stills were stopped. The Gothenburg system was not adopted in
Norway until 1871 and then with some modification. The essence
of this method of conducting the retail traffic is that the element
of private gain is eliminated. A monopoly is granted to a company
consisting of a number of disinterested citizens of standing with a
capital, and they manage the sale both for “on” and “off” consumption
in the public interest. The profits, after payment of 5% on the
capital, originally went in Sweden mainly to the municipality in
relief of rates, in Norway to objects of public utility. The latter
was considered preferable because it offers less temptation to make
the profits as high as possible. Fault has, however, been found with
both methods, and payment of profits to the state is now preferred.
In 1894 a law was passed in Norway providing for the following
distribution: 65% to the state, 20% to the company, and 15%
to the municipality. In 1907 Sweden adopted a law in the same
direction. The intention is to eliminate more completely the motive
of gain from the traffic. In 1898 the net profits of the companies
exceeded half a million sterling in Sweden and reached £117,500
in Norway.
The company system had in 1910 had more than half a century’s trial; it had gone through some vicissitudes and been subjected to much criticism, which was balanced by at least as much eulogy. It had held its own in Sweden, where 101 towns had adopted it in 1906. In Norway at the same date it was in force in 32 towns while 29 had adopted local veto, which was extended from the country districts, where it had previously been optional, to the towns by the law of 1894.
As we have already said, it only applies to spirits. In both countries the sale of beer and wine for “on” consumption is carried on in the ordinary way under a licensing system; the sale of beer in bottles for consumption off the premises is practically free. The beer traffic is regarded by some as a “safety valve” and by others as a defect in the system. The consumption has greatly increased in Sweden; in Norway it increased up to 1900 and has since declined. But other more deleterious substitutes for spirits have come into use in the shape of concocted “wines” and methylated spirits. The company management has had the following effects: it has greatly reduced the number of spirit bars, improved their character and conduct, added eating-rooms, where good and cheap meals are served, stopped drinking on credit and by persons under 18 years of age, shortened the hours of sale, raised the price and lowered the strength of spirits. But the restrictions placed on the sale for consumption on the premises has stimulated the retail bottle trade and home drinking.
British Dominions.
Canada.—Liquor legislation in Canada has been much influenced by the proximity and example of the United States. Licensing, modified by local veto, prevails throughout the Dominion except in the Indian settlements; but the several provinces have their own laws, which vary in stringency. As a whole the licensing system rather resembles the American than the British type. The licensing authority is either a board of commissioners or the municipality, and there has been the same tendency as in the United States to substitute the former for the latter. In British Columbia no new hotel licence is granted in cities except on the request of two-thirds of the owners and occupiers of the adjoining property, but their consent is not necessary for renewal. In other provinces the municipal authority has power to limit as well as regulate the licensed trade. Sunday closing is the rule; on week-days the usual closing hour in the large towns is 11 p.m. The power of locally prohibiting licensed houses by vote was introduced by the Canada Temperance Act, a federal law passed in 1875 and commonly known as the Scott Act. Extensive use has been made of it, especially in the maritime provinces, where the temperance sentiment is very strong, but in recent years it has rather lost ground. In 1908 it was in force in 22 counties or cities, of which ten were in Nova Scotia, ten in New Brunswick and two in Manitoba; it was nowhere in force in the remaining provinces. Three elections were held under the act in 1907–1908, two in Nova Scotia and one in New Brunswick, and in the first two prohibition was defeated. In 1910 Nova Scotia, apparently dissatisfied with the progress of local prohibition under the Scott Act, passed a prohibitory law for the whole province, exempting Halifax, the capital and only considerable town, but making provision for its subsequent inclusion by a referendum to the ratepayers. There is in Canada the same oscillation of public opinion as in the United States, and the same toleration of evasion of the law. The writer has stayed in hotels in several prohibition towns, where there was not only a regular bar but a printed wine list from which anything could be ordered at meals without any concealment at all. The chief difference between the conduct of hotels under prohibition and under licensing is that under licensing the bar is closed at the legal hour, which is usually 11 o’clock, and under prohibition it remains open as long as there are any customers to serve. The law is nominally respected by imposing a periodical fine. In small towns and rural districts local prohibition is much more effective. In short the experience of Canada confirms that of the United States. In addition to the federal law, the local authorities have power, in Quebec, to prohibit as well as to regulate the trade. The high licence system has not been adopted in Canada. The total revenue derived by the Dominion government in 1908 from taxation of the liquor trade, including duties and licence fees, was £1,800,000.
Australia.—The licensing laws of Australia are less repressive and the practice more resembles the British model. Queensland has adopted local prohibition, but it is not applied. New South Wales has a limited form of veto applying only to new licences; South Australia has the same together with a provision for the optional reduction of licences; Victoria, on the other hand, allows an option both ways, for reducing or increasing the licences; West Australia and Tasmania merely give the local ratepayers the right of protest; in West Australia it holds good against new licences only and if a majority object the licence is refused; in Tasmania protest may be made against renewals and transfers also, but the decision lies with the licensing authority. There is practically no prohibition in the Commonwealth.
New Zealand.—This state has a licensing system with local option provisions of its own. The licensing authority is a local committee, and there are seven kinds of licence, of which two are for consumption on the premises. The fees range from £1 for a wine licence to £40 for a full publican’s licence in towns, or £45 for one permitting an additional hour’s sale at night; the fees go to the revenue of the local authority. In 1907 the total number of licences granted was 2179 and the fees paid amounted to £45,865. Of the whole number, 1367, or 1 to every 666 persons, were houses licensed for on consumption. The closing hour is 10 p.m. except for houses specially licensed to be open till 11 p.m. In 1893 local option was introduced by the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act, which provided for the taking of a poll on the question of licences. The electoral districts for the purpose are the same as for the House of Representatives, except that the cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin each form a single district for the licensing poll. It is taken at the same time as the election of members of the House of Representatives, and three questions are propounded—(1) continuance of existing licences, (2) reduction, (3) no licences. A voter may vote for two proposals but not more. An absolute majority of all the votes recorded carries (1); an absolute majority of all the votes recorded carries (2), whereupon the licensing committee reduces the licences by any number from 5 to 25% of the total. But if three-fifths of all the votes cast are in favour of no licence then that supersedes (1) and (2). The poll taken in December 1905 gave the following results: of the 68 districts 40 carried no proposal (which is equivalent to continuance of existing licences), 18 carried continuance, 4 reduction, 6 no licence, including 3 which had previously adopted no licence. Women, it must be remembered, vote as well as men. The aggregate vote in favour of no licence shows a large proportional increase since the first poll in the present system in 1896.
Authorities.—Royal Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws 1896–1899, Reports and Appendices; Licensing Statistics of England and Wales, annual. Canada Year-book; New Zealand Year-book; Code de Commerce, France; Gewerbeordnung, German Empire; Hand-book of Canada (British Association); New Encyclopedia of Social Reform; Brewers’ Almanack; Committee of Fifty (New York), The Liquor Problem in its Legislative Aspects (F. H. Wines and J. Koren); E. L. Fanshawe, Liquor Legislation in the United States and Canada; E.R.L. Gould, The Gothenburg System (Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Labor); E. A. Pratt, Licensing and Temperance in Sweden, Norway and Denmark; J. Rowntree and A. Sherwell, The Temperance Problem and Social Reform; The Taxation of the Liquor Trade; A. Shadwell, Drink, Temperance and Legislation; Strauss und Torney, Schanks-Konzessionswesen; F. W. Thompson, High Licence. See also Temperance. (A. Sl.)
LIRA, the Italian name (Lat. libra, pound) for a silver coin,
the Italian unit of value in the Latin Monetary Union, corresponding
to the French, Swiss and Belgian franc (q.v.), and the
drachma of Greece, &c. The name is sometimes used of the
Turkish pound, medjidie.
LIRI, or Garigliano (anc. Liris), a river of central Italy, which rises at Cappadocia, 7 m. W. of Avezzano, and traverses a beautiful valley between lofty mountains, running S.S.E. as far as Arce. This valley is followed by the railway from Avezzano to Roccasecca. At Isola del Liri are two fine waterfalls. Below Ceprano, the ancient Fregellae, after it has issued from the mountains, the Liri is joined by the Sacco (anc. Trerus) formed by the union of several torrents between Palestrina and Segni, and the Melfa from the mountains N.E. of Atina, and runs E. through a broader valley. It then turns S. again through the mountains S.W. of the Via Latina (the line of which is followed by the modern railway to Naples), keeping W. of Rocca Monfina, and falls into the sea just below Minturnae, after a course of 104 m. It is not navigable at any point.
LIROCONITE, a rare mineral consisting of hydrous basic copper and aluminium arsenate, with the probable formula
