DRINK SCHEMES

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1920, Page 4

DRINK SCHEMES

; (By a Rational Reformer in London Daily Mail.) I There can be no question that civilised countries are reflecting deeply today on the subject of alcohol. Like the Daily Mail, they are not thinking of abolishing alcohol but of limiting its pernicious effects. The total abstinence fanatics are seizing the moment to press home their ‘‘dry” policy With them there is no halfway house. Alcohol is either a curse or it isn’t; you must either keep it or ban it, you may not mend it. The skill with which the Anti-Saloon Leaguo of the United States is conducting its campaign will bo apparent if one glances through “The Cyclopedia of Temperance Prohibition and Public Morals.” Here is a resume of the present alcohol position in many of the leading countries of the world: Russia.—Vodka suppressed in 1914; •suppression only affected "peasantry, who drank pernicious mixtures.instead. Suppression alleged to have contributed largely to horrors of Bolshevism. Germany.—No development. Italy.—No development. Italian Government protests at Washington at America going dry. Serious commercial blow. Pussyfoot campaign in Italy

aims at suppression, to begin with, of spirits only. , , Sweden.—Has been a pioneer id liquor reform. Introduced Gothenburg system, doing away with private ownership. Each town and district has a liquor company of its own public men, who give their services free. Profits relieve local rates. This is held to be a flaw in the system. Latterly Swedes have started rationing spirits at 2 litres per head per month, but this is leading to all manner of obvious corruption. I had'no difficulty ,in getting anything to drink publicly last month in Stockholm. The country, once the drunkenest in Europe, seemed very sober. Possibly because the Swedes eat so much.

Denmark. —Heavy drinkers of everything. Heavy eaters also. No reform mooted. Seventy-five thousand “dries” in a Danish league. The only driuk dens in Denmark are American bars The people drink merrily to music in. cafes. They are tlip healthiest people I know, and very efficient. United States.—‘"the vast majority of the American people to-day desire wine and beer but not spirits or the saloon,”—(Louis Seibold, the expert of the New York World.) Belgium. New anti.-Spirit Law this month. No spirits to be sold in public houses, Retailers may sell up to 2 litres at SOfrs a litre. All beer and wines going strong. By way of compensation for spirits, tho trade exempted from taxation for 15 years.

Norway—Just prohibited the sale of liquor by plebiscite. Very light wines and beers believed to be still allowed, In Norway the rural districts voted dry, the towns wet. Christiania goes dry although there was a four to one wet majority, This division of opinion, as between towns and country, was a ! so common in the States, and Pussyfoot says he expects it to be the same in England. Norway previously had the excellent Samlag system, Ireland. —No developments.

Scotland.—Next year Scottish Permissive Bill comes into force. Under this the people will vote whether they desire local option. Under local option, if 51 people in a village of 100 desire prohibition locally, the other 49 must suffer, though they be the backbone of the village, Local option, which rides roughshod over the rights of the minority, is to be the Pussyfooted first plank in this country. In order tp accent things in Scotland next year, the Anti-Saloon League is holding its first World Wide Congress in Edinburgh in September. The first Woman’s World Dry Congress sits in Glasgow . earlier on.

The East.—Hundreds of millions dry, the Turks, for example. A nice collection ! , >j

Spain.—No developments. Winedrinking country, the soberest in Europe. France.—Absinthe abolished by the conviction of the people. Tho possibility of anything else being abolished is pooh-ppohed-New Zealand.—Prohibitionists beaten by 15,000 on a plebiscite, Canada.—Largely the same situation as the United States. Quebec has wines. Other centres, after a year’s total prohibition, are seeking to get back wines and beers. Not spirits. Finland.—Four:years dry. Estonia.—Proposes going dry.