Piloting2_Group+2_ASofia&Pedro&Rita


 * Do early closing hours lead to binge drinking?**

= = Binge drinking is a very seriuos problem that affects many teens. However, it isn't only this generetion the most affected by this problem. First of all, I think that is very important, specially in our country (Portugal) speak more about this because I believe that everybody should be conscious about "Binge Drinking". I think that with last calls in bars you avoid people drinking all night long, but also that can mean people will try to drink more in a short period of time. Most people drink during the time they’re in a bar without looking to consume huge amounts of alcohol. So if you stop serving drinks at a certain hour you will stop a lot of people getting drunk. It’s also a cultural matter. In a lot of other countries there is no last call since it’s not a habit there and in other places such as Germany, which is a country where drinking beer is part of their culture. They have last calls and it’s a necessity since people like drinking beer and they like to have a good time without having problems and that prevents people getting drunk, very early at night. For instance, Germans begin drinking at seven o’clock p.m. In Portugal, we have to say that students are drinking very much. However, they begin very early in the evening and if bars don’t allow drink alcoholic’s drinks after midnight, they have already drunk and they continue drinking with their friends at home. This early closing hours rule was first introduced at six o'clock swill. The Six o'clock swill was the last-minute rush to buy drinks at a hotel bar before it closed. During a significant part of the 20th century, Australian and New Zealand hotels shut their public bars at 6 p.m.; between finishing work (5 p.m.) and this early closing hour, men drank heavily. Six o'clock closing time was introduced partly in an attempt to improve public morals and get men home to their wives earlier. Instead, it often fuelled an hour-long speed-drinking session, as men raced to get as drunk as possible in the limited time available. An unintended consequence was that glasses were saved during the hour after quitting time until the last call came for drinks. Then the emptied glasses could be refilled. "The bartender didn't carry your glass to the tap. He carried a pistol-shaped spigot hitched to a long tube and squirted your glass full where you stood." This six o'clock closing was introduced during World War I. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Rechabites (kind of a temperance moviment to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages) campaigned successfully for limits on the sale of alcohol and beer. Although the temperance movement had been active since the late 1870s, they mounted the successful argument in 1915 and onwards that a "well-ordered, self-disciplined and morally upright home front was a precondition for the successful prosecution of the war." The first state to introduce early closing was South Australia in 1915 where the rationale was a war austerity measure. Six o'clock closing was adopted in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in 1916. It was introduced in New Zealand in 1917. Queensland introduced eight o'clock closing in 1923. The question of closing hours was put to New South Wales voters in June 1916. The question had previously been put to the vote in December, 1913 when the results of the //Local Option Poll// were in favour of 11 o'clock closing. The 1916 vote was influenced by a recent riot (The Liverpool Riot of 1916 also known as the Battle of Central Station) involving soldiers. In February 1916, troops mutinied against conditions at the Casula Camp. They raided hotels in Liverpool before travelling by train to Sydney, where one soldier was shot dead in a riot at Central Railway station. Although it was introduced as a temporary measure, in 1919 it was made a permanent measure in Victoria and South Australia. The New South Wales Government brought in temporary extensions and discussed putting the matter to a referendum. In 1923, however, without testing the matter by a popular vote, 6 p.m. was enacted in NSW as a closing time. Hotels catered for a short heavy drinking period after work before the early evening closing by extending their bars and tiling walls for easy cleaning. The phenomenon changed Australian pubs as rooms in the building were converted to bar space; billiard rooms disappeared and bars were knocked together. Western Australia remains the only Australian state to have never adopted the early closing times. Closing time was extended to 10 o'clock in Tasmania from 1937. The issue of ending early closing was voted on in New South Wales in 1947 but the proposal was voted down, however a vote in 1954 narrowly won and closing hours were extended to 10 p.m. in 1955. Hours were extended in Victoria in 1966, and South Australia was the last state to abolish six o'clock closing with legislation introduced by Don Dunstan in 1967 and the first legal after-6 p.m. beer being drunk on 28 September. Ten o'clock closing was introduced in New Zealand in October 1967 after a referendum. An earlier referendum, in 1949, had voted three to one to retain six o'clock closing. Finally I only want to refer, as i said at the first part, how harmful binge drinking can be and it can affect seriously our future!

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