The Feilding Star, Oboua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published. Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 81, 1896. THE PROHIBITED.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 178, 31 January 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oboua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published. Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 81, 1896. THE PROHIBITED.

There is an amount of sympathy for prohibited persons under the Licensing laws which, to the ordinary mind, is surprising. The intention of the law in this respect is to benefit the person so prohibited, : and to safeguard his own best interests. It is.not intended to to a punishment as tnauy people seem to think. It is this idea which leads quite a nun-, her of persons — ,w.hp wrotigly believe they are well intentioned—only doing a kindly act to a man vrho is by a tyrannical law •'robbed of his baer" —where they surreptitiously supply him syjfch drink, thus doing injury to, the aaua. and committing an offence against the iaw , themselves. There is no ambiguity ' ia 27 of the Alcoholic Liquors Sale (HofyApij} ( Act Amendment, 1895, which provide? £b&fc p) Every person who, knowing that any^ is the sub- ' |e^t oi a Proihbition qrde,r, ac^Qmpa-, njL93 him into -any licensed premises, or in any w«»y # directly or indirectly, procures licjoor /oe hini, or incites or assists hicnto procui;c or drink Jiquor is Jiafelo to a penalty not exgreding tenpou»«U. ("2) In any pT,oq^e r Jii)ge uis'iler tfiis sretiifcT) v the burr] en of pi'po^ shall Is; oo< tiits'^ie^daub to sliow i>t ji*fc he did nct^kno*' of iue e^istent^ {ot prohibition order." la' ,all p<ivXs of tjie colony prosecutions under tket tsl&uss now quoted have taken X 1

place recently, and in all cases where I convictions have followed the penalties ; inflicted on offenders have been, severe. In ordinary proceedings an accused person has his alleged crime proved against him before punishment can [ overtake him, but under the Licensing law the accused has to prove his innocence, which is not an easy matter. Our reason for again dealing with this subject is- that it is notorious in Feilding that certain prohibited persons bave had liquor supplied to them in very considerable quantities, thus setting the law at defiance. It was stated by the Bench yesterday that in all cases where a conviction is obtained the extreme penalty will be inflicted, so as to put an effectual stop to the practice. It is not generally known that a Prohibition order applies not only to the district where it it made but to the whole colony, and that want of knowledge has too often tempted prohibited persons to go for a short trip to an adjacent township, where they indulged to the fullest in theirpet vice, find have even been more debased in their intoxication than they were before, the law was enforced against them.