Time Limit and Local Option; A Re-Statement of a Licensing Controversy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1908 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. THE PROBLEM OF THE TIME LIMIT. i. THE TRUE MEANING OF A TIME LIMIT. "An Act, whatever its opponents say of it, is an Act," says the Brewers' pamphlet on the Time Limit. Mr. Pratt urges that " the Act of 1904 has effectively disposed of the legal-right-for-year only and the no-claim-tocompensation theories." Alluding to the assertions that the Act, if passed, would bar the path of progress, he regards it as noteworthy that "now that the Bill has become law, the same party which raised these protests is inclined to ignore the said legal right, and is seeking to bring about the very innovations it had said would be impossible for a generation." It was the obvious certainty that such a plea would be built up on the Act of 1904 that gave added cogency to the demand for a time limit during the debates in Parliament on that Act. Some men feeling that they could not forecast the working of the new Act wished to proceed experimentally. It was seen how the ante-1869 beerhouses had obstructed Reform. Might not the ante-1904 full licenses prove to be just as troublesome? Others sincerely wished to leave open the door for local experiments, for local option, or for a scheme of high license. This feeling of justifiable hesitation found support in the Recommendations of the Majority Report of the Licensing Commission, which in proposing a scheme of reduction subject to compensation, wished to leave the matter open to Parliamentary review at the close of septennial periods. The recommendation (p. 54) runs as follows: --It has been suggested that there are advantages in settling specified periods at which Parliament should review the working of the system, so as to facilitate the introduction of such changes as the circumstances of the time render necessary. We ...