The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1909. REFORMING THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2405, 21 January 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1909. REFORMING THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

One of the mdst significant movements that hi we yet ibeen initiated in tire Dominion is the campaign of reform that is being organised by the licensed victuallers, of Auckland. We have steadfastly advocated the view that reform of the liquor traffic should come from “the trade” itself; but it is a view that has apparently found ■little sympathy amongst the hotelkeepers and brewers of Gisborne, who have looked upon any suggestions of tlio kind as being necessarily hostile to their ‘ interests. However, now that their near neighbors have set such an admirable example, it is to be hoped the local licensed victuallers will take a more broad-minded attitude on the question. The reforms advocated by our northern friends are undoubtedly conceived on right lines, and if the new regulations are rigidly enforced there should bo a noticeable improvement in the conduct of the trade in Auckland. The average citizen finds little fault with the open bar so fur as it permits himself or bis .friends to have a .glass of liquor conveniently whenever lie desires one; but it is the abuse of the system which causes him to cast his vote for No-license in increasingly large numbers each election. AVlieu he sees drunkenness prevalent in the main streets of his town:-when he finds that a large percentage of lads and youths spend most of their spare timeuind money lounging about hotel bars acquiring debasing habits, what wonder if he decides in the interests of the community to use Ms vote in the only direction which provides a change from existing conditions! The Auckland Association has recognised this position precisely, for its proposals appear to be devised to limit drinking to adult males, and to keep both youths and women from the precincts of the hotel bar. The übdlition of barmaids is undoubtedly a sound move, in this connection, for their .presence behind a bar is nothing more nor less than a decoy to induce men, and particularly the younger section, to frequent hotels quite independent of any desire to quench their thirst. So far as the barmaids themselves are concerned, it will be a Aviso and generous act towards the sex we profess to love (and honor to remove for ever the possibility of their, being employed in nn occupation which is necessarily coarsening in its effect. The method of achieving the desired object, and at the same time reducing individual hardship to a minimum, has been that of retaining barmaids at present employed as such, whilst refusing to engage fresh ones. This method has formerly been proposed as a busis for Parliamentary legislation, and certainly seems as fair as any that could he devised. The proposal to refuse to serve liquor to persons under the age of twenty years reads like a determined effort to close the bars against young men. It -is hard to defend it logically, for if alcohol can safely and properly be imbibed by an adult it should ccrtainlly not be harmful to a person of the age of nineteen; but as a practical' dcvico for ridding the community pf the frequent sight of drunken youths its efficacy should bo undoubted. The refusal to serve women is probably due to tho revelations which dime out a few months hack as to the alarming extent to which public-house drinking was increasing amongst women in Auckland, .and under the circumstances the provision seems a prudent one. The abolition of private bars is probably intended to keep the sale of liquor an absolutely public (affair, and to rigidly guard against any possibility of shady work by unscrupulous licensees. Tlio experiment that is to be made in the northern town wiH 1 ho watched with tho utmost interest. In tlio past tho most familiar .aspect of the iliquor trade has been that in which licensees Hive looked upon their business as one in which every sixpence that could bo taken from the public, by any means whatever, should be taken, quite irrespective of the effect upon the community or the reputation of tho trade itself. Under that system abuses so frequent and grave have occurred that tho open bar at the present time stauds condemned by the general .feeling of the public. Now wo are to have, in the Auckland district at any rate, an entirely new regime, one in which “tho trade” accepts the onus of conducting its business along lines that can legitimately command public appro-

val. Whether tho proposals can be strictly enforced, and, if so, whether the result will be to justify the continuance of the open bar nncler specified' restrictions, is a problem that only time can solve; but: in any case the hotel-keepers 'and brewers of the northern city are to be warmly compliimented on the boldness .and* courage with which they have faced a difficult situation.