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Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1924, Page 2

Onk of the special orders of r< ferene l ■ put to the ll.ii(>nsing Committee of ibe House now about to report to Parliament on licensing issues just referred to, was also the petition from the Coast signed by 82e8 | r >| le asking for considoratii n in tlie matter of the re-

adjustment of bouts of trading in the lour West Coast counties and interior horughs. At present the licensed hum.", are It a.in. to 8 p.m. —a total of nine hours daily. 'I he petition asked for the saute number of trailing hours. hut varied as follows:—10 a.in. to I p.m.; and 8 p.m. to !) p.m. The hotels would open tin hour later daily and close for two hours in the middle of the day. 1 ’ ut the trading in the evening would he extended for three hours. It was suggested this amendment of the law should apply only to the Coast. Special reasons were given for this rerpiest, and eviden e advanced to justify the

request. The present trailing hours cover the working hours, and debar the workmen who tire mostly in the country troin the ordinary facilities for comradeship which are convenient to the town dweller. On the Coast the hulk of the labor is employed in coal mining and saw milling. These are avocations which take the workmen away from the towns, and they arc cut off from the amenities of life which are at hand for the town worker. The frequency of persons being found on licensed premises shows some necessity for a. review of the position. As the law stands at present the six o’clock closing is tantamount to prohibition ■so far as the worker outside the town is concerned. He has to leave home in the early morning before the hotels are open, and lie does not return home till closing time. The ionsei|i:enee is

that there is a tendency to break the law by these who wish for a social hour. There is unfortunately an absence of clubs on the Const, and the men are driven to the hotels if they wish to enjoy the company of their fellowmen. The Coast is actually a

very temperate area, and it .should he the aim of the authorities to encourage that state of affairs by reasonable regulation. There fs some reason to believe that a readjustment r.f hours would result iu greater respe t for the law. and what the country needs to do is to encourage n loyal adherence to the law. This can be clo.no best by using a spirit of sweet reasonableness, anil if that were attempted in regard to licensed hours for trading, the community value would be very great.

Concern ns to the state of the increase

iii" indebtedness of tlio country by reason of tli? frequent borrowing, is being .shown in many quarters just now. In tlic House last week, Hr Holland, referring to the subject in the House, went on to say: ‘‘We had a huge national debt which must be met. arranged, or repudiated. No one would think of repudiation, and the l’rime Minister's only idea of meeting it seemed to he to borrow more money, which, however only meant that our interest charges were increasing. It was a .serious matter wherefrom and when the money was to come out of whhih those ( harges would be paid.'' The views herein expressed are in keeping with the actual facts. The Government have been borrowing where they could without serious regard for the re; ayment of die debt. That this is so is evident from the eircuin.staiKe that at one sitting the Minister of Finar.ee announces a reduction of taxation to a very large sum. and a day or two later communicated to the House a sum larger than that being remitted by taxation, is being boriowed. This shows the want of a forward policy, and the absence of any concrete ideas to save or economise in oilier directions whereby* the tountr.v is being crgui.i“etl to meet the increasing annual i lunges heaped upon it. by the uhii tiling extent to which the (lovernment is developug its borrowing policy. For there is nine to come without any indie it inn where it will end.