Evening star., 1903-07-22
THE ENGLISH DRUNKARD.
Severe Penalties of the Recently En-
acted Law.
From the London Mail.

From the London Mail.
Drunkards are not lost to knowledge Of
things. Nay, many long enjoy the fun exer-
else of their talents; some, naturally low
able men. remain lovable. And against
these, as against the majority of Indifferent
intelligence. a new act Of parliament is lev
eled They now stand in altered relation to
the law. Henceforth for them there will be
more of menace and peril in the aspect of 4
Policeman. heretofore necessary condi-
ton to getting into trouble was that !, man
should be both drunk and Incapable. Now
it will be enough that he be drunk. Persons
seen drunk in a public place can now be
Summarily dealt with. Any person found
IN that condition while in charge Of a
young child becomes liable to a month s
imprisonment. with hard labor. a record
is to be made Of the names Cf habitual
drunkards. and this record will be supplied
to license holders, who must not thence
forward serve any one pilloried on pain
of being fined t10 and upward. Moreover
any one treating convicted hab!tual
drunkard Will be liable to be fined forty
shillings sent to jail and hard labor
for a month AS for the convicted habitual
drunkard himself. If within three years of
his conviction he merely applies to be
served with drink. he can be fined fl
On this subject Alderman G. A. Smith,
writing in the National Temperance
Leagues Annual. says: Thus, provided
that where an order of detention could be
Is not thought desirable, If it is found
impracticable to send the drunkard to an in
ebrtate reformatory, the court will be able
to take steps to prevent him from obtaining
liquor on licensed premises at regis
tered club. Similar orders will, no doubt
be made in most cases where detention in
a reformatory Is ordered. and with the act
i've cooperation of the police should prove
an effective means of preventing the re-
lapse into drunkenness Of persons whose
discharge from reformatories on license Is
notified to the police"
The general public, the alderman thinks
will act wisely in leaving to the police for
the present, at all events, the duty of put
ting the law into force. In his opinion the
manner in which this is done will largely
depend upon the encouragement they re-
Ceive from the magistrates in dealing with
offending publicans. The home secretary's
instructions contain a suggestion to the
police that they relieve the publican and
his potmen of responsibility ito expel from
licensed premises any person who is drunk
violent, quarrelsome or disorderly"
All clubs where intoxicating drinks are
scld must, under the new law, be regis
tered. 1t has been made an offense to sup
ply or keep intoxicating liquor in an un-
registered club. A court of supreme juris-
diction may make order directing
club to be struck off the register on GER
tain grounds, and justice may grant &
search warrant to constable when there
is ground for supposng that a registered
club is m.smanaged, or that intoxicants are
being supplied at an unregistered club.
New applications for grocers' licenses can
be refused by the justices. The renewal of
any license hereafter granted for the first
time be subsequently refused, in the
exercise of the free and unqualified dis
cretion' of the bench Grocers licenses
in force on June 25. 1902, cannot be re-
fused. except special grounds, so long
as they are held by the persons who then
held them.
The new act also introduces notifications
into the law with respect to the annual
licensing meeting, alterations to licensed
premises. procedure on transfers, the CON
f1rmation of off-licenses, the costs of Jus-
tees and applications for occasional H.
censes.