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.

    213/406 (page 195)
    ii. Sunday Closing. The practical unanimity of Scottish opinion renders it impossible to question the success and unnecessary to discuss the policy of Sunday closing. No single class has asked for the repeal of the Forbes Mackenzie Act, and it is universally considered that it should be maintained. There is no person of experience and knowledge of Scotland who would think of going back. There has been no agitation among the members of the Trade to repeal the Act. ■ The re-opening of public-houses would not be listened to for a moment. There is no tendency in Glasgow to go back, but the very reverse. 'Not half-a-dozen publicans in Edinburgh would assist or encourage an agitation for the repeal of the Act, nor is there a constituency in Scotland which would return a member who announced himself as in favour of such repeal. The success of the Act is so generally recognised that the Free Church has ceased to record it in their reports. Publicans would object to its repeal more strongly than any other body. The effect of Sunday closing on arrests for being drunk and incapable is well shown by a table put in by Mr. Wyness, chief constable of Aberdeen, of arrests in that city. Sunday is reckoned from 8 a.m. on Sunday to 8 a.m. on Monday are : — Number of Persons who were Drunk and Incapable. The figures Dewar, 44,257. 44,258. Bovci, 43,796. Purves, 55,302. Dick, 51,347. Chisholrri, 46,905. D. Lewis. 50,470. Rev. J. Hunter, 49,300. Wyness, 45,486. Dr. Kerr, 74,132. 45,463. Year. On Week Days. On Sundays. Total. Male. Female. Both Sexes. Male. Female. Both Sexes. 1890 205 104 309 1 1 2 311 1891 206 94 300 1 0 1 301 1892 264 112 376 2 0 2 378 1893 195 94 289 0 0 0 289 1894 259 116 375 2 0 2 377 1895 247 110 357 3 0 3 360 1896 217 104 321 2 0 2 323 Similarly, Mr. Dewar tells ns that the average number of persons arrested in Dundee for all offences from 8 a.m. on Sundays to 8 a.m. on Mondays is 2, whereas for the same period on other days it is 10. It is unnecessary to quote more evidence. 44,283. iii. Hours of Closing on Week-days. The discretionary power of early closing, conferred by Sir Charles Cameron's Act of 1877, has practically been everywhere put into operation, and, here again, there is an overwhelming concurrence of favourable testimony. In Perth, where, from the beginning, the magistrates have unanimously closed the public-houses at 10, the results have been beneficial all through, and quite a number of license-holders themselves approve of the Act. Provost Smith, of Peterhead, says the substitution of ten for eleven o'clock in the smaller burghs has been a positive blessing to the community. There are no two opinions in Ayrshire as to the highly beneficial effect of the Act. A representative of the Licensed Trade Associations in Dumbartonshire speaks to the good result of 10 o'clock closing, in such communities as the Royal burgh of Dumbarton where it appears to have been the rule even before Sir Charles Cameron's Act came into operation. The license-]lolders have nothing to complain of, one way or the other. A similar opinion is expressed by a licensed grocer and wine merchant of Callander, Stirling, and other places. Speaking as provost of Callander (a police burgh), he declares that no objection is entertained nor inconvenience felt in his district, and goes further by suggesting that if grocers close at 10 p.m. for the sale of intoxicating C c 3 Wright, 51,795. 51,798. Smith, 46,180. Captain McHardy, 48,034^ 48,035. Kirk, 54,784. McEvven, 54,373.