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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 124, 26 May 1874, Page 2

The Hon. W. Fox has recently addressed a letter to the chairman of the Napier Licensing Board, respecting tbe disgraceful condition and management of cerfnin public-bouses in the Province of Hawke's Bay. The hon. j gentleman cays : — " The houses which I refer to, are . . . These houses are all conducted in the worst possible manner, so as to render them the source of the greatest discomfort and disgust to travellers, instead of the places of refreshment they are intended to be. Two out of the three are filthy to the Inst degree, and swarming with vermin. The servams are guile unfit for their work, and the whole of the surroundings of the traveller who resorts to them — the sight, the smell, tbe language which greets his .ar, are calculated to excite intense disgust. To say these places are beastly would be a misapplication of terms. No beast is ever a participant in such scenes as occur nt theso dens. They are not beastly but demoniac; no words can better describe them than ' Hells upon parth.' It is a burning diegrace to any Government that such places' Bhould be licensed for money to demoralise the community, outtage public decency, aud scatter vice and misery broadcast. It appears to have been particularly ihe object of those concerned, to push such houses inlo those places where large boities of laborers .reemployed on public works, or where considerable Native communities afford ready victims for the rumseller; ond it seems to be particularly in such districts that the vigilance of the licensing authorities has been the most relaxed, and opportunity given for tbe very worst description of tbe drinking dens by which the country is cursed." The reporter who " did " the last fite (or the Auckland fire must be a guuhitg creature. Here is his description of the fire when he arrived on the sn.ene :— -And now Symonds-street is gained, and here a beautiful yet dreadful Bpectacle greets the eye. Only every now and again a higher shoot of flame than usual shows tbe forked toogues above the roof, but away up (bo street tbe effect is grand. Every house on the left stands out iv bold relief with its front like burnished gold. At nearly every window aro peering fuces, and as we look now and again a door opens and forth rush men and even women to swell with us the crowd of excited spectators. Brightas tho moon is, and brighter still tbe burning pile, the illumination extends itself wholly aloft. Tbe surface of the earth is dark, and tho glare upon our eyes renders objects close to us nearly invisible. 1? or a few minutes it is uncertain in what etreet the frontage of the burning building faces. On either side aro a number of wooden buildings, while a number of miserable tenements stand trembling in the rear, looking as if lh.sy did so wish they were brick. If they didn't their uninsured owners did, at any rate. All theso it was obvious must go. But now let us get round Queen-street and look at the aspect of things in front. Before we move from our commanding position

we cannot help giving another look at the wonderful glow which rests upou everything around. To the south, east, and west tbo land rises, and the houses are seen towering above the flames, which as they alternately sink and rise, impart a fainter or richer depth of coloring to their emblazoned fronts. The sic-lit is inexpressibly grand. A Mr M'Pherson, of Dunedin, has delivered there several addresses to the « working classes " against immigration, in the course of which be said that when he went to England he would expose the iniquity of the system. He has recently sailed for the home country, and this is how the 0 ta ff o Guardian takes leave of bim : ~" We learn that Mr M'Ph.rson, who is about to destroy nil confidence in this province «s a field for immigration, proceeds home by the mail steamer today. He fokes with bim the sincere wishes of many friends, and an address of confidence from an honorable society to which he belongs. The address is appropriately stamped with the bottom of a pint pot."