or company system is in force together with licensing and local veto.
Like the Russian state monopoly the company system applies only to
spirits, and for the same reason; spirits are or were the common drink
of the people and excessive facilities in the early part of the 19th
century produced the usual result. The story is very similar to that
of England in the 18th century, given above. From 1774 to 1788
distilling in Sweden was a crown monopoly, but popular opposition and
illicit trade compelled the abandonment of this plan in favour of
general permission granted to farmers, innkeepers and landowners. At
the beginning of the 19th century the right to distil belonged to
every owner and cultivator of land on payment of a trifling licence
duty, and it was further extended to occupiers. In 1829 the number of
stills paying licence duty was 173,124 or 1 to every 16 persons; the
practice was in fact universal and the whole population was debauched
with spirits. The physical and moral results were the same as those
recorded in England a hundred years before. The supply was somewhat
restricted by royal ordinance in 1835, but the traffic was not
effectively dealt with until 1855 when a law was passed which
practically abolished domestic distilling by fixing a minimum daily
output of 200 gallons, with a tax of about 10d. a gallon. This turned
the business into a manufacture and speedily reduced the number of
stills. At the same time the retail sale was subjected to drastic
regulations. A licensing system was introduced which gave the local
authority power to fix the number of licences and put them up to
auction or to hand over the retail traffic altogether to a company
formed for the purpose of carrying it on. The latter idea, which is
the Gothenburg system, was taken from the example of Falun and
Jönköping which had a few years ago voluntarily adopted the plan. The
law of 1855 further gave rural districts the power of local veto.
Four-fifths of the population live in rural districts, and the great
majority of them immediately took advantage of the provision. The
company system, on the other hand, was not applied by the towns until
1865, when Gothenburg adopted it.
In Norway the course of events was very similar. There, too,
distilling and spirit-drinking were practically universal in the early
part of the century under the laws of 1816, but were checked by
legislation a few years sooner than in Sweden. In 1845 a special
licensing system was introduced, giving the local authority power to
fix the number of licences, and in 1848 the small and domestic stills
were stopped. The Gothenburg system was not adopted in Norway until
1871 and then with some modification. The essence of this method of
conducting the retail traffic is that the element of private gain is
eliminated. A monopoly is granted to a company consisting of a number
of disinterested citizens of standing with a capital, and they manage
the sale both for "on" and "off" consumption in the public interest.
The profits, after payment of 5% on the capital, originally went in
Sweden mainly to the municipality in relief of rates, in Norway to
objects of public utility. The latter was considered preferable
because it offers less temptation to make the profits as high as
possible. Fault has, however, been found with both methods, and
payment of profits to the state is now preferred. In 1894 a law was
passed in Norway providing for the following distribution: 65% to the
state, 20% to the company, and 15% to the municipality. In 1907 Sweden
adopted a law in the same direction. The intention is to eliminate
more completely the motive of gain from the traffic. In 1898 the net
profits of the companies exceeded half a million sterling in Sweden
and reached £117,500 in Norway.
The company system had in 1910 had more than half a century's trial;
it had gone through some vicissitudes and been subjected to much
criticism, which was balanced by at least as much eulogy. It had held
its own in Sweden, where 101 towns had adopted it in 1906. In Norway
at the same date it was in force in 32 towns while 29 had adopted
local veto, which was extended from the country districts, where it
had previously been optional, to the towns by the law of 1894.
As we have already said, it only applies to spirits. In both countries
the sale of beer and wine for "on" consumption is carried on in the
ordinary way under a licensing system; the sale of beer in bottles for
consumption off the premises is practically free. The beer traffic is
regarded by some as a "safety valve" and by others as a defect in the
system. The consumption has greatly increased in Sweden; in Norway it
increased up to 1900 and has since declined. But other more
deleterious substitutes for spirits have come into use in the shape of
concocted "wines" and methylated spirits. The company management has
had the following effects: it has greatly reduced the number of spirit
bars, improved their character and conduct, added eating-rooms, where
good and cheap meals are served, stopped drinking on credit and by
persons under 18 years of age, shortened the hours of sale, raised the
price and lowered the strength of spirits. But the restrictions placed
on the sale for consumption on the premises has stimulated the retail
bottle trade and home drinking.
_British Dominions._
_Canada._--Liquor legislation in Canada has been much influenced by
the proximity and example of the United States. Licensing, modified by
local veto, prevails throughout the Dominion except in the Indian
settlements; but the several provinces have their own laws, which vary
in stringency. As a whole the licensing system rather resembles the
American than the British type. The licensing authority is either a
board of commissioners or the municipality, and there has been the
same tendency as in the United States to substitute the former for the
latter. In British Columbia no new hotel licence is granted in cities
except on the request of two-thirds of the owners and occupiers of the
adjoining property, but their consent is not necessary for renewal. In
other provinces the municipal authority has power to limit as well as
regulate the licensed trade. Sunday closing is the rule; on week-days
the usual closing hour in the large towns is 11 P.M. The power of
locally prohibiting licensed houses by vote was introduced by the
Canada Temperance Act, a federal law passed in 1875 and commonly known
as the Scott Act. Extensive use has been made of it, especially in the
maritime provinces, where the temperance sentiment is very strong, but
in recent years it has rather lost ground. In 1908 it was in force in
22 counties or cities, of which ten were in Nova Scotia, ten in New
Brunswick and two in Manitoba; it was nowhere in force in the
remaining provinces. Three elections were held under the act in
1907-1908, two in Nova Scotia and one in New Brunswick, and in the
first two prohibition was defeated. In 1910 Nova Scotia, apparently
dissatisfied with the progress of local prohibition under the Scott
Act, passed a prohibitory law for the whole province, exempting
Halifax, the capital and only considerable town, but making provision
for its subsequent inclusion by a referendum to the ratepayers. There
is in Canada the same oscillation of public opinion as in the United
States, and the same toleration of evasion of the law. The writer has
stayed in hotels in several prohibition towns, where there was not
only a regular bar but a printed wine list from which anything could
be ordered at meals without any concealment at all. The chief
difference between the conduct of hotels under prohibition and under
licensing is that under licensing the bar is closed at the legal hour,
which is usually 11 o'clock, and under prohibition it remains open as
long as there are any customers to serve. The law is nominally
respected by imposing a periodical fine. In small towns and rural
districts local prohibition is much more effective. In short the
experience of Canada confirms that of the United States. In addition
to the federal law, the local authorities have power, in Quebec, to
prohibit as well as to regulate the trade. The high licence system has
not been adopted in Canada. The total revenue derived by the Dominion
government in 1908 from taxation of the liquor trade, including duties
and licence fees, was £1,800,000.
_Australia._--The licensing laws of Australia are less repressive and
the practice more resembles the British model. Queensland has adopted
local prohibition, but it is not applied. New South Wales has a
limited form of veto applying only to new licences; South Australia
has the same together with a provision for the optional reduction of
licences; Victoria, on the other hand, allows an option both ways, for
reducing or increasing the licences; West Australia and Tasmania
merely give the local ratepayers the right of protest; in West
Australia it holds good against new licences only and if a majority
object the licence is refused; in Tasmania protest may be made against
renewals and transfers also, but the decision lies with the licensing
authority. There is practically no prohibition in the Commonwealth.
_New Zealand._--This state has a licensing system with local option
provisions of its own. The licensing authority is a local committee,
and there are seven kinds of licence, of which two are for consumption
on the premises. The fees range from £1 for a wine licence to £40 for
a full publican's licence in towns, or £45 for one permitting an
additional hour's sale at night; the fees go to the revenue of the
local authority. In 1907 the total number of licences granted was 2179
and the fees paid amounted to £45,865. Of the whole number, 1367, or 1
to every 666 persons, were houses licensed for on consumption. The
closing hour is 10 P.M. except for houses specially licensed to be
open till 11 P.M. In 1893 local option was introduced by the Alcoholic
Liquors Sale Control Act, which provided for the taking of a poll on
the question of licences. The electoral districts for the purpose are
the same as for the House of Representatives, except that the cities
of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin each form a single
district for the licensing poll. It is taken at the same time as the
election of members of the House of Representatives, and three
questions are propounded--(1) continuance of existing licences, (2)
reduction, (3) no licences. A voter may vote for two proposals but not
more. An absolute majority of all the votes recorded carries (1); an
absolute majority of all the votes recorded carries (2), whereupon the
licensing committee reduces the licences by any number from 5 to 25%
of the total. But if three-fifths of all the votes cast are in favour
of no licence then that supersedes (1) and (2). The poll taken in
December 1905 gave the following results: of the 68 districts 40
carried no proposal (which is equivalent to continuance of existing
licences), 18 carried continuance, 4 reduction, 6 no licence,
including 3 which had previously adopted no licence. Women, it must be
remembered, vote as well as men. The aggregate vote in favour of no
licence shows a large proportional increase since the first poll in
the present system in 1896.
AUTHORITIES.--Royal Commission on Liquor Licensing Laws 1896-1899,
Reports and Appendices; Licensing Statistics of England and Wales,
annual. Canada Year-book; New Zealand Year-book; _Code de Commerce_,
France; _Gewerbeordnung_, German Empire; Hand-book of Canada (British
Association); _New Encyclopedia of Social Reform; Brewers' Almanack_;
Committee of Fifty (New York), _The Liquor Problem in its Legislative
Aspects_ (F. H. Wines and J. Koren); E. L. Fanshawe, _Liquor
Legislation in the United States and Canada_; E.R.L. Gould, _The
Gothenburg System_ (Special Report of the United States Commissioner
of Labor); E. A. Pratt, _Licensing and Temperance in Sweden, Norway
and Denmark_; J. Rowntree and A. Sherwell, _The Temperance Problem and
Social Reform_; _The Taxation of the Liquor Trade_; A. Shadwell,
_Drink, Temperance and Legislation_; Strauss und Torney,
_Schanks-Konzessionswesen_; F. W. Thompson, _High Licence_. See also
TEMPERANCE. (A. Sl.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] In 1908 local option was adopted in Ohio.
LIRA, the Italian name (Lat. _libra_, pound) for a silver coin, the
Italian unit of value in the Latin Monetary Union, corresponding to the
French, Swiss and Belgian franc (q.v.), and the drachma of Greece, &c.
The name is sometimes used of the Turkish pound, _medjidie_.
LIRI, or GARIGLIANO (anc. _Liris_), a river of central Italy, which
rises at Cappadocia, 7 m. W. of Avezzano, and traverses a beautiful
valley between lofty mountains, running S.S.E. as far as Arce. This
valley is followed by the railway from Avezzano to Roccasecca. At Isola
del Liri are two fine waterfalls. Below Ceprano, the ancient Fregellae,
after it has issued from the mountains, the Liri is joined by the Sacco
(anc. _Trerus_) formed by the union of several torrents between
Palestrina and Segni, and the Melfa from the mountains N.E. of Atina,
and runs E. through a broader valley. It then turns S. again through the
mountains S.W. of the Via Latina (the line of which is followed by the
modern railway to Naples), keeping W. of Rocca Monfina, and falls into
the sea just below Minturnae, after a course of 104 m. It is not
navigable at any point.
LIROCONITE, a rare mineral consisting of hydrous basic copper and
aluminium arsenate, with the probable formula Cu9Al4(OH)15(AsO4)5·20H2O.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, forming flattened octahedra
almost lenticular in shape (hence the German name _Linsenkupfer_).
Characteristic is the bright sky-blue colour, though sometimes, possibly
owing to differences in chemical composition, it is verdigris-green. The
colour of the streak or powder is rather paler; hence the name
liroconite, from the Gr. [Greek: leiros], pale, and [Greek: konia],
powder. The hardness is 2½, and the specific gravity 2.95. The mineral
was found at the beginning of the 19th century in the copper mines near
Gwennap in Cornwall, where it was associated with other copper arsenates
in the upper, oxidized portions of the lodes. (L. J. S.)
LISBON (_Lisboa_), the capital of the kingdom of Portugal and of the
department of Lisbon; on the right bank of the river Tagus, near its
entrance into the Atlantic Ocean, in 38° 42´ 24´´ N. and 9° 11´ 10´´ W.
Pop. (1900) 356,009. Lisbon, the westernmost of European capitals, is
built in a succession of terraces up the sides of a range of low hills,
backed by the granite mountains of Cintra. It fronts the Tagus, and the
view from the river of its white houses, and its numerous parks and
gardens, is comparable in beauty with the approach to Naples or
Constantinople by sea. The lower reaches of the estuary form a channel
(Entrada do Tejo) about 2 m. wide and 8 m. long, which is partially
closed at its mouth by a bar of silt. Owing to the reclamation of the
foreshore on the right, and the consequent narrowing of the waterway,
the current flows very swiftly down this channel, which is the sole
outlet for the immense volume of water accumulated in the Rada de
Lisboa--a tidal lake formed by the broadening of the estuary in its
upper part to fill a basin 11 m. long with an average breadth of nearly
7 m. The southern or left shore of the channel rises sharply from the
water's edge in a line of almost unbroken though not lofty cliffs; the
margin of the lake is flat, marshy and irregular. Lisbon extends for
more than 5 m. along the shores of both channel and lake, and for more
than 3 m. inland. Its suburbs, which generally terminate in a belt of
vineyards, parks or gardens, interspersed with villas and farms, stretch
in some cases beyond the Estrada Militar, or Estrada da Nova
Circumvallação, an inner line of defence 25 m. long, supplementary to
the forts and other military works at the mouth of the Tagus, on the
heights of Cintra and Alverca, and at Caxias, Sacavem, Monsanto and
Ameixoeira. The climate of Lisbon is mild and equable, though somewhat
oppressive in summer. Extreme cold is so rare that in the twenty years
1856-1876 snow fell only thrice; and in the 18th and early 19th
centuries Lisbon was justly esteemed as a winter health-resort. The mean
annual temperature is 60.1° F., the mean for winter 50.9°, the average
rainfall 29.45 in. As in 1906, when no rain fell between April and
September, long periods of drought are not uncommon, although the
proximity of the Atlantic and the frequency of sea-fogs keep the
atmosphere humid; the mean atmospheric moisture is nearly 71 (100 =
saturation). There is a good water supply, conveyed to the city by two
vast aqueducts. The older of these is the Aqueducto das Aguas Livres,
which was built in the first half of the 18th century and starts from a
point near Bellas, 15 m. W.N.W. Its conduits, which are partly
underground, are conveyed across the Alcantara valley through a
magnificent viaduct of thirty-five arches, exceeding 200 ft. in height.
At the Lisbon end of the aqueduct is the Mae d'Agua (i.e. "Mother of
Water"), containing a huge stone hall in the midst of which is the
reservoir. The Alviella aqueduct, opened in 1880, brings water from
Alviella near Pernes, 70 m. N.N.E. Numerous fountains are among the
means of distribution. Sewage is discharged into the Tagus, and the
sanitation of the city is good, except in the older quarters.
_Divisions of the City._--The four municipal districts (_bairros_) into
which Lisbon is divided are the _Alfama_, or old town, in the east; the
_Cidade Baixa_, or lower town, which extends inland from the naval
arsenal and custom house; the _Bairro Alto_, comprising all the high
ground west of the Cidade Baixa; and the _Alcantara_, or westernmost
district, named after the small river Alcantara, which flows down into
the Tagus. Other names commonly used, though unofficial, are "Lisboa
Oriental" as an alternative for Alfama; "Lisboa Occidental" for the
slopes which lead from the Cidade Baixa to the Bairro Alto; "Buenos
Ayres" (originally so named from the number of its South American
residents) for the Bairro Alto S.W. of the Estrella Gardens and E. of
the Necessidades Park; "Campo de Ourique" and "Rato" for the suburbs
respectively N.W. and N.E. of Buenos Ayres.
_The Alfama._--The Alfama, which represents Roman and Moorish Lisbon, is
less rich in archaeological interest than its great antiquity might
suggest, although parts of a Roman temple, baths, &c., have been
disinterred. But as the earthquake of 1755 did comparatively little
damage to this quarter, many of its narrow, steep and winding alleys
retain the medieval aspect which all other parts of the city have lost;
and almost rival the slums of Oporto in picturesque squalor. The most
conspicuous feature of the Alfama is the rocky hill surmounted by the
Castello de São Jorge, a Moorish citadel which has been converted into a
fort and barracks. The Sé Patriarchal, a cathedral founded in 1150 by
Alphonso I., is said by tradition to have been a Moorish mosque. It was
wrecked by an earthquake in 1344 and rebuilt in 1380, but the earthquake
of 1755 shattered the dome, the roof and belfry were subsequently
burned, and after the work of restoration was completed the choir and
façade were the only parts of the 14th-century Gothic church unspoiled.
In one of the side chapels is the tomb of St Vincent (d. 304), patron
saint of Lisbon; a pair of ravens kept within the cathedral precincts
are popularly believed to be the same birds which, according to the
legend, miraculously guided the saint's vessel to the city. The armorial
bearings of Lisbon, representing a ship and two ravens, commemorate the
legend. Other noteworthy buildings in the Alfama are the 12th-century
church of São Vicente de Fóra, originally, as its name implies,
"outside" the city; the 13th-century chapel of Nossa Senhora do Monte;
the 16th-century church of Nossa Senhora da Graça, which contains a
reputed wonder-working statue of Christ and the tomb of Alphonso
d'Albuquerque (1453-1515); and a secularized Augustinian monastery, used
as the archbishop's palace.
_Modern Lisbon._--West of the Alfama the city dates chiefly from the
period after the great earthquake. Its lofty houses, arranged in long
straight streets, its gardens and open spaces, a few of its public
buildings, and almost all its numerous statues and fountains, will bear
comparison with those of any European capital. The centre of social and
commercial activity is the district which comprises the Praça do
Commercio, Rua Augusta, Rocío, and Avenida da Liberdade, streets and
squares occupying the valley of a vanished tributary of the Tagus. The
Praça do Commercio is a spacious square, one side of which faces the
river, while the other three sides are occupied by the arcaded buildings
of the custom house, post office and other government property. In the
midst is a bronze equestrian statue of Joseph I., by J. M. de Castro,
which was erected in 1775 and gives point to the name of "Black Horse
Square" commonly applied to the Praça by the British. A triumphal arch
on the north side leads to Rua Augusta, originally intended to be the
cloth-merchants' street; for the plan upon which Lisbon was rebuilt
after 1755 involved the restriction of each industry to a specified
area. This plan succeeded in the neighbouring Rua Aurea and Rua da
Prata, still, as their names indicate, famous for goldsmiths' and
silversmiths' shops. Rua Augusta terminates on the north in the Rocío or
Praça de Dom Pedro Quarto, a square paved with mosaic of a curious
undulatory pattern and containing two bronze fountains, a lofty pillar
surmounted by a statue of Pedro IV., and the royal national theatre
(Teatro de Dona Maria Segunda), erected on the site which the
Inquisition buildings occupied from 1520 to 1836. The narrow Rua do
Principe, leading past the central railway station, a handsome Mauresque
building, connects the Rocío with the Avenida da Liberdade, one of the
finest avenues in Europe. The central part of the Avenida, a favourite
open-air resort of Lisbon society, is used for riding and driving; on
each side of it are paved double avenues of trees, with flower-beds,
statues, ponds, fountains, &c., and between these and the broad
pavements are two roadways for trams and heavy traffic. Thus the Avenida
has the appearance of three parallel streets, separated by avenues of
trees instead of houses. Its width exceeds 300 ft. It owes its name to
an obelisk 98 ft. high, erected in 1882 at its southern end, to
commemorate the liberation of Portugal from Spanish rule (December,
1640). North and north-east of the Avenida are the Avenida Park, the
Edward VII. Park (so named in memory of a visit paid to Lisbon by the
king of England in 1903), Campo Grande, with its finely wooded walks,
and Campo Pequeno, with the bull-ring. Other noteworthy public gardens
are the Passeio da Estrella, commanding magnificent views of the city
and river, the Largo do Principe Real, planted with bananas and other
tropical trees, the Tapada das Necessidades, originally the park of one
of the royal residences, and the Botanical Gardens of the polytechnic
school, with a fine avenue of palms and collections of tropical and
subtropical flora hardly surpassed in Europe. There are large Portuguese
cemeteries east and west of Lisbon, a German cemetery, and an English
cemetery, known also as _Os Cyprestes_ from the number of its cypresses.
This was laid out in 1717 at the cost of the British and Dutch residents
and contains the graves of Henry Fielding (1707-1754), the novelist, and
Dr Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), the Nonconformist divine.
Lisbon is the seat of an archbishop who since 1716 has borne _ex
officio_ the honorary title of patriarch; he presides over the House of
Peers and is usually appointed a cardinal. The churches of modern Lisbon
are generally built in the Italian style of the 18th century; the
interiors are overlaid with heavy ornament. Perhaps the finest is the
Estrella church, with its white marble dome and twin towers visible for
many miles above the city. The late Renaissance church of São Roque
contains two beautiful chapels dating from the 18th century, one of
which is inlaid with painted tiles, while the other was constructed in
Rome of coloured marbles, and consecrated by the pope before being
shipped to Lisbon. Its mosaics and lapis lazuli pillars are
exceptionally fine. The 14th-century Gothic Igreja do Carmo was
shattered by the great earthquake. Only the apse, pillared aisles and
outer walls remain standing, and the interior has been converted into an
archaeological museum. The church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição has a
magnificent Manoeline façade.
The Palacio das Cortes, in which both Houses of Parliament sit, is a
16th-century Benedictine convent, used for its present purpose since
1834. It contains the national archives, better known as the Torre do
Tombo collection, because in 1375 the archives were first stored in a
tower of that name. The royal palace, or Paço das Necessidades, west of
Buenos Ayres, is a vast 18th-century mansion occupying the site of a
chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Necessidades (i.e. "Our Lady who
helps at need").