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EXPERIMENTAL LEGISLA TION. 173
schemes, or of some modification of them.” And the Lords
have themselves recognised the vdue of social experiments ”
in providing counter-attractions to the public-house. In
their final Report, dated the 17th of March last, they remark
(p. xliv.) :
“These experiments are too recent, and, in spite of their rapid
increase, t.oo partial and limited to enable the Committee to pronounce
with confidence on their ultimate success, or on tho extent of tho
irlfluencc they may exercise in diminishing intempcnrnce; but, they
desire to express their strong opinion that, if gencrally prosecuted arid
couducted with due regard for tho wants and comforts of n population
among whom education is glutdually diffusiug R tastc for cnjoymont far
less coarm and gross thnu irl tho past, they arc destined to haw an
important infiuencc for good. It is obvious that tho desire for recrcntiou
is felt by all classes nliko.”
What is this, however, but an esprcss recognition by the
House of Lords of tho need of oxporirneutatiou as r*egards tho
entertainment and recreation of the people ? I fail to me how
such experimentation either can or ought to bo confirled to
philanthropists. If we look around aud notice the vast new
restaurants of London, the innumerable glittering railway bars
in all parts of the country, tho music halls of all ranks and
kinds, t,he dancing and driuking s:tloons of some provincial
towns-such as Nottiughsm-and thc groat outerprise wit.h
which such places of recreation as the Fomona and Bollovuo
Gardens at Manchester are conducted, we shall see that social
experiments are not confined to the teetotalers. Indeed, it
would not be difficult to prove that tho nugatory Liceusing
Laws, as now administered, present the least possible obstacle
to the publicans in pushing their experiments, while they do
prevent social reformers from interfering, or from establiehing
counter-experiments on an equal footing. It ia hardly too
much to say that the Licensing Laws are laws to give a
license to the publicans and grocers to do what they like to
extend the sale of spirituous liquors.
Although the liquor traffic presenta the widest and most
important sphere for social experiment, them are many other
matters to which it must be applied. Consideration in detail
must show whether, in each case, the tentative method is or is
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