248 



The Review of Reviews. 



September 1, 1906. 



called bona fide. At present the man who cannot, 

 under the provisions of the law, secure a publican's 

 license, may induce his possible customers to enrol 

 themselves as members of a club, and to appoint him 

 as manager. A nominal subscription is paid by the 

 alleged members, which may be refunded, or taken 

 out in drink, when the certificate that the club is 

 bona fide has been secured. A little false swearing 

 may be necessary ; but the average club promoter 

 and his allies do not stick at a trifle like that. In 

 reply to my question to a club-owner as to how he 

 had managed to deceive the court the answer came, 

 without hesitation, " Of course we have to commit 

 [lerjury.'' That is a mere incident in the business. 

 Witnesses may display invincible ignorance. When 

 ^Vren's Bourke-street club was started, an attempt 

 was made to get a certificate to authorise the sale 

 of liquor, which the Victorian Alliance successfully 

 opposed. The witnesses for the club stoutly swore 

 that Wren had nothing to do with it — so far as they 

 knew. Some wt-re sure that he w.is not in it. What 

 they did not know was remarkable ! Once the cer- 

 tificate is granted the club may locally be known as 

 So-and-so's club. The alleged manager is really the 

 owner of a liquor business, which may be run all 

 day, all night, and seven days in the week, without 

 any kind of restriction or supervision. I have seen 

 the club owner's name painted on the iron roof of 

 his premises, in letters which could be read half- 

 a-mile away. " Clubs ' have been sold by one 

 "manager" to another. The only men who seem to 

 !:« decei\ed are the magistrates; and perhaps they 

 are not so simple as they appear to be. In a series 

 of twenty-two carefully-drawn sections, taken from 

 the Acts of New South Wales and New Zealand, 

 the Bill seeks to bring all clubs under supervision; 

 to impose an annual fee for the privilege of selling 

 liquor; to enable opposition to be raised to the 

 granting of certificates of registration; and to se- 

 cure the suppression of the clubs which are not bond 

 fide. Strong opposition to these proposals from the 

 bogus clubs is inevitable; and these will have as 

 their allies the institutions which cherish the reputa- 

 tion of superior resi^ectability. But. surelv. only 

 those " whose deeds are evil '' need " fear the light." 

 If the high-toned institutions push their objection 

 to supervision very far the suspicion may be engen- 

 dered that in the privacy of the " home " — which 

 they claim the club to be — practices are permitted 

 which are not home-like. 



_ The Bill contains many valuable regulating pro- 

 visions for the liquor traffic, by which it is sought 

 to provide 



L.^WS FOR THE LAWLESS. 



The scandal of selling liquor to boys who claim to 

 be over sixteen, but who " look younger," and to 

 girls in short dresses, and with their hair down, is 

 at least to be lessened, by raising the age at which 



\oung persons may be served for their own con- 

 sumption on the premises to eighteen. In the case 

 of girls, at least, public sentiment would support 

 the raising of the age to twenty-one. Certain 

 amendments are proposed to deal with Sundav trad- 

 ing, and with selling liquor during prohibited hours, 

 including that which is proving effective in New- 

 South Wales, which makes the guilty buyer amen- 

 able to punishment as well as the guilty seller. The 

 chief reason why many publicans break the law is 

 that certain of their unscrupulous customers say, in 

 effect, " If you won't serve me on Sunday vou shan't 

 serve me on week days." Let the tempter, as well 

 as the tempted, share the risk. The operation of the 

 New South Wales law has been most encouraging. 

 In the Legislative Council of the mother State, on 

 August ist, Mr. Brunker, M.L.C., in reply to a ques- 

 tion by Mr. Flowers, M.L.C., said that in the metro- 

 politan d. strict, the number of convictions for drun- 

 kenness, with disorderly conduct, between 8 a.m. 

 Sunday .ind 8 a.m. Monday, fell from 601 in the 

 first six months of 1905 to 139 in the corresponding 

 period of this }ear, a decrease of nearly 77 per 

 cent. In view of countless facts such as this, how 

 stupid appears the saying that "men cannot be made 

 sober by Act of Parliament." There is no more 

 silly falsehood, paraded by superior people, and 

 stalking under the guise of a truism, than this. 

 Authority to demand entrance to licensed premises 

 is extended to every member of the police force who 

 is not below the rank of senior-constable, or who is 

 in charge of a district. By this latter provision is 

 meant a constable in charge of a station, and it 

 would be tetter to say so. Every bar is to be so 

 constructed that in the hours during which the sale 

 of liquor is prohibited the inside of the bar shall 

 be visible from the outside. This brief summary by 

 no means exhausts the good things under this head- 

 ing. Those who have had experience of the diffi- 

 culties in the way of making the present law " a 

 terror to evil-doers " will welcome the changes pro- 

 posed. 



But the crucial part of the Bill from the refor- 

 mers' standpoint is that which contains 



THE LOCAL OPTION POWERS. 



The present Local Option provisions as to polls to 

 authorise increases up to, and decreases down to, the 

 statutory number are continued ; and compensation 

 is to be continued at a gradually diminishing rate 

 up to the end of 1916. It is proposed, by the im- 

 position cf increased license fees, to raise from the 

 liquor trade sufficient monev to enable 700 public- 

 houses to I>e deprived of their licenses during this 

 period. Then on January ist. 1917, the new Local 

 Option powers will come into force. At the first 

 general election following this date, which might 

 be at anv time within three years, the electors will 

 be called upon to vote upon three resolutions — - 



