter matter, Mr Ranking writes:— Alter hearing all that was to be said on both sides, and carefully analysing the evidence .so obtained, the opinion has been formed that in all fciie districts with whicn I am dealing an appreciable loss of trade has followed tho withdrawal of what may be described as the floating capital formerly perodically introduced into the centres of population by shearers aud harvesters, wiio, unless total abstainers, no longer repair thither to procure fresh supplies of clothing and to "spend their choques." The best class of this description of labour, whilst not willing to forego tin , modorate use of liquor, will not descend to procure it by illicit means, at exorbitant rates aud of inferior quality; whilst tlio men of intemperate habits prefer to repair to towns iti which liquor is freely procurable at current rates Tho actual amount of money so withheld it is impossible to estimate. An exceedingly reliable authority, no longer iv active business, gave ir. to mo as his opinion that iv respect of one of tho smaller of tho towns now under consideration the annual loss thus sustained by traders was not less than t'fiOOO. Upou tho other hand, a fair amount of activity appeared to characterise general business. Few unoccupied buildings were seen. And, sc far as concerns residents, there is no doubt that in some oasos money which formerly found its way iuto tho coffers of those engaged iv the liquor trade lias, by the operation of No-License, been diverted into other channels and utilised to provide additional home comforts. Industrial. —Judging from tho absence of the groups of unemployed men such as are usually noticeable iv towns, it is to bo assumed that there is in No-License centres no lack of employment for those willing to work. Probably, however, this absence may be attributable, iv a measure, to the fact that harvesting operations had tended to temporarily absorb labour which, at another season, would have been in evidence. More than one farmer, however, complained of the inconvenience occasioned by the practically Habitual withdrawal from NoLicense towns of men representative of the best class of labour, thereby necessitating recourse by employers to perhaps distant centres when seeking to eugugo reliable employes. That tho average condition of the 'named artisau or labourer resident in a NoLicense district is often better than that of his fellow elsewhere, is, 1 think, an undoubted act, provided that recourse is not had to the procuring of supplies of liquor into the home from without tho district, or from illicit sources; as a necessary sequence, the ability to provide superior and more abundant necessaries of lifo for his family is increased by the amount which would probably, iv the face of temptation, have been diverted elsewhere. Social.—From a social aspect much may be said both for and against the operation of ttie "uo-liceuse" system. Most notable of outward beneficial manifestations is the absence ot drunkenness iv tlio public streets, and of much offensive language such as is commonly made sue of by imperfectly educated persons when intoxicated, either in auger or to supplement a limited vocabulary. It must not from this be inferred that intemperance has been altogether eradicate ; advocates of "no-license" do not themselves claim to have so far effected the actual reform of more than a small percentage of tlio victims of intemperance. But they do rightly claim to have, by the system of "no-license, " removed temptation from persons wanting in self-coutrol, to have theroby assisted in reforming those desiring to reform, and to have lessened the opportunities of indulgence. The individual becoming intoxicated under existing conditions is for the most part cither in his own home—in some unfrequented locality in the suburbs—or in a "sly-gvog shop," the occupants of which latter, for their own protection, care for him until he becomes sober. The street drunkard has practically disappeared, and "no-license" towns are the more pleasantly habitable for his absence. Coincident with tJus is the fact that many homes, the head of which in the past' squandered bis earnings, aud the occupants of which were in consequence poorly clothed and scantily fed, are now prosperous, if not continually, at least for lengthened oeriods. In too many instances the one-time persistant druukard still "broaks out" on occasiuos, aud takiug advantage of a holiday proceeds to ihe nearest town where liquor is procurable with inevitable results. Since the closing of hotels in "uoliceuse" districts, it has become a practice by residents not in sympathy with the principal of enfored abstinence, to import liquor from adjacent towns either openly or surreptitiously. Consequent upon this it is an undoubted fact that liquor of all desriptious is now kept, regularly in homes iv which it was previously not to be found ; the Dead of such households formerly procuring what liquor he requirod during his abseuco from home in tho daytime; liquor taken into the home being confined to a supply for use on Sunday. Under existing circumstances youug people arc becoming accustomed to the sight of liquor in their homes, aud perhaps to its use as a beverage. "Sly-grog shops" are to be found in every "no-license" town, but judging from the convictions obtained they are perhaps not more numerous than in towns elsewhere where licenses are in force. Of such establishments I can write only from hearsay. Tnat they exist is instauced by the fact that I was offered an introduction to one by a person met in the street, who was evidently familiar with the.location. CONSUMPTION OF LIQUOR. £ From official figures it will be seen (Coalhuied on Page 3.)

that, in spite of the fact that since 11)05 six "no-license" districts have oxieted, a steady though slight ipcrease of consumption of alcoholic liquor has taken place—a consumption, too, which rose notably in the year 1906-7, although it had iv previ■tffens years fluctuated, but with, in the an upward teudeuey. From these iigures it ia a fair deduction that "no-liceuse" may not so far have appreciably affected for the batter the drinking habits of the people, that the reformations are not substantially numerous, and that the coufirmed drinker has, where his migration was practicable, simply removed to "license" districts. THE CONCLUSIONS. The couclusious which may be drawn are theu as follows: — That in face of the comparatively few licensing districts iv New Zea];ind, the relatively short period during which the vote lias been in force iv rhese districts, the practical difficulties encountered iv securing the full efficacy of such a vote, ana the pxisrent uncertainty as to the future of the movement, it would be injudicious to adopt the New Zealand system in its entirety at the present tim^. That pending a more lengthened aud idjiroiu'lusive trial ot this method of remuch may meautimo be done in that direction* by incorporating iv the Queensland Act numerous striugenr provisions culled from the licensing laws of New Zealand, New South Wales and Victoria, aud notably by the enactment of a system of reducTiou of licenses held in respect of houses (iv populous centres) which have from various causes ceased to justify their longer existence as licensed hotels by a judicious restriction upou a population basis, aud by iucreased vigilauce upou the part of the authority responsible for both the issue of liceuses and the admiuisfcratiou of the poual clauses of the Licensing Act. THE SOUTHERN STATES. Mr Ranking has also paid particular attention to the legislation of New South Wales aud Victoria, aud shows clearly the result of rhe reductions iv the number ot liceuses iv those States, aud explains at length the systems of compensation that have been "adopted. His report coutiuues:— For leasous given aud after studying all available literature upou the subject aud carefully discriminating the systems. I have formed WVrhe opinion that, given the necessity for a reduction of licensed victuallers' licenses iv Queensland, that principle is preferable under which those embarked iv the industry, aud who will reap undoubted benefits cousequeut upou rhe system in force iv Victoria, provide fnuds for the compensation of tlvse whose interest or means of livelihood are thus prejudicially affected. The method by which the systems of reduction in force either in New South Wales or Victoria may, in my opiuiou, be successfully introduced into Queensland legislation form the subject of a separate communication. in concluding, Mr Ranking states rhat "Reviewing what has been read aud otherwise 'earned upon a subject occupying one's undivided attention for some weeks past, the conclusion arrived at is that while it is probably impossible to elimiuate intemperance auy more than any ot the other vices which scourge society, much may be dove which will make excessive, coarse, aud frequeut drunkenness more rare. For drunkenness, once established, the only permanent cure is selfprohibition—indiviadual abstinem-e. Only indirectly can legislation intervene iv this direction. MA "Whilst not desiring to minimise '•Pfhe evils of intemperance as affecting the interests of the State or States, it may be noted that statistics in New Zealand, and at least all the eastern States of Australia, demonstrate that individuals are, as a whole, year by year becoming more temperate in habit. "Much, no doubt, remains to be done, and, may be dove by legislative action along the lines from time to time indicated in this report, and which will be more definitely dealt with upou another occasion. But I close my enquiry with very grave doubt as to the effectiveness of a but partially preventative system which, as its first effect upou the consumer of liquor, arouses in his breast a feeling "of defiance, a hungering after the 'forbidden fruit,' and a determination to secure the gratification of ins appetite by any means, be those means foul "or fair; and as to rhe value of which, iv the direction of a uermauent reform of the intemperate or the encouragement of habits of abstinence amongst other?, no sufficient evidence is at present obtainable.