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28 tHE DRrlvk ouEstroN.Do the Licensing Justices in Ireland attend to thismost important branch of their duties ? I{ow oftendo we find licences to carry on this dangerous tradegir,en to persons utterly unfit for it ?Combination ol Trades ln a Licenseil House' Promotos Intemperance..Is it to the public advantage to have a combinatronof trades in a public house ? In England . no othergoods except eatables are allowed to be sold in thesame premises with intoxicants. In lreland, on thecontrary, it is not uncomrqon to find for sale, underthe samE roof with intoxicants, groceries of all kinds,hardware,_ soft goods. Thil system multiplies temptations,mrkes supervision difficult, and gives a clbakto drinking amDng women, who are sometimes suppliedwith drink under the title of groceries. On the whole,tle system militates against the cause of temperance.Have not the Licensing Justices, as an administrativebody, the power of taking some united uniform actionto save the country from this danger, without inflictingan injustice on the existing license holders ? Thediscontinuance of the system would quickly lead to adiminution of the number of public houses. Would'it not be well, too, if licences were altogether refusedto houses under a certain valuation, as at presentlicences are attached to some houses utterly unfit forthe business.Sunilay Closing.Consider the closing regulations. These have a mostimportant bearing on temperance reform. Take theSunday Closing Law. Tlrat this law has been, on thewho1e, a great boon to Ireland there can be no doubt;and few, if any, amongst the publicans themselves would,I venture to think. now ask for its repeal. Wherever thelaw is strictly enforced the results are excellent. Butis it strictly enforced ? I fear not, partly owing to theremissness of the police authorities and partly to theTHE DRINK oUESTrON. 29apathy and laxity oI the magistrates in punishingviolations of it. If No. 3 of the West Limerick resolutionswas universally adopted and acted on, andif a few vrotorious viola.tors of this law, in every townand village, were deprived of their licences, it wouldhave a most saiutary effect.Early Closing on Saturalay Night.Experience teaches that arrests {or drunkenness aremore numerous on Saturday nights than at any othertimes, and that the heaviest drinking takes place betweenro and rr o'clock.In Scotland the Licensing Authority has a discretionarypower since 1887 of early closing, except inseven large towns. They put it into effect, with suchbeneficial results, that the excluded torvns are agitatingto be included.The Licensing Authority in Ireland has not this discretionarypower; but if it had the power, say to makean order for early closing by any time up to two hours,to be renewed every year, and exercised it properly, itwould be productive of much good.Clubs anil Soltliers' Canteens.Two other sources of intenrperance in this country areclubs and soldiers' canteens. A well-regulated club,with its library, reading room, debates, and variousopportunities of intellectual improvement and innccentamusements, is a public boon. But a social club,with a drinking bar, is often a greater danger than anordinary public house. For the club is not under thesalne legal supervision and restrictive regulations,and hence it has all the temptations with fewer of thesafeguards. The consequence is that many personshave contracted habits of intemperance in these clubs,who would have escaped the ordinary snare of the publichouse. The evil of the drinking club is on the increasein Ireland, and is to be m:t with, it is to be feared,