HOTELS AND HOTELKEEPERS.-No.III.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume II, Issue 136, 20 December 1873, Page 3

HOTELS AND HOTELKEEPERS.-No.III.

TO THE BDtTOB. Sib, -Gum becoming scarce in the 9pot w her« wc nad been workmg, my mate and I were “on the wallaby track in quest of fresh fields and pastures new. On one occasion, when seated r. n .r f w »g" I Booking oar pipes, save Talltoe* (my male • nickname i he ia about 4ft JOin high and has exceedingly large feet), “Look here. Kokum (my mate baa always called me by that appellation since I “ bagged*' him on one oeeaSion when he was undergoing a lively attack of f e J r ? uw * the effects of a few hours indulgence in bad grog. He became most violent and pugnacious even towards me. and so mueh so a* to be dangerous. To secure him, I procured a Urge sack, put Talltors into, arms and ail, sewed the mouth of it around hi# neck, and by that means rendered him harmless), since that bout of I*, t. * 1 had, I never knew any feller grow so Uncommonly bilious as you do whenever the liquor «raffle subject crop# up. I see no use in harping upon its direful consequences unless you f* r ‘, !t l , for ' h ,. a , re ®« d T '• I think, Kokottk thot that is a little beyond your limited capacity; I replied, Don t you lor one second entertsia . that erroneous impression, for, with John BftUV - •**»t.inoe. I can cither effect a cure or go no*hd of a long way towards it. So listen i In sts» proviucitil town, or any other place where it tte practicable, analytical chemist*, holding certificates of competency, should be appointed and liberally remunerated for analysing ail liquors handed to S 0 P°. ,lc ®»« thop i«e»- Samples of spirits should be obtained from the publicans, although the pohoe should not be compelled to take any active part m procuring ; but a few trustworthy mechanics, labouring men, or other suitable (Good Templars and teetotaller# would smt beet) should be appointed and liberally paid for that purpose. They should, according to directions from the police, settle down a month or two m certain localities and work at their respective callings, and from time to time obtain samples of grog and beer from hotelkeepers. Two such officials should always bo present when such transactions take place, and immediately the liquor be obtained it should be labelled, then sealed, initialed by both, and afterwards handed to the police authorities, who should then and there take note# respecting the matter, and afterwards convey the liquor to the proper place for analysis. Should the liquor prove unwholesome, then the procurators could appear and give evidence against the hotelkeepers for disposing of it j and if I am not mistaken there is a law ia force which would enable the * powers that be* to inflict very heavy fines against such offenders. If no such law is m force, then the sooner it be enacted the better." TaUtoes smoked his pipe until I had ceased speaking, then, having knocked out the ashes, he gravely remarked, « Kokmn.oJd chap, look here—-hsvs yea ever bees a lawyer's cl*rk or a constable P because the way you com# around the matter of obtaining the grog, and more especially when you propose to have two tellers to do the sealing up and initialing business, lead# me to conclude that you have figured either as the one or the other. I fancy your ideas practicable, and it is not improbable they might work well if carried into effect. They would most certainly put a decided check upon the very barefaced and wholesale manner in which poisonous grog is disposed of, because a state of unmitigated funk would be established amongst the dispensers thereof. Them's my sentiments." I muet tell you, Mr Editor, that I was educated for and afterwards followed up the profession of a greengrocer. London E., until I emigrated and fT*’ 80 you ra , ay , ea PP° te I emphatically repudiated my mate s insinuation# as to my previous career m life. * in the course of a little time X should much like, with your kind permission, to renew the subject j and expose the manner in which bovs and young men are enticed into hotels, then led into gambling and hard drinking, the consequences being, in many instances, ruin to their characters and constitutions.—l am, &c., Qtrst Diooaa.

An error occurred in a ** shipping local ’* pub* lished in our lust issue. It was etated that the Luna brought 40,000 feet of condemned Militia timber from Opotiici to Tearing*. Wo were wrongly informed and hasten to correct the . Sbe brought 7, C00 feet only of surplus Militia timber for issue here. The New Zealand Examiner, a London paper, pronounces New Zealand another England without even one of those social evils which at the present day form the most perplexing problems of coa« tam purer j statesmen.