HOTEL REFORM.

Evening Star, Issue 12865, 14 July 1906, Page 2

HOTEL REFORM.

;Wk do not know and we fail to' understand why the sincere and honest attempts ,that are being made to put the retail sale of alcoholic drinks upon what, for want of a more effective term, we may call a respectable basis should meet with the opprobrium and sneers and harsh that in Dunedin apprar to be their reward. Wo are aware that to a large and an intelligent section of the community the whole traffic in drink, from ■the hour when the farmer sells his field of grain to the maltrter till the finished product ss> consumed by the individual citizen, M frankly and openly anathema, but we ■are also aware that an even larger and on equally intelligent section of the public are able to partake of alcoholic beverages with benefit to themselves and harm to nobody, whose opinions upon the liquor question are

as much entitled to respect as those on ihe opposite side. But between the;e camps are many hundreds who from causes which are open to many interpretations waste their substance in hotel bars and become a nuisance and a menace to all with whom tbey associate. The pressing problem of to-day is not to abolish bv a majority vote the manufacture, sale, and consumption of drink, but how to create that moral and material environment within which there can be no tcjiptation to personal degradation. Wo see no rigns that lead m to believe that the forcible denial of alcoholic drink us an article of daily sale and use will be tolerated by an enlightened civilisation. To think otherwise is to accept and approve a policy of despair. As long as there are hnndreds of thousand? of sober, law-abiding, God-fearing .citizens by whom beer, wine, or alcoholic spirit is utilised in the same way as tea, or coffee, or milk, and until mankind is convinced that the provision of facilities to neet these legitimate demand? is harmful U> its social well-being, then the hotelkeeper and the hotel trade must be subject not only to supervision and criticism but to justice and fair treatment. "The trade" have not always- received ruch treatment; criticism, unfounded comment, and reckless assertion are made against licensed victuallers, and the hotelkeeper has to bear all the evils that are alleged by biased partisans to result directly from his business. The problem the Otago and Southland Licensed Victuallers' Association have set themselves to solve does not deserve, the anoDymous innuendoes of which the Association justly complain. Their efforts deserve the consistent support of the moderate and least unreasonable inhabitants of the two districts. Recognising that a vast, costly, and important industry has been built vp as tho direct outcome of a popular demand, and knowing also tho miseries that arise from an indiscriminate uid ignorant, abuse of intoxicating liquor, the Association have set before them tho task of regulating its retail trade as far as possible. In this they have our cordial support. For years we have urged "the trade" to set their house in order, and now that this is being done along what appear to be sound and sensible lines, we regret that extremists should aeek either to belittle and deride tins work or intend to hold themselves aloof in an attitude of frigid superiority that is as foolish as it is ludicrous. " The trade" exist and exist only by the eanction of the people. To denounce them may be magnificent, but it is not war. The wisest plan » to amend and to reform when and where we cannot hope to exterminate. There is nothing inherently impossible in a hotelkeeper being as honorable a man in his dealings with the public as a butcher, a lawyer, a doctor, or a banker. Retailers of drink in the Old Country have thejir place in the Church and in social ■work. It was a publican at Eynsford, Kent, who last year posted the following notice on his windows and in his bar:— On and after December 10, 1905, ro person will be served with refreshments in this house on the Lord's Day, except visitors staying in tho hotel and their guests. Furthermore, no person will in future be served with alcoholic drink more frequently than once during any morning, afternoon, or evening on any day of the week.—Henry Cromwell Godfrey, proprietor. We may afWt to smile at this and similar attempts to make the retail liquor trade respectable, btr! in our judgment all such efforts are deserving of hearty support, and ■we are gratified to note *hat the Otago and Southland licensed victuallers are determined to persevere in a policy of reason and reform.