LETTERS TO THE EDITOf?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2818, 8 July 1916, Page 10

LETTERS TO THE EDITOf?

1 EARLY CLOSING OF HOTELS Sir, —He the curtailment of the lioui'9 in which licensed houses may sell spirits and fermented lienors. It appears to me that all sorts of ways and means'are. made use of to draw a red herring across' the scent oE this' most vital movement, amongst them, is "the early closing of hotels." We don't want to dote the hotels at six o'clock; all we want to do is to close the bars and lwing the liquor traffic under the Shop Act. It lias been a matter of wonder to 1110 and many more why it was not clone when the Shop Act came into l'orce. Under the Act we can only obtain the necessaries of life -within stipulated licurs, and not even a prescription lo save life may be made t'lp outside of them;..yet one'can obtain that.which is the greatest blot on our boasted civilisation from six a.m. to 10 p.m., every day in the week except Sunclays, General Election and a few other days, year in and year out, to pander to an acquired taste which has not got a redeeming point to support it. Apart from the liquor traffic the hotel is eunply au accommodation house for travellers and {he public generally. The very last tiling that some of the hotel-keepers want is the mail who requires board and lodging only. .1 have seen n person come into a hotel and ask for dinner, and he was given the money to 'get it somewhere else, which is contrary to the Act. The publican is bound to find accommodation and food, but it is quite optional with him' to supply Any one with liquor. "Why this thm-ness?" .Tust look at Russia, the riost drunken nation under the sun. and the manufacture of the poison was a State monopoly; her peasantry were in 'poverty and dirt. /That was Iwfore the war. T.ook at h"r now. The Little Father knew what he was about. At the same time that be ordered mobilisation, he abolished the vodka business for goad. And the result is magnificent, and his peonle are satisfied that he was right. And we nro told- that if the liquor traffic is interfered with the Dominion will go bankrupt, or nearly so. "Fudge!" Kow, all that we want to (i<* at present is to briiij the liquor tramc under the Shop Act, pure nnd simple, ;\ucl we are -sure that .after it has had' a fair trial, the public will wonder why it had not been done .before. We shall hear of ' the parrot erv: "The high cost of living!" Also labour troubles and strikes. T want yon to understand that T em not a total abshiner, neither am I « believer in Prohibition, either of the indiiidual or Dominion; but have always been of the oninion that it is wrontr to fine the drunk. The whole of tlie licensees in each licensing district should be made to pay the fine collectively. There would be no trouble to collect it quarterly, or on the occasion of .a transfer, or in the event of the licensee doing ' a "get." Then the ground landlord should be liable, the onus of proof to rest on the licensee,—l am. pt<\. A TRTJE MODERATE.