The Temperance Movement in St. Andrews
The Temperance Movement was quite strong in 19th-century Canada, partly because of the abuses of cheap rum, which is almost a history of the sailing business in that century. Such prominent New Brunswickers as Sir Leonard Tilley were teetotallers, as were local St. Andrews men and women such as Editor Adam Smith of the Standard, R. E. Armstrong of the Beacon, and many others. The Scott Act, Canada's liquor prohibitory act, became law in 1878 but with a curious twist: it was not illegal to have or consume liquor, but only to sell it. This led to a great many legal knots in its adminstration and enforcement. R. E. Armstrong and others were of the opinion that eduction, and not coercion, served best the ends of temperance. The columns of the Beacon are festooned with many trenchant and at time hilarious inditements of the Scott Act.