WHY DIFFERENT TREATMENT?

White Ribbon, Volume 26, Issue 12, 1 May 1955, Page 5

WHY DIFFERENT TREATMENT?

What is there in the Liquor Trade that makes men think that it is w’orthy of special treatment? If a man wan*s to buy tobacco or a shirt to wear, then he must purchase them w’ithin the hours of normal business. If a woman wants groceries or meat, she must buy them before the hours of business close, or her family go without. But if a person w r ants beer, it is pictured as a tyrranous act to compel him to secure it before s : x o’clock.

2 he fact is that the six o’clock closing of hotels is one of the greatest reforms yet secured in the conduct of the liquor trade. Nothing yet achieved has had more beneficial effect on the sobriety of drinkers' •

Our generation has become so accustomed to it that it is inclined to forget the evil days when it was a dangerous venture for women and children to pass certain corners of our cities when drunken hooligans made themselves a nuisance to decent and law-abiding citizens. That is not the claim of a blind opponent of the Trade: it is the sober evidence that can be discovered by anyone w*ho is willing to search the files of the newspapers of those days before the six o’clock closing act became law*.

Women and young people wdth their greater freedom 4oday, do not want this danger thrust upon them again, and wdiy should the Liquor interests receive a special dispensation to sell their problem w*ares when other useful commodities have their sale restricted to reasonable hours of business. New Zealanders protect yourselves by retaining six o’clock closing for the welfare of all our citizens. It rests with us.