A STUDY OF MASSACHUSETTS NO-LICENCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43081, 13 April 1907, Page 1

A STUDY OF MASSACHUSETTS NO-LICENCE.

BY CHAS. H. ROBERTS, M.P. ; Bufthelicetjaing authority has t6 ' grahtpemits to oDe or more delivery agents or express qompahie'sto send in liquor when fjuljr ordered hinder proper pre-; cautions to- prevent abuse, No dbubt the' moderate drinker is inconvenienced in getting his supply if he insiets on it. He is : ihcbnvehienced anyhow under the Licence system, under which he cannot get the* liquors he wants at specified places and at filed hours. Under the NofLicence system the inconvenience is carried further. But he assents to, or is subjected to this further inconvenience for the greater 4 good of the cmmimity.

THE DIMINUTION OF INTEMPERANCE.

If, however, liquor can'3^ after alt be * obtained iir>' 'the |J No-Licence area by those who J| insist on it, then it will be asked, What is the good? The answer r is that the barroom is banished, that the retail sale by the glass j J is stopped, and that the temptation of the open saloon is suppressed; and the effect on,the -1 reduction of intemperance cannot be questioned after a study to the facts. If the. real nature 3 of thb No-Licence system is grasped, it would not be expected that the evils of drinkiug would : be entirely abolished. Under : that as We have seen, 4 drinking continues and it is and it. is the property of alcohol § to create!. m : some constitutions 4 a well nigh irresistible appetite for itself. A certain class 'of | alcoholics will have their drink, if they have to go miles for it. fj Under the No-Licence regime 4 the drunkenness of set and 3 inveterate habit may contine in M spite, of the check; but the f drunkenness that springs from % casual temptation and the facilities of opportunity shows n a mark decline. It seems well | within the mark to say that the No.-Licence system reduces intemperance by 66 per cent, j

A REDUCTION OF TWO-THIRDS.

It is needless to dwell on the caution with which statistics of arrest for drunkenness in different areas of the same country should interpreted, while diversity' of police methods, such as the Boston patrol waggon or pro-—-bation system, and varying definitions of drunkenness by j the courts, make international comparisons practically useless. J There is, however, a great mass of official statistics to support ± the conclusion arrived at. Thus in the table quoted above it has been shown that for the last year for which official figures are published (1905) the arrests for drunkenness are asdhllows:— For No-License cities in Greater Boston, .13 per I,OQO. For Licensed cries in Greater Boston , 52 per 1,0.00, ’ For No.-Licence cities in the area including Boston, 44 par 1,000. ? Such figures are less favourable ) to No-Licence than the facts really warrant* The adoption of No-Lidenhe in a ci?y implies a higher standard and a stricter administration of law; and a drunken man is an inexcusable blot on their system. Officials •, in a licenced city are' mo’e easygoing, and drunkenness is normally to he expected and excused. Further test was made by an official investigation on the part of the State Bureau of Statistics of Labour in the year 1895. Xu the course of an inquiry into the relation of the liquor to pauperism, crime and insanity, this very - efficient State Department notaaf* that the conditions of arrests in large cities and brg centres of population, such as Boston proper, must be allowed for, j (To he continued.)