SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14444, 30 June 1917, Page 4

SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

MR HUDSON'S POSITION. Replying at Motueka to a deputation which advocated six o'clock closing o£ hotel bars during the war. Mr R P Hudson, M.P., said it had not been proved to his satisfaction that the position was so serious as to justify breaking the conditions on which hotelkeepers wero granted licenses. He feared that utnr? S°[. !lotels at six «>clo<* " ould bring drink into the homes, and mat would mean whisky and not the mZh ?}l artjcle. beer. He.had & een much of the soldier life in Weilingcon. and considered the soldiers were on the +I~° a x Particularly well-behaved and S.^te lot of men. If they were fJlt lw d + v'° m enteri°g a'hotel .be SI i -*i — £ Ration to frequent far less desirable haunts would he considerably increased. Mr Hudson wished it to be clearly understood that ho vas mn o _ way prejudiced against early closing but he could not support an injustice .towards any section of the community until he was clearly shown t.i-at it was necessary in the interests of the country or the Empire. He would have pleasure in presenting the petition for early closing that was in circulation.