THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1909 THE LIQUOR MENACE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 169, 1 July 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1909 THE LIQUOR MENACE.

THE question of liquor in the King Country is still agitating the minds of a considerable section of the inhabitants of the Dominion, and Dr Findlay, the Attorney-General, has made a statement concerning the granting of wholesale licenses in the district. When the Minister confines himself to the the legal aspect of the case, be is perfectly reasonable. When he asserts that the granting of these licenses is a menace to the Maori race, he in treading on strange ground, and is merely indicating a profound ignorance of his subject. A very few years ago when a person left an old country to come to New Zealand that person's friends were usually of opinion that the adventurer was taking his life in bis hands; that he would have to battle frequently with cannibals, and generally was a hero of the first water for braving the dangers of the New Zealand wilds. Ideas of a similar nature apparently exist throughout the Dominion today concerning the King Country, and these are the ideas we shall have to dissipate before any reasonable solution of the liquor question will be possible. Of course there are some who are not particular as to what means are adopted to keep the : district restricted, and to these misrepresentation is as good as any other method. We would point out that any means other than intelligent and reasonable effort, by prohibition advocates, will do more harm than good to the cause they espouse. Not only is it the duty of those who agitate to agitate in good faith, but to take the trouble to master the conditions and avoid either wilful or ignorant misrepresentation. As to the granting of licenses we in this locality are not immediately concerned, and quite possibly the majority of our residents have no sympathy with the license interests. What we are interested in, however,

is in the removal of iniquitous restrictions and the placing of the district under similar conditions to those which obtain in other parts of the Dominion. We merely claim an equality in the

matter of liberty with our fellow colonists and cannot allow any side issue to obscure the chief point. The talk of menace to the Maori is time-worn nonsense, and anyone using such an argument discloses an ignorance of the subject which is only equalled by the presumption which impels a man to yearn to become not only his brother's keeper, but his gaoler.