NBWTA Report 1903-049
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93 92 of the licensed houses in London, on and off, and refreshment houses, but excluding hotels, was at the low estimate of sixty million. It will thus be seen that the value of licensed property had increased four-fold within the last twenty-five years, and is six times as great as in 1850. And this increase has been through the free gift of the State accidentally conferred upon private individuals in the vain effort to safeguard a dangerous trade. It would hardly seem, therefore, that Mr. Balfour was justified in taking the ground that this industry was suffering any injustice when in the ordinary course of events the gift that had conferred such huge benefits on private owners was withdrawn in consideration of the welfare of the general public. THE VALUE OF LEGISLATION IN THE 1902, Mr. Balfour told us that he considers the problem of Temperance was left in a better state by legislation last year than it had ever been in his experience. The Bill had been passed by common consent, and he characterizes it as “‘a great work of social reform.” Now I do not for a moment wish to minimise the value of temperance legislation in 1902, but I maintain that it was a Bill which essentially dealt with the evils after they were created, and had no design to stop the evil before it had influenced the lives of the people. The main feature of that legislation, which is of primary importance, is that it deals a blow at the fetish which has been so long carefully guarded of the so-called “liberty “of the subject” ; that is to say, that a man has no longer now the right to be drunk, but that any person found drunk in a public place, and incapable of taking care of himself, may be apprehended according to law; that a man or woman found drunk in charge of a child under seven years of age may be fined or imprisoned ; and that when a licensed person is charged with permitting drunkenness on licensed premises the burden of the proof that reasonable steps were taken of preventing drunkenness is placed upon the licence-holder. Further, provisions are given for the separation of husbands or wives, I have stood at RECORD OF THE “ BLACK List.” The existence of a “Black List” unquestionably in numbers of places might do untold good ; but it is impossible to turn its pages, as I have had the opportunity of doing; impossible to look at the faces portrayed in the various photographs that are placed there for the benefit of the publicans, without realizing afresh that these are really temporary measures only; that long before the men and women portrayed there had reached that stage, the evil ought to have been stayed, and that we are only baling out the water of a sinking ship in dealing with the question after the evil has been rooted and grounded in the lives of the people instead of purifying our country from the evil itself. And further, the usefulness of the measure has been, to the thinking of most people, entirely annihilated by the decision of the Lord Chief Justice that no Magistrate can put any man or woman on the “ Black List” without his or her consent. Moreover, we are told that the little effort that has already been made by the police is of no value, for up to date there ‘“‘is no ‘Black List,’ and, therefore, there are no people on “the * Black List.’ ” The whole thing reminds one more of a chapter out of “Alice in Wonderland ” than sober, serious legislation. with provisions for the support of the wife and the custody of the children, and that the supply of liquors for three years, either in licensed premises or in clubs, to habitual drunkards is prohibited. Now all this, so far as it goes, is excellent, but I maintain that now it would be difficult to notice any material change. midnight to wait until the public-houses were empty ; I have seen the same drunkards reeling out, so intoxicated that they have to clutch at every lamp-post in order to return to their wretched dwellings; I have seen the same women drunk at an early hour of the morning staggering home, returning again within a short period to obtain more liquor, and sinking down more intoxicated. The sickening story is repeated as heretofore again and again, and it would be a practical impossibility for the police to carry out the letter of these Acts because of the number of Again and again I myself and people that they would have to arrest. others known to me have pointed out to the police men who could hardly walk, women who could not stagger, but the constable looks the other way and passes on. it only strikes at the branch of the evil, not at the root ; and anybody who has any knowledge of great cities, or who has carefully observed the working of this Act during the last month, will have realized what could be accomplished and yet what exists. The first week after the Act was passed every worker in the East End districts will have noticed the marvellous change that took place. Instead of fights and screams, instead of the rowdy songs and the disgusting sights of drunkenness which meet you at every turn, the streets were comparatively quiet and orderly, and the public-houses were virtually empty ; but after a few weeks the old order was resumed, and THe NUMBER OF THE UNFIT. But the situation created by the existence of this evil is one to which England has to be awakened, or else it will be virtually impossible for us to maintain our position among the nations. It was Lord Salisbury in a speech to the Primrose League who said: ‘“ What we have to look “to, what we have to determine is, how the manhood of this country is “to be utilized for the preservation of the Empire.” In the calmer moments that succeed the great wave of imperial enthusiasm that has swept over us, now that the roll of the drum has ceased and the march of many feet has died in the distance, when the every-day traffic has begun to roll again and every-day life has to be taken up once more, it is well to ask ourselves, as a nation, where we |