The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-05 00:00:00

THE NEW BEER ACT.

THE passing of an Act of Parliament for closing
public-houses and beer-shops during the greater
part of the Lord's Day has excited much' contro-
versy, and led to great difference of opinion on
the propriety of the step which has been taken.
The principal point in dispute appears tobe as to the
construction of the term "traveller," to whom
refreshments may be supplied at otherwise illegal
hours ; and a contrariety of decision on this point
by various magistrates has furnished the most
exciting topic for discussion. The act simply
refers to a bond fide traveller, without any clearer
definition, leaving it open to the executive to apply
the term according to circumstances. Such a
fertile field for argument has not been lost sight
of, and much ingenuity is wasted in endeavouring

to prove that a passenger by a ferry-boat across
the Mersey is a bond fide traveller, while some
have even gone so far as to assert that any man
who walks the length of a street from his own
house comes under the definition. The publican
is in the meantime called upon to exercise his own
judgment, without any facts by which he may be
guided, and is then subject to be fined by a Magis-
trate, who may entertain a different opinion on the
subject. His prudent course, therefore, is to re-
fuse to trade ; but then he is also liable to be
fined, as his license obliges him to serve travellers
with refreshments ; so that, at the first view of the

case, there appears an apparent hardship on the
man who pays so heavily for the privilege of re-
tailing beer and spirits. The hardship is, how-
ever, more apparent than real, for if a publican be
really desirous of obeying the law, he need not
have much difficulty in distinguishing between the

bond fide traveller and the mere Sunday excur-
sionist. But then comes the complaint of the
many thousands who habitually devote the Lord's
Day to pleasure-trips by railway or by steam-boat,
and who contend that it is a great hardship for
them to be excluded from the comforts afforded in
public-houses. This, in reality, is the gist of the
whole question, and any attempts made to induce
Parliament to rescind the step which has been
taken should be steadily resisted. There needs no
proof of the assertion, that it is our duty as
Christians, i*vidually and collectively, to use
every means in our power to prevent the desecra-
tion of the Lord's Day. If; therefore, the partial
closing of public-houses tend to deter many from
indulging in excursions of pleasure on that holy
day, a step has been gained in the right direction,
and perhaps all the more effectual for being but
partial. The next advance should be to close all
public-houses and beer-shops during the whole of
Sunday, with the necessary reservation as to
travellers. Such a proposition is met at once with
an assertion about the necessity of the working-
man obtaining beer for his dinner and his supper.
But where is the necessity that a working-man or
any man should drink beer on a Sunday, or that
other persons should be compelled to keep their
houses open in order to sell it to him ? Such a

want is purely imaginary, and if it really exist it
can be met by provision the day before. The

alteration which was made some years since, in

closing public-houses until after Divine Service on
Sunday forenoon, was manifestly and greatly bene-
ficial ; and there can be no doubt that the recent
extension of the same principle will prove equally,
if not more beneficial, for the temptation will be re-
moved from many to devote the day to dissipation.

is sure to be successful, because it is
based upon sound morality ; and when carried out
in its entirety, as we trust it will be, it will go far to
check that practice of Sunday travelling which is
the disgrace of the metropolis and many large
It was formerly argued, that, if the people
were debarred from open indulgence, they would
resort to public-houses; but if the latter be closed
and the fields and roads be left open, the sobriety
thus rendered compulsory may lead many to re-
flections hitherto strange to them, until they are
involuntarily attracted to enter the doors which,
like the Heavens to which they lead, would always
be open to them.

The measure

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