LIQUOR LICENSES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 41, 21 September 1949, Page 4

LIQUOR LICENSES

Sir, —Your correspondents views for and against liquor licenses are an age old exhibition of willpower. The wets will drink and the wowsers won’t. The sober man thanks God he is not a drunkard, and the toper prays, maybe, more sincerely, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The Government is between the horns of either the loss of votes or revenue. All interested in the drink traffic have to subject sentiment to business directly or indirectly. A published list of all brewery wine and spirit shareholders would cause consternation in many sober dovecots. Even Holy Writ is contradictory, for we read, wine maketh glad the heart of man and again, wine is a mocker strong drink is rageing. Fire and water are sworn foes, oil and water will never mix, and human ideas are as far apart as east and west, which are favoured with the impartiality of a genial' sun, that shines upon the evil and the good with an all-embrac-ing life giving power. That is irresistable and subject all its dependants to a wisely chosen quota of heat and cold, light and darkness. Drink has its dark side and its addicts have to pay dearly for their indulgence, to which is often added the bitterness of the scorn and contempt of cold sobriety that freezes all desire for reform. But the public generally are sober and tolerant. The only cure for the east and west of humanity so diagonally, opposed is in the love that makes the world go round the love of and for Him in whom we live and move and have our being. Yours etc.,

HARRY SERGANT

Sir, —Our accommodation failure forces Cr Warren to take a stranger under his roof. He' is lucky! Another home recently sheltered a family of six strangers. Licensed accommodation, if available, was prohibitive. Six- people less to feed and clothe; yet our businessmen seem more concerned over accommodating visitors than the prospective residents and permanent customers on whom expansion depends! “Another Democrat” mentions Queensland hotels, but fails to tell us they have not solved Queensland’s accommodation problem. Instead, Queensland local bodies and organisations have requested Temperance people to open in their centres unlicensed hotels on the lines of the Canberra, in addition to existing licensed hotels!' The Canberra, Brisbane’s largest and most successful hotel opened in 1930. The number of has consistently increased, with 167,648 for 1947/48. This dry hotel carries high accommodation from tourist authorities, widely-travelled guests, and similar hotels on sites in four new centres. How about finance? During the six war years the Temperance organisation spent, from surpluses from their hotels, £62,000 in educational work and patriotic efforts. So accommodation without

a license is not only practicable, but can be very profitable. A Council-owned license is mentioned. The Invercargill Trust found certain large influential bodies rejected their substantial gifts because of well-founded principle. A leading church was one such body, and may be the leae.mg churcnj here; its known principle on this * question and that of t ther churches and ratepayers sharing such principles are entitled to the fullest consideration by their elect; :'*, councillors. Democratically, th;_ mfeans a vote! Yours etc., DEMOCRACY.