MUST THE BARMAID GO?

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 139, 16 June 1906, Page 4

MUST THE BARMAID GO?

REV. FRANK ISITT SAYS "YES."

The question, "Shall the barmaid go?" was put to the Rev. F. W. Isitt, the well-known prohibitionist, who is now visiting Auckland. His answer was, "In the interests of commercial morality, yes, the barmaid must go. While t liave not the slightest doubt that multitudes of young women who serve behind the bars in Ncav Zealand lead highly respectable and pure lives, their position is one which is absolutely unfit for.women to occupy. Forty years ago, in an English business house in which I was engaged, and where 80 men and boys were employed, I learned how barmaids were talked about by men, and what men, evil-minded men, thought of them, and now I would rather that a young girl in whom I took an interest earned half the wages and worked doubly hard than that she should be subjected to the insult that some drunken blackguard will offer to her in any bar, however respectably conducted, on occasions. It may be that she may not get such , insults offered to her more than three or four times a year, but I know from my long intercourse with my fellowmen that the barmaid is subjected to perpetual insult. Ou physical grounds it is undesirable that girls should be placed in these conditions. And in this way: A young man in perfect health, '20 years of age, and engaged at an ordinary trade, such as carpentry, is accepted by life insurance companies at his actual age'; but a barman of 20 years of age would be 'loaded' 10 or 12 years. Now the insurance offices clearly recognise the risky character of the barman's occupation, which is intensified in the case of a young woman, with her high-strung nervous system, and for the protection of the young woman herself from what may ruin her health, and involve her in worse consequences, it is, I believe, a kindness to her that she should be saved from the dangers of her occupation. I have every reason to believe that the average young man in New Zealand is no cleaner in his talk or stricter in his morals than the average young Englishman in the same position. Indeed, there are dangers connected with the earning of greater wages. In the matter of language I never felt much more ashamed in my life than I did when I found an intelligent young Boer,;who was taken prisoner at Tugela and spent some time in New Zealand, told me that New Zealanders were not gentlemen, that they constantly used a filthy word which the Boers never used. I mentioned this incident to a young medical man who had been at the Klondike, and he replied: — 'When we heard somebody coming up the track, and using this word —to which the Boer had referred, my American comrades said, "Here comes an Austraalin or a New Zealander!' " And so from every standpoint," continued Mr Isitt, "upon which I look at this question, I think that men who honor women and would save them from evil influences would wish them to be preserved from those to which barmaids are subjected.