SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1723, 9 June 1917, Page 3

SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Public- meetings have been held in all the large centres of the Dominion, where resolutions were carried urging the National Government to cio-o hotels for the sale of liquor between the hours oi h p.m. and S a.m. Petitions are also being sugned for presentation to Parliament on liie same lines. At a large meeting held in the Wellington Town Hall on Thursday. Air ('. B. Morrison, K.C., in supporting the six o’clock dosing, spoke from the point of view of a moderate drinker. He believed if they could tel! the Trade that they would not he the losers by fi-o’clock closing there would he no opposition. One of the results ot war was that the ordinary rules governing prhato rights as against the public interest ' ceased to exist. He knew that some members of the Trttde were doing their best to help the Government, and if h o’clock closing was brought in they would have to take -lep- to close those den- of iniquity where the young -oidicr suffered more harm than in anv open bar. (Applau.-c). Ihe whole question was one of. protit and in--, and the question id protit and !0.-,- as between (he Trade and the Slate had (o go by [lie hoard just as the que-iion of the lives of our voting men went by the hoard whim they wenl to the front. A voice; What about the clubs.’

Mr Mori-on: The chibs will have 1 o shut up in I lie same way as Ihe hotel.-. (Applause). Continuing, he -aid 11ml Im would -fop the bottle trade absolutely, and that before* a person could purchase liquor in hulk he should he made to produce a eerlilieaie that he was a person of reputable character. 'That would lie no worse than the regulation under vvliieli a man had to get a certificate before he could he sold a dozen pearl lie cartridge- to enable him to s!iooi rats. The anti-shouting law had been a hideous failure. (Laughter and applause). What limy should do was to invite the brewers, to make a saerilice in favour of the hotelkeeper.-. What would that sacriliee he compared with the saerilice being made every day by thousands of mothers in New Zealand? (Applause), The motion was (hen put lo the meeting, and carried amid tumultuous applause,

Dr. Newman said he was convinced that then' was an overwhelminy body of public opinion in favour of (i o’clock - elosiny. Hast year 1(10,01)0 people siyned petitions to Parliament in favour of such a course. Parliament, however, did notlony, and I lie ’ majority 01, the Coalition Ministry was ayainst them in advocating a chanyc. One reason why they were askiny for early ciosiny was that dnriny the two years of I lie w ar statistics .showed that there had been more convictions for drunkenness than previously. They had to practice economy and efficiency; the war could not dose until next year, and the way lo arrive at economy and elheiency was to "do it now." When He llioiiyht of the way in which onr bov > were liyhtiiiy at the front and the way in which we were Jiviny in carelessness and riotousness, he felt Dial it was time we called a halt. We 11 ills 1 lie all out lo win, and not until we had puryed ourselves of these evil.-, could we achieve that “riyh-teou-ness that exalleth a nation." ; .'.pplaimc ). Mr -John llnlchesoii said the areh-liend of Prussian 'militarism had to he exercised before we could say we hail won this war. How was Hie war yoiny to end.' P>y national iTHeieney. We mas! Had a machine which would match and overmaster the Herman military machine. The only way to do this was hy universal national efficiency, Only national e!lieieiicy and economy in every part, of I he Pmpii'c could yive ns cause to say that wc had done onr best. Was there - nch a .-! niiihlinyhloek a--irony drink.' The surest way of hioekiny a- man over vai- to yive him whisky, especially when he wa - ui an exhausted stale. It was mdy a short while now before the married men would have to yo, ami the "old hnyade” would he called out. He was told that if six o’clock cjosiuy were introduced it would injure the Trade, and others said that il would make no diiierenee. When lliinys had come lo such a slate were the people yoiny to he so concerned about three hours of the publican's lime.' If the hotels were closed at six o'clock he did not think' it would he necessary to open the wet canteens. “Jl would melt the heart of a stone lo hear some of the yhaslly tales about the women and children oi those who arc yoiny away and eoniiny hack, said Mr Hutcheson, after relerriny to Ihe fact that he was a member of (he War belief Association. Mr A. Leiyh Hunt said lie had never been mi disappointed as he was with (lie wicked weakness of the National Hoveriimeut. Hut he believed that the people yot the kind of yovernmenl which they desirefl. At a lime like the present, when the fate of the Empire was trembling; in the balance, they should stand hy anythiny that was yoiny to help win the war. The drink traffic held no place in any business of the present date. Mr H. C. South said that nearly all the injuries due to alcoholic liquor occurred after 0 o’clock at niyht. They did not ask, they demanded, this measure of reform, because they believed it was necessary in the

interests of national efficiency. What, lie asked, was the use of having dry camps when, at the end of the week, there were open bars and a corresponding decrease of military efficiency? New Zealand spoilt about £7,000,000 a year in strung drink, and the war was costing ns £1,000,000 a month. They did nut want to cut out the Trade allugetlier; all they asked was that, as a war measure, they should restrict a trade which, they declared, affected the safety of the nation, and which had preference over every other trade. They called upon the Government to carry on* the wishes of the people. (Applause). Resolutions were carried urging the Government to enforce early closin'!', and a big deputation is to wait on the Acting-Prime Minister.