Public Control of the Liquor Trade in New Zealand, 1840-1899

Abstract

The intemperance of the beer- and spirits-drinking Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian peoples as compared with the wine-drinking nations of Southern Europe has been a matter of comment for some centuries. Many writes have attributed the vice to the cold climate, but this view is controverted by the history of widespread drunkenness among the ancients in warmer countries, and by the persistence of the habit among peoples of Anglo-Saxon stock who have colonized in warmer climes. Others consider that the custom of "perpendicular" drinking at bars is responsible. Whatever the cause, New Zealand has followed the pattern. In consequence the Temperance movement and the anti-liquor legislation to which it gave rise have played an important part in its political and social history. This is the story of developments in this field during the nineteenth century. It is the record of the legislative results of a bitter contest between a powerful vested interest and a crusading Puritanism. The major issue, the control of the sale of liquor to the European inhabitants, has been dealt with in chronological sequence, but it was found convenient to treat the special aspects of the traffic among the Maoris and distillation separately. Except where it was inseparably bound up with the control of the trade, - as in the case of distilling - no account has been taken of the slight measure of control exercised by taxation on liquor, since this subject was governed by fiscal considerations only.