THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1881. "LAMBING DOWN."

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2256, 25 June 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1881. "LAMBING DOWN."

We are glad to observe that, in the progress of the Licensing Bill through the House, attention has been called to that infamous process known as "lambing down," and an amendment has been passed dealing specially with the subject. None excopt extremely new arrivals can fail to know what " lambing down" means, but for the sake of those innocents, verdantly unsophisticated in colonial wiles, we may explain that the process is much as follows: —A working man gains a considerable amount of money by months of work, and is paid by cheque by his employer. He goes to a public-house, deposits the cheque with the landlord, and proceeds to " drink it out. 1 ' After a few dayß he wakes up from his debauch and finds himself a penniless man. The amount of liquor that he, and the friends for whom he has been supposed to be continually " shouting," are said to have consumed, is something astonishing. The landlord informs him that he has been in a half-frenzied state, treating everybody, and he is forced to accept the statement. If the sufferer obtains a few shillings from mine host to enable him to reach the nearest place where he can get employment, he may consider himself a lucky man. The cheque goes into the till of the hotelkeeper, and the spider looks out for another fly. Such is the process of " lambing down" pure and simple. But, like many of the fine arts, it has infinite ramifications. The imaginary working man alluded to above is a specimen of a more or less voluntary victim. It ia not the first time probably that he has been operated upon. He looks upon the process as, more or less, the normal state of individuals in his position when in funds—he may have made some fooblo struggles in days gone by with a view of saving his money, but that was some time ago, when the bloom of youth had not been rubbed off by contact with an nnaympathising world and too sympathising landlords. Now, however, he recognises that his cheque is surely fated to disappear in drink, and it matters but little whether it go in three or four days or in a month. But there are other sons of toil who do not take " lambing down " quite so easily, and for them extra manipulation has to be employed. Drugged or doctored liquor ia what is used to bring them to a proper frame of mind. A well-trained landlord will recognise at once the man who possesses a cheque. There is a nameless something about him that appeals to the finer instincts of the boniface. Let, then, the wayfarer taste but one glass of spirits, or even boor, and ho is what our American cousins wotdd call a " gone coon." From the effects of that fatal glass he never recovers until the produce of his months ef toil has vanished into thin air, as far as ho is concerned. Wo have heard of instances in which men have resolutely passed the place of temptation on their way to the Savings Bank in town, but have had a messenger sent after them by the landlord, who has brought them back on some trivial excuse, and thon has followed the doctored cup and the inevitable sequel. Porhaps the class that has suffered, and indeed does still suffer, most from this nefarious practice is that which comprises shearers and station-hands. They are paid at longer intervals and, consequently, in larger sums than most laboring men. Their long seclusion in the wilds seems to render them more liable to " go on the spree " when they have an opportunity. To show the length to which " lambing down " may be carried, we may quote a quite recent caso in Sydney. In this instance a man named Buckley went to stop at a hotel with upwards of £l7O in his pocket. The landlord proceeded to business, and in about three weeks the victim died. At the inquest, the landlord swore that deceased ordered over 2000 drinks during the time he was at his house, and took as many as one hundred nobblers a day. The deceased was described as a finelooking, powerful man, in perfect health when ho first entered this don of infamy. During the time he was staying there he made one or two attempts to get away and recover the money ho had lodged with the landlord, but his efforts wore entirely fruitless. In the earlier days of the colony the sight of the " lambed-down ones " was, perhaps, more common than at present; but still there are up-country accommodation houses which appear scarcely proporly furnished unless there are to be seen one or two miserable and blear-eyed individuals sleeping on a bench in the tap-room, or lounging about the promises. And those are the " lambs " undergoing shearing. Tho terrible moral degradation to all concerned in this process is at once apparent, while tho laboring man is injured physically as well. We can only hope that if the amended clause on the subject in tho now Bill becomes law, it will have the effect anticipated.

The amendment moved by Sir W. Fox was certainly the more thorough, but, unless its effect could be in some instances limited, it would cause much inconvenience. The flaw in Mr. Fisher's amendment, of course, lies in the fact that it will be exceedingly difficult to prove wfrtther the cheque was paid by the victim before or after the debauch was made. However, it is something that a downright attempt has boen made to stop a system which would bo a disgrace to the lowest civilization.