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"The year 1928," in the words of the| board, "has been a prosperous year. The number of tourists has largely in-- creased. The large fairs and exhibi-- Total number of permits issued was 493,143. and temporary or tourist per-- mits aggregated 88,135. Forty--four li-- censes were issued to brewers snd 1,265 for brewery warchouses. Permits for native wine, sacramental wine, ven-- dors, non--potable alcohol, and standard hotels totalled 347. Thirty--nine new stores and 27 new brewery warehouses were opened during the year. There are 102 brewery warehouses operating throughout the Province at present. Enough Breweries, Says Board. tions were particularly well attended, bringing many strangers to Ontario. The sale of liquors has increased." Nearly $49,000,000. Source of supply of beer for the peo-- ple of the Province is now considered sufficient by the board. "The board is convinced," reads the report tabled yes-- terday, "that the number of breweries and the number of distilleries now au-- thorized are sufficient and more than sufficicnt to cover the Ontario field, and that no new undertakings should Over the entire fiscal year the total sales amounted to $48,995,591.19, of which $14,649,666 were made through breweries and brewery warehouses. Gross trading profit for the twelve months was $9,869,020.12, and the net trading profit $7,019,944.39. After pay-- ing $7,225,000 to the Provincial Treas-- $607,848.57. For purposes of improving and strengthening both the administration and enforcement of the Liquor Control Act, Sir Henry Drayton and his board recommend. in effect, to the Govern-- ment. that: be incorporated, ceither by Dominion or Provincial authority." 1. The penalty clause be amended so as to provide that in all cases where liquor seized carries the board's scals and exceeds $50, and in all cases where such liquor is without such scals, a three--months sentence be imposed in addition to the finc, unless the accused, to the satisfaction of the court, cstab-- lishes the manner in which the liquor was conveyed to the place where it was found,. and by whom, as well as full particulars ol the vendor or vendors, and of the whole transaction. Seiture of Papers. 2. Appropriate amendmecnts be madc# so that seizures of papers, etc.., can be ; made under the Liquor Control Act as | fully and completely as undcer the| Criminal Code itsolf. ; 3. Some greater discretion be left to Magistrates in the disposal of cases of poor people charged with drunkenness on both first and second offenses. These recommendations, Attorney-- General Price stated last night, were now under consideration by the Gov-- ernment, and probably would be adopt-- €d. in view of their "minor nature." In support of his first recommenda-- tion, -- Chiet Commissioner Drayton roints out that "bootlegging and short-- circuiting will never be really stopped intil procecedings are effectively taken egainst those supplying the liquor in the first instance." '"From time to time," he explains. "large seizures are made of liquor which was claimed to be held for export. The vusual proceedings taken are to charge 'illegally having' under the act. Con-- stables are unable to prove 'keeping for sale' by actual evidence, and Magistrates usually refuse to give effect to the presumption that the having of a large quantity of liquor under certain cir-- cumstances was for the purpose of sale. The liquor is, of course, confiscated and the holder fined under the act. \ _ _In asking that seizures of dccuments 'be brought within the jurisdiction of \the L.C.A., Sir Henry reports: ' *"*Seizures, in the past, have been made of large quantities of liquor un-- der the Ontario Temperance Act, which, seizures were of necessity abandoned. owing to proof of ownership by an American citizen and on the ground that the goods were in process of ex-- port. Under the local acts, iust as This is not at all a satisfactory solu-- tion. It does not enable the authorities to trace the liquor to its source, and the source of supply is the matter of prime importance to be established in order to stamp out illegal practices. Search Warrant Power. the board still has a surplus of Ahu ts d much under the Liquor Control Act as the Ontario Temperance Act, officors with search warrants could only scize and take intoxicating liquors. They: could not seize and take books showing the _ course -- of busi--' ness and papers indicating owner--. ship. The only reason why the raids-- of last summer have succeeded where others have failed, was that charges were laid under the Criminal Code, which enabled search warrants to be issued under the code, under which the; police could ssize--and did seiz>--not ; only the intoxicating liquors found, but ; also all books of account, documents. and papers. The possession of these papers rendered impossible the effec--| tive defenses of the past. It is submit--| ted that the appropriate amendments should be made so that the seizures| of papers, etc.. can be made under the Liquor Control Act as fully and com--| pletely as under the Criminal Code itself." Discretion to Magistrate. + _ According to Dominion statistiecs fur-- "mshcd the board, there has been reduc-- tion in consumption of domestic distilled ; liquors in Ontario, as between 1915 and :1928. of 620,.734 gallons, or 37 per cent. '"In view of the increased population," reports the board, "and the fact that 1928 was a very prosperous ycatr, and 1915 much the reverse, the official figures indicate a very large decrease in the consumption of alcoholice li-- quors." But in the same breath, so i"' spsak, the board vents the opinion 'that too much reliance cannot be placed jon statistics in view of the illegal prac-- \ tices that have grown up and are now in ) process of eradication. No one, it fur-- ther states, can have any definits in-- formation of what the censumption of Hliqueor has really been of recent years, t for the following reasons: % "First: The exports of 1915 were made in bond and there was no short-- ' circuiting in Ontario of liquors pre-- \ sumed to be for export. This has taken place to an amount entirely inascertain-- able in 1928. It is hoped that the new regulations of the Honorable the Min-- ister of National Revenue, for the bet-- ter control of the export business, will relieve this short--circuiting. In pro-- portion to the efficacy of such regula-- tions an increase may be expected in ; the gallonage entered for consumption ; in Ontario. -- Some Stocked Yetl. eration for "poor people" offenders, | the board's argument reads: | "Attention sheuld also be called to the existing penaltics for drunkenness. Thoe penalty for the first offense is | $100 and in default imprisonment forl not more than 30 days. For the second | offense, to a penalty of not less than' $200 nor more than $500 and, in de-- fault, to imprisonment for not less than | two months, nor more than four| months. The greater majority of these | cases are poor pecple, whose families| can ill afford the loss of the fine or | the loss of a month's support. Drunk--| enness is now regarded as an offense | and it ought to continue to be so treat-- | ed and convictions always secured, but | the board is of the view that some | greater discretion might well be leit| to the Magistratec." "Second: A large amount of liquors were stocked by people, who could af-- ford to stock them, prior to prohibition. While in the majority of cases those supplics have been exhausted, they are not entirely exhausted, and to the extent that they still exist it will be reasonable to suppose that the total entered for consumption in Canada would propor-- tionately increase after thoir complet2 disappcarance. "Third: While bootlegging on a grand scale by the hbig bootieggers could be and has been stopped and their great profits now enjoyed by the Provincse, there is still far more bootlegging on « small scalse than there was in 1915---- far more 'swamn' or 'moonshine' whiskey, and far morse deleterieus sub-- stitutes for alcohol than in 1915. It should also be noted that for Ontario alone the filings with the Department of Excise under which home--brew beer may be produced, reached the great total of 74,663, as of Oct. 31, 1927. The board have been unable to secure later figures from Ottawa. "Illegal practices once gaining sway, and the safer methods of production and distribution worked out, the process of ending them is slow and difficult. And on the matter of greater consid-- e 6A y d Y --. / ERmemen t 000 20w Ed nonmmual practices will again tend to transfer their unrecordable volume to the official figures, and there-- by increase them; certainly to the ex-- tent liquor has been sbhort--circuited and iMegally: nroduced in the Province, the official figures fall short of showing the actual consumption. Reduction in Gallonage. "The large reduction shown in gal-- lonage will undoubtedly surprise many in view of the large sales of your board. The reason, however, of any misunderstanding is very plain. The board's results are in dollars, and indi-- Another section of the report deals exbaustively with the export of liquor. Under present conditions, much liquor is shipped from Canada. ostensibly bound for Mexico and Cuba, etc.. but never gets furthecr than the United States. A lot of it is short--circuited back into Canada, where the bootleggers | compete with the Liquor Control Board. | The Dominion and Provincial authori-- | ties have given the matter careful con-- | sideration. \Rules of Export. |\ _ "Hereafter," says the report, "the \ movements of liquor for export from the ' Province must be made by a permit with the proper serial number issued | by the Department of National Rev-- 'enue. The board understands that at 'an carly date the new regulations will | cover all export docks in the Province ! and that docks at other points will also ;be reduced. It is hoped that a sub« stantial relief will be obtained through |\ these reforms and that short--circuit-- ing, which has so undoubtediy taker place, substantially reduced." minion tax has risen from $2.40 per galion of alcoholic content on imported liouors to $10, while the Excise tax on domestic liquors has been raised to $9. In addition to this, the Dominion sales tax of 3 per cent. is now applicable. As cate retail prices, and there has been a very great increase in the price of whiskeys and other spi_rit.s.i The Do-- a result, the public today pays $2.75 for the same domestic whiskey they pur-- chased in 1915 for 75 cents per bottle, while the standard Scotch brands which formerly sold for $1 per bottle are now sold for $3.55. "An equal dollar public sale, gross total, in 1915 to a like gross total in 1928 would mean that approximately three and one--half times as many gai-- lons would have to be sold in 1915 as in 1928." It is pointed out that in the past few years the use of rubbing alcohol, canned heat, and other dangerous substitutes for genuine alcohol has grown. People dosiring the effect of real drunkenness as quickly, as cheaply, as possible, use these substitutes. The question has been taken up with the Dominion au-- thorities, who are trying out other prescriptions, which, short of poisoning and destroying the effect of the proper application of rubbing alcohol, will render the mixture so unpalatable as to be undrinkable. "The board is of the opinion, how-- ever," states the report, "that these at-- tempts will fail, and is now considering treating the sale of this rubbing alcoho! which is carried on by the druggists along the lines of sales of noxious drugs." Dominion taxation, the report stales, continues to be the greatest expense al-- tendan: upon the board's operation. During the past fiscal year more than $15,000,000 was paid the Federal Gov-- ernment. The board claims to imake 16, cents on a case of beer, while the Dominion collects 42 cents taxes on the same amount. Grain alcolhol, proper and necessary as it is for medicinal purposes, is ex-- tremely dangerous. points out the re-- port. An alarming amount of this was boing used and the situation has been met by the sale of "whisky blane." which is simply grain alcohol reduced to a strength of 48 per cent. underproof--a reduction of 133 de-- grees over the product previously sold. The charactor of the drink remains as it was. but its dangerous strength. which has resulted in deaths. has beon entirely removed. Dominion Taxation waral' 4