Untitled

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4263, 30 August 1882, Page 2

The police force seems to be in a bad way in all the Australian colonies just now, as the guardians of public morals. In Sydney two members of the police have been dis. charged for being sub rosa partners in the profits of certain houses of ilWfame. In Melbourne matters are pretty much the same. The Argus declares that to the lax supervision of the police is due the immense number of abandoned women in Melbourne, and that many of them " maintain estab lisbments superbly furnished, well known to, and it is alleged patronised by the officers and detectives of police." It broadly accuses the Melbourne force with being in league with publicans and the sporting fraternity, or otherwise the laws relating to these classes could not be violated with impunity as they are at present. We need not go to " the other side " to learn of the police patronising a certain class of houses, although that any here have yet been fortunate enough to acquire a partnership in any of these high toned firms has not come within our knowledge. In New Zealand the difference after all is not in kind, but in degree. As for the publicans—well, the authorities will not allow the police to go about the work of detecting infringements of the licensing laws in such a way as would prove effec tual. The simple fact is they do not wish to enforce the laws. The constables are so hampered by their instructions that it I would be surprising if they did succeed in catching Sunday traders. The heads of the force evidently desire to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds ; they wish to make matters easy for the hotelkeepers —the Licensed Victuallers' interest is very powerful—and yet make a show of doing their duty. That the law relative to Sunday trading is evaded wholesale —is void and of none'effect—in Auckland is notorious. The writer would undertake to go into a dozen public houses on Sunday and obtain drink without difficulty. And just imagine a publican waiting for a constable in the full splendour of his Sunday uniform to drop in and catch him! Oh, no—they keep too close an eye on the men in blue for that to happen often. But "like master, like man," and the probability is that if the said constable were to meet an acquaintance, he too would pop in and interview their mutual friend Boniface, and have a pint to warm their blood. The publicans, generally speaking, regard -the police as friends rather than foes. They know that if they make cases against them, it is by instruction from their chiefs. The writer happening to be walking down Queen Street, near the ,Auckland Hotel, one Sunday afternoon, in company (not in custody) of a Sergeant, a drunken sailor was encountered, who, not " moving on " to the officer's liking, was speedily lodged at the police office. But the reflection arose—Whence came the drink to make this individual drunk ? Simpleton !—where do the scores of drunken and half drunken men that you meet in various parts of the city on Sunday obtain the drink which makes them drunk P It is notorious that some publicans look forward to Sunday as the harvest of the week. A publican the other day admitted the offence of Sunday trading to Mr Kenrick, but pleaded that he had dis* obeyed a bad law, for conscience sake; he did not see why the poor woman should be deprived of her dinner beer. Such a thin excuse was worse than none. The hotelkeeper takes out a license subject to the conditions the law imposes, therefore he has no right to complain of oppression. No law compels him to take to that particular line of business. Again, the plea that is often put forward that as the rich man can afford to stow away the best vintage of wine, the primest of whisky, the purest of brandy,' the finest brew of beer in his cellars for consumption at any time, the poor should have the privilege of purchasing a drop of beer to wash down his Sunday dinner, will not bear the crucial test of critical examination. How did the rich become soP for it must be'borne in mind that the great majority of our well-to-do people were originally poor. Was it not by saving until they bad acquired sufficient to give them a start on the high road to prosperity P Any working man who wishes beer for his Sunday dinner can easily provide it On -.Saturday night, and if a saving man he will have his bottle of beer or brandy in the house for requirement. If not a saving man there is no necessity for the public house to be open to enable him to squander his earnings during the leisure of Sunday. When a judgment debtor comes before the Magistrate what is he toIdP That he has no right to partake of luxuries P No, but that it is his duty to eschew luxuries until he pays his debts. Now we do hot at present express any opinion as to the advisability or otherwise of the sale of liquor on Sundays under certain restrictions for a few hours. But what we do object to is, that any 'enactment of the Legislature should be converted into a farce by those upon whom the duty of administering it devolves, as is the case with the Licensing Act. That a considerable amount of public sympathy or in* difference exists cannot be doubted, or they Would not dare to do so, but if the law is repugnant to the people it should be swept off the Statute Book, and not hypocritically evaded. The law against Sunday trading could be so enforced that no publican would dare to break it, if the authorities were really in earnest. But no, if must be handled in a gingerly manner, and the police shall not be allowed to go about their business as detectives, and in such manner as would secure conviction. A constable, we are credibly informed, must be in uniform when hunting publican lawbreakers. It is no use prating about the difficulties in the way of catching offenders.' What is wanting is, not the way, but the will. If this illicit trading were trampled out

it would tend considerably to raise the tone of the hotelkeeping business.