SYDNEY WINE BARS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4978, 24 May 1926, Page 4

SYDNEY WINE BARS.

OBJECTIONABLE MINORITY. PREJUDICE TO VITICULTURE. Viticulture is an important Australian industry that it were well to promote (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). Wine-drinking ccjuntries are generally coinpa,r,atively sober. In order that the .wine, interest may progress it is essential that the sale of wine should in all cases be conducted with decency and in circumstances that do not give offence. Viticulturists, wine merchants* and wine-saloon, keepers are, therefore, concerned to see .that a section of the trade' is not degraded, with serious damage to the good repute of their business. A large proportion of the 200 1 wine bars in Sydney’s metropolitan area are conducted on scrupulously moral lines, and, through no fault ot! their own, come under the lash of criticism levelled at their less; desirable associates. There are, broadly, two types of customers —the man or woman who drinks wine in strict moderation and who is a perfectly decentminded citizen; and the man or woman who drinks of habit for the s,ake of drinking, and to whom it acts as: an offset against a decidedly questionable attitude towards life. UNDESIRABLE TYPES.

•Ctf forty wine bars visited in the metropolitan area, a.t/varying hours of the day, the majority had not the scintilla of indecorum about them. The remainder were In most cases one found a ll expensivelypainted window —an attraction to the eye—and an intimation that a ladies’ parlour is provided. In the room is a. counter, behind which the bottles are kept, and around are forms at which accommodating little tables are placed. . Perhaps a, few tables are isolated. Women are seated drinking, and the longer they .sit. the more they drink and smoke. Then, .as the afternoon glides on, a stupid, pallid sybartical look invades) their features, and gradually their sitting position develops into one of abandon. Some, through force of habit, remain fuddled, others decidedly drunk —the majority drunk. Attempts a.re made to induce, any stranger who enters to become one of the company. But this, is not all. The rooms are dirty. Floors are littered with expectoraton and. debris, whilst a few feet away the' bartenders a.re washing glasses in sinks containing'water contaminated with the refuse cf-wine glasses and anything else. tha,t has found its way there. Thig in itself is a distinct , breach of the Liquor Act. j SORDID CONDITIONS.

In one bar in a near suburb were eight, women, of varying ages, from 25 to 60 years, seated as though in a state of coma, saying not!, a word, and ‘apparently not interested in anything else but the next drink. Interspersed were a, dozen men, of middle age to 6'5 years* decrepit-looking, and presumably poverty-stricken. A little lower down the. street was another salobn, which housed thirty miserable-looking men and 'women who made the room buzz with excited attempts a.t conversation. One, a woman, in a drink-demented condition, revealed a neat little stiletto attached to her stocking. She was loudly proclaiming the vitrues of the White Australian policy.' Her declamation was for the benefit of three Orientallooking women who lay huddled in a corner. Here,' the dirt of the floor was offensive.

In some cleaner and quieter places the dangers to those who, entered are as, great. Here the women ,are welldressed and more pretentious. ■ . Business ,is . usually quiet in the mornings, but the life begins at 3 o’clock, and develops into a babble of wine-bibbers by 4.30 p.m. Thereafter, till 6 o’clock, the rooms are crowded with men and women. ,

In some, places 20 or even 30 inebriated women were seen seated, or standing at the bar drinking, and there were as many me'n in the same condition. Women often invite men to drink —even strangers, THE DANGER TiO YOUTH.

Women are sorfletimes encouraged to drink, even if they have no money, A disturbing feature about the whole business is the numper of young women, from 20 years of age and upwards, who have so early in Iffe em-

barked on this career of reckless, pfofligaicy. Beautiful young girls visit these places", with consequences, in some cases, that are clear to worldly knowledge. These are conditions that exist in a number of wine bars, and their presence lends a distasteful aspect to an industry that has grown throughout the yeajrs to one of importance to the community, and one that receives the patronage of a large majority of the State’s decent citizens. Were the cankerous; type of- wine saloon eliminated from the city the Australian wine industry would make even greater progress than it has done, and only justice would be done to winesellers who conduct their business decently.