SIX O’CLOCK CLOSING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 146002, 7 December 1917, Page 3

SIX O’CLOCK CLOSING.

HOW IS IT TO HELP WIN THE •WAR ? * — Now that the sale of liquor during the evenings is prohibited on Dio understanding that in some way tins win help to win the war, the Government should' immediately (says the Lyttelton Times) devise moans to take all posBible advantage of the change. Obviously there should be schemes to gatner into the State’s coffers the money that will be ‘‘saved” by this enforced economy, otherwise it need never have been .—saved at all, and as far as the war is concerned, at least, the economy will not exist. Euless Now Ecaland s hitting force against the Germans is to be increased by six o’clock closing tbo public will have been deceived by Parliament. Me do not doubt that less money is going to bo spent on liquor, but in the absence of definite action by tlie Government that money will simply be diverted into other channels of promiscuous expenditure. For instance, it will not damage the Germans if a. man, compelled by the law to do without a glass of beer, spends his sixpence in the purchase of an iced drink. That “reform,” multiplied, would merely injure tlie publican and benefit the other caterer. As a “war measure,” it would be a swindle. Tbo Government, then, should set about securing revenue out of early closing. It might very well commence with a live attempt to increase the sale of Mar Loan certificates and small bonds. A great deal could bo effected in this direction through a campaign conducted with energy, enterprise, and imagination. Tbo Finance Act, 1917, authorises tbo disnosal of certificates on tbo instalment system. i‘ln order to encourage and facilitate the investment of small sums of money in the warpurposes loan,” the Minister is empowered to issue certificates on condition that tiie purchase money is paid by monthly instalments extending over a period of sixteen months. That is to say, if the Government cares to put its own machinery in motion it may sell certificates at a shilling a month. Mo believe that hundreds of thousands of certificates would be taken up on those terms, which are easy enough to enable women and children to participate. Such a movement would help to provide the sinews of war, promote enconomy, and diffuse the sense of individual responsibility in connection with the war. It would provide a ready investment for the cash that would have gone over the hotel bars if they had remained open in the evenings, and thus early closing might fie contrived into some kind of war measure. The scheme of issuing loan certificates on the time-payment plan is full of merit and possibilities, and it is on the Statute Book, but it is useless there unless put into effect in a whole-hearted manner.