The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-17 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.

'KRIS EVENING, at 7, OPEN TO CONVICTION. Messrs
George Belmore, J. D. Beveridge, C. H. Stephenson, Miss L.
Grey, and Mrs L. Murray. At 8, THE NIGHTINGALE:
Mr Benjamin Webster, Messrs Arthur Stirling. J. D. Beveridge,
Skinner, Miss Furtado, Mrs Alfred Mellon, Miss Eliza John-
stone, Mrs Caulfield, &e. To conclude with DOMESTIC
ECONOMY: Mr G. Belmore and Mrs Leigh Murray.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HOLBORN.
TR'S EVENING, at 7, THE BATH ROAD. At 7.4S,LOVE'S
SACRIFICE: Mr. Barry Sullivan, Mrs. Hermann Vezin,
And STATE SECRETS.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs.Swanborough.
THIS EVENING. at 7.30, AMONG THE BREAKERS: Mr
Clarke. With THE TOODLES. And INO. Concluding with
THE CHOPS OF THE CIIANNEL.

GLOBE THEATRE-ROYAL.
THIS EVENING, at 7, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY. At 7.25,
NOT SUCH A FOOL AS HE LOOKS: ➢lr H. J. Byron. And
LORD BATEMA'N : Miss Fanny Josephs, MrJ.Clarke,

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL G &RDENS, Regent's-palk, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, Is.; on Mcndays, 6d. Children
under twelve. 6d.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. —II HREE BALLETS
Promenade Concert. Band of CO. Begiat 8. ls. Box-office
open from ii to 4.

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LONDON, MOIVDAY, JAN. 17, 1870.

WEAKNESS iS the last attribute that we should
generally ascribe to the Pall Mall Gazette. Yet a
weaker article than that upon " Legislation for
Drunkenness," which appeared in our contemporary
Ja Saturday, it has rarely been our ill fortune to
read. Our contemporary says that we ought not to
legislate on the assumption that the working classes
are children until we have tried other remedies, and
they have been proved failures. This we have not
yet done (the argument goes on to allege) ; for there
are measures which we might adopt, and which
would probably prove sufficient. What are they ?
First of all, wo must see that beer is not adulterated.
At present it is a compound of copperas, coculus
indicus, nux vomica, opium, and oil of vitriol,
concocted with the express purpose of inducing
thirst, and therefore drinking to excess. Give the
drinker wholesome beer, and all will be well. To do
this. the police must be entrusted with the duty of
taking samples of the liquors on sale. The next ex-
pedient is to put public-houses under police super-
vision, so that drink shall not be served to persons
who have already had enough. Thirdly, public-
houses should not be allowed to enjoy the present
"mischievous privacy" which they now affect, but
should have plain shop fronts, so that anybody may
see the inmates. These are the remedies, and if we
adopt other than these we shall run the danger of
transferring drunkenness from the public-house to
the private house, and extending it from the hus-
bands to the wives.

Could anything be more childish than these sug-
gestions ? The writer seems to know nothing of the
facts of the liquor trade. He has apparently never
heard of gin palaces, and is altogether ignorant of
the effects of alcohol. No doubt the stuff sold at
beerhouses is rank poison, but how about gin and
other alcoholic liquors ? Even supposing that these
are genuine, they are intoxicating-, and it is a remedy for
drunkenness, not for poisoning, that we are now con-
sidering. Supposing it were possible to secure that
"good wholesome malt liquor " should be sold at all
public-houses, we could not force people to drink it.
All experience skews that the tendency of tipplers is
ever to increase the " potency" of their drinks. If only
genuine beer were sold at the beerhouses they would
be deserted. It is because the beer now sold consists
of coculus indicus and the rest that these houses are
able to compete with the gin palaces. Then conceive
of the absurdity of entrusting the police with the
double duty which the Pall Mall proposes to place
upon them, those of analyists and censors of morals.
Publicans are not babies, and would be very careful