A Hint to Our Prohibitionists.

Manawatu Herald, 5 July 1898, Page 2

A Hint to Our Prohibitionists.

The Sydney Morning JTsralda&ya : |— "Oir St. Petersburg correspondent in his lagfc letter, discussing the reform- that have been made in the Ru^hn capital with a view to the diminution of drunkenne??, gives a fresh importance to that much talkedof product of civilisation, the barmaid. Sone folk would have us regard the barmaid a? a snare to the weak and simple, and an incentive to the evil courses of the vicious. But in St. Petersburg the authorities take quite a different view, for they re« 'j;ard her a restraining force, and one tending towards moral and social improvement. The thousands of low t'tvern* that are scattered about the street? aro the cause of most of the scenes of drunkenness and disorder and tbesa, we are told, have been removed, giving place to orderly shop 3 where spirits are sold in 'sealed bjtt.!e< by osat barmaids.' The fair maidi>D3 of neat attire are chosen from the ranks of those with some pretension to cultivation, and they are placed in the dram shops ' in the hope that their ladylike appearance and deportment will have a civilisation influence over the dreadful St. Petersburg roughs.' One hardly knows whether to regaad the indulgence of this hope as a piece of amiable simplicity on the part of those responsible, or whether it is based on a true understanding of human nature. At all events, it gives the barmaid a new status."