The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-20 00:00:00

SUNDAY BEER BILL COMMITTEE.

The Committee of Inquiry resumed their proceedings
yesterday morning at the usual hour ; Mr. H. Berkeley,
the chairman, presiding.
The first witness examined was Mr. Wakley, one of
the Coroners for the county of Middlesex.
He stated that ho had filled his present office since
1839, and held between eleven and twelve hundred in-
quests annually. As a general rule so far as his obser-
vation went the feeling of the people against the Beer
Act of last session was one of violent hostility. His
own impression with regard to the construction of the
words bona fide traveller was, that they applied
to any person who was away from his home
Were he a publican he would supply any person with
refreshment within tho prohibited hours if he did not
know him as a resident in the neighbourhood. He was
of public-houses being under
oosed to the rinciple
the continued surpveillance of the police—and he believed
that nothing was more calculated to bring the civil force
into disrespect than this very circumstance. So far as
his experience went, it had confirmed him in tha opinion
that publicans, as a body, discouraged drunkenness ;
for the simple reason, that no persons were more annoyed
by drunken people than the publicans themselves.
He thought publicans generally wished to encourage
a respectable, sober class of persons to attend
their houses. In his district the publicans conducted
their business in a moot exemplary manner.
The Chairman—Hate the number of inqueat4 held y

you on deaths arising from the effects of intoxicating
liquors been in any way diminished since the passing of
the new beer bill I

Mr. Wakley—By no means.
Examination continued--Ho regretted that the labour
of the week did not terminate at two o'clock on the
Saturday. The business of the week was at present
pushed so far into the Sabbath that the working man
had little or no time for recreation on that day. He
thought the restrictions placed upon the working classes
by the operation of the act were not only very objec-
tionable, but would never in his opinion accomplish the
end in view. From his knowledge of the working
classes, he did not believe that drunkenness could ever
be restrained so as to attain the end in view by legisla-
tive enactments. He believed, on the other hand, that the
education of the people, ail(' the consequent cultivation
of a higher tame of moral feeling, would sooner and more
surely accomplish the desired effect.
The Chairman—Then you are a firm advocate for the
education of the lower classes, in order to remove the
opprobrium which has been attached to the working
man, that he wa's best known by the fact of his making
his mark instead of being able to sign his name ?
Mr. Wakley—Most decidedly.
Examination continued—He had bad excellent oppor-
tunities of forming an opinion upon the state of educa-
tion amongst the class of persons with whom he was
brought in contact in the capacities of jurymen and wit-
nesses ; and the large majority of the latter could not
write.

By Mr. Villiers—it was true, in his official capacity,
he had had few opportunities of judging personally of
the actual inconveniences of the working of the act ;
but he spoke from what he had heard and seen. His im-
pression was that the Legislature had not acted towards
the licensed victuallers so jtpitly as they ought to have
done compared with other classes of tradesmen ; and if
another opportunity were afforded him of coming before
the committee he would undertake to give them a
history of what he considered to be the griev-
ances of the licensed victuallers. He distinguished the
licensed victualler from the beer shop-keeper in making
this remark. He did not think there was any prejudice
amongst the public against the licensed victuallers ai a
body of tradesmen. The unfavourable opinion he hid
alluded to as being entertained towards them existed in
the House of Commons only, and he had observed that
to be the case when he sat in the house.

Mr. Villiers—Do we understand you to mean that
you are in favour of the abolition of all restrictions upon
public-houses ?
Mr. Wakley—By no means. I consider the restric-
tions imposed by the Beer Bill were unnecessary. They
have been followed by no good results, they have created
a hostile feeling in the public mind, and they have, be-
sides, altogether failed in accomplishing their intended
object. But at the same time I consider some restric-
tion is necessary, and I have therefore always approved
of the closing of public-houses from twelve o'clock on
Saturday night until one on Sundays. This gives the
publican himself an opportunity of attending some place
of worship in, the morning.
Examination continued —He had never, throughout
an extended experience and much conversation with
landlords, with whom he was continually brought into
contact in the fulfilment of his public duty, heard a
single opinion expressed by them favourable to Vie new
Beer Bill. If he were consulted, he should say, open
the public-houses from one on Sundays until three in the
afternoon, close them then until five, after which hour
let them remain open until half•past eleven at night.
By Sir J. Pakington— Whatever inconvenience was
oceasionec: by the closing of houses so early on Sunday
evenings, in his opinion it bore more heavily upon the
middle classes than the lower.

Mr. Norwood, chief inspector of the Waterloo termi-
nus of the South Western Railway, said the average
number of excurAion passengers arriving by train after 10
o'clock on a Sunday night was 1800 ; the total average
number of persons, including ordinary passengers and
excursionists, being 3,000, v‘ ho arrived at the
station after that hmir on Sunday night. He
believed that a greater portion of the excursionists
wished to avail themselves of a public-house for
refreshment on their arrival, as they generally had tra-
velled long distances. He had heard frequent complaints
of the hardship of being unable to obtain refreshment ;
but a general feeling of dissatisfaction prevailed as to the
operation of the Beer Bill.
Mr. Beadon, police magistrate at Wandsworth and

Hammersmith, said that in his opinion an excursionist
was a bona fide traveller, though he did net attach
any particular importance to the words bona ficle. Be-
fore the passing of the act several publicans came to him
for advice how to act. As to the onus probandi in
cases of information, he thought it ought to be thrown
upon the publican ; indeed a provision in Jervis's
act clearly laid down the principle in all cases.
He thought the act operated more severely upon
the class of persons who went with their wives
and families into the country in the immediate vici-
nity of London than upon those who went long
ditances from town. The former complained that they
could not get any refreshments at the very time they
most wanted them, viz., in the afternoon. As a general
rule they required refreshments about four o'clock, and
then to return, but they could not went until six
..'clock to obtain them. His own opinion was
that public-houses ought to be open from 1 o'clock on
Sundays until some hour on Sunday evening—say eleven.
He would also have the houses closed at that hour on
Saturday evenings.
By Mr. Villiers—ln his opinion the fault of the Beer
Act was, that it had carried restriction too far—but he
did not go so far as to condemn it in tote. He would
not have houses open all nights on Sunday.
Mr. Villiers—Had you any difficulty before the pas-
sing of the Beer Bill in deciding upon the term " tra-
veller' ?
Mr. Beadon—None whatever. He was guided by
precedents in coming to a conclusion ; and in addition
to these, the Middlesex magistrates had formed a pesi
tive opinion upon the point. He was of opinion that
the words " bona fide" should be struck out in any refer-
ence to the definition of a traveller. He should suggest
that punishment should fall upon the parties found in
public-houses at forbidden hours rather than upon the
publican, who was in many cases absolutely forced to
transgress the law.
Mr. George Cruikshank, the well-known author
of the celebrated " Bottle " etching:, was next
called. He had paid much attention for meny
years to the subject of intemperance, and was a; a
very early age impressed with its evils. He had be-
cothe a practical teetotaller, feeling that any preacbiles
of his would be otherwise useless ; and since ad tptitig
that course, he had influenced thou,a,,ds for good to fol-
low his example. With regard to the question
before the committee. !:e was highly in favour of tits
operation of the Beer Bill. He had oln.erved
that it had tended to diminish disorderly conduct
on Sundays. He had occasionally travelled ou Sundays,
but had never heard any complaints amongst excursion
ista relative to the hardships of the working of the act.
Mr. Critikshank teen entered into some statements
as to the evil consequences of drunkennes,, which be con-
tendea existed throughout the whole of Sunday in the
lower parts of London. He went on to describe very
graphically some of the scenes he had personally wit-
order to add to their effect, produced
nessed, and, in
some very spirited pictorial illustrations of these
inci-
dents. The cornnii:,tee, however, begged him to confine
himself more particularly to the subject under conside-
ration.
By Mr. Villiers—He was an advocate for the Maim e
liquor law. The act in his opinion was productive of
no inconvenience whatever. He had no doubt that
drunkenness was the great cause of crime.
Captain Rushout, a director of the Great Western
Railway, spoke to the large numbers of excursionists
who arrived in London by train after ten o'clock on
and the dissatisfaction they felt gene.
rally
could not obt tin any refreshment. He
Sundayth
that
nights,
oley
thought this was cue of the chief objections to the Beer
Act. ,

After some further evidence on this point the room
was cleared, and the committee adjourned at four o'clock.

RECRUITING IN THE UNITED STATES.—In New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, it is all the same. The recruiting
sergeant no sooner shows his head and rattles his bounty
money than a squad of police is upon him, and he stands
committed. In these days of dereliction from duty, it
is striking and refreshing to note these evidences of
vigilance. We live among sham reforms ; there are
sham shuttings.up and puttings-down of grsgshops ;
there are sham attacks upon gamblers ; sham onslaughts
upon strolling courtesans ; sham suppressions of lottery
policy offices ; but in this anxious, incessant pursuit of
the "allie,:" recruiting officers there is no sham what-
ever. There is a zest and an animus about it that be.
speak a profounder intereet among the pursuers than is
usually found to proceed from an unadulterated regard
for public good. You may people the Everglades with
Filibusters ; you may enliven the banks of Rio Bravo
with pugnacious adherents of Caravajel ; Missourians,
armed to the teeth with knives, and to the throat with
whisky, may after a month's notice invade Kansas, and
not a detective or preventive police show itself. Its eyes
and its energies are all spent in the service of Russia.
There is hardly a ghost of a chance discovered of getting
off a full company to aid in the conquest of Sebas-
topol bef ire the authorities ate on the alert, aid
the enterprising Sergeants Kite laid by the beets.
You may do anything in a business way easier than
swell the ranks of the allies upon contract. While there
will be general satisfaction at the prompt action taken
in these ca-es, it is for the curious reader to satisfy him-
self how it may be explained. With ad the pretended
tendency of American sentiment to the Russian side of
the question, there is certainly too little fervour in it to
account for this laborious vigilance in its interest ; and,
somehow or other, there is a general feeling of satisfac-
tion whenever the allies gain ground in the fight. A long
purse at St. Petersburg, and a shrewd agency here will
naturally occur to many as affording a solution ; and,
though we are by no means prone to accept this easy
method of acceunting for such proceedings; it will un-
doith•edly be widely received as satisfactory. It may be
that this extraordinary vigilance on the part of the Go-
vernment agents is part of their recent system of pre-
serving the perfect neutrality of this country and en-
forcing the laws for its observance. We shall be glad to
believe that this is the true explanation, and hope the
policy thus adopted may be impartially carried out.—
New York Times.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER.— Mr. W. Baker, the
coroner, held an inatiest yesterday, at the Albion Tavern,
High-street, Shadwell, on view of the body of George
Arthur Mellish, aged 16 years, who lost his life by
drowning. The deceased was employed on Saturday
last on board a barge, moored off mid-stream, at Shad-
well Doelt, and while engaged in pushing the vessel from
the tackle.by the means of a hiteh.x, .or •boat-hook,
he
slipped and fell overboard. The poor boy was not taken
out until life was quite gone. Verdict—" Accidentally
drowned." ,