EDITORIAL JOTTINGS

Thames Star, Volume XLV, Issue 10421, 14 May 1909, Page 4

EDITORIAL JOTTINGS

•wSLTpGiRO!G" fiiUBTERiPUGEIS'.

Mr Hplkniaoi Day. writing in Hangar's Weekly, gives an interesting account of the various subterfuges which are employed toy transgressors against the 'Miainet liquor laws in their efforts to avoid the attentions of the police. AI scheme thwt worked well for at long timei, %> reason! of its openness a,nd simplicity, was to dietposit a bottle of whisky and a glass in a long-distance tekjphone 'booth. Those who were in the. secret ..stepped! into tihe booth., hud a) drink, amid them paid at the office, o&tefnsibly for (using 1 tlhei telephone. "Pookiet .-peddlingf' was extensively :.praetdsedj and sionie of the -nitons nr>d aippiuirteiaances of this branch, of the illicit grog traffic were peculiar. One mam wtore a tin tanik, moulded! to lit the 'body under his clothes. It contained several gallons, and the liquor Was poured out through a spiggot which maequeirladed as ona of the Butlt|6m|e of thei pedidjlferfs vest. One female peddler carried her supply of liquor in her bustle, and another Carried it round in a pera.mibula.tor, which had a false bottom. Ome man paraded 1 the .streets of Portlandi for some timiei witih ai tray full of bottles Jfelbel'lled "ink." duistomters used to tbujyt a, bottle, drink the bontentd, and ,pay the pedldlei' tern cents, returning the bottla Milkmien. have been convicted for selling a quart bidtitle of liquor concealed in a twoqiUiart cam; of milk, and at the Maiue State Fair one year, lager beer was put up in <<rin,ger-beer bottles, end, large number of bottles were sold by boys. The aiyeaiag© incorrigible liquor seller irii Maine does his business 'n some cloneeuled amid 'ba.rricladted deu called a "bide," which is protested againslti a raid by the police by ; a> strongi door. Sentinels are generally posted to 1 give warning of the a,pproatab of tihe constables, amd '"yen should tihe sentries fail to do their duty, the stock of liquor could be disposed of beforie' the officers of the law could break down, the strong doior. Thisl form, of traffic ba:si race>?ved a severe blow, however, froimi the laiw enacting that the strong door itsell is sufficient .proof that the owner ha® been dairying on a liquor nuisance.

T<h.e woirik. section of the Labour Journal shows the" demiaind for female: dbmestic labour is still greatly in,excess of the supply. At the Dtanedm bureau it.appears to be *he eooperienoe that "the request for situations in public plaices, amd inytiLutions has beien very great, nofrwithsfcamding; the good •wages amd liberal outings offered by private entolbyeirs. It is almost •impiossi'ble to get girls to aictept. places ouit of town, despite r the fialvoxiraibki induicemients offered. The scarcity of generals is still keenly! felt, especiialliy in; the country districts." - Auckland received 186 applications for domestic workers, but 90 women only applied for work, anrl 78 engagemien-ts were made. Christclhiutrcih had 181 applications for ser vants, but' rth© demand Cannot poisibly be .mat." A'ustra.lia, aocordihg to all acoouints, is just as badly off, jrirls pnefer to work at a faqfcory for 6s or 7s a w«tek and keep themselves rather than accept 15s and keep as a domestic help. The TCev. Cole, who has just come from. Melbourne, says owing: to this scarcity of girls they have been forced to train boys into kitchen work. "In these progressive days the faiot seems to be lost sight of that a girl should, in order to ne prepared to master a home of lier owii, ■gifadiuata from the kitchen upwards/and unless mothers pull theraselves together ajnd faoei the position as they should do., throwing o-ff the false pride that will not allow 1 of their daughters doing the work wJhicjhi alonei will fit them for die post that 'they must eventually' occutpy at the head of the faaiily the position will become more and more aoutec -. ■ The'.'trainiing of boys might ■fill the !ga.p for - a short-period, but as they approach manhood the remuneration they -would necessarily demand wiooild madia their services prohibitive in the ordinary home.