THE GLOBE. SATURDAY. JUKE 17, 1882. THE YOUNG MEN’S CLUB.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2556, 17 June 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY. JUKE 17, 1882. THE YOUNG MEN’S CLUB.

With every wish to see the movement for the establishment of a Young Men’s Club prosper, we cannot but take exception to the programme as laid down in the *• Press ” of this morning as likely to do considerable harm, so far as its success is concerned. We should not take so much notice of the article in question if it did not bear the impress of being inspired by the promoters of the scheme, but as it does so, it appears necessary to call attention to it. After describing the raison d'etre of the proposition made by the Dean in his lecture on “ Amusement*,’’ the article proceeds to give ns an idea of what is proposed in connection with the projected club. We are told that it is not intended as a place where the young men of the city engaged in business all day can resort for a few hours’ innocent relaxation. Not at all. If this class of persons require anything of this hind they must get it up for themselves, or find it at the hotel bars and elsewhere. It is not, wo are told, “to consider their [ i.c the young men of Christchurch] moral and mentaljwelfare” that the meeting on Monday next is called. In the innocence of our hearts we thought ih: t this was the very class the Dean and those who think with him wished to got together. These are the people over whom so much lamentation has been made as to their frequenting hotels, &c., yet, when there is a movement for the establishment of an institution which will provide means for the profitable and intellectual disposal of their leisure hours, thus offering a counter attraction to the hotels, &c., the door is shut in their face. Instead of a Young Men’s Club, the projected institution, if we are to take the “ Press” as an authority, should be called “The Larrikins’ Retreat,” or “ Refuge for the Hoodlum.” It is proposed—so we gather—to go out, as it were, into the highways and by-ways, and bring in the street Arabs to be talked into goodness and educated in the ways of rectitude by means of illustrated newspapers. If this be so, then we at once predict a failure. The larrikin will not come, let the Dean or the reverend gentlemen associated with him charm never so wisely. Besides, suppose they did, will the Dean tell us that he has any hope of effecting a reformation of these so-called J larrikins ? We venture to say that not r a dozen would be found to attend, and > the whole affair would languish and [ ultimately die a natural death. We feel b sure that the general public will never t aupport anything like what the “ Press ” * this morning states it is the intention of i the promoters to propose. A reformatory • may be, and doubtless is, very much rej quired in Christchurch, but it must not E bo started on the lines of the lines J of the so-called Young Men’s Club. , With every belief in the efficacy E of draughts, chests, well-lighted rooms, ! plenty of books and illustrated papers, aa ’ a means of inducing well disposed young men to spend their leisure hours profitably and innocently, we moat certainly do j not think for one moment that these accessories can be used successfully in reclaiming the young larrikin who has s entered, or is about to enter, on a career of crime. This is not the way to deal . with larrikinism ; it is an evil requiring, not the kid glove, but the mailed gauntlet, and to attempt a movement of 3 the kind suggested will be an utter and > complete failure. What is wanted 3 is a place where the young business men of Christchurch can spend their time without the temptations of a publichouse. A reformatory for juvenile offenders is quite a different thing, and 5 we do not feel called upon, if this be the ‘ project of the Dean, to afford any supj port to it. We trust, therefore, that the , meeting on Monday will set its face resolutely against any proposal of this kind, but that there will be a hearty and , substantial support accorded to the establishment in our midst of a Young Men’s Club on the basis we referred to in our 1 former article on this subject. If this be agreed to, we feel sure the people as a whole will come forward to help, but not for the provision of a ragged school such as the “ Press ” this morning advocates. MIDNIGHT LICENSES. We feel sure that all who have given the subject a little thought will sympathise with the position in which the Licensing Committees are placed in respect to midnight licenses. The present Act, for which we have to thank the bigotry and shortsightedness of the Good Templars, provides that all houses must close at ten o’clock except those to whom extensions are granted till midnight. Now, doubtless, the champions of temperance thought they were doing a very good thing by closing the houses at ten p.m., quite overlooking the fact that an extra hour is added on to a number of hotels, the proprietors of which would much prefer the present hour of eleven. There was no wish for an extension of time yet throughout the colony, perhaps over a hundred hotels have an extra hour granted to them wherein to sell liquor. This, it seems to us, far out-weighs the numbers of those who are restricted to ten o’clock, and, therefore, in this, as in many other respects, the Act is an absurdity. We do not share with the chairman of the Licensing Committees the belief that there will bo any substantial amendment of the Act this session. The proposed Bill is so overburdened with amendments intended to bo introduced in committee, that it is moro than probable it will never pass. However, wo should like to see a movement in favor of establishing the hour of closing at 11 p.m. throughout the colony, which wo feel sure would go far more towards curtailing drinking than the present midnight extensions.