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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3679, 9 October 1880, Page 4

Mr E. Jones writes to the Times: — " Liverpool has been, termed the experimenting, ground for the licensing system, and we are told that an ounce of experience is worth a ton ot theory. Liverpool has had more than enough of the free trade experiment, and now an experiment in prohibition is being tried here on a pretty extensive scale. Lord Sefton and Mr John Roberts, M.P., for Flint Boroughs, have agreed to prohibit the sale of liquor in any shape shape on land laid out for building purposes by them in the south of Liverpool. For some years past new streets have been springing up over this area, and it is estimated that when the whole ground is covered there will be some 50,000 persons living in a district were not a drop of liquor can be sold or bought. What are the results bo far? Mr Roberts declares that he has never had a word of complaint from owners or occupiers of houses in the district on account of the absence of liquor shops. Mr G. S. Rathbone, the respected chairman of our School Board has publicly called attention to the fact that the working classes are rapidly migrating from the districts where public houses are thick on the ground io this prohibitory district. The Head Constable reports that'bis officers have very little to do on this ground where there are no public-houses. The medical officer reports that the death rate is exceptionally low in the district. The feeling of the inhabitants in this district towards prohibition may be gathered from the fact that when, the other day, application was made to the licensing magistrates for an outdoor license for a house on the borders of the ground prohibited, the court was crowded with residents around, who opposed the application, and it was refused by the bench accordingly. These facts speak for themselves; and need no comment." The letter is dated from 4, Amberley■treet, Liverpool, which is within the prohibited area. #