The Pohui Licence.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1584, 12 June 1874, Page 250

The Pohui Licence.

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Times. Sir, —In your issue of the 26th May, 1874, you published a letter of mine to Mr Fox, and his answer to it. When I wrote my letter, I of course did not intend it for publication ; still as Mr Fox has thought fit to make it public I should like to say a few words in my own defence, and send it by a similar channel that it may meet the eyes of those who lead the first letters.

In the first place he says my usual accommodation must be of a sorry character indeed if I had to put myself out of the way to make room for him, but I don't see that it follows at all, for be admits I was crowded on thy occasion of his first visit; still he seems lo have been satisfied with the food he got here then. 2. He says I stated my house to have been full of Constabulary : now any one who reads my letter will see that I only mentioned three Armed Constabulary men. With respect to the army of fleas I admit that there were a good many here at the time ; and I would defy any man or woman to keep them down in a place like this, where shepherds, drovers, and bushmen are continually staying with their dogs. It is all very well for a landlord to tell them not to take their dogs into the rooms with them, or even to go round himself and turn them out, for they will get up and let them in again as soon as his back is turned. 3. He says I based my attempted justification upon the crowded state of my house on his first visit. I should not have done so had I been aware of theouisancehe complained of on his return.

He says that his horses received no feed at my place. There he makes another little mistake, for they did get some oats and chaff too, but not enough to feed all. There of course I was to blame I know, as I was supposed to have forage, but unfortunately Major Scannell drew nearly all my oats for Sir James Fergusson and suite the clay before on a requisition, as the contractors had none at the time at my place ; and even then I was only out for twentyfour hours, and I told Mr Fox the reason, and he said it had often occurred*to him the same when he had been travelling on the same route with a gentlemen of distinction. I may mention by the way that Sir James Fergusson himself condescended to praise my house for its cleanliness and the slight accommodation he received at my hands, and that, upon the day before Mr Fox's visit.

As to the breakfast I gave Mr Fox and party it may not have been the best, and he could not expect it, coming as he did in the middle of the morning; he got good tea, toast, butter and chops, which I think is the most they could expect, and even had it not been that I could not have helped it, as my cook was away at the time on sick leave, and I was making shift until he returned. As to the charge of drunken men reeling about, I believe upon inquiry there was one the worse for liquor and using bad language in front of the house, but not in my presence; and lam positively certain that Mr Fox never mentioned the matter to me. I have heard since that he did speak to a man who was working for mo at the time, and ask him to remove the man and he-did so. I think somehow Mr Fox must have mistaken that man for me.

I quite agree with Mr Fox that the Licensing Commissioners only did their duty in refusing my licence according to the evidence before them, but I fully believe that had I had a chance of bringing any evidence on my behalf that 1 should not have been refused. Ido not know who Mr Fox's friend may be who 6ays my place was simply beastly ; but I do know this, that most of tho officers on the line are married gentlemen, and they have all used my house, and have expressed themselves well satisfied, but they are General Government servants, and did I ask them to say whether my house was fit for a lady or not and get an answer in the affirmative, it might prejudice them at some future day, so I have elected to leave them unasked ; neither shall I apply to the Bench for a rehearing, for I know full well that any evidence I could bring would not get vie a license here again in opposition to Mr Fox's wealth, position and influence, but I still think that there, will be a licensed .house here, as it is a main road, and there is not another within 23 miles, which is quite far enough for any man to walk with a swag, and I suppose he would require accommodation quite as much as a gentleman on horseback, and it would not pay even at exorbitant prices to keep a simple accommodation house here. I like Mr Fox's second letter much better than the first, for it does not make my place out to be quite such a den of infamy and little hell, as it at first appeared He says now that there was a drunken man using bad language in front of the place, and that he met more bed-fellows there then he expected. If he or anyone else thinks that I am to blame for a few fleas, let them inquire about the Constabulary barracks in summer, and they will find that although the officers do everything in their power in the way of having the place washed and the bedding turned out twice a-week, they still cannot keep them down, and moreover a dog is not allowed to show his nose inside the palisading,. Mr Fox seems to think that I am making a fortune by grogselling, but if he had to pay my butcher's bills, and knew how many meals' I supply ac one shilling a meal to all packers and draymen, &c, and how much accommodation I have provided gratis to poor men tramping through from Auckland, he would find thatit would take a good deal of the gilt off; and it is a wellknown thing by all who frequent my house that the grogselling part of the business is what I neglected most. Of course men got drunk here sometimes, but so they do in town ; with this difference, that here we look after them and put them to bed, and in town they turn them out for police to look after.

I cannot think how Mr Fox could have imagined that I attempted to intimidate him byj writing as I did, for it was sent to him marked private, and need have met no other eye but his own ; but it'appears to me that he is venting his pent-up anger on me for what other people have written to him, and for what he witnessed in his travels to the interior; for I am certain he did not witness all he describes irt his rhapsody on the victim of the grogseller at my house. I fancy that Mr Fox is rather severe on some magistrates when he says they appear to stand in awe of the publican, but I hat is no business of mine ; I only wish that some people could afford to brave Mr Fox's influence ; and now sir, hoping I have not trespassed too far upon your space, and that I have been temperate enough under the circumstances.

I am, &c, W. B. Hill Pohui Hotel, June 5,1874. ■