SUNDAY REFRESHMENTS.

Observer, Volume XXVIII, Issue 27, 21 March 1908, Page 3

SUNDAY REFRESHMENTS.

Where is the Line to be Drawn ?

FEW New Zealanders will cavil at the proposition that Sunday

trading shonld be restricted to the lowest possible limits. There is a wholesome feeling in most British communities against trenching upon the day of rest. It is not necessarily Puritanical, though no doubt it comes down to us from a period when religious ideas influenced our customs more than is the case today. The habit has become ingrained iv us by heredity, and has also been given the force of law. Our statutes forbid •everything in the way ot trading on the Sabbath which is not essential to the convenience of the multitude, and they have behind them the support of public opinion.

Once in a while, however, a ques-' tion arises as to where the line shall be drawn — what classes of business are necessary to the public in a proper and reasonable Sunday observance. A bench of Justices was called upon in Auckland last week to decide whether it was right that a vendor of soft drinks and ice creams should be allowed to dispense refreshments on Sunday. This person had been caught by the police at 9 o'clock in the evening carrying on what might be called a roaring trade in a room at the back of his confectionery shop, and a prosecution was brought to challenge bis right so to do- Evidence was given that between twenty and thirty persons were found on the premises, slaking their thirsts upon lemonade and ginger-pop, or regaling themselves with ice creams and fruit salads. And the Justices, with finer discrimiation than Justices are wont to give, «*rae to the conclusion that the sale of this kind of refreshment on the Sabbath was no contravention of the law.

Whether, as a matter of strict law, this judgment will be sustained on appeal, remains to be Been. That it is in accordance with popnlar opinion in Auckland can, however, hardly be doubted. A community, that has fought bitterly against the extreme Sabbatarian sentiment on the question of Sunday trams, and decided by vote that they shall be allowed to run, is not likely to deny itself the right to obtain reasonable refreshments on its Sunday afternoon and evening rambles. Even those who would be as resolute as the Puritanic element itself in resisting any adoption of the Continental system of general Sunday trading, can see but a very small approach to that system in permitting the opeaing of a few ginger- pop bars and icecream counters, or even, for that matter, fruiterers' shops.

Without some such accommodation, the condition of the person in the street on Sunday would be dismal indeed. Certainly, he has the street watertap to fall back npon. That, however, cannot be said to be too tempting, or, in these days when we are warned against the universal prevalence of warring microbes, altogether sanitary. In the suburbs, there is in the season the tea-kiosk and the strawberry garden, the opening of which on the Sunday scandalises nobody. Why, therefore, should the town wayfarer be debarred from the opportunity of indulging in ginger-pop if he so desires ? The soft-drinks saloon is quite as much a public necessity as the teakiosk.

It may be argued that if the softdrinks vendor is allowed to pursue his calling on Sunday, so also should the dealer in hard drinks. As a matter of bare logic, perhaps, that would be so, but questions of the kind are not always decided logically. The liquor traffic stands on a footing of its own, and there is a strong public sentiment as to the way it shall be regulated. But no public sentiment, and no religious sentiment that is not already invaded, is involved in the opening of places of light refreshment, and there are strong reasons of public convenience why they should be allowed to continue open.