THE LIQUOR LAW.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 14

THE LIQUOR LAW.

, -,v MAGISTRATE COMMENTS ON JUVENILE DRINKING. . (BT. TELEOItAPII—SrECIAL COBRESrOSD£NT.i Dunetiin, March 20: ... In..giving, judgment ■;t-o-day . in .a - case, in which James\Geddes, licensee of the Doug-lass-Hotel;.: .was '- charged with permitting drunkenness in his hotel, and with serving one, .-M'lntosh, when, drunk,' Mr. Widdowsbn,.-- S:M..,' ■- saidi,that;'so, far as M'lntosh there; could be no doubt that'he.wasvdisgracefully drunk. This matter .of juvenile. drinking had been previously referred to', . and;' was - emphasised, here.., It : showed ; 'a {deplorable-state' of ''tliingv'in' regard to tho young men of Dunedin, and. to the young men'of the Dominion, As regarded Mllntosh's evidence, it was very unsatisfactory.'. \lt ' seemed, : howoverj thai/ he djd not know exactly what:.took place that night. On'the evidence there was a lapse of .three quarters of an hour, in; which time M'lntosh got drunk. - Ho must have got liqnor somewhere, but there was nothing to show, that ho, got'tho drink at the' Douglas Hotel, : which' reduced him to such a beastly state .of From his (thp magistrate's) knowledge, he young , men did obtain bottles of; beer and drink it in the street. . Apparently M'lntosh got tho beer, as he, said, from a strr.:i--ger. ■ Whether this was true or hot he (the magistrate) could not say from the whole of the ( evidence. ; The case ivould have to be. dismissed. . One .other matter he would like to '3peak on was that Mr.. Geddes was a highly respectable man as /an hotel-keeper. To • all hotel-keepers he would say. that ,it would Ive better for them if they gave these young,.fellows' only -one drink. That'. thd young *■ men were entitled to, drink there could be no question;-but it would be better to serve them with only one drink, no more.