PUBLICHOUSES AND RECREATION.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13227, 22 September 1908, Page 7

PUBLICHOUSES AND RECREATION.

In this eon-try (writes the London correspondent of the "Age") tho average publichouse is a place to-drink in standing up, as a. horse drinks at a wayside trough. The publichousokeeper seems to be satisfied with these conditions, and, if ho were not, the existing law would prevent him from improving on them. Lord Lamington proposes in a Bill which he has tablein the House of Lords that in granting permission for structural alterations or extensions of licensed premises the justices shall not do so in such a manner as to preclude arrangements for the sjipply of tea, coffee, cocoa, or food. He.desires that the bar shall be partly or wholly displaced by chairs and tables, and that there shall be "provision of games, newspapers, music, gardens, or any other means of reasonable-recreation." In short, he favours the Continental system. The publichouso in Paris or Brussels is a place where customers of all classes may congregate, for the purpose of refreshment, enjoyment, and recreation. Lord Lamington argues that tho absence of similar facilities in this country largely accounts for the prevalence of drunkenness. "In France,"' ho says, "with free conditions as regards the sale of drink and with unrestricted hours of opening, in 1907 the total charges of drunkenness were 623. In Paris the total charges wore 207. Fn England and Wales the convictions for drunkenness in tho same period were about 200,000, more than a fourth of which were in the metropolitan district, while in Glasgow and Edinburgh, where thero is Sunday closing, early closing on week days, and closing on -special days, the convictions for drunkenness were 22.025 and 14,791 respectively."