HOTELKEEPERS AND CORONATION DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12385, 21 June 1902, Page 7

HOTELKEEPERS AND CORONATION DAY.

Tiif, Licensed Victuallers' Association will not receive mudi commendation from the public upon either tlip terms or the tone of the communication it has addressed to die Mayor in reply to liis suggestion that the hotelkeepers might see their wny to celebrate the Coronation of his Majesty the Kins; by closing tlie. bars of their premise* from noon 011 Thursday next. The Association would have commanded t\ certain amount of respect even from those who cannot svmpathisp with the conclusion at which it has arrived if it had, in a straightforward fashion, informed liis Worship that its members being, in their opinion, the best judges of the way in which they .should conduct their business declined to accede to his request. There would, it might be argued, have been some strength in the assumption of an attitude like that. The Association, greatly dariug, however, has ventured to justify its decision by reasons, each one of which can be demonstrated to be utterly flimsy and unsound. The plea that the hotclkeepev is compelled to keep liis premises open during the hours covered by his license for the supply of the public demands is absolutely puerile. That be must .supply his guests is, of course, conceded. It was never contemplated by those who imagined thai the members of the trade might be sufficiently loyal to close their bouses for a few hours 011 the day of -the Coronation of the King that any restraint should bp imposed upon the hotelkeeper iu supplying the reasonable demands of those who are staying 011 the premises. All that was asked was that the invitation which the open bar extends to the passer-by might be temporarily withdrawn. "AVe cannot comply with that request," the hotelkeepers say: "it is against the law." Their profound consideration for the terms of the law and their professed desire scrupulously to observe its provisions would be admirable if it was not possible to question their sincerity; but, unfortunately for their case, the community is too intelligent to be deceived by them in this matter. To say, as the Licensed Victuallers' Association does, that to clo=e the bars would involve a breach nf the law is to say what is indisputably contrary to fact, and what, moreover, 110 hotelkeeper honestly believes. Such a plea invites only the ridicule and scorn of the public, while by inventing it for use 011 the present occasion the members of the Association, who closed their houses for five hours 011 the day of the late Queen's funeral 18 months ago, wholly stultify themselves. Nor is the Association more fortunate in its attempt to throw upon others the responsibility for the prevalence of drunkenness among the youth of the city on days of public rejoicing. The damning fact, so far as the hotelkeepers are concerned in this connection, is that young men were to be seen staggering about the streets in the forenoons of these days when the grocers' shops were .-but and when it is ridiculous to assume that the inebriates

had recourse to other establishments than the hotels for the supply of the liquor they had consumed. Consequently, however unfair it might- he to brand the hotelkeepers as a class for

having supplied liquor in excess to youthful consumers 011 Peace Day, and other occasions that are not recent, it is incontestable that in some licensed premises over-drinking was permitted. The Association would have been much better advised if it had said nothing at all about that matter. The professions of innocence regarding it which it makes oil behalf of its members will not greatly move the public. Then, the disparaging references which it makes concerning the deputation that prompted tho Mayor and the Licensing Committee to requestthe hotelkeepers to close their premises on a portion of Coronation Day are as uncalled for as the grounds 011 which the Association seeks to justify its- refusal of the request are unsubstantial. The Association is mistaken if it supposes that, as one of the moijt respectcd members of the trade alleged in a letter wp published 011 Thursday last, the desire to see the hotels closed on this day of national import is confined to any one spetiou of the public. The desire is so widespread as to be almost general, and considerable disappointment is felt over the refusal of the Association for puerile reasons to accede to it.