Liquor in the King Country.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 359, 1 May 1908, Page 2

Liquor in the King Country.

A statement having been circulated in the King Country to the effect that tbe chief Wabanui, who consented that tbe King Country should be open to the pakehas on condition that no liquor was admitted, did so in order to conserve his own gain from the illicit sale of liquor, Sir R ibart Stout has forwarded the following letter to the executive of tbe New Zealand Alliance : “It is absurd to suggest that the prohibition of the sale of liquor in tbe King Country had anything to do with Wahanui personally or was done to enable him to sell liquor without a license. Wahanui was only giving expression, as a chief is accuitomed to do to the strong feeling of bis tribe when he and othor chiefs joined with him, asked that tbe King Country should be closed to liquor. You may make what use of this statement you please, as I knew all the facts of the case at the time, and others who besides myself took part in making Robepotae closed to the sale of liquor are dead.