Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1883.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1345, 21 August 1883, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1883.

The question of coffee palaces, which was mooted the other day by the Rev. Pinfold, deserves more than passing notice. Time after time our attention has been called to the question of how our young men can best find wholesome amusement and an outlet for their exuberance of spirits without frequenting those places where so many can be seen night after night and frequently during the day, neglecting their business, wasting thi-ir time, sacrificing their prospects, ruining their health, degrading their morals, and acquiring vicious and baneful habits, which must tend to marr the whole tenor of their lives. And yet these young men must not be too severely judged. Their buoy ant and ardent spirits must have some outlet, and the only one they can fiud

available is in the excitement of some competitive game, rendered more attractive and heighthened by boon companionship, and the frequent libations of stimulating drinks. When once a young man gets accustomed to this sort of amusement he cannot keep from it. He feels dull, and ennui presses sore upon him; time hangs heavily on his hands, and restlessness so overpowers him, that—as a moth hovers round the flame so he is irresistably led to that which frequently in the end proves his ruin and destruction, One of the worst features of this amusement is the low and degrading conversation which is, as a rule, bandied in such places. Then again, in the excitement of drink, betting is often indulged in, and a love of this evil habit engendered which can never be thorouhgly eradicated. To many excitable natures the interest in a game is only proportionate to the amount competed for, and these are likely, in most cases, when under the excitement of drink, tn play for stakes they are ill able to lose, and which often prove absolutely ruinous, not alone to the loser but also to the winner, inasmuch as it l< ads him into excesses while flush with funds which he cannot refrain from when less fortunate, the intense longing after which may cause him to resort to disgraceful means for the purpose of satisfying the same. The question to be solved is how to provide wholesome amusement and recreation for our young men, where they can obtain enjoyment sufficient to satisfy their yearnings for change and excitement, with a love of association and company, without subjecting them to the temptations of drink, the contaminating and degrading influence of low badinage, evil associations, and the vicious propensity to gamble. The importance of this question cannot be over-rated, as the whole moral tone of future society must be affected by it. The rising generation will, in the due course of time, take the place of those who at present lead, but who must shortly pass away to a new, and we trust, better existence. Coffee palaces might do something towards reducing these evils, yet we cannot think they will, even under the wisest direction, be approximately efficacious m providing the remedy sought. We cannot do other than look forward with .some interest to the opening of the new library, which has promised to provide some wholesome recreation of the right sort, to see in what degree it is patronised by the class we are speaking about. The whole thing depends upon its attractiveness. We think there is only one thing likely to, in any degree, supply the exciting and exilerating effect which alcoholic beverages produces, and that is good music, both vocal and instrumental combined, with pleasing associations. We must confess that as things stand at present we cannot see any practical solution to this serious question, and can only hope that time may work or dovelope some remedy.