Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1894. A HOPEFUL SIGN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4738, 5 June 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1894. A HOPEFUL SIGN.

SEOOM) EDITION

Waiid niul Company, brewers, have issued a letter to tho Clmstclmreli . publicans saying that under tie new Licensing Act the enforcement ol tho law n Sunday trading and sales in illegal hours, etc., will be more ' strict, and that owners are more al the mercy of their tenants than formerly. They say that a movement which will entail a certain loss of business is on foot to get Christchurch hotel keepers to close strictly on Sundays and at legal hours every night. They state that many of tlu principal owners recognise thoequitj of matin; nconcessiouofoncsevent'l of tho present vent basing this con cession on tho fact that six day.' , business will be done instead oi seven. The concession will be madi in the shape of. a bonus to be pan to tenants when owners arc satisficf j. that the law is being strictly com plied with. This process of sol! reformation in tho Liquor Trade is r hopeful sign, but it is also an ndmis sion of a considerable amount o: iniquity in the past, Wo have tin evidence of Master Brewers, thosi awful potentates of " tied houses' that Sunday traffic has beon and ii considered to bo equal to a seventl of the total trade of a publican. As sinning that a publican's weekly bai takings amounted to seventy pound: a seventh of this sum or ten pounds would be the average of the Sunday trade, ami ten pounds representstwi hundred nips, each one of wlncl would be an infringement of tin law, Every Sunday for years 1 r may fairly be estimated that tin law was broken in different parts o the Colony a hundred thousam 11 times, while a small army of polici i and detachments of those clcve: detectives who have recently beei worrying harmless old women, stoo< by, and, to use n popular expression " winked the other cyo." Not tlm 0 it was altogether tho fault of tin police, for when tho officers of tin law did take up cases against publi cans, they were met by an over whelming legal opposition, am were not allowed to employ ndc quate professional talent on thei: side, so that it was always Lombsn 1 street to a China orange that i publican, however, culpable, wouli ■j escape the penalty of his offences Now mutters have taken anew turn Temperance organisations hav :e become a power in the land, am Licensed Victuallers recognise tlm they must, as a matter of policy „ conform to tho law, There are stil some, perhaps, who trust to lega subtlety and the power of tho purst rather than to good conduct for th success of their business, men wh have faith in old tricks, and who d not readily adapt themselves to nei ways, but even these in time wii , come to understand the wisdom c tho lesson that is being preached b; t - Master Brewers, and fall into th ranks of the well-behaved Victual „ lers who value the character of thei establishments, and respect both th letter and spirit of the law, Last 'evening's meeting of th parishioners of St Matthew's Cluirc is calculated to weaken rather tha j to improve the nnfortunate positio in which tho congregation appeal ig to be placed. Apparently the mai K ' reliance for extricating tho enure. from financial difficulties is th r { assistant of the Indies, To a lai'g !Ii extent for some years past the paris [ 0 has been financed by ludios, and th % male members of tho congregatio Imvo stood on one sido and wutchc lo tho experiment with amused intei 1 est, It has not inspired respei s > for the .Church, aui veyerenc 10 for its ministers to see sustains ' efforts made to dance down its deb r ""■

ihonga for tbe bettor is to take place, he best men in the congregation 51 mist assume charge of the affairs of too. parish, and provide, as they ],, sasily means for the j n woper maintenance of the religious di iistitution to which they belong, in