M ~tor every 862 of the population, ty. due to the wise! provis 54 f this Legislature ard partly to the «l + ereas in 1894 there was one for every th O uie ~al e at the laws ~were well carried out!_ ; 50 per cent. better in this Pro-- Some might " | vine d 100 per cent. wo -- ght. say that these commri{ ince an P t rse in Que sons werse not fair. as th ndlgi & bec, according to these statistics. We j oo o T L onse | t Meard & great deal of the advanced ;)vhtlcl:n govern arrests had been relu?d M temperance sentiment in Nova Scotia, t(:l co;;:x?ismgzttsauudl--'lng We al!('lrests td B but in that Province in 1884 there was those who (-ri'tlol.zed th\:a g:fg;entsgi)lrl' ;fi,," | one conviction for every 751 of the pop-- not going 'ar enough on temperancs |~ o ulation and in 1894 one for every 361, li # i So that Under this nyich--vaunted and nes that in the past temperance les s mUuch--boasted k whogp Te > gislation had been advanced by moder; = sentiment of Nova Scotia ate provisio t b Th [ . the convictions doubled in ten years warel 816 ns.i ,!-' e;])' x step. tm % and lessened by --50 per cent. in our Pro-- | one--fifth trl?:l: (izar"etli'xeos.lioelzgeslslsfi "(.)2 $ vin%"ln New Brunsy 'ck there was | | there Were only iwo licens in Tna an improvement, though not so great | | o pm y fwo l s erelas, each. The ; as in our Province. In British Colum-- ?fr'é:e;?n s ie porh : inslpudefive M m%- bnl:there was not an improvement but | # 6-- $ n t reverse. In Prince Eaward Island 3 § a there was some improvement, but the Ti d ols g a result of the comparison for all the a As for the new bill. Mr. Harcourt | A Provinces and including the Territories said, in the first clause it was provided } ¥ showed that Ontario presents notice-- that hereafter there shall be only three al _ { ably a better showing than any other licenses for every 1,000 of population Province in the Dominion. As to the and that beyond the first 1.000 ther(, $ \State of Maine, of whigch we always | shall be one license for every 600. i ; heard a great deal when the liquor very decided advance. It would be sai ' _ question or the license question was that the bill only cut off 120, 130 or 14' ;\ \ under discussion. Taking the statistics licenses. But surely this was going i for five years for Maine, from 1888 to the right direction and it was an ad 3 1892, and the statistics of this Province vance. Those who said this forgot sev. d for the same five years some instructive eral things. The municipal Councilf, A results were shown. Taking the four could still reduce the number of licen _ * largest cities in Maine and the four ses. The license commissioners theng . "I largest cities in Ontario, the number of selves, in the execution --of their dutioc® _ a arrests for drunkenness in each per had been able to refuse and could stil . l thousand was :--In Portland, the larg-- # refuse licenses, and thig--had been dong _ est city in Maine, 39 out of every thous-- and there was theslocal option prov y and ; in Toronto, the largest city of sion. Thus there was a fourfold. wal. ; Ontario, for that period there were to reduce the number of licenses. > & eighteen arrests per thousand, less than On page two of the act were set o 6 half the number in Portland ; in Lew-- the conditions under which a by--la \A iston: there were eleven arramts per reducing the number of licenses ca 6 thousand against six in Hamilton, and hereafter be passed by municipal Cou A 3 taking the four largest cities in Maine cils in cities and towns. It is provide ] ----Portland, Lewiston, Bangor and Bid-- that notice of application to pass suQ® / l deford--and the four largest in On-- a by--law, signed by 100 electors i tario--Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and cities, or 50 in towns. shall be fyle s London--the average number of ar-- with the Clerk of the municipality & | . rest@ was 30 per 1,000 in the Maine or before Nov. 15. an% a!\ppllioati(c)ln t ; A cities and thirteen in ourmfour largest bhe made on or before Feb. 15, and thiZ < cities~ We have not the offlcla'll figuntas Council maly ftherefifterhpzliss;#ich a b "' | w from 1892 to the present for the State law on or before March 1. s pow . 4 of Maine, but are had for Ontario, of reducing the number of licenses ha 31 j and it was gratifying to know that been freely exercised by municipalitic l | ' <a each year here there had been a mark-- in the past. For example, in 1887 the | ed improvement in this same arrange-- . Council of Toronto in one by--law c 5" h ment, and unofficially we learned that off 74 tavern »licenses and 16 sho@ . there had been no improvement in this licenses. The City Council of Hamilto®$ matter of arrests for drunkenness in | in 1894 cut off 19 tavern licenses and { Maine. The result was, so far as sta-- | shop licenses. In London in 1892 ther® tistics can show, that this Province un-- were cut off seven tavern and four shog _' der lHicense presented a better showing licenses,. In Ottawa a few months ag than Maine under a prohibition law. fifteen tavern licenses were cut off. I ) In this Province during these five years the four instances he had given undef _ the number of persons committed ifor the powers already possessed by municif_ drunkenness per 1,000 was 1.92 and in pal Councils not less than 105 tavern§ Maine 2.53, nearly twice as many | and 30 shops were deprived of licenses in Maine under prohibition as in this The fact that only a few municipalitie}_ Province under license. There was had availed themselves of this powe! an equally interesting result if one showed that public sentiment was no}. f considered the reduction of licenses un-- sufficiently advanced to warrant th§_ der the statutes to which he had re-- House in making a more extreme prof ferred. Taking four years which could vision than was embodied in the bilB~ not be affected by the Scott act, which | now before it. was in force in one--half of the munici-- ' In view of the present discussion h & palities of the Province for had collected some useful information|}. some years, _the number of licenses which he would put in the possessiof. g{!]'%élti(})zi!)n ?}14243 18:5, '}';9310 and 185;?v§i=;3 | of the House. He had obtained returng_ ,180, 4,020, 3, &A 3132 respec ly : ) from 45 out of the 97 licens istri % so that since 1874 we have cut off the Province, and from ££8exg:xsr:;'(l'iclt):l(; & through the statutes more than half of ties or more than one--half the totaf the licenses. There were only 3,000 in number. Out of the total number 10 1896, as against 6,000 in~1874; it is now municipalities, or only one-qual'te:lh ; one for every 700 people, and in 1874 exercised their power of reduci z t% it was one for every 262. A great stride number of licenses by by--law uclmg") + had been made in the temperance sen-- out of the 105 no }i}r,nit)ati(m. e uo. timent of the people, and that marked vided as to the number. of tav'gzxss l::x? f improvement--he sdid not say com-- in 68 no limitation as te the numb«l-r of _ glt(ta:'ietl))\,x't(:zluttol':hzmlfigigl:':{e:;t::?1 1"3 shops. It was interesting also to not« : 0 sed by that in 35 cases the municipalities s :lll:i:nk House. The (-ummltmlents f;n reducing the number of liclenses had -- 1875 g}'::;:,es\:e:reo%g:a"y n(;:i( nal'\:*: l: reconsidered their decigion. In twenty, 1881 3.497; lnllzi)'l" 2_,3('60"::(1 lirrllfll]Q';fi' {. of such cases the Coungil had increas$, 907 ; so' t.ha'.t sln;'e '187'5'. a period nf. iv.:en'- ffe,fhfhgy'-mfi';? ,fi'fa(}'fo:sffi'nfigf li'gdg(f- f ty years, the number of commitments tion gh(;winr th; i isd for drunkenness in this Province had 'd o at p?r,ha.pg it is wis e ho aae Mibnk ns 4n was ns sentiment, as 'indicated: by the 'direc --'Doticeable still althougfi he 'was > not representatives of the people in theif/ J '6 tending "xéctly to--awcount for it municipal Councilsy, was markedly i i %ey tOOthhe Scott act' period Ir; 'fa\'o;' of ?, fi;enera_l refiucting in th@ ' 1886--7--8 the Scott act was in fox:ce in | number 0o icenses. ow have thd | nigh out of i1 'lfc fiore than fNall | Boards of Licenge Commissioners act} . x : A £* «8 ed in this regard? In 65 dut of these 104 _ a.fij-:ith._' S:' 'Iél:fiig';m;?'i:t municipalities the..,Commissioners is{-- } + in %.555: in 1887, 4.180 sued fewer licenses than the by--laws . ind t 4,451 : O 'tha't the numbe!" called for. The much--abused Board: r.ereased during each of the Scott act of Commisslupers hed actually responi4 _ rears. In 1894--5--6 under the license | ed more readily to the wishes of thog@) || . % aw i_= number.of commitments drop-- | who were concerned in promoting tkek . ed from 4,400 io 2.274 in 1894, 2237 in temperance sentiment of the count'yf.. 895 and 1,907 last year. In the three lthan the --municival representatives off ; 'VMast years under license the total num-- the people had done.. No local optiam} [ 3 ber of commitments was 6.818, in the by--law had been passed in the Pr<--| -- |three. Scott' act years 12.186. He | yince since Jan. 1, 1894. Was the Lens--]} | thought that he might fairly argue lature to be Jlamed for not going Ar-- |_ . that there had been a morel revolution ther insthe matlfer_ of the popt's *M ( yB in the drinking habits of the people, ungt whei--.{ was found Ahat .the it ' | A Ce