HOTELKEEPERS' PROFITS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13651, 21 July 1906, Page 5

HOTELKEEPERS' PROFITS.

TO TUB EDITOR. Sip.,—t notice a letter- in your impression of to-day signed "Scottj." When I read the report of the meeting of a bankrupt liotolkcepor's' creditors there referred to, I never for one moment took the statement of the profits on retail sale of beer as serious. _ Somehow or other, in my ignorance, I jumped to the conclusion that the person who made the statement was one of a well-known family of prohibitionists, and that the statement was in keeping with other exaggerated things said and written by the leaders of that body for the purpose of having a dab at. "(he trade." Now, however, I have heard the position occupied by Mr Adam, who made the statement, and confess that I, 100, am astounded at it, and would be inclined .to doubt its correctness, if it had. not, been made by one who ought to know of what he spoke. If it be true, as we must- assume it to be, all I can say is we pay for 100 much for our drop of beer. No doubt, the brewer, in the first instance, has a very handsome profit, and if afterwards the publican retailer gets a profit of 200 per cent., somthing is wrong. _ I think it high time the breweries anc* licensed houses were under State control, m after yielding a considerable profit to tho - colony, the public would be able to get, good, sound, and reliable beer in retail quantities at. a rcaso nble and much reduced rate, which would bo of much importance to those who, like myself, can enjoy in moderation A Drop op Good Beee, Dunedin. July 20. <• .

— The now London, Brighton, and South' Coast railway station at Victoria, which has just been formally opened, has platforms measuring altogether moro than two miles. The station roof covers . ioro than nine miles of .rails and a total area ol 400,000 square feet. — Tlie view of a storm cloud from abovo is ono of the most interesting sights ever beheld by man. Aconrtling (o a famous aeronaut, a storm viewed from that ]io6ition has the appearanc« of a vast sea of boilin(t, upheaving snow. The falling of the rain ran be distinctly heard, making a noise like a waterfall over a precipice. The thurdcr hoard above the storm-cloud is not, loud, and the flashes of lightning appear like streaks of intcnsclv white light, on the Hirfaoe of the &rcy-eoloured vapour. — Artificial eyes appear to ; liave oripinaled in Egvpt; tiicy were made of gold and silver, then of copper and ivory. In the sixteenth cehtury porcclain was the substanco used, and the makers advertised ♦.hemselves by stamping their names and addressee on the white of the eve—a practice not likely to commend itself to their customers, ono would liav* thought. Porcelain was superseded by glass, which, again, gave place to enamel; and this, we believe, is the substance in favour at Tho present d*y.> The best (specimens look so wonderfully roal thatt it- is sometimes difiv Milt to believe that t.liOT lw not, the power of vision, and that their* chicf use is to prevent a person from looking UH6i?'dU" in the f,Tt« ol his [oliowmeit,