THE LICENSING ACT.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2622, 1 September 1882, Page 3

THE LICENSING ACT.

To the Editor of the Globe. Sir—A portion of your mb-leader of the 31st ultimo reads nearly aa follows:—“We are in hopes the Licensing Bench have di‘covered the mistake they made in granting midnight licenses.” Again, you say, “We strongly advocated that all the licensed houses should stand on an equal footing, and failed to see why unfair partiality should be shown to a few houses in the trade.” Sir, lam with you in both cases. I am a Good Templar, and can assure yon that the majority of Good Templars do not feel dis. posed to stand qnletly by and see one man make a fortune at the expense of another. Moreover, the midnight license is the greatest curse that has yet befallen the man that cannot control his passion for drink. The extra hour the law allows him to imbibe Is still more ruinous to himself, his wife, and his family. His wife is still more persecuted by the lateness of the hour, or rather the earllness of his arrival to hla neglected home and his desponding wife, I wish it to he understood this I do not wiita in favor of the vendors of drink, but that the feeling of the public generally is that It wonld only be fair and just to treat all honses alike. I can assure yon, sir, that many right-thinking men call the aotlon'of the Committees by harder and stronger names than “unjust,” although I am ceitain the gentlemen the Committees are comprised of have acted at their last meetings with a righteous feeling both towards the pnblio and the publican. The Act was a new thirg, procured by continued and importunate demands, and nothing remained for the Committees hut to tty Its working. In the opinion of many some more houses—houses such as the Queers Hotel, the Eastern Hotel, the Palace Hotel, and a few others that have large and first-class accommodation—should have had the privilege of the extension. lam aware by experience that it is impossible to please every one; no wise man or body of men would try it. In conclusion, it may not be out of place to repeat that if the Committees on Tuesday next will only retrace their steps —go back to the old hour, cr any hour that in their judgment would suit the public and publican best the majority of the people would be satisfied so long aa all the hotelkeepers are treated alike. Not wishing to encroach farther on your valuable space, Yours, &c,, CONSISTENCY. September let, 1882.