HOTELS AS "SHOPS." And Barmaids as Assistants.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 116, 20 September 1902, Page 8

HOTELS AS "SHOPS." And Barmaids as Assistants.

EVIDENTLY there is an uneasy feeling in the minds of the licensed victuallers that the Legislature thinks it is time to regard them in their relation to employees as ordinary business folk. The sacred privileges of the captains of the industry have been conserved for a great many years, centuries in fact, and the suggestion that the barmaid is likely in future to be treated as on a par with the employees in other trades is absolutely startling. Just imagine what it would mean if that clause in the Shops and Offices Bill which lays down that the barmaid may go home at 9 p.m. were to become law. Just imagine the hogsheads of beer that would not be wanted, and the good yellow gold that would slip away from the " trade." * # # Whether the clause has been framed with a moral purpose, or is a feeble imitation of a long-standing American law, we know not ; but that it is a good wholesome one anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with bars will acknowledge. The licensed victuallers who are mildly protesting against this drastic clause do not make any particular fuss over it. They say it will be " inconvenient." Why? • • • Are there not plenty of men about who are physically capable of working a beer engine, and who would remove the inconvenience and be able to cope with the thirst of patrons after 9 o'clock? The "inconvenience," of course, is that the average callow youth who flirts with Hebe over his " shandy" wouldn't want the "shandy" if Hebe wasn't there to serve it. He would refuse to patronise the hotel, at which it was certain he entered only for the sake of the "shandy" aforesaid. We are not quite sure that the barmaids themselves would like being taken away from the bar at 9 p.m. But since laws are now in force making it illegal for other workers to please themselves we submit that the barmaid should have a chance of being in bed by 10 o'clock. America hasn't a barmaid in all its States. It isn't a case of 9 o'clock or ten o'clock with the Yankees. They look upon the saloon as a place to drink in and not as a flirtation ground. • • ♦ Yon will admit that the primary object of a bar is to supply drink. The drink isn't any nicer beause a lady draws it, is it ? Why not adopt the American system and substitute men bar tenders for bar- ladies 9 The man who drinks because he loves it will go just as readily for his liquor to a house where he is served by a man who doesn't want to pass compliments or admire his new tie or the colour of his eyes. * ♦ * By the removal of barmaids you will remove the temptation to drink from thousands of young fellows whose brains are only just beginning to sprout. It may be a bit hard on those hard - working toilers, the brewers, but really they have had a

tolerably good time and there is no crying need for the country to help them. That the late hours don't hurt the average barmaid is fairly certain. They evidently thrive at the work and they don't appear to be poverty stricken. Seeing that the clause referred to is evidently framed for their benefit, would it not be kind on the part of the Legislature to make the ladies fall into line with the ordinary every day person who is engaged in other industries ?