BARMAIDS AND LEGISLATORS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 153, 29 June 1881, Page 4

BARMAIDS AND LEGISLATORS.

[Evening Post ] The New Zealand barmaid— that bppufpous Hrbe who dispenses liquil re^rt »limeDts to all rosnfeicd Bave to the teetoiftllerc— bos for yo*>TS past bf on a pet euVject for legislation. Pome years ngo hon. members took compassion on (lie biirmoid, and reduced her working hours to reaeonable limits. There wee ro tnist&ke about the fact that these girls were at that time truch overworked, aod consfquently the restriction of their hours of labor was a juat nnd necessary one. But last night Parlinmenf, in its zeal on behalf of the bnrmnids, went altogether over the pcoro by pasßin^ a clause resJrioting tbeir vorking boars to eight, and applying <he restriction to the wives and daughters of publicans as well. This provieion is both mischievous and absurd. Hotelkeepers will simply ceose to eraploy baroaids at oil if they are not permitted to work more than eijfhi hours a d»y. /The result will be that a large number of girls who make 253 to £2 a week will be (brown out of employment, end will probably flod it r&tber difficult to obtain other situatior.s. Many of those bftrmuido are honest, hnrd-workiog, and perfectly correct-liviDg girls, who nseist their relatives out of their earnings. Why then Bhou'd Sir William Fox end those who act wish him setk to deprive those szirle of their means of livelihood ? We know perfectly well that Sir Wiliiam Fox has ulwaya held that no woman whatever should be employed in the sale of alcoholic liqoors. He is, therefore, seeking to obtain his object brough a side-wind, by so rapidly limiting the hours of labor of tbe bir=. main's as practically to put a etop to ; heir employment. As to the question whether {.iris ought or ought not; to be -mployed io hotel bars, Ihere is a good Jtal to be enid on both eidep. Parliament should pause b-efore deliberately taking from tbe barmaids tbeir means! of living. Nor should it treat an. hotel-keeper as n mere slave, possessed j of no civil tights, by declaring that bis, wife or daughter should not work for. more tbou eight hours a day at the business by which they make their oread. Tbe teetotallers are "runnirg a muck " over the Licensing Bill, with, iheir impracticable "fads "end crotoh-J o(8. The end of the whole bu&ioesßi #itl be, (hat (he bill— a most useful one; in its way — may probably be thrown out ultogether.