THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 679, 20 June 1914, Page 5

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

KING COUNTRY CONDITIONS. DEPUTATIONS TO PREMIER. BOTH SIDES OF QUESTION. The question of the liquor traffic of the district has been keenly dißcusßed of late in various centres, and strong efforts have been made to inspire action with a view to having the King Country placed under the same conditions as other parts of the Dominion. These efforts have been the more vigorouly promoted from the fact that it is realised that under the present conditions a large quantity of liquor is brought into the district and the whole of the traffic is out of the control of the people most interested. A recent conference at Te Kuiti of King Country local bodies, decided to place the position before the Prime Minister on his arrival at Te Kuiti, and on Thursday a deputation consisting of Messrs \John Ormsby, E.Martin, and W. Sandison, representing the local bodies throughout the King Country brought before the Prime Minister's notice the position of the King Country in respect to the liquor laws. Mr Ormsby said he, had acted as spokesman for the Maoris in 1885 at the turning of the first sod of the* railway at the entrance to the King ' Country when application was made to the Government of the day to prohibit the introduction of liquor to the district and to prohibit all land dealings until.all titles were determined. The result was that licenses were prohibited but liquor came in very freely. In any case the conditions had changed entirely. He felt it was time the restrictions were removed. Mr E. Martin traced the history of the matter from the time of the first proclamation of 1881. The intention Was to protect the Maori population from the free use of liquor, and the Europan population at that time could be counted on your hands. The position was now reversed. In any case, the natives were sufficiently protected by the law which prevented Maoris from being served with liquor off licensed premises. At present the conditions under which a vote was taken in the district were farcical and the vote was a nullity. The conference which dealt with the matter decided to ask that the.proclamation in forte should be annulled. If this were one it would then be possible for the people to record, an operative vote. At present they could only vote out licenses at Waitara. The deputation further requested that if the vote of the district was in favour of license that the system of municipal control should be established. . ' ~,.V.™>-.->•■ .■■•:, . .J&rMassey asked if v 4he deputation" wished to give the* .municipalities power to establish license. Mr Martin said that was so. If the Government was not prepared to grant ordinary licenses in.. the dis- • trict, it was felt the residents, should have the opportunity of adopting municipal control. Mr Massey aßked if it was meant the electors of the King Country should be given the right to vote for license under a three-fifths majority. Mr Martin: Yes. Mr Sandison said the position was that a great, amount of liquor came into the district and the people had no control over the traffic. He considered it would be an infinite improvement if the traffic were under the control of the people and he felt the best Way to do that would be by the • introduction of muni cipal control, t Mr Massey said he could say very little the subject as the matter was one of policy, for Cabinet to deal with. He would submit the representations to his colleagues and express his opinion to them. Later in the ray a deputation, consisting of a large number of ladies, clergymen of the Anglican, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist Churches, and a number of citizens, waited on the Prime Minister in the interests of the temperance party. Mr J. Boddie, Mayor, acted as spokesman, and said that, in view of the fact that the question of the liquor traffic would probably be dealt with in Parliament during the coming session, it was important that the views of all parties should be given prominence. As far as this district was concerned, they all recognised that certain reforms were necessary. They were under unique conditions, and he deplored the fact that, though restrictions were on the district, liquor was coming in without let or hindrance.

Mr Massey: Do you suggest there is a breach of the law? I Mr Boddie said they would not eay that, as the law governing the district WB3 different in some points to that in an ordinary no-license-district. It was a dep'orable fact that there was a great deal of drunkenness in the town, and there wag a great deal of liquor coming into the district. The police had not the same power as in an ordinary no-licnse district There were three classes of liquor importations—the legitimate importation for private use, the liqu)r for a party of people for social functions.and a great deal of liquor brought in systematically and not drunk by the people brniging it in The police had their impressions, but illicit liquor was very difficult to trace. It was true a great many people in the district advocated a change of system as a remedy for existing evils, and doubtless this was the spirit which animated the deputation which advocated that, restrictions should be removed. He wished to make it clear that the deputation referred to did not represent the whole of the local bodies represented, «3 naturally very divergent opinions were held As temperance reformers, the deputation was absolutely against the idea of State or municipal control.

Rev. Hone Harris, native, said the voice of the native* on the question was with the voice of tin teniuerance. patty. They were not going bask on. the covenant made in bygone - Moerua, chairman of the Native Council, spoke in a similar strain. ' Mr Massey, in reply., Bail he bad heard both sides of the question. The difficulty was that conditions bad changed so greatly since the proclamation was made. Instead of only a handful of Europeans in the district, there were now 13,000 in Taumaranui electorate. A large proportion were clamouring for the right to record a proper vote. All they could do at present was to vote Cor or against licenses at Waitara From a democratic point of view there was much to oe said in favour of the request to vote. He had been told there were 23 places in the Te Kuiti district where liquor was being sold. This indicated that the present position was not satisfactory Whether it would be better under ordinary license would be difficult to say He could hardly express an opinion as to a remedy. He would bring the matter before bis colleagues, and they would do what they considered right in the circumstances.