SUNDAY TRADING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 116, 2 February 1918, Page 10

SUNDAY TRADING

Sir,—May I beg a few lines of snac9 to urge upon the authorities and others interested the urgency of increasing the penalty for Sunday, trading by proprietors of marble bars and such 4o eTabSS?!^, At l " ;CEent tho penalty is an amount so ridiculousii, , we oannofc |,e surprise:! when we learnvthat a number of tradm a ° f ?° t0 i ook U P°» tnnW cense fee " Its inadequacy would a pp ear to be almost an inli«ttf to 4 pi ? pri ? torß of such cstabshment3 t ? break the law. This is nnlA f° Ue '"li ,v ' lo ' esa l e manner, for thin a S° there were 110 less than 47 such eases before the Court. It one compares this with some other inflictions of penalties that have lately come under our notice, "surprise" ia scarcely the right word to use. For instance, we learn that some New Zealand men of military ago who have consistent y held ouo of the articles of faith of such men as William Pom (the founder of Pennsylvania), Jonathan JJymond (John Bright's teacher), and John Greenleaf Whittier (the Christian poet), have lately received two years' hard labour for "disobedience of orders," and this only in substitution for what was deemed a much (heavier penaltv. Why such differeneb in degrees of severity? Is it because in Vis one case the safety of tlia British Empire ia concerned, whereas in the other it is not? But in tho opinion of many people,- not altogether fools, Sunday desecration is one of a set of national vices which have far more to do with a nation's downfall than tha failure of any man to do military ' service. If our nation is morally rotten, all tho fleets and trained armies in tha world won't save it. Some may believe with Emerson that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds/' hut to tho average everyday citizen consistency does not so appear; and surely there should be at least some approach to consistency in tho imposition ::f legal penalties. Tho way of transgressors should be hard—transgressors of this law as much as any other. In conclusion, I would respectfully suggest that the fine be made £100, or at least £50.-1 am, etc., C. BOUGHTON JORDAN. Parsonage, Eketaliuna, January 31'.