THE DRINK EVIL AMONG WOMEN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12427, 28 March 1908, Page 7

THE DRINK EVIL AMONG WOMEN.

Satisfactory Report by the Local Ponce.

In view of the recent reports of drinking- by women in Auckland hotels, the New Zealand Alliance decided to ascertain, as far as possible, to what extent the evil existed in other towns of the Dominion. A letter was addressed to Mr. R. L. Stanford, chairman of tho Wanganui Licensing Committee, asking for a report so far as Wanganui was concerned, and at his direction, Sergt. Bourke reports as follows : — I beg -to report that I have been 'stationed in Wanganui for the last two years. During that time my duty ihas taken me into the hotels frequently, at all hours of the day. There are a few women of the unfortunate class who visit some of the hotels and get drink, but I am certain that the apparently respectable women of this town do not visit the hotels for the, purpose of drinking. I know that the great majority of hotel-keepers of this town have made a rule that no female will) be served with liquor in any of the rooms, but must face the public bar, which means prohibition to any woman who does not belong to the disreputable class. In most of the towns in which I have " lived, the^f armers' wives went into hotels with their husbands, but I have not noticed any of that practice here. T. BOURKE, Sergt. R. L. Stanford, Esq., ' Chairman Licensing Committee, Wanganui.