Waihi.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1051, 3 October 1911, Page 4

Waihi.

A HOUSE AGENT’S OPINION,

NO-LICENSE A MARKED SUCCESS.

MOONLIGHT FLITTERS NOW

EXTINCT,

Mr, Nicholsen, estate agent and mining broker, of Waihi, spoke in emphatic terms as to the success of No-License in that place. He said : “ I don’t know what other people have been telling you, but my experience is that No-License is tar more successful than I had ever expected it would be. As I have to collect a great many house rents, and am on confidential terms with most of the business men, I ought to know. In License times I used to have a great deal of trouble with moonlight flitters. The rents of many houses, particularly those at 8s a week or less, used to be very difficult to collect in License times. The tenants would get into arrears, and then, one fine day, when I called as usual, they would be gone. This trouble is now entirely removed in my experience, and I really have no trouble at all in collecting any of the rents since the bars were closed. This seems to me to px'ove that the bar is "he enemy of the home, and its absence i= a blessing to the home. Business generally seems to be distinctly better. I have heard many business men praise the new order of things. As 1 have confidential relations with a great many of them, assisting in stock-taking, book£ keeping, etc., 1 know what I am talking about. Outsiders are also anxious to come in, as is proved by the fact that since No-License 1 have had a considerable number of applications for business premises from people anxious to start in the town. I have not, however, been able to find them desirable premises in the business centre. The town is going ahead since No-License in a most gratifying manner. The Acadamy Theatre has been greatly enlarged, and a fine new skatingrink is now being built. The old hotel premises are all still used for their legitimate purposes, and very many travellers have assured me that, since the proprietors had to depend on their board returns to make a living, the accommodation and attention to travellers has greatly improved. As showing that there is ample scope for all the hotels to make a living without liquor, Mr Nicholsen pointed out that a large boarding-house, called the Golden Cross, had been built since No-license, and that the Coffee Palace, another large place, had enlarged to about double its former size.” Mr Nicholsen concluded by saying that " the absence of bad language about the streets since No-License was a most pleasingfeature. The town was very clean now in„every way.” Mr D. Donaldson, boot importer, said: “I am a justice of the peace. Before No-License I used to be often called to the Bench to deal with sundry offenders. In the period since No-License, nearly a year and a half, 1 have not been called to the Bench on a single occasion. As regards moral results and the general cleaning up of the town, the benefits of No-License have far exceeded my anticipations. Though I have conversed with a great many, I have not yet met a single person who voted for No-License who has lost faith in it, since seeing it in actual operation in Waihi. 1 myself know of cases of individual reform that are very pleasing results. As regards business results, I have not any reason to coranlain.”