The Liquor Question.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43341, 23 June 1908, Page 3

The Liquor Question.

AtM| Church on Sunday the Rev. J. Duke 3 preached aßßugut-out sermon on the subject :<./ ■ ** What the Moral Sense of Te Aroha Expects from ,the Licensing Committee rV There was a good congregation. ; The rev. gentleman took as His text, Isaiah 57th Chapter,. 14th verse, . “Take up the Stumbling Block Out of ofSMy People.” The preacher commenced, nis ' discourse by stating that the Licensing Committee had about a fortnight ago a splendid opportunity of declaring? for truth and sobriety, but they let iirslip. They acted in utter disregard of. the text.. They simply ignored the Divine command before us, “ Take up the Stumbling Block Out of the Way of My .-.People.’’ In the face of public Opinion, the magistracy; and the .whole of • the district they extended the Statutory time for dinking. in Te Arohs by one hour. He proceeded to shew that thenaction was unworthy of men, who in a large measure must be regarded as the moral custodians of the district, and that it was inconsistent in the highest degree for those* who solemnly pledged themselves to administer the Act for the bene;fife l of the public. Of course no one questions the fact that they have legislative, sanction, for the law permits the hours of drinking to be i extended when it can be shewn to be for the public ‘ benefit or convenience. It has been Stated that the word “public ” used in the Act means the drinking public. Well, we have not the least objection to be “disinherited ” from any participation in the Act if the drinking public will bear all the costs of the traffic. As the liquor traffic is contributing about three-fourths of the crime, pauperism, and domestic misery of the Dominion, let the drinking public cover a similar proportion of the annual charges. The Act framed merely for . the drinking public! . The Act administered merely for the drinking public! and therefore total abstainers and prohibitionists ought not to interfere I Bereft of the love of God, and sternly and bitterly cold to a weak, erring, brother, we might then leave him to. perish. Yes, if his sinand folly ended with . himself we might unconcernedly let him go idown, but the assertion is grossly incorrect for does the misery of the drunkard end with himself ? Look at his home, his wife, his children, his creditors! books I End with himself!! S?e how a jealous God visits the sins of the father’s upon the children unto the ■ u 3rd and 4th generation—end with Tiimeelf! Business -men and employers ; know’what a trouble a drunken employee is; ' and s'et for all the social, domestic, commercial, economic, and national considerations that enter into this question, we are quietly told that temperence men and. no-license men have no right to » interfere. I repeat it, that when the liquor traffic ceases to touch us in our churches, families, workshops, hospitals, and gaols, we will cease to touch it, but never till then. -1. -The action of the Licensing Comv, mittee the / extension for .j: another- year j 'stands condemned, bec rase been no public demands fjr it. ' It fibs been stated that Te Aroha, being a- tourists resort, visitors require V'j that the hotels be kept open until 11 o’clock. There is no demand for such au extension at Rotorua or Hanmer Spring*. What is there so peculiar about the rinall nixmber of visitors found here ■—-Small in comparison with Eotorua—that they alone of all other places, must have 11 o!clock licenses. As a matter of fact very many of our suffering visitors are by the medical fraternity strictly deemed intoxicants. A large nnmber are total abstainers, out of sympathy with the traffic altogether,/whereas the remaining fraction of visitors can as boarders in ' the various hotels obtain liquor at any hour they need it. What is there so peculiar about Te Aroha that With the exception of Paepoa and Lytfcleton, it should require 11 o’clock licenses, j In this bespectit has attained very unenviable notoriety. ■ 2.- The action of the Committee in extending the- hours of drinking was unwarrantable because they refused to hear objectors to the extension, Last year they said if the people want 10 o’clock licenses let them ask for it, This year when an objectof asked permission to apeak in favour of 10 o’clock closing he was-refused an hearing. The Committee knows perfectly well that 75 per cent of. the, adult residents of this town are in favour, of ten o’clock closing, .3- The action of the Gonunittee is unr Wise because it wiljfiomuoh to stultify their efforts to regulate the traffic. Everybody knows that the traffic is hard enough to regulate, .and I no more believe in its proper regulation, under preluditions, than I do in the regula- \ tigers—but the difficulties of rea immeasurably increase as every officer will tell you, under 11 closing, The last hour to the l tipplpr is the worst hour of the t is a sad, a Bickening sight to see lm out ” at closing. What a hell fa the home - will be when that drunkard tumbles?into it, near to dnighfc hour—God only knows, we are told £fia£ th e hour is ) convenience to those wh,o have ad public meetings. Protracted '$ of this kind are of such rare ace in this small township that b not worthy of recognition, and y do not call for provision of this In view of the manifest evils refrom late drinkjug, wifi not men > q. fittle for the good rs. The man who wall not, stamps lie character the mark" of positive ess.- ■ ' need not dwell upon the utter of the argujutentj that this extendrjnkiug- hqurs is needed for the ng public. If lin the four great id seaports of this Dominion, with ■* arriving at all hours of the and trains conveying up to middle public houses are closed at 10 bat earthly necessity exists in Te ;pr 11 o'clock closing. We have ners nor trains arriving after 10 nor any approach to 10 o’clock, en wears told that it is a matter Sc convenience to the travelling ihat the hotels be kept open until ock, nobody doubts it, hence the i very rightly provided that they s open to travellers all. night, and Bnsirig Bench or publican either, use to admit the bona fide traveller rovide him with refreshment at any - the night, It is quite time such of sophistry went to the moles s bats,?- - vgain we are told that 10 o’clock is an interference with the liberty i subject, but when so called s encroach on the undeniable and liberties of other people, then alight to be interfered with, ighfc has a Licensing Committee eefe a police constable to |be lg about gathering up the wreck vocbrtbe liquor traffic until the fat hour, for as every policeman fi. you their work is not ended he bar is emptied, it is then that ark -begins, and often as a

‘ said, to me the other day, it | takes an hourftb clear the half intoxij cated hoodlums from the streets. Why should the rest , of a wearied, working ‘man who has retired at decent hours he broken by a revelling crew at the midnight hour ? This argument on the liberty of the subject is a sword that cuts both ways, and it will be seen at a ghkhce that.il o’clock closing is an encroachment on the liberty .of the subject, lam afraid that the social and moral aspects,of the drink traffic have been and are too much ignored, and yet all other considerations by. the side of these, pale into insignificance. Surely we should hear>no more about public convenience and interference with personal liberty when extended hours of drinking means increasing temptations to young men to enter and pursue the way to ruin, when it involves so much domestic misery and loss, breaking up all that is sacred and beautiful in the word home. What right have we to i encourage any juan to desolate his home, I’ leaving his wife and children in their loneliness and sorrow night after night until the miduight hour, no right whatever, and I am bold to say that no man will do it if he will ouly make it a matter of conscience . Ido not envy the position and feelings of any man to whom a broken hearted woman can point and say, that pi an is supporting 11 o’clock closing, and it has been the ruin of wiy husband and the cause of my sons going astray. This matter should be dealt with in the realm of conscience from a moral and social standpoint. Let us lift it above, all such low and shady considerations as financial expediency, or the hollow cry of public convenience, or the cant of invasion of personal liberty.

6, There are special and peculiar reasons why Te Aroba should be very exemplary in the regulation of the liquor traffic. Its far-famed waters and beautiful mountain scenery draw visitors from far and near. y lt is an ideal spot for a holiday, for a quiet restful, recuperative holiday, hence many of the elite of the Dominion and of the adjacent colonies visit this place. All this argues the wisdom and prudence of keeping up its respectability and good order. At present with 11 o’clock closing we living in the township are often annoyed with yells and unseemly noises to close upon the midnight hour. Of course the members of the Committee are not inconvenienced and annoyed with these things as each lires a distance away, but those who suffer this annoyance have a right to be heard.

7. The action of the Committee in going dead against the magistrate, and granting 11 o’clock licenses is anti-social. The tendency of the age, and one of the blessings of the democracy is the reduction of the hours of labour, !but this will rob domestics, bar tenders, policeman, and even publicans themselves of at least 6 hours a week of necessary rest and sleep. To some people it may sound singular, but it is I nevertheless true and not to be wondered at where 10 o’clock closing has been adopted. The licensees themselves would not on any account go back to 11 o’clock. They fully appreciate 10 o'clock closing, wherever it has been tried. I

We are that the action of the Licencing Committee is inimical to the moral and material interests of the town. In the minds of all moral reformers there willihardly be two opinions about that. If men will only discuss this question outside the bounds of greed and self-indulgence they must candidly admit that an/ extension of the hours of drinking practically means further moral deterioration, and pecuniary loss. It is an incontrovertible fact, speaking generally, that crime may be measured by the number of public houses. ' Dr. Baron, an eminent, writer on social questions ridicules the idea of want being the cause of drunkenness, and contends that indigence, criminality, and improvidence, are in direct proportion to the number of public houses. In agreement with this a recent editorial in the London Times says, “ There is not a vice, or, a disease, ora disorder, or a calamity of any kind that has j not its frequent rise in the public house, It degrades, brutalizes, and ruins a large fraction of the British people.” Oiir Licensing Act in New Zealand is based upon the assumption that the liquor traffic presents a danger to the moral and. material well being of the people, hence it must be hedged round by sundry limitations. Kept Within cey-r tain hours, siqd guarded, no other traffic Requires to be ao oarefully wqtcfied, oqr bitter complaint is that when the committee had an opportunity of further grappling with this foe and lessening its danger they failed to improve it. I say again, no other trade requires to be so carefully watched, all others differ from the liquor traffics the fact that their' development, benefits the whole community, whereas an expansion of this trade simply spreads moral deterioration, mental imbecility, abject poverty, domestic infelicity, squalid misery, degradation, disease, and death,.