HOTELS IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 9

HOTELS IN BRITAIN.

HOURS OF CLOSING. MATTER MAY BE SHELVED. LONDON, Jan. IL The prevailing idea in political circles is that the Cabinet has neither the time nor the inclination to legislate on the "lines of the report of the Royal -Commission on Licensing, just published, and the whole matter will probably be shelved. Mr. J. R. Clynes, who set up the commission when he was Minister for Home Affairs in the'' last Labour Government, says: " I think, a closing hour of 10 p.m.is too early, especially in centres of large population. I look to influences other than undue repression for advancing the cause of temperance, especially improvement in public houses." Mr. George Lansbury, leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, is also enthusiastic regarding the advantages that could be achieved by brightening public houses. " Drinking on the Continent is not shame-faced," he points out, " because the cafes are attractive places, where m. man can take, his, wife." Mr. Lansbury, however, approved of the Commission's recommendation that there should be a uniform closing hour —10 p.m.—for hotel bars.