The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1908. THE CHRISTCHURCH HOTELS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9254, 5 June 1908, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1908. THE CHRISTCHURCH HOTELS.

It is satisfactory to find th© sub-in-spector of police reporting to the Licensing Committee at its annual meeting yesterday that the conduct ot the city hotels had given, little cause for complaint during the year which ended on May 30. Anybody who has followed the growth of the prohibition movement and watched its corresponding influence on tho conduct of the trade during the last ten years will j readily admit that this report from the authorities is fully justified. Tho hotel of a decade ago and the hotel of to-day are two different institutions. Until the amendment of the licensing law and the stricter supervision of licensed premises came into operation, the law was a, good deal more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Sunday trading, after-hours drinking, card-playing and gambling in hotels used to be carried on with impunity, and was practically winked at by the authorities. But it is safe to aay that these practices have ceased to exist in Christchurch and that the trade is carried on as well here as it is in any part of the world, and certainly as well as it is in any part of the dominion.. There are not wanting ungenerous people who will hasten to assert that the good report of the police is due to the fact that the licensed victuallers are putting their houses in order in view of the approaching general election, but as the reform in the conduct of the trade has been, gradually growing from year to year, this suggestion is not a legitimate one.. The improvement is, of course, partially due to a j strong public feeling and a stricter j supervision following upon the restricting amendment of the Licensing Act, but the people in the trade themselves must be given credit for having displayed an increased sense of responsibility. The question of women drinking in hotels has been the subject of a wide controversy throughout the dominion, and it is satisfactory to find from the police report that the j habit does not exist to any extent in Christchurch. A few farmers wives naturally enough acaompany their husbands into hotels on market days when the day's work is done for refreshment before proceeding home, the wives of working men are known in cases to enter licensed premises to purchase the dinner beer, and there is the inevitable smattering of "unfortunates" who purchase drink, mostly in the smaller houses. But with these exceptions the evil is non-existent so far as Christ- j church is concerned. The report proceeded to mention the recurring difficulty of enforcing prohibition upon prohibited persons, and the police suggested that the holders of licenses did not take sufficient precautions to make themselves acquainted with the identity of prohibited persons. But the daily swelling list of prohibition orders mak'os i this a difficult matter, and in nine cases out of ten the prohibited person who is found under the influence of liquor has induced some third party to secure it for him. By far the better hope of diminishing the trouble is found in the practice adopted by the Magisterial Bench of inflicting heavy penalties on persons convicted of this offence. And even these might with advantage be made more drastic. On the whole the conduct of the hotels is matter for satisfaction. The licensed victuallers have their triennial trial in front of them, and it is only by conducting their, houses in a manner that leaves no room for reproach that they can expect to win the approbation of the moderate section of the community and secure a renewal of thoir licenses. !