EXPERIMENTAL LEGISLATION. 761 



before the evil wrought by the act of 1830 cau be thoroughly re- 

 moved. This, then, is a striking instance of a leap in the dark, which 

 ought never to have been committed by a prudent Legislature. When 

 the Sale of Beer Bill was under discussion, the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer seemed to feel that it was a bill which needed experimental 

 trial ; for, when objection was made that the act would not extend to 

 Scotland, he urged that it might be better to try the act in one part 

 of the kingdom in the first instance, and then, if it were found to be 

 beneficial, and to answer its intended objects, it might be extended to 

 other parts.* 



In more recent years the granting of grocers' licenses for the free 

 sale of all kinds of spirituous liquors is likely to prove itself to be an 

 equally disastrous leap in the dark. With the very best intentions, 

 and on the most plausible theoretical grounds, Mr. Gladstone's Govern- 

 ment greatly extended the free sale of wine and beer, so that now, in 

 some popular watering-places, I have noticed that almost every third 

 shop-window is ornamented with a pyramid of beer-bottles. Yet the 

 late Government have only succeeded in making the grocers' shop the 

 avenue to the publican's bar. No one can for a moment believe that 

 the free sale of liquors for home use has in the least degree weakened 

 the publican's hold on his customers. If I had on a x)rior'i grounds 

 to plan out a scheme of liquor-traffic, I should just reverse the existing 

 law relating to beershops and grocers' licenses. I would prohibit the 

 " off " sale of liquor on any pi-emises where other articles were sold ; 

 the purchaser desiring to buy wine, beer, or spirits for home use should 

 be obliged to go to some one of a comparatively few well-marked shops 

 dealing in those things alone. On the other hand, where liquor is sold 

 for consumption on the premises, I should oblige the seller to furnish 

 food and reasonable sitting accommodation. This would be nothing 

 more than a return to the old law about licensed victualers, which 

 yet exists in the letter, though it has been allowed to fall into practi- 

 cal abeyance. The very reasonable law obliging publicans to afford 

 general entertainment was sadly broken down by the Beershops Act, 

 which provided unlimited means for the drinking of beer, pure and 

 simple, without food of any kind. But my contention is, that we 

 must not proceed in such matters on a priori grounds at all. We 

 must try. 



Perhaps it may be said that every new law is necessarily an experi- 

 ment, and affords experience for its own improvement, and, if neces- 

 sary, its abrogation. But there are two strong reasons why an act 

 which has been made general, and has come into general operation, 

 can seldom serve as an experiment. Of course, a great many acts of 

 Parliament are experimentally found to be mistaken, for they never 

 come into considerable operation at all, like the acts to promote regis- 

 tration of titles, not to mention the Agricultural Holdings Act. Such 

 * "Hansard's Debates," April 8, 1830, New Series, vol. xxiv., p. 26. 



