PLAN TO ABOLISH BARMAID IN U.K.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18545, 20 August 1928, Page 15

PLAN TO ABOLISH BARMAID IN U.K.

REFORMERS POINT TO EXAMPLE SET BY N.Z. LONDON, June 6. In the dear and distant days before the war, when it was still possible to obtain a glass of good beer for twopence in England, the British Barmaid was as great an institution behind the bars of the realm as was Britannia on its coinage. “Johnnies” were her courtiers, and songs were sung in the music-halls in her praise; one particularly inept ditty, hymning her as “a sweet little innocent thing,” penetrated to camps, quarters, and casual places throughout the Empire. But now her power is being sapped; and although it is too early to say that the British Barmaid is doomed, her destiny seems to be that of another Mistress of the World—Ancient Rome. Spread of Abdication. Rome’s sway began first to crumble on the boundaries of its dominions; so with that of the girl behind the bar. Her throne in the heart of the Empire and the hearts of Britons still seems secure; but in Victoria., South Australia and New' Zealand she is rapidly becoming extinct; in New South Wales and Tasmania she is only extant as a relative of the licensee of the hotef in which she serves; and in West Australia alone she retains the status she possessed before Federation. In South Australia, New Zealand and Victoria the sands of time began to run against her when it was decreed that she might not serve alcohol unless she had been so employed before 1908. 1911 and 1918 respectively. The force of this example is not lost on reformers in Great Britain. There is much to be said for their desire to replace barmaids with men. The barman (of bar-tender, as this white-sleeved, smiling expert was known in the United States before Prohibition killed him) has a professional ability at least equal to that of the barmaid; -he is not interrupted in his duties by the dalliance of amorous males; and he is not a “lure” in the sense that fanatics assert his fellbw-craftswoman to be.

Voice of the Church. The Rev C. F. Tonks, Rural Dean of Canterbury, in a pamphlet, “The Employment. of Women,” gives reasons for the activity of the churches in* the matter. He concedes that in these days of equal employment for men and women, it is difficult to cite arguments against the right of women to sell drinks in bars; but he declares that the -strength of the argument against the practice fully justifies its abolition.

Women have long been prevented from being employed in certain processes in white-lead factories which are deleterious to health, or from Working underground in mines. There are few who will contend that the associations of a public bar . in a rough district are elevating to womanhood; all that can be said is (for there is much chivalry in a crowd) that the presence of a girl behind the bar will often restrain the grosser varieties of conversation and behaviour. Through Effluxion of Time. There are 26,000 girls employed in the retail sale of intoxicating drink in England and Scotland to-day—the bulk of them in London and the south. The legislation that is advocated for the reduction of their numbers, following the example of certain of the Australian States, does not set out to abolish barmaids, but to make illegal the engagement of new barmaids after the date on which the new law comes into operation. ,

A licensee who sees fit to do so may still, as in New South Wales, Tasmania. Southern Ireland, France and Italy, have the assistance of his wife or daughter in his own bar.

The proposed legislation, after pre\*enting the employment of fresh barmaids, provides for the certification of women already so employed, such certificate enabling the holder to continue her occupation indefinitely.