NBWTA Report 1903-061
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116 31st. This Bill passed with the proviso in the House of Lords that the Lord Chamberlain might issue special permits: for such exceptional cases as seemed to warrant such employ- ment of juveniles. The Liquor Traffic among Natives in the Western Pacific Islands was prohibited by our Government in a regulation which came into force in 1899. In 1890 there was an international agreement to accord to native races some protection against the deadly and destructive liquor traffic. A Small Holdings Act was passed, which contained a clause which provided that all such lands and houses thereon should be free from the drink traffic. During the debate on the Local Government Act an amendment was proposed and ultimately carried which prohibited the holding of District or Parish Council meetings on drink-licensed premises. A provision was also made in the Prevention of Cruelty to- Children Act of 1894 that drunken parents who ill-use children should, with their own consent, be committed to an inebriates’ home for a period not exceeding twelve months. In 1894 some regulations were printed in the code issued to managers and teachers of the London School Boards under the title of ‘Promotion of Habits of Temperance Amongst Children.” Teachers were permitted to draw attention, in the reading of Scripture, to the virtue of temperance, and it was stated that reading books and copy books might be rendered helpful in this direction, and that picture cards, diagrams and wall-papers illustrative of the subjects of industry, sobriety, and and thrift might be beneficially exhibited as part of the wall furniture of schools. Songs and hymns, at the selection of the teacher,’on the subject of temperance should be incorporated with the musical exercises of the school. The Board also agreed to grant the use of schools during and after school hours for illustrated lectures by well-qualified lecturers to children attending the schools. The work of the London County Council did excel- lent service in banishing intoxicants from the dietary of lunatic ‘asylums, and in discontinuing the licences of public- house property acquired for improvement purposes, and also for stopping the sale of intoxicants in the auditoriums of a number of the music-halls, and also in exercising their influence upon the restriction of the exhibition of certain living pictures, and checking the facilities for people of bad character to promenade in the Empire Palace of Varieties. Prohibition of the supply of intoxicants to natives in the Transvaal was enacted. The Local Government Board issued a circular to various Metropolitan authorities with a view to bringing about the abolition of inquests in public-houses. The Licensing (Scotland) Bill was passed, which included British Wines, which had been hitherto omitted from the Public-houses Amendment (Scotland) Act. These wines were exempt from excise charges and regulations, and had up to then been saleable in Scotland even on Sundays. On January rst the Inebriate Act of 1898 came into operation, which substituted for the then penal imprisonment of the Habitual Drunkard the reformatory treatment of institutions specially established by the State for that purpose, called “ State Inebriate Reformatories,” or “ Certified Inebriate Reformatories.” The Act applied to the whole of the United Kingdom, with special modifications for Ireland and Scotland. In the Irish Local Government Act of 1898 a clause was introduced similar to the one in the District and Parish Local Government Act of 1894, prohibiting the holding of Council Meetings in places where liquor was sold. In 1899 there was a Canadian Prohibition Plebiscite, which had its origin with the Dominion Legislature in accordance with the pledge of the Government of the day to consult the people as to their wishes. The question sub- mitted was—‘‘Are you in favour of the passing of an Act “prohibiting the importation, manufacture, or sale of spirits, “wine, ale, beer, cider, and all other alcoholic liquors “as beverages?” The poll was taken in the various provinces, Prohibition Majority of 13,925 was the result. and for use a net It was remarked that if the women who had had votes in the former provincial plebiscite had also been permitted to vote in this one, the majority in favour of Prohibition would have been much larger. In the same year (1899) the Legislative Council of the Island of Jamaica decided to ask Her Majesty to disallow the restrictions of their existing law (the 1896 Spirit Licence Law) by assenting to the conditions which created a vested interest in a licence, extended the hours of sale, and reduced the cost of licences, This petition was so unpopular with the people, who protested against such retrograde proposals, that the Secretary |