412 ^Y^scons^n Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 



From the beginning of 1806 to the close of 1897 there was a 

 rise of 234,316 litres in the amount of sales bj samlags whose 

 traffic we should expect to be affected bj the discontinuance of 

 the samlags voted do^^m in 1895. We must not at once, how- 

 ever, infer that this rise is due entirely to the patronage of 

 neighboring cities. Another factor, before mentioned, must be 

 taken into consideration here, the fact, namelv, that by the new 

 law that went into effect January 1, 1896, the wholesale traffic 

 was materiallv altered. Previouslv, as we saw, the wholesale 

 merchants were free to sell in as small quantities as twenty 

 litres. Xow by the new law they were limited to sell in quanti- 

 ties not less than two hundred and fortv litres and were besides 

 obliged to pay a license of at least one thousand krowns. As this 

 change practically did away with all direct trade between con- 

 sumer and wholesaleT, which (previous to the new law) had been 

 quite appreciable, we must attribute the rise in the sales of the 

 neighboring, samlags, as shown in the preceding table, to the 

 transfer from the wholesale merchants to the samlags of approx- 

 imately that amount of liquor which before 1896 consiuners had 

 purchased directly from the former. There seems, therefore, to 

 be no reason for believing that the cities where the Gothenburg 

 system has been discontinued have, to any noticeable extent, 

 patronized the samlags of neighboring cities. 



To further substantiate this conclusion I present another 

 table showins; the rise in sales bv samlasrs so located that by their 

 very position it would be absurd to believe that they had gained 

 anything by the discontinuance of any of the samlags abolished 

 by the vote of 1895. 



Amount of Hales in litres. 



Cities. 



1893. 



1894. 



1895. 



1896. 



1897. 



Bodo 



Tromso 



nammerfest 



Vadso 



Vardo 



Total 



36,810 

 60,376 

 31,349 

 20,55S 

 20,845 

 169,933 



