WAR REGULATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1916, Page 4

WAR REGULATIONS.

The War Regulations Act will become operative on and after Monday next, and though it is a complex proposition, there is little to fear, if it is earnestly and efficiently administered, that it will not cope in some measure with a number of grave offences against order and health that have previously existed. Of course loopholes will be found for the evasion or infringement of many of the regulations, but this is only to be expected in the carrying out of such an important and far-reaching enactment, and its deficiencies can osly be discovered and rectified after a fair trial. The regulations seem to be welcomed by the majority of people, and the hands o. the police in their endeavors to suppress and stamp out certain offences will ■bi materially strengthened by the Act. The clauses dealing with prostitution are particularly sweeping, and they give the police considerable power in dealing with this subject; so much so, that it is to be lioped that only officers of experience and of standing in the force will be entrusted: with the carrying out pf the regulations to deal 'with the vice. The provision that landlords of premises where immorality is proved to exist may be amenable to the law is a distinct step in the right direction. It is one that lias hitherto been lamentably lacking from previous enactments of this character, and if it is rigidly and justly enforced much goodwill result. The anti-shouting clauses are well meant, and may bo regarded as a sop to those who desired earlier closing houre for liquor ostaHli-jhments; "but the regulations will never work, as the Cabinet must know. Boarders and other "bona-flde residents" may "slieut"; no disqualification for breaches of tie regulations shall be suffered by members of a licensee's family; licensees are not amenable if they can prove that breaches are committed without their "knowledge, acquiescence, and connivance." Tht above leave a wide margin. Then the National Cabinet has been persuaded to put women on a lower scale than men so far as procuring liquor in 'hotels is concerned. Many members of Parliament stoutly resisted six o'clock closing as an infringement of the man's privilege, but they had no compunction in applying this regulation to the woman. Xot that I women—at least, very few of them—will care much. But the clause does not , provide that a woman cannot convey liquor from a bar after six o'clock; it allows that a licensee's wife or daughters, or the barmaids, may retain a footing in, or enter or remain in a bar, and thus another loophole is allowed. If the majority pf women are to be thus prohibited, why not all? However, the Act has many worthy points, and, intelligent: ly administered, it will have a beneficial effect on the general community.