NO-LICENSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2338, 3 November 1908, Page 2

NO-LICENSE.

[To the Editor.] -Sir,—My connection with the liquor trade ended tear years ago. Prior to giving it np I spent twenty-five years m that business and had been 'intimately in touch with-the working of licensed houses land their proprietors. 1 have also as a resident watched the management of the hotels with interest since my retirement, and am in a .position to give an unbiassed opinion of the general conduct of the management of licensed houses. First, I will roughly state the terms on which a miaiii is granted a license to- .retail intoxicants and purvey for the public. His character must be good, enabling him to pass the (scrutiny of the Dominion as well as the local police, the district resident magistrate, and licensing committee. His hotel has to be approved by all those authorities as well constructed, fitted with fire escapes, ample in good accommodation, and sanitary in all its surroundings. The cleanliness and furniture of the whole of the interior must be up-to-date. A private entrance is imperative to screen guests from contact with the drinking bars. He is compelled to find food and accommodation for man and horse on demand in the country, hut guests only in town . The police have the right, of entrance at alii times without notice to see that all the laws for the good conduct of the house are carried out to the letter. He is jnot only a public servant under the strict eye of tihe law, subject to penialties that mean 'ruin if disregarded, but he is subject to the inquisitional proceedings of the party who try to band his neighbours together to destroy Ms business. This party welcomes all comers to their banners who have grievances, axes to grind., (as Parliamentary candidates), envy, hatred, or malice. Their war cry is, “we are not as other men are, it is our duty to go in and wipe their trade out.” If wo require stimulants' we can have them in their proper place, our homes, to help us to train our youth into temperate habits by congenial home object lessons. The father can go to bed with his silk hat on if he has a cold in his head l , and the mother needn’t take her boots off if she has corns. The boys are lured into early rising by their love of a. B and S to take off the morning chill. There will be a spiritual awakening, and the temperance banner will float proudly over the -dwelling. Second, the running of an hotel is not so simple as folks think. It bus been said by a cute American that any man is fit for President of the States, but it requires a- smart man to run an hotel. The public demand prompt attention to their, wants, which have to be all anticipated, and provided for, to please every man jn his humor. In fact, good hotels are social and business centres of the greatest value to the moving mass of men who keep in- the front of the battle of life, and “mine host of the inn” is a fountain of information and kindly advice to great .numbers of his patrons. He devotes a good deal of his time to local and general politics, and is never behind in the encouragement of manly sports and local charities. In- the country districts the weary or belated traveller knows he can hu-ve a hearty welcome at the nearest inn, to refresh and restore self and jaded steed from one whose duty he knows it is to attend to his wants and who is from his calling a reliable source of general and topographical information. Cases of accident are always rushed to the nearest pub for help. The unfortunate seeking employment is directed to a likely job and in most cases is given the means to enable him to get to the work. I have no doubt there are thousands of men in this district who can. endorse the above, but- there are many thousands who follow the cry of no-license without any knowledge of it or of the stringent laws that govern the sale of intoxicants and the great public convenience they are asked to abolish. They are asked to- do this so thiat it may not be- so easy for the drunkard to get dr link. This drunkard, who generally pays- a -heavy price for has indulgence, is of more importance in, the estimation of -the leaders of the No-license campaign, than the thousands of sober citizens who enjoy the great British privilege of freedom to. take care of themselves. You cun fetch a flock of sheep out of the roughest country, if you have a team of dog® snapping and barking around them. If they are not able to resist their drivers, farewell to their gi’een hills, and free life, they Jare freezers and do not know it. You can round up many people to the poll, and cause them to give up their freedom .until they find themselves in a city of the dead, “frozen mutton,”

The men who are r attempting to herd in the voters to the poll' exhibit themselves in- their true light, both in their intemperate language, and their narrow, illogical, one-sided, fierce attacks on the management of licensed houses. There is no calm, judicial spirit shown, no weighing of the evidence for and -against, no fair comparison with other institutions that carry their proportion of attendant evils. Human, life, and family misery could be saved, considerably by abolishing seu> travel, railway and motor car traction, fishing fleets in the North Sea, war, and . the cradle that feeds, it. Mark Twain calculated that there were more deaths in those awful beds than in ) nvy otli er, manner, and exclaimed: “Oh, those deadly 'beds!” . „ , ' . , Jt is 'a pity ape] a painful thought

that men without fair aiifeiitaUbulance should have to earn their ••ebuat by quixotically charging into questions too wide for their grasp, ever ready to “fight like devils for conciliation and hate one another for the lovo of God.” It is a pity that the great freedom and liberty of our country should ho endangered by “witless, plugless, wordspouts” whose “scanty virdom scarce reaches the spilehole, whilst their abusive torrents choke the baling.” There is a. fine harmless field in speculative theology and moral agriculture, or tho noble art of bush-whacking that they might take honors in.

I do not- wish to- advise anybody, •hut I love to sco a great question dealt with on broad lines pro and eon,. There are figures and truths, lies and! facts, plots and catch phrases filling the air, x and .soul soiling splodges of mud, but- there are ■only two issues to every vote on- the No-license question: Are'the houses a public necessity, beneficial” to the majority of -the population, or are they such dens of iniquity and degradation that- they deserve to he abolished by law? British law requires a- substantial proof before penalising the accused, and 1 -the accused must have the benefit of the doubt if any exist. Every voter should consider himself a sworn jury man on this issue, he just and fear not; let- lall, his ends be his country’s, his. God’s, and truth’s.” The only creature on the globe that ia, Briton need he afraid! of i-s his pext door neighbor. It is his N.D.N. who will curtail his liberties if possible. He prevents him lighting a washing-copper- in his yard, as he is timorous of stray sparks, and though possibly going to blue blazes all the time. The N.D.N. stops his byke travelling on the footway in slushy weather. He revels in restrictions and curtailments 'of liis simple little liberties us he rises in rank from citizen to. .shepherd king. The -attempt to do away with the well regulated and conducted l houses of rest and refreshment. deserves more than, a, passing thought and more than illogical and half-true stump oratory to cause them to be wiped out for afi experiment to satisfy enthusiastic utopists, and intolerant fanatics, who ever see red and run amok. Caution and clear vision must lead to the reasonable conclusion to leave well alone. Loving guidance of youth to resist harmful temptations .is more effective than coercive harriers of brass that lend a zest to- the scaling of them. —I am, etc., W. F. CRAWFORD.

[To the Editor.] Sir, —A great amount of correspondence is passing at this juncture on the subject of “No-license” and your columns have boon utilised to such an extent that I am loth to ask you to allow another -contributor to enter the list®. But. ns one who lias had over twelve months’ experience in one of tho No-licensc districts in this country I would ask you to allow mo space to place before your readers some of tho fact®, which came before my notice during my residence there. I may say I hold no brief for either the liquor or No-license Party, and what I state here has actually occurred to my certain, knowledge. Here is my experience, and I do not think I am overstepping the bounds of truth whew I say it is an experience shared by hundreds of others in this country. Before going to reside in a No-license district I had always lived where there were hotels and never had the slightest inclination to drink. Then I went to a No-license district and, like a -number of others, I thought it would 1 be impossible to get any drink there, even if I did want it. However, I soon found out that there was plenty to he had, and as some one whom I did not know — or -possibly had- never heard of —had said, “Thou shalt not drink,” I said 1 , “Very well, we’ll see. Now I know where at is, I will get it.” Besides, there were no amusements in the town, and going to .a “sly-grog” shop meant at least a little excitement. So I went to the grog rihops, and from one drink it mounted up by degrees to several) every night. So that it was not unusual for the “night-birds’' to see me walking slowly and unsteadily home ill the small hours of the morning, sometimes accompanied by a more sober friend to see that I reached home siafely. There were several others —young fellows like myself—who- avenb the same way. It was not tliat they wanted the drink, hut there was the attendant excitement of getting in and out of a grog shop without being observed —not so very difficult by the way —when you once know the “run of the ropes”, and above a-M was that inherent perversity "of human nature. Tell a young fellow he must not do a thing and the desire to- do it becomes stronger. I could name five “sly grog” shanties within a few yard-s of one another in that one town —and it was less than half the .size of Gisborne. I have seen seventeen boys and men* in a state of intoxication, and two women in one sly grog place at one -tioneCan you -see that in the oper*; oars in Gisborne? Those -peo-pxe were only -allowed to go out two or three at a time, and then only when there was no fear cf being seen. Can you picture what that meant ? The tricks and deceit that were necessary to get .in and out without being observed, and the drinking t-hat afsed to go oni 'While waiting for word to say “the coast is clear.” Well, carry No-llicense here and then watch youl boys from sixteen upwards. They will' possibly add -a few more littlo details, I have seen upwards of twenty men. and -boys on a bout lasting from Christmas Eve till' the second or third of January, and' were I to write down a true list of things that occurred l during that time you would refuse to publish it, although I would prove to- your entire satisfaction that everything stated was absolutely true. No-license may do -away with the sight of intoxicated people on the street, but it will 1 never do away with drunkenness. I maintain, and I cannot help doing so. from any own observations, that No-licenso will increase drunkenness. I am not. theorising, but forced to this -conclusioiii by wthla-t I have actually seen and can swear to. No-license, “does not”' mean prohibition. You can have your liquor in the homo and in a number of instances that will spell “ruination” to the families concerned. .1 know cases where families have come from a. license district to a- No-license district. In the No-license district the man cannot go and. 1 have a drink when 'he wants one without (going about it like a thief, as if he wore ashamed to be eeea. If Jw oneets Jps friend he

cannot ask him to have a drink openly. If ho and his friend liko to resort to trickery, they can get as much as they want, .butt they don’t liko- trickery. So he keeps a store in the home. He comes home f rom work and goes v to get his glass of beer or spirits. His little hoy secs him and says “What’s that, Dad? Give me some.” Perhaps, being rather an indulgent father ho gives"the boy a sip- from his glass. Perchance •he says “No.” In this caso tho hoy steals surreptitiously to the cupboard, when .his parents are away, and helps himself. In either case the boy gets it and acquires, the taste. Once that happens he will cheat land lie even to his parents to get it. Or the man meets his friend, and as- he cannot take him to an open bar, he takes him home. Then instead of having ono drink they have possibly three or four. This will) cost- him far more than lie will spend in the open bar. Again, there are the women folk to consider —when grog goes to the home. I -don’t mean all of them, but there are some who succumb to the temptation. I can. call to mind two young women who not five years ago had entree into good society. Now they will do anything for a drink, and it- all started through their fathers ’braving grog at home. 1 knew them before they knew the taste- of whisky —but once -they started on it no power on earth could stop them. They might never have tasted it if their fathers had not had it in the home, .and it would never have been in the home if tlieir fathers could have gone to the open' bar. Their fathers were both men who had taken np sections •of land in the No-license district-. Now the homes are, to- say the least, anything hut happy. I heard one No-Moense advocate sav at a meeting in Gisborne that ho had spent a whole month in the King Country, and during that time had not seen a sly grog shop nor a drunken man. That is quite possible, in fact, it- is extremely probable. As he is known, not only by sight, but also by repute as a No-license advocate, etc., t-o a fairly large section of the King Country community, it would be ridiculous to expect the sly grog sellers or tlieir friends to parade tlieir grog shops and drunks before him. Tho -grog shops do not carry big gilt signs, and the drunks niostly sneak home or are assisted home when no one is about. If there is a temperance lecturer about, they are all the more careful'. The patrons of these places will not give them away. On the contrary they protect them. I remember on one occasion tbreo men were sent to gaol for sly grog selling. When their sentences, expired, they were welcomed home by a social and dance given in their honor. There was liquor on the premises at that social, and a sly grog shop was in full swing next door. These are facts I could swear to.

No-liconse sounds very nice and very feasible, mid if anyone can prove to me that it means prohibition or that what I state is not correct I will vote for it. But after what I have seen I can come only to one conclusion, and that 1® that it- is a miserable, unholy failure.—l am, etc.,

“4 X 2.”