On Wednesday, Mr. J. A. Smith brought on a curious
debate on his proposal to restrict the hours for opening public-houses on Sunday. He proposes to abolish altogether the opening of public-houses for drinking on the premises on Sunday, and to restrict the hours in which the sale of beer and spirits over the
counter should be lawful, to four hours on the Sunday, between half-past twelve and half-past two, and then again in the evening between 8 and 10. In London, however, he proposed to apply a less stringent rule. Mr. Locke and Mr. Roebuck spoke with great bitterness against the proposal, and in favour of the working man's liberty to go to a public-house when he pleased. But almost all the true representatives of the working-class, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Melly, and others, were in favour of the Bill, and in favour of it, as they said, on the ground that their constituents were anxious for it. In London, on the contrary, there seemed to be some fear that it might provoke riot,—but whether the fear was a fear of the roughs, instigated by the licensed victuallers, or of the genuine working-class, was not very easy to make out. Anyhow, the Bill was shelved by being read a second time and then referred to a select committee, and will probably not go on this year. There is some timidity about it in the minds of sen- sitive legislators, and they probably want to know what the new constituencies will instruct them to do.
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