CANADA AND PROHIBITION.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16726, 8 January 1920, Page 7

CANADA AND PROHIBITION.

MOVEMENT OF "WET" GOODS. ! i (rnou orn own connnsrosnrNT.) VANCOUVER. December 11. Wholesale evasions of tho Inhibition law are daily occurring in various parts of Canada, showing: tho warti'mc enact- j ment is practically powerless to prevent the average resident of the Dominion ; from tho asserted inalienable right ot the individual to participate in the | '"glass that cheers, should he elect to j do so. Statistics have been presented in , Montreal showing that charges ot drunkenness havo largely increased re- i cently. compared with previous figures, ■ and now statements are being made in : England that large shipments of whisky are being continuallv sent to (. anada. which Britishers over there had presumed was in the "dry'' column! A well-known British firm of distiller* has been mentioned :l> stating through their managing director, that tliev worshipping more spirits to Canada than in "wet" times. Ho said that recently ; Canadian agents hud requested that stoppers l>e substituted for corks, a- ; corkscrews were now difficult to obtain. The Province of Quebec must be drinking heavilv to compensate for the ; fact that the rest of Canada has gone dry according to facts presented by Sir ; James Stevenson, head of the, well- j known British liuuor firm of John I Walker and Sons, Limited, Kilmarnock. Speaking at tho annual banquet in , Birmingham of the District Licensed Victuallers' lVotection Society, Sir James said it was an astonishing fact, in view of Canada having largely gone dry, that his firm was now called upon to ship more "wet ' goods to the Do- : minion than was tho case before Prohi- > bition. His firm had recently Been : requested by Canadian agents {o sul>- ; stitnto glass stoppers for corks, as cork- : screws were hard to obtain. j Sir James said it was no good locking , the stable door after the stood had been stolen. It was perfectly absurd to talk about a dry countrv after every cellar and cverv conceivable hiding-placo had been loaded with forbidden beverages. The speaker said Prohibition was the nurse of Bolshevism, and its twin children were unrest and discord, which were beginning to howl lustily in America. DRY ORGANISER CHANT,ES FRONT. In Vancouver, whoro there are throats bv tho Government to pass now legislation to curb tho practice of tipplers obtaining whisky through doctors' prescriptions on a wholesale scale, a somewhat singular occurrence lias marked tho agitation of tho "drys" in that western boundary of tho Dominion of Canada. Sir Frederick Fowler, secretary of the Bone-dry Association, lias announced his resignation from tho Prohibition party of Vancouver, nnd has stated his intention of working with tho opposite faction. In a statement to tho press, Sir Fowler says:—'T wish to mako public tho fact that I havo relinquished my position as secretary of tho bono-dry outfit, as after a can l fill study of tho wishes of tho peoplo, and speaking as a returned veteran with four years in Franco, I consider I would bo doing an injustico to my comrades, and also to my fellow citizens, so 1 have decided with all my power to dofeat the present unjust Inhibition latVj as in its present form of money-making for a few so-called Prohibitionists that have beon very active in previous elections held in this sunset province of ours, it is time we banished such a law. "As a Christian, and a lover of kind deeds and acts, and prominent in trado union and labour circles, I now regret the past stand I inado for tho minority class; so from now on my offices will be used to securo a return of sano liquor legislation. I will act as honorary secretary to secure sano liquor laws. A strong and prominent committee will bo elected vcrv shortly to arrange for meetings throughout Vancouver and suburbs, and also to pavo tho wny for elections to bo held Tho announcement of the conversion of tho secretary to tho "wet" faction has occasioned much public discussion on a subject which is the paramount topic dobated in Canada from Halifax to Vancouver. "PESTIFEROUS" LEGISLATION. Ono of tho loading politicians, former Judge AY. W. B. Mclnnes, of Vancouver, who is one of tho most virilo of Canadian public men of tho present day, has been pummolling Prohibition, and describing it as "pestiferous legislation." Ho attributes much of the postwar unrest to the imposition of Prohibition upon tho public, declaring such methods of forcing enactments upon the public havo proved excossively irritating. "The Prohibitionists,"" lie remarked, "should remember that they cannot rob tho peoplo of their rights and expect them to keep their peaco of mind. Jt is this pestiferous legislation, fostered by Prohibition workers, which is adding to tho present social unrest." According to a news dispatch sent out from Montreal, drinking in that city has not been abolished by tho dry lairs. In tho three months of August, September, and October, 1018, tho number of convictions under tho heading oT drunk and disorderly was 1260. For the same months in 1919 theso figuros havo increased to 2139. There has been a falling off in drunkenness among females. For the three months of 1918, only 133 women were 1 arrested for being drunk and disorderly. while in 1919 the numbers of convictions I ,ng tl,ro ° months had (