PROHIBITION

Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1927, Page 4

PROHIBITION

DUNEDIN RESIDENT’S OPINION. DUNEDIN, Nov. 12. “Prohibition in the United States is a fiasco and a failure and is regarded as nothing more nor less than a huge joke.” This comment is the candid opinion of .Mr Percy Braithwaite, who has returned to Dunedin alter an extended tour of America, England, and the Continent. Air Braithwaite. who stated at the outset that his sympathies were with National Prohibition, gave the matter close study and related his impressions gained from actual observation to a •• Star ” representative. " Liquor of any description can be lmd for the mere asking,” said Air Braithwaite. He went on to say that the first person he saw drunk in the United States was a woman, who was coming out of a large restaurant in San Francisco. He approached the proprietor and questioned him about the matter. The proprietor said very naively: ‘ 1 wonder where these people get drink from b ’ A little while later he offered to supply Air Braithwaite with a cocktail or a whisky and soda if he wished to have a chink. Drink could he had in any quantity in t.hc best hotels and cabarets. Agents of bootleggers could bo numbered in thou.sa nils. In the principal hotels in which Mr Braithwaite stayed in the United States, the first question asked was: “Would you Cairo for a cocktail b ” All around there was striking evidence of people being served with liquor. Ihe law was more or less openly Hunted. In one of the best hotels in New York Mr Braithwaite saw eight people under the influence of liquor in one room. There was also a great deal of drinking among the younger people, and this was one of the outstanding disgraces of the whole thing. Then there wore the l “ speak easy ” resorts. In those places, bars stocking every brand of liquor were installed. lliese bars noie exactly the same as the ones in New Zealand, even to the brass rail along the front. "The enforcement of Prohibition is a huge joke.” said Air Braithwaite. The police do not take any particular notice or interest in it, as they are well paid to keep their eyes shut.”