THE AFTERMATH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 38, 13 February 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE AFTERMATH.

On Christmas Day itself the opportunities of indulging in the glass that both cheers and inebriates outside your own or a friend's house are limited, for all over the kingdom the public houses are restricted to Sunday hours, save where bona fide travellers are concerned. But on Boxing Day tipplers have a glorious chance, and, as next morning's proceedings at the various Metropolitan police courts show, make good use of it. This year the charge sheets were, on the whole, light; not, I think, as the result of any diminution of the drink craze, or fear of the Black List, but merely because the police are specially tolerant during "the Festive Season," and only run men in when they make themselves an intolerable nuisance. A walk through London at any time of the day last Saturday disclosed "amiable drunks" in plenty, but late at night the number was, of course, greatest. It.was noticeable, however, that the "fighting drunk" was not so much in evidence as of yore. Whether this is due to the better class of malt liquor supplied nowadays, or whether it denotes a small advance in civilisation among the lower orders, I cannot say, but the police records show that only a very small percentage of those who managed to get locked up had added to the sin of "a glass too much" that of assault. Most of the prisoners were content to admit being drunk, and to remind the magistrates that it was "Christmas time, your worship," and let it go at that, and the only case possessing any element of novelty was one heard at Clerkenwell. In this ca.se the man had been found at two o'clock on Sunday morning embracing a cold and clammy pillar box, which he was alternately kissing and entreating to "come home, darling." Another mentionable case, occurring outside the metropolitan area, was that of a seaman, who was charged with having secured drink during prohibited hours by representing himself as a bona fide traveller. He was let off with a caution, and then after expressing gratitude for the magistrate's leniency, astonished the court by intimating that he wanted to pay a fine of 10/ which had been inflicted on him several years before, but which he had evaded paying.