THE LICENSING ACT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2260, 22 October 1889, Page 2

THE LICENSING ACT.

THE'LIGBNBI^G^AOT^; xo the itorrdft. -} ;^::-':-r;i . 8m — The state of atf itlre df«6lod«4'ty,. the report In youe' papfer' oil :<! theoases heard betora the Just*o*S ;6ri' Monday is atatreisln* m the extreme It li sufficient to point our, wlUw oat dwalhog on the fact, that it wjp shown taba posalble In this town foi auff, resident with m >ney m bis pooket--aacr > the mora respectable bfs position la society, the moua 'easily apparently-^ to go from licensed house to 'Uceniid hoaoe and drenoh himself with llqqor on « Sanday until he had to "doss down, 7 ' as the aw*ggers would pat It, on a sofa, obllvi.ua > of all his surroundings, and. lie there (m a hotel too) until he w«s abfe to go home. His recollections- of event! ceased apparently when he left the first' hotel charged with supplying him with liquor, on?y returned In ah' z/ way whftn b« awoke and found hlmielf on the sot« In the second, and oaasad again until be found hlmielf In bed In hli owa house on Monday morniog, This is a aad oonfe»*lon for an edao»ted and Intelligent maa to h«ve to make In a witness box, but It la far sadder t? know that under our vaunted L'oenslng Aot suoh . things are possible. At 1 he. street opvftn one hears the police blamed! fofr'Buoh prosecutions of the hotel-keepers aa those f Monday. I have no blame to lay at tha door of the police for tbe prosecutions In question. Bat I have blame to lay at 'h3ir doors for not carrying out the Aot In lie entirety so far as Sunday trading la aonoerned I«. In a well < known: fact thai there ii not a hotel In the town In whloh liquor Is not sold on Sunday, and to ill and any who may onme to a«k for It, exoept perhaps to prohibited persons who may/be susneoted of being likely to o»aia trouble over. the transaction. '-> Aitioortbn is no wor»e\ Id. this' connebfcloH that any other part of tbe colony. la faot it Is rather better, as the.main body of tha people are not drinking pdople.^ Bui If any one ohooie, for hie own Information to picket our hotels, eaoh In turn on successive Sunday* he would be surprised to find to* maniy men,:.oeltner travellers nor lodgers dropped In to have th. I • •• refresher." Ib la an open searet, and there Is no we Ulnklng the matter; There was a time, too, when drinking after hours daring the week* was largely oirrled on ) bat that rooms to a greaY extent to have died oat. At any rate it Is not so essy • s !t used to ba to get into the hotels late at night, and twelve b'dlbek Is In the main, an hour that, sees moat of our hotel people In bed and the gaeiti all out, , ; But the question that moat naturally arises m regard to this Illlolt trade la liquor—for I oontend that 1 quor sold at lllopal times is as much " sheening " as selling without Ifoause at all—ls, would a straight observance of the law on the park of tbe hotel-keepars themselves not be far more to their advantage than running suoh risks as they ran In the oases heard on Monday ? Why Bhould It be neoessary to keep their bars open at all on Sunday ? The loop holes nbout lodgers and travellers are the veriest fudge. At meals lodger* could have their beer If they wanted It, of oourse, but beoause a few men arestaying In a hotel they are entitled tooarry on their toping habits «lld!»y. and be stalk* ing horses for their acquaintances do'ng tb« same, seems to me to be. a piece of great abjurdlty. If a man ohoosea to live In a boarding house lostisd of a hotel he b»s to do without his liquor, If he has not, ■uppllod himself the day before. Th» «'travel[ee " provision is great nonaens* also. How is a publloan to know wbetbtr a man ha« travelled the legal dlitaoot. or travelled »t all foe that matter 1 But If Sttodoy-dtloWiag Is to bo pat ao end to. It mv.at be done by tha«police. Yet it !• a peculiar thing that an/ time the polios have moved m the matter >of breaohea of the Aot In Ashburton; and have oalled opbn the people most elaunant fiw tbelr punishment, and m the belt poaftlon to give evldenoe, to come forward and help them, they hare found that they were leaning on a broken raed, and the evidence tendered was of a most milk and water kind. Small wonder that ths police do not otto to be In the field for breaohea of tbe Lloenalng Aot, when th«y< do not obtain the praotloal help of those who m»ke most nolne about the hreabhe** I oontend that while hotel-keepers are oatrylog on their business m a fait way v having some sort of consideration for tbe family, the health, and the reputation of the poor drivellers who allow a lust for liquor to get foil control of their wills; and occasionally, by> a stern refusal to supply aach with liquor, at any rate m Illegal bouts, bringing suoh men up with a round tavn $ the* hotel keepers ought to be. let «jone. Or, If they are t<» be atUoked ai aW, let It bo oo every ocoajiloa when the f aot of ao Illegal sale becomes known to the police, and then let there be no respeot of persons, not one house marked out to make an example of, but let aotlon be taken against every one In whloh a pase opoun. For a considerable length of time porhap* these oharges would ba freqaoot,' but they would booomo leu and less so, as tho publloani began to dlsoovor that ' tha law was Intended to be enforoed, I am eto., No Halt Miuubss.