The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-25

Two points in connection with this
 new act will have to be passed upon be- | fore long by court of appeal. One is, whether publicans, in refusing to serve children who come for a pint or more and have a bottle capable of being corked and sealed to put it in, with the
 money to pay for it, can legitimately send them away unsupplied. Unless the new act carries with it some option of this kind, they certainly can not, for every holder of drink license in Eng
 land is a servant of the public. He may
 not conduct his business according to
 his own caprices but must run it ac-
 cording to law, to accommodate his fel-
 low citizens Every one not intoxicated
 and not rebarred by some statute, must
 be served with what refreshnent he
 may demand, a child under fourteen,
 sent as messenger, no less than those
 who buy drink to swallow it at the bar.
 So it has been up to the present, and the
 point the higher courts will have to de-
 eide Is. whether, under the new act, this
 long established principle has been
 abrogated. And still another point
 awaiting decision by the higher courts
 s what is meant by "sealing?" Those
 who have assumed that to place gum
 label over the cork would meet the case,
 have been rudely undeceived, for the
 policeman waiting outside, having test
 ed the label and having found that, be-
 ing damp, it could be taken off and put
 on again without tearing, has at once
 gone back and summoned the publican
 ho, fl1of f111oc
 istrates failed, in cases of this kind, to- inflict penalty.
 How far this puzzling and ambiguous, though we'll meant law, will really
 serve to keep young children out of
 public houses, cannot yet be deter mined If one accepted at par all it's opponents say of it, the conclusion
 would be that it will be found abortive and useless, if indeed it does not tend finally to aggravate the very evil it was
 intended to abate The following ex- treme instance of how it may possibly work is not vouched for as an actual oe
 currence, but it is so near to what might be under English laws and cus toms, that its currency in the press will at any rate lead to reflection; perhaps, indeed, to apprehension. Under the old regime the mother, who likes her gin or her half-p pint of fourpenny ale, would have sent her little girl for it. Now with bitter complaints against the law, she goes to the public house herself to get it. There she meets several old cro- nies who are similarly disgruntled, and in drinking and grumbling so much time is passed at the bar, that present. ly that mothers little girl. weary of be- ing at home alone, joins the woman in the public house, and while the mother enjoys herself in her own way the lit- tie school girl, who has brought her l evening lessons with her. sits in cor ner and works them out, leaving the | puzzled publican to Wonder-so the sto- | ry goes-how long it will be before. un- l der this new act, which was intended to l keep children out of public houses, he | will have to establish in his bar spec ial department where the little folks can come in the evening with their k mothers and do their school lessons for the following day!
 The magistrates courts are where you see the London policeman in all his glory, and there are so many of him, so primly gotten up, so statuesque and so cocksure in giving testimony, that you do not wonder at the estimate put upon him by a child as one of the great factors in governing the universe The teacher asked, How many different kinds of force are there? Johnny said, three kinds, and when asked to name them, replied bodily force, mental force and the police force. Somewhat similar was this to the estimate put by a Bir- mingham school boy upon the colonial who is the great mogul and one of the parliamentary representa- lives of that ambitious city. "Who made this beautiful world and every thing in it. asked the school inspec- -or, and the answer was, Please sir, Joseph Chamberlain" But there are others besides Chamberlain and the po- ice force who are power in this land, and these are the magistrates. In passing Judgment upon women charged { with haunting the streets and circuses ,or purposes of vice they frequently oyer-rule the police force; so frequent