SIX O’CLOCK CLOSING.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 47, 19 June 1917, Page 8

SIX O’CLOCK CLOSING.

A MODERATE'S VIEW. In supporting the motion urging six o’clock closing of hotels at the Wellington meeting the other evening, Mr C. B. Morison, K.C., says the Post, spoke from the point of view of a moderate drinker. He believed if they could tell the Trade that they would not be the losers by 6 o'clock closing there would be no opposition. One of the results of war was that the ordinary rules governing private rights as against the public interests ceased to exist. He knew that some members of the Trade were doing their best to help the Government, and if 6 o’clock closing was brought in they would have to take steps to close those dens of iniquity where the young soldier suffered more harm than in any open bar. (Applause.). .The whole question was one of profit and loss, and the question of profit, and loss as between the Trade and the State had to go by the board just as the question of the lives of our young men went by the board when they went to the front. A voice: What about the clubs. Mr Morison: The clubs will have to shut up in the same way as the hotels. (Applause.) Continuing, he said that he would stop the bottle trade absolutely, and that before a person could purchase liquor in bulk he should be made to produce a certificate that he was a person of reputable character. That would be no worse than the regulation under which a man had to get a certificate before he could be sold_ a dozen pearifle cartridges to enable him to shoot rats. The anti-shouting law had been a hideous failure. (Laughter and applause.) What they should do was to invite the brewers to make a sacrifice in favour of the hotelkeepers. What would that sacrifice be compared with the sacrifice being made every day by thousands of mothers in New Zealand? (Applause.) • The motion was then put to the meeting, and carried amid tumultous applause. Speaking at the Wellington 6 o’clock closing meeting the other evening, says the Times, Mr C. J. Seal, a returned soldier, said: “There seems to be some people here who think the war can be won by six o’clock closing .” This provoked applause.” Let me tell you,’’ continued Mr Seal, “if the hotels were closed altogether that would not win the war.’’ He directed attention to the fact that General Maxwell, at Cairo, had deemed it expedient to have wet canteens for the soldiers to prevent them from drinking the wretched Egyptian concoctions. The General said he would not have his soldiers treated like children. Mr Seal then compared the treatment of Australian soldiers aboard ship with that meted out to New Zealanders. “Why,” he said, “an Australian could have two pints of beer a day if he liked, but a New Zealander was not allowed even a smell of it.” The prohibitionists once more cheered. It was all very well, continued Mr Seal, ipr people who could have their private cellars to shut the hotels against the working man. There was no sense in preventing moderate drinking. If a few men liked to make beasts of themselves with drink, let them do so. (Cries of “No!”) If soldiers could not restrain themselves here, Mr Seal asked, how were they to fare when they went abroad? He for one strongly opposed the six o clock closing. He wanted his glass of beer, and meant to have it. (Laughter.)