INDISCRIMINATE LICENSING.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 677, 21 May 1870, Page 2

INDISCRIMINATE LICENSING.

(to,thb editor.) Sib, — I am surprised that the respect-, able portion of the community have not ere this made some attempt to put a stop to the reckless system adopted by the Nelson Government of granting publicans' licenses on the South-West Gold Fields to notoriously disreputable persons. This is a matter of greater importance than may be imagined by those whom it does not ' concern, for it affects not only the com? mercial but the moral and the social well- ; being of the community at large. I have no hesitation in saying that the indiscriminate system of granting licenses does not add one shilling now to the revenue of the province, but unfortunately it is the means of fostering rowdyism and immorality. If persons of bad repute were not granted licenses there would not be so many dens of infamy as there are at present on the gold fields, nor would there be so many cases of lunacy as there have been of late, nor would there be so many failures in business on the coast. The storekeepers, butchers, and bakers generally have to stand to several parties, of diggers for months, and, in many cases, when one of the party comes to sell the gold he is inveigled into one of those licensed infamous dens. Next morning he finds himself outside, lying in the mud, his eyes blackened, and the money gone. I repeat that there would be as many licenses taken out by respectable persons yearly as have been heretofore if some check was put on the class of persons r I have alluded to. I trust, for the sake of the people of this thriving portion of the Nelson province, that the hints contained in this letter will meet with a hearty response, so much so that the Government will have to accede to their wishes in this respect. ' I am, &c., Obsbrvkr. No Town, May 16, 1870.