THE DRINK INTERESTS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2145, 10 January 1881, Page 3

THE DRINK INTERESTS.

To the kditor of the Globe. Sib,—The telephone is open. * Are you there ?' ' Yes. Listen.' * What's a' aboot they telegrams and the publicans—bodys at Westport hein' fined for sellin' a wee drappy o' drink on Nersday nicht, they heathen polees cudna lee the peer bodys alane on that blessed O, a nichts that jist comes peepin' in, afore the new year.' ' Are you there ?' •Yes.'

' Well Jock, I suppose the police are forced to do their duty at Westport, and It would appear from the telegram you speak of that the Buperlr tendent there obliges his men to do their duty, and the magistrate knows his duty, because in most cases he inflicted a penalty on that occasion.' ' I, I man, that's a' gld enouoh in it's place, bit hoo is it that they publicans in Ohristchurch keep open hoose a' nicht, an' diel a words iver speered at them, an' you ken Nersday on'y comes yinoe a year.' 'Jiet bide awee. I'll be back in twa dodds.' ' Are you there ?' *A' richt laudy.' ' Ycur breath smells of whiskey, Jook.' ' I faith jist a wee taint.' ' You see, Jock, probably the superintendent of police at Westport is an Irishman, and knows nothing of your old country habits of giving welcome to the new year, throngh your Scotch god Bacahus.' * Are you there ? ' « Yes.' ' Weel, weel, sic ignorance. I thoucht a' bo:"ya ken'd that we micht geet foo on Nersday nicht, and no be fashed wi' they polees. You ken wo hea an Irish boss o' the polees in Christchurcb, an' he kens richt weel what he's deein'. You ken he neer fashed they publican bodies on that nicht. Ava, blessins on his coloured pate, for a' that, and a' that.' * Don't run away Jock.' ' Na, na, lad, Ise na needin. I hea a dram aside me.' ' Listen.' ' Perhaps you are mistakan as to the fellowfeeling between the publicans and our superintendent; if you read the Globb you will often see reported, in its police oolumn, that from three to twelve men are found by the police drinking at a public-house bar at twelve or one o'clock in the morning; the case, through his instrumentality, is generally proven in Court, but through the stupidity of the B.M. or the Justices of the Peace that hears tho case it is generally dismissed, and the man that you would take to be your friend, ard that of the publican, gets so horribly disgusted with such abortions of justice (justice, save the mark), that I suppose ho thinks it is useless to force his men to strictness.'

* Weel, weel, Tarn, its a' vara gid, but you maun ken that I gea aff my watch at fower o' the clock, an' it's guy baundy tae jist win tae the back dor, cry the nioht porter, an' get my gill a' gid auld reeky afore I win hame. The clock is chappen fower, an'_ afore five minutes I'll drink your health in a holph mutckin. Gead night, or morns rather.' Yours, &c, JOCK MoCLAOHHEN.