New-York tribune., 1871-04-22
TEMPERANCE IN ENGLAND.
NEW LICENSING BILL INTRODUCED IN PAR
II.MENr-A PUBLIC HOUSE TO EVERY iSs
INHABITANTS - PREVALENCE OF INTEM-
PERANCE. ~
IFnoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

TEkANCE.
IPRoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
IoxnoN April 5.-The statement made by Mr..
Rruce al the beginning of his speech introducing
the new Licensing acts in the House of Commons
might satisfy the most ardent advocate of Prohip-
itory law The measure actually presented would
seem to him not only inadequate, but ludlcrousiy
out of proportion to the evils which the Home SEQ
rotary depicted and professed a desire TO remedy
Indeed Mr.. Bruce's exordium would pass IN Amer
lea for good Temperance lecture. he toid us now
Committees of both Houses of Parliament, the
Cburcb in Convention ministers of every religion,
indees and magistrates collectively and individ-
ually. Boards of Health and Boards OF Guardians
had all united in proclaiming and impressing upon
Parliament the mischiefs arising from the excessive
use of intoxicating liquors. suppose the genuine
Temperance lecturer would have left out that word
excessive" Social and sanitary reform
er. said Mr.. Bruce, declared their efforts
for improving their fellow-men baflled at
every turn by the moral degradation springing
from the liquor traffic. The prisons, lunatic asy-
ums, and warehouses were filled with inmates
whose career had originated in their passion 1or
drink The back streets courts, and alleys OF mos'
large towns were thronged by squalid ana DANGER
ous population who owed their misery to the sano
cause. The rural districts suffered as well. Apo'o
all added Mr. Bruce, the working g-ciasses' "ho "o'o
the most affected by, and who felt nost ,ho 'o,i
quenees OF this system had with united Voice cheo
nnon Parliament 10 deliver them from temptation
For himself he felt satisfied that the e'li WAS so
great as TO be blot upon our social system ana
disgrace TO our civilization.
There is nothing original i'll all this we nave
baard II n Thousand times in America, from temper
ance orators of all degrees Its significance lice IN
the fact that it is the Home Secretary who says it,
A., ;s tba IN elaborate eXnOSltlOn
of an elaborate measure for dealing with the evils
thus set forth. But if you say the logical conse-
ouence of such statement must he O measure OF
prohibition of the sale of the liquor that produces all
these caamities YOU forget that an English minister
does not always feel himself under an obligation 10
be logical And you forget that there is no sucn state
of public opinion here would make prombitory
law possible. The utmost that Sir Wilfrid Lawson,
the parliamentary champion of the ultra temperance
party, has tried to get is Permissve Prohibitory
Lava law that should allow certain majority
of the taxpayers of community to prombt
the sale of liquor within their own limits.
Mr. Bruce proceeds on a very different principle.
He begins by admitting that the number of public
houses is too great; and man must be very fond OF
liquor to deny it, for statistics show that there is
one public house or beer-house to every 1S2 persons
and this believe does not include either wholesale
or retail wine beer and spirt-shops where liquor is
not sold TO be drunk on the premises. No effort is
made to deal with the latter. / don't know that
even Sir Wilfrid Lawson wants to do that. The
principle of the Maine Law, that liquor is poison,
and that the State has right to control the sale OF
il absolutely in any manner. for any purpose. has
few converts here. There must be an immense
change in society," in the very framework of it, be-
fore that can be accepted in England. Mr.. Bruce,
and those for whom he speaks. trace the evil which
they admit results from the of liquor, TO its
in public houses and they don't try to get beyond
that Whether this Licensing act passes or not,
ANYBODY may still get license, now for the sale
of liquor to be drunk off the premises The Justices
have no right to refuse such license TO any person
of good character, nor except upon proof OF some
statutory disqualification in the applicant. The
most sangune reformer, therefore, may dismiss all
idea that the Government proposes to throw any dlf
iculty in the way of getting something to drink
Nor does it do so on the much narrower ground of
pnblic houses. 1t adopts principle exactly con-
trary to this The proposition of Mr. Bruces bill is
that the public has right to be supplied with places
of refreshment, sufficient in number, convenient,
and respectfully conducted. In addition to this he
declares all existing interests however qualified
their nature might be- entitled to just and fair con-
sderation. Putting the two together it becomes
pretty clear that Mr.. Bruce has no notion of im-
tatng in the most remote degree any extreme
American legislation on this subject.
What he does mean to do will seem meritOrious
perhaps, to those who believe in regulating the
liquor trahc. or much of it as is carried on over
the counter. He thinks too many licenses are
gwen, and he proposes to restrict the number
They will be issued by the Justices as now, but the
districts will be subdivided, and the Justices will
have in the first instance, TO say how many licenses
shall be issued in each district. But if they grant
A. hafi in
to population then three-ffths of the rate-payers
may, by prescribed methods reduce the number, the
limit q reduction being also fixed The present
mode of granting licenses is also unsatisfactory the
magistrates acting on their discretion and being
often influenced by favoritism. This is to be re-
formed by deprving the magistrates OF the power TO
discriminate between applicants. When the number
is settled the licenses will be put up at auction and
sold to the highest bidder. One man may bid for the
whole lot and the license is good for 10 years but
must be renewed annually, the magistrate having
the right to inspect the houses and examine into the
character of their keepers. The provision that one
man NAV take all the licenses i'll a given district
grows out of popularity Of the English public
house system. Nearly all these houses are owned
by brewers or mortgaged to them and are leased by
them 10 the publcans under very strict and onerous
conditions one of which always is that the publican
sball buy his beer of the brewer who owns the
house The right to keep their houses open is an es
enta element in the value OF this property and as
an enormous capital exists in this shape, no propo-
sition can be entertained in reference to licenses
without touching vested interests, as the phrase is.
n s necessary either 10 bring out the brewers or let
them alone and il is scarcely necessary to say that
the Government adopts the easier alternative. IL
offers to recognize right Of tenure for 10 years.
subject to paying nominal sum for licenses,
and at the end of the 10 years to