"LAMBING DOWN."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 153, 26 June 1878, Page 4

"LAMBING DOWN."

[Evening Post.}

The Dunedin " lambing down " case recently reported hy telegraph turns out to have been a very bad one. From the full report of the case given in the " Otago DaUy Times," it seems that a man named Richard Jaeksoii, had, by his industry, saved up a sara of £217, which he deposited in the Postoffice Savings Bank. In. an uniucky moment he went to the Cannongate |lote!, ; kept by a. Mr. Hams, and begjjn drinking. It seems .that Jackson, having once^ot " under the influence" renidinecHn that peculiar 'condition for a period of from the 11th of February to the 29th of April, or about eleven weeks. Daring that period he drew from the Savings .Bank the whole of the £217, and spent it all in liquor at the Cannongate Hotel, save a sum of £40, which in a lucid interval, he gave lo a friend to keep for him. The net amount spent in liquor by Jackson was thus £177 in eleven weeks, or a trifle above £16 a week ! The man didn't board and lodge at the hotel the whole time, only getting a bit of food now and then, and being lodged there when bo far " under the influence " as to have reached that repion of horrors which culminates in delirium tremens. These; good Samaritans, Mr and Mrs Hams, nursed their guest back into some sort of strength, and then supplied him afresh with drink until bis money was all done. Then when a friend took Jacksoa away from the house, Hams made a demand for £17 11s. 6d. against Jackson for board and lorigiug. This was not paid, and the iilused Hams sued Jackson for the money, when the whole story came out. And a very ugly story it is. Jackson did not gamble, or bet, or speculate, or spend money in any other way— he simply drank, and it all went in liquor. Of course he was surrounded by parasites and degraded tapsters, for whom he " shouted." OF coarse when he couldn't walk to the bank to draw more money he was taken there io a "buggy. Even the £40 saved almost went the way of the rest. A decent man named Lindsay met Jackaon being taken to the bank by two men named Martin and Long. Lindaay waited outside till they came out, and remonstrated, ao Jackson bum away from his double escort, and gave Lindsay £40, the other two men doing all they could to prevent the transaction. However that £40 was saved. and ultimately given back to the owner when his." burst" was at an end. Mr Hams did' not recover his little bill fdr board and lodging. In giving judgj-menfcTfor.-fhe .defendant with costs, the Magistrate eaid that tb@ defendant had

fquandered a very large Sum of money, and that the pabliean had knowingly detained defendant ia his house while «n &a uofift state to take care of bia money, There is more of this." lambing down" practised in Kew Zealand lhan people ouppose. A respectable botelkeeper would not be guilty of such conduct as that of Hams, but there are some people in the trade whose greed for money makes them less scrupulous;, Such conduct, when discovered, should invariably be punished by an absolute forfeiture of license, the trade, as a body, should, through the various Licensed Victuallers' Associations, repudiate and condemn the conduct of Mr Hams.