NOTES AND QUERIES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 3926, 21 August 1880, Page 2

NOTES AND QUERIES.

(from a score contributors).

So the new Licensing Bill has suffered the fate that overtakes the just and unjust measures towards the close of a Parliamentary session. It has been dropped, and the law remains unaltered. These abortive attempts at legislation are expensive, and they do not appear to please any one. The licensed victuallers complain, and on very good grounds, that the restrictions sought to be imposed on the trade are vexatious and unnecessary, while the total abstinence advocates cannot be placated with anything less than a total extinction of the trade. Both classes are as wide apart as the poles are asunder, and it appears hopeless to attempt to please both. There is one great fallacy underlying much of the advocacy of the total abstinence party. They assume that a licensed victualler is a bird of prey, that he is not actuated with the same desire as themselves for the good order and government of society in generrl, and that if he had his own sweet will drunkenness would ; flourish like an evergreen. Writing with some knowledge of the men, I protest against such a belief being held. There are exceptions of course, but the main body of the trade are as law abiding as any other division in the social scale. Nor have they in any way sought to hinder reasonable reform of the law under which the trade is conducted. Their own Bill is a proof of this, and should a new session see a new Bill, I trust it may be based upon the lines of that particular measure. There is a well-known copy book text familiar to every one, "Search the Scriptures. " The officers of the Auckland Custom House appear to have remembered the text, and on a recent occasion carried out the command literally. A case of Bibles was landed at that port consigned to a Mr Thomas Smith. Such a godly parcel might have been considered safe from the inquisitiveness of a Customs official, but the consignor and consignee of that case ought to have made sure that reverence for the Word was part and parcel of the stock-in-trade of the Auckland Custom House. Unfortunately for Mr Smith the case Avas not only opened but the books examined. " Search the Scriptures " was muttered by the tide waiter, and a golden prize rewarded his efforts. A gold Avatch neatly placed in one of the sacred vols was the prize, and Mr Smith was forthwith charged with defrauding the reA r enue by endeavouring to evade the duty. He Avas fined £25 and costs, and justice was satisfied. Let us hope that out of evil good may come. The conviction Avill give such an impetus to Bible examination by the Customs authorities in Auckland and other parts, that if a tithe of the good said to result from the reading of that Avork should be brought about, Mr Smith's exposure Avill not be in Aram.A r ain. Our old friend Benjamin Strachan, of Wangamii gold prospecting and hair dressing fame, undertook to " engineer " a benefit for an orphan boy in Wellington named Frederick Moore. Three performances were given, but alas, the balance sheet shewed a deficit of £12, and Benjamin has been called names as black as his face. The strictures Avere undeserved, for ci Wellington paper thus Avhiteus our erstwhile resident :—": — " Mr Strachan has satisfied us that his balancesheet is a genuine production, and that cafter months of trouble expended in training the juA r enile company, Avhose cleA'er performances recently earned so much desei'A'ed applause nothing but lack of adequate public support, combined Avith the very heavy rent paid for the Academy of Music, prevented the result being a financial success." What a good thing it is to have a paternal Government, even if the thought should creep in that at times the attention partakes of the maternal character. The health of the local barmaids is the latest craze of our guardians of the peace, and a notice has been served upon all the licensed victuallers, warning them that the provisions of the Factory Act Avill be enforced in future. The connection betAveen barmaids and factories is not Aery clear, but the laAV on the subject embraces both. In future therefore no lady attendant, except the Avife or daughter of the landlord, must be in any bar before 11 a.m. or after 11 p.m. This laAV on the face of it appears very right and proper, and in theory it ought to give satisfaction, but Avomaiikind, and indeed mankind sometimes, are very perverse, and instead of the new order giving unbounded satisfaction to the fair demoiselles, it is considered irksome and vexatious. The 11 p.m. limit is an excellent provision, but Avhy 11 a.m., Oh most grave and reverend laAV-makers. Why not leave the hour of commencing Avork optional, taking care that the maximum number of hours Avas not exceeded. I venture to assert that barmaids Avould prefer entering upon their duties at 9 a.m., and obtaining two hours in the afternoon for a constitutional, than working straight on from 11a.m. to 11p.m. Some time back Aye Avere promised a return showing the number of bankruptcies on this coast, together Avith a tabulated statement of the sworn assets and liabilities, and the actual amounts realised and disbursed by the Trustees. Last, . but not least, the names of the Trustees Ayere to be given. Is that statement ever to see the light? I notice that a Avell-knoAvn Trustee has drawn 1 upon himself the reproaches of hungry creditors avlio ask in angry tones, "Where's my dividend." The controversy, so far as it has gone, has been amusing, and the curtain has been lifted sufficiently to show slightly Koav matters are "Avorked" before the creditors meet. But I cannot see that anything has been proved Avbich Avould not apply Avith equal force to almost every estate for some years past. The notjee of the declaration of a dividend J3 a rarity, and the wonder then is, not that the amount is small, but that there should be anything at all. By the time the Trustee's commission and Solicitor's little bill is paid there are only the bones of the carcase left. In tAvo instances in Wanganui did the creditors act Avisely in escheAving botli trustee and solicitor. In the first case they met at the shop of the debtor, made an equitable distribution of his assets, and wrote the amount of their claim off as settle^. The estate >yas "woundup" in about 15 minutes, and the. creditors obtained value tl>at they never Avould have seen 'had the ordidary formula beeii followed. In the second case the debtor offered a certain amount cash in prder to obtain a clear receipt, Tho creditors ifl no way considered

the amount sufficient, but arguing that if they refused the bird in the hand, there was little chance of obtainingthe pair in the bush, they " freezed " on to the cash and wound up the estate smartly. ] r evb sap.