A Drastic Liquor Law.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4378, 25 March 1893, Page 2

A Drastic Liquor Law.

The people of South Carolina, having failed to obtain from their Legislature the prohibitory liquor law they | desired, have, as a compromise, con- i sented to the adoption of a Dispen- \ sary system of a very stringent I character. Under the new law, which 1 conies into operation on the Ist July next, all drinking bars in the Btato— ' and there are 1100 of them—will be abolished, but one bar being allowed in each county, and that under strict regulations, includiLg the non-con" sumption of liquor on the premises. Provision is made for the"appoinl« raent of a State Commissioner, who ' is to aot, subject to a state Board of • Control," and for "county dispensers," 1 who are to be under the direction of j "county boards." The Commissioner t is to receive a salary ] ,800doL, (i860) ] and is to purohase all liquors for the t State, giving proferenoe to those ■ manufactured in the State, which ' havo been tested and found ' pure by the chemist of Bouth . , ' Carolina University, These liquors the Oommisioner is to sell to the. '> p county dispensers on demand at a , profit of not more than fifty per cent, ■ > or to parties outside the State, Bofore i shipping to the dispensers the Com--1 missioner is to seal the liquor in pack- '- 1 ages containing from half a piuLto [ fife gallons, and these packages % ! not to bo opened by the dispenses under any circumstances. Theljgjir must be sold by the package ajß \ ;J i opened on the premises, efSfet ' case of malt liquor shipped inWes 1 or barrels, After July Ist of this year no personß, firm, or association shall manufacture or sell any liquor except the tamo be sold to the State Commissioner or shipped out of the State j but provision is made for the manufacture by any person of wine from grapes or othor fruit for his own consumption. ;The county dispensers are to be paid a salary, to be fixed by tho State Board of Control, and are to give n bond of B,ooodol. They are empowered to sell" to aoy appjioant who they personally know is not a minor, is not intoxicated, and is not in the habit of drinking to excess. If the applicant is not known to the dispenser tho endorsement of a reliable person mpt be seoured." The county dispenser iflffctto charge's profit of mpre cent, to be equally divided betfyii the county and the municipality, The Aot prar blbits olubs where liquor is kept as a beverage to be" dispensed among the members,'! and the finding of liquora in such places shall be evidence sufficient to warrant a seizure and confiscation of such liquors and articles used in connection therewith, The Governor is empowered to appoint constables to see that the Act is observed, and the State is tg provide the Commissioner with fifty thousand dollars for the purchase of liquor. Hailway companies transporting liquur not bearing the seal of the State Commissioner are liable to a fine of five hundred dollars. Severe penalties are provided for violation of the Act, punishment in some instances being without maximum limit, The Act is not to apply to counties or towns now having prohibitory laws, and there are many snob in the under the operation of" local option,"«H