Public control of alcohol: licensing trusts in New Zealand.

Abstract

SummaryPublic control of the availability of alcohol has been introduced in various forms in a number of countries, particularly where there has been a strong temperance movement. In these circumstances, public control has sometimes been promoted as an alternative to the possible introduction of national prohibition. This paper briefly summarizes the chronological events leading up to the introduction of licensing trusts in the 1940s as a form of local community control in various areas of New Zealand. Licensing trusts, the promotion of which was partly a reaction against the poor business practices of the liquor trade, quickly gained such popularity amongst the population that many local communities voted in favour of trust control whenever an opportunity to do so arose. The paper also examines the continued viability of the trusts as part of the alcohol trading scene in New Zealand in the 1980s, under social circumstances vastly different to the 1940s when trusts were first established. The dissolution of the Carlisle scheme in the United Kingdom, is briefly compared with the possible future of the New Zealand licensing trusts. It is concluded that the trust concept may have considerable potential for community participation in the reduction of alcohol problems, but liberalization of non‐trust alcohol outlets in licensing trust areas may limit the effectiveness of this role.