Final report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to inquire into the operation and administration of the laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Liquor Licensing Laws.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to inquire into the operation and administration of the laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    248/406 (page 230)
    Recommendation. We agree with the proposal that a rating qualification of 252. annually should required in towns over 10,000 population, of 151. in towns over 5,000, and of 121. elsewhere. This should apply in the case of all newly licensed public-houses, and should come into operation for existing public-houses at the end of five years. 40 Vict. c. 4. A precedent for this can be found in Meldon's Act of 1877, which imposed a rating qualification on all beer-retailers; but it applied to all existing licenses, and had the effect of abolishing a great number at one stroke. 2. Structure of Premises. Besides the low rateable value, many of the houses are very badly constructed and situated. 57,985, For instance, Mr. Gambell says the structural condition of many of the houses in 58,419. Cork City and Bast Riding is very bad. There is scanty accommodation, badly enclosed yards and back exits, and there are back doors leading into back yards and gardens which make police supervision almost impossible. 3. Lack of Accommodation. Complaints are frequently made of the difficulty of obtaining proper accommodation and refreshment for travellers in these houses. There is no hotel license distinct from the public-house license, and in many places, especially at wayside public-houses, nothing can be obtained but intoxicating liquor, not even a cup of tea or bread and butter. Sir A. Reed considers the question of proper accommodation for travellers a burning 56 8'?8. question, as it concerns the prosperity of the country ; the poorer class of persons are precluded from travelling owing to the wretchedness of the houses, and the want of supply of proper and necessary refreshment. Judge Orr says that a great deal of mischief arises from the publicans not supplying 62 362. solid food. In the rural districts people start very early to market, go nearly all day without food, and then drink bad liquor in the public-houses, bad and, as he believes, adulterated. Morell, Similar complaints as to the absence of solid refreshments in public-houses come 57,165. from Belfast, Wexford, and elsewhere. Ennis, 61,746. 4. The Combination op Trades in Public-Houses. But, besides the excessive number and the low character of the houses, there is another feature of the public-house system in Ireland which specially tends to promote habits of drinking and drunkenness among both sexes, leads to evasion of the hours of closing, and makes police supervision a difficult, if not an impossible, task. This is the combination of the sale of groceries and other articles with the sale of liquor in public-houses. It is said that the publican cannot make a living by his own proper business, owing to the severe competition, and so is obliged to add another trade; while a neighbouring trader, finding his own particular trade insufficient, is obliged to take out a license, which, owing to the maladministration of the law, he is usually able to do quite easily. And so the combination of the trades and the excessive number of public-houses work continually in a vicious circle, acting and reacting upon each other. i. Prevalence of the System. Gambell, The combination prevails very largely. In Cork City 9 per cent, and in Cork East ^7,990. Riding 63 per cent, combine the sale of groceries and general goods with that of Ball, intoxicants. In Tralee nearly all the houses carry on a mixed trade. In Waterford, FuiW 91 out of 228' in Wexford' 80 out of 84, In Dublin, nine-tenths of the trade is a 60 438 mixed trade. In Tipperary, the majority of the public-houses are baker's or drapery Ennis, establishments, drink being sold in the same room. 61,732. Similar evidence comes from all parts of the country, and Mr. Wilkinson, Secretary of the Irish Temperance League, says : From some county districts I have been told