Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-08-12
THE ENGLISH DRUNKARD.
Severe Penalties Of the Recently En-.
acted Law.

Severe Penalties Of the Recently En-.
acted Law.
Drunkards are not lost to knowl-
lge of things. may, many long enjoy
ed the full exercises Of their talents;
some, naturally lovable men, remain
Iovable. And against these. as against
he majority Of Indifferent intelligence
a new act of parliament Is levelled.
They now stand in altered relation to
the law. Henceforth for them there
will be more of menace and peril In the
aspect of a policeman. Heretofore
necessary condition to getting into
trouble was that man should be both
trunk and incapable. Now 1t will be
enough that he be drunk. Persons seen
drunk in q public place can now be
summarily dealt with. Any person
found in that condition while In charge
of a young child becomes liable to
months imprisonment. with hard Ia
Dor. A record is to be made or the
names Of habitual drunkards, and this
record will be supplied to license hold
ers, who must not thenceforward serve
any one so pilloried on pain OF being
fined $40 and upward. Moreover, any
one treating" a convicted habitual
drunkard will be liable to be fined
forty shillings or sent to Jail at hard
labor for a month. AS for the convic-
ted habitual drunkard himself, II with
in three years Of his conviction he
merely APPLIES to be served with drink,
he can be fined Ell.
On this subject Alderman G. A.
Smith, writing In the National rem
perance Leagues Annual, says: "Thus,
provided that where an order Of deten-
tion could be made under the 1nebriate
Act. even If it Is not thought desirable,
or if it is found impracticable to SEND
the drunkard to an inebriate reforma-
tory, the court will be able to take
steps to prevent him from obtaining
liuuor on licensed premises or at reg
istered club. Similar orders Will, no
doubt, be made In most cases Where
detention in a reformatory is ordered
and with the active cooperation or the
police should prove an effective means
of preventing the relapse into drunken
ness of persons whose discharge rom
reformatories on license is notified to
the police"
The public, the alderman thinks, Will
act wisely in leaving to the police, for
the present, at all events. the duty OF
putting the law into force. In his
opinion the manner in which this is
done will largely depend upon the en-
couragement they receive from the
MAGISTRATES in dealing with offending
publications. The home secretary's
constructions" contain a suggestion to
the police that they relieve the publi-
can and his potman of responsibility
ito expel from licensed premises any
person who is drunk. violent, quarrel
some or disorderly."
All clubs where intoxicating drinks
were sold must under the new law, be
registered 1t has been made an Of
fence to supply or keep intoxicating H.
uuor in an unregistered club. A court
of supreme jurisdiction may make an
order directing a club to be struck off
the register on certain grounds, and a
Justice may grant a search warrant to
constable when there Is ground for
supposing that a registered club is
mismanaged. 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 can be subse-
ouently refused, in the exercise of the
free and unqualified discretion" of the
bench. Grocers licenses in force on
June 25, 1902, cannot be refused except
on special grounds so long as they are
held by the persons who then held
them
The new act also introduces modifi-
cations into the law with respect to
the annual licensing meetings, altera-
tion to licensed premises. procedure on
transfers, the confirmation Of licenses,
the costs of justices and applications
for occasional licenses.
S-o-S-----