LICENSING AND TEMPERANCE IN SCANDINAVIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43100, 4 June 1907, Page 1

LICENSING AND TEMPERANCE IN SCANDINAVIA.

THE LATEST PANACEA. . - „ •. ’* V’ 1 MHp,§ . \ - By Robert- E. Batty. (Continued from last issue.) Unless it can be made with confidence, and unhampered by conditions which engender doubt and bewilderment in the corrj mon mind, it is doomed to failure in the long run. Demos is much more likely to understand and respect an appeal to give up alcoholic beverages altogether, in view of the evils which seem impartially attached to their use, than an appeal from several conflicting schools, one of which .-ays only 2 per cent, is safpj another only 1 per cent, is permissible, and a third only sixtenths of 1 per cent, can be tolerated. The battle of percentages may. do very well in the beerhouse, but it is out of place in the Temperance society. The more the social instincts, of our common humanity are recognised. and the larger the number of Temperance Homes which are established, the better, but this work can be done.far more safely without the intrusion of the traffic which is the most anti-social' in the world, and Temperance Institutes which sell alcoholic drinks have everywhere else—whatever the true conditions of things may be in Denmark—become a byword and reproach. The figures referred to by Mr Pratt in support of his content tion that the consumption of spirits is declining, while beerj’ •,md especially duty-free light beer, is taking their place, are not by any means conclusive,/ hnd certainly not conclusive that any decline in spirit-drink-ing is to be attributed to the introduction of light beer. Although, comparing 1898 with 1905, duty-free light beers in Denmark show an increase of over 7,500,000 gallons, strong beers show at the same time an increase of 8,500,000 gallons, and the first result for which one would look, if Mr Pratt’s theory be well fouuded, would be a substantial decrease in the consumption of heavy beers. Tak-' ing the very years selected for comparison by Mr Pratt, the decrease shown in the consumption of spirits—especially if the development of Temperance effort and the condition of trade be taken into account —is veryslight. In 1893 the figure was 7,176,290 gallons, as against 6.959.010 gallons in 1905. In 1893 it must be remembered h.»t as spirit drinkers the Danes had the worst record of any civilised people, and constquently showed the biggest mai’gin for improvement. The extraordinary number of arrests for drunkenness in Gothenburg and Christiania, as compared with those in Copenhagen, constitute a powerful argument against “ disinterested company management,” but furnish to proof of the efficacy of light beer as a curative agent. ,Is there such a profound difference between beer and spirits os lies at the root, of Mr Pratt’s whole theory ? The distiller, the licensed victualler, aud the wine and spirit mer- . chant will not admit that the blame for the ills' that cry to heaven are baused by what they sell, but is owing to the beer sold in beerhouse and club. l/Io be Contiuued.)