THE "LAMBING-DOWN" SYSTEM.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1484, 18 November 1878, Page 3

THE "LAMBING-DOWN" SYSTEM.

When, asks the Wellington "Chronicle," will the Legislature come down with a strong hand upon those infamous wretches who deliberately drug liquor, and then poison and madden their fellow creatures by supplying it to them for gain ? In the " Wairarapa Standard," of Wednesday, is told the following significant story:—" About 8 p.m. on Monday night a man was observed lying in the middle of the roud, between the Rising Sun and the Bush Inn, in a state of insensibility ; and had not a passer-by, at considerable" personal inconvenience, exerted himself to remove him to a place of safety, there is little doubt that his life would have been sacrificed by the wheels of some passing vehicle. On regaining a little conscious'-^"» he was heard to mutter-' Oh, where £ . | brain,; oh God I have been^ t J£ o £ ld scarcely took anything. Th £ {o }mvo in the extreme, suilK' , J , r . „i, a _„ u„ j ii- it i.icl he been lett where no endangered his life 1 - IU . , , ~ a .„ ani .a th« ~ ° i ,im»o3intr he had c.-capod ine was foufd, evp-° 11 '-1 " c . i „, -i, i i e ,Tv ™ißßin<» waeeon. Such remarks, wheels oi "'i piu»t»"K ""n~>" • . ~ ' Pe f f ~:ng to the adulteration of spirits are not unfrequently made, and it seems only right that the Government should without further delay uso the utmost diligence in prosecuting the scoundrel who can so debase himself as to wilfully poison his fellow creatures in order to attain some slight pecuniary advantage." The system of selling liquors so adulterated as to become almost fatal to life itself is fearfully prevalent in some remote country public-houses. It will [never bo known how many deaths have been due to this cause. A foolish, reckless fellow, wearied out with the monotony of working in the bush, or on a station, draws his wages and staris for the nearest township. But he often never gets that length. He comes acroßS some low country public-house, and begins to

knock down his cheque, which ho hands to the landlord to get cashed. If he is plied with adulterated liquors, then his fate is sad indeed. Ho gets maddened, drinks recklessly, "shouts" for the crowd of loafers and degraded tapstera who hang about the bar, and at intervals lies down in a state of stupefaction, only to awake for a resumption of the degrading and murderous orgie. In two or three days the landlord informs the poor besotted and half-demented creature that his £25 cheque has been exhausted, and that he must clear out. Well, the man does go away—often to his death. His whole bodily system is disordered. Lack of food and a free indulgence in poisonous drink have reduced his physical strength to the lowest ebb, while it is more than likely that the tortures of his maddened brain will culminate in all the horrors of delirium tremens. Then the poor wretch wanders about, and perchanco dies of exposure ; or impelled by the agony of nameless terrors, drowns himself in a creek or hangs himself to a branch of the nearest tree. What punishment could be too great for the heartless and infamous creatures who, for greed of gain, sell the poison which produces such terrible results. The selling of adulterated liquors should be made penal, and punished by imprisonment with hard labor. A few sentences of that kind would materially aid in putting down a practice which in its results involves what approaches to the crime of murder itself.