NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10111, 21 April 1896, Page 5

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

far result of a most interesting experiment in the direction of the municipalisation of the liquor traffic lias just been ascertained ,fter a trial of many months (says the Westminster Gazette). The experiment ha? been made by Mr. Lees, secretary tt the water department of the Birmingham Corporation. According to the instruction of the corporation a public house waj opened in September, 1894, at Elan Vij •aire for the purpose of catering for tit mints of soveral hundred men and the} families. The rules of management web decidedly stringent, and the success of tie public-house is therefore more im porta it. The public-house is opened daily betw<!n the hours of 12 and 2 p.m, for one .nd i-half hours only, and for the wlblo time in the evening between 5.30 an! 9 o'clock. On Sunday "t remains closet,'all [j;iv, but on Saturdays it remains open torn ] o'clock till 9 o'clock. Women are net allowed in the bar at any time under an; pretext whatever, men only over 18 years (f age being permitted to drink in the bar. ' No woman under the ago of 21 years oi boy under the age of 16 years is served with fcesr at the jug department. No per.-on is supplied with morn than one qusit of liquor at the morning hour, whilst bit two quarts may be c, ,mined on the premises in die evening. Only village inhabitants are allowed to freely enter the public-hiuso, but grangers may do so with a writtin order, which is easily obtairable.

It will be at ono conceded that tho municipal public hoise was started at a ore.il disadvantage, tiore being an ordinary establishment conduced on the usual lines a few hundred yards off. Mr. Lees con[fried with men of experience in the "trade" before the lnuse was duly established, and a qualfied public • house manager was appointtd to conduct the b.;sintj?.s on behalf of the corporation, lis has fully entered into tho spirit of the municipal experinent, and quite understands that he is thought no more highly of if his sales are high than if they are low, whereas, should there be any drunkenness or disbalance ho is held responsible for it. Theic has, however, been no difficulty at all of this description, and publicans themselves even admit tho satisfactory nature of tie undertaking. The takings, of course, lure varied very lerably, from £20 10 £70 a week. Tie trade of the other public-house has fallen off very considerably iince the establishment of the municipal pjblic-house, by fir the greater part of the drink now consumed in the village being purchased from the corporation house. The net profits for the tiist half-year were as high as £140, and they hare since been increasing:. The profit? are devoted to the maintenance of a reading and recreation room, which is distinct from the public-house, and this has proved to minimise tho drinking—one of the principal objects of tho experiment There are bagatelle tables and various methods of umusement to be hid, and the public-house is now regarded with considerable friendliness by almost every inhabitant of the village. In concluding his report on the result of the experiment Mr. Lees says:—" Individually I am a total abstainer, but I am perfectly certain that we are serving the interest? of temperance far better in providing wholesome liquor, under proper regulations, than we should be did we attempt to prohibit the traffic altogether, leaving it to 06 conducted in the usual way."

The four new Chinese ports which are opened to foreign trade by virtue of the treaty of Shitnonoseki between Japan and China are described in a report from the American Consul-General at Shanghai, which has lately been published by the Department of State. The first of these is Chunking, on the Yang-tsze, about 1500 mil'fs from the sea. This city has for many years past been the residence of successive British agents, commencing with the late Mr. Baker, whose reports, as well b> Mr. Archibald Little's work," Through the Van Gorges," have made the place familiar to English readers interested in L'hina. The second of the new ports is Hangchau, the capital of the province of I'htkiang, and the capital of China during the palmy days of the Sung dynasty. Marco Polo considered it one of the greatest cities in the world, and Lord Macartney, in 1*93, describes its wealth and splendour. The Chinese have a saying, "Above is heaven, below are Suchau and Hangchau." It- glory, however, was almost destroyed during the Taiping rebellion. It is situated on a plain close to the northern bank of the Teientang river, which falls into the sea 40 to 50 miles to the eastward. The river opposite the city is about four miles wide at water, and in the northern suburb is an irregular basin which forms the southern end of the Grand Canal. The main street of the city is almost four miles in length. The railway, which it is proposed to construct- to Suchau, is to be extended to Hangc'.au, which will then be brought within a few hours of Shanghai. This city is one of the centres of the silk trade. Suchau is also an ancient and famous city. It is in the province of Kiangsu, 5 miles north-west of Shanghai, with which it is connected by water. It is built on a cluster of islands to the east of Lake Tailiu, and streams and Canals afford communication with most of the towns of the province. The walls are ten miles in circumference. The soil all round is of a rich alluvial character; cotton, silk, rice, wheat, and other grain are abundant. The importance of Suchau as a productive centre cannot be over-esti-mated, and it is yearly regaining the influence and wealth it possessed previous to its destruction in 1800 by the Taiping rebels, being re-captured five years later by General Gordon. The fourth of the new ports is Sha-teze, which is on the Yang-tsze above Hankau, and is the most important trade mart in this part of the country, and "during all seasons of the year a perfect forest of masts of junks may be seen." Its population is estimated at 600,000. Tho river here is a mile wide in the dry season, and five miles at the season of flood. All vessels ascending the Yangtsze stop here, and its trade is ten times greater than that of Ichang, higher up.

The well-known London correspondent, Mr. Lucy, writes: — I have a copy o! an old Saturday Review, dating back to the time when Beresford Hope was its proprietor, and its contributors wero drawn from the inner circle of Toryism. Disraeli, junt made Chancellor of the Exchequer, had given a Parliamentary dinner, and a list of the guests had got into the papers. The Saturday Review drops into poetry on the Occasion. The first verso runs thus: Moses ami Son bare had of late, At tl)-:r branch mansion, (Jrosrenor Gate, ''he pfide anil happiness to see Hie my first nobility. At 'jrosveiior Gate was "Dizzy's" town Mansion, recently endowed with the wealth °f his wife, the widow of Wyndhatn Lewis. After further describing the party, the kindly poem concludes :—

Ami o'er them all in jewels (light, •>otinown from real* in any liftht, An J St. John's clothes, as good as new. tnraptured sat the (slorioun Jew. History repeats itself just now, though in jnore decorous mannsr, in the rolations of joe Carlton Club towards the new powerful rocraic of Toryism, drawn, as " Dizzy" *« CO years ago, from tho Radical camp.

She repetition may be complete by Mr. hamberlain some day becoming the idol of ie Tory party as the once despised "Dizzy" lame to be after the general election of

/ The news from Rhodesia to-day ie more reassuring. A force of over two hundred strong has succeeded in reaching Buluwayo, bringing supplies of provisions. Although the situation is serious there does not appear to be any reason for alarm. Prosident Kruger is now stated to be in favour of promoting peace and friendship. The Armenian question is again coming to the front. The Powers have protested against the Sultan appointing a Mahommedan as Governor of Zeitun. Tho English press continues to upbraid Russia for her apathy in regard to the persecution of Armonian Christians. But Russia cannot act alone any more than England can actalone. It is, no doubt, to be deeply regretted that these outrages in Armonia should be allowed to continue, but it is bettor that it is bo than that a European war should break out which would in a month cause a greater loss of life and grower misery than a cycle of Turkish misrule. So long as the Powers are divided as to their action in regard to Armenia, no effective measures can be taken, And up to the present ib has nob boon found possible to discover a basis of mutual co-operation.