, Nothing regarding Mount Stewart, however, is recorded until April of 1875 when a largely attended meeting deputied Rev. D: J. Gillis, Rev. W. R. Frame, 1. C. Berrie and others “to take immedlate action in reference to the re-opening of Whelan’s Tavern . . . in direct op- position to the well—understood and publicly expressed wishes of the people.” The outcome is not known; however, in February of 1877, and again in August, the Patriot reported that “the most determined efforts” to obtain licences were put forth by would-be tavern keepers and that, in each case, “the temperance men were equal to the occasion and now

rejoice in the triumph of their cause.”

In 1878, the Canada Temperance Act, commonly called the Scott Act, was enacted by the Federal Government. A local option prohibitory law, each section of the country had to approve it before prohibition became operative within its boundaries. Its enforcement was, morever, the responsibility of temperance organizations or private individuals. Queen’s County approved it in 1880.

The work of the various temperance committees established in Mount Stewart was uneven. A great spurt of Scott Act work would be followed by a period of quiescence during which the anti-temperance forces would have opportunity to recover and break out afresh. Thus, in July of 1883, a number of the “most influential inhabitants of Mount Stewart” were reported to have formed themselves into a society for the purpose of having the Scott Act enforced in the village. Although the Reform Association, as it was called, did summon the village’s “prin- cipal offender” before a Justice of the Peace, it seems to have been a phe- nomenally short-lived organization, for a meeting was called on Sep- tember 17th of the same year to set up a committee “for the suppression of the illicit liquor traffic which has sprung up in the community!” The second committee had more clout, for, in February, 1884, it was re- ported that “peace and quietness reigns, not a drop of intoxicating drink to be had in the village, where, not three months since, it was openly retailed in no less than four different places.”

Temperance societies seem to have been formed almost as fre- quently as the committees. Perhaps the most impressive was the Mount Stewart Temperance Union, established by five young men of the com— munity on Christmas Day, 1884. The five entered into a “solemn and binding pledge” of total abstinence, the penalty for violation of which was exposure through the public press. With increased membership, the organization appointed a vigilance committee to investigate any charges brought against its members. Of the other societies, the Women’s Christ- ian Temperance Union exercised a strong moral influence; indeed, fol- lowing one of the periodic collapses of the Sons of Temperance, that or- ganization carried on the work unaided for a time. There were also fraternities in the surrounding communities, and an especially strong one existed at Head of Hillsborough. Flower of the Forest Lodge in Savage Harbour also did notable work.

In spite of so much effort, by 1891 references were being made to “the desert of rum-ruled Mount Stewart.” Rum was indeed ruling, as the Committee, claiming inability to get along with the local magis- trates, had announced its intention of ceasing prosecutions. Hon. Frede- rick Peters, Provincial Attorney-General, in a letter to the Mount Stew- art prosecutor dated December 12, 1891, declared this to be a very poor reason, inasmuch as the Committee could easily have its cases brought before magistrates in Charlottetown or some other part of the country. Nevertheless, stating that a magistrate had refused to act when re-

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