SLYGROGGERY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 130, 19 October 1912, Page 3

SLYGROGGERY.

IN THE WHANGA. DISTRICT. 1 "Kohuratahi" writes to the Editor•i*n ~~ A Bh , ort note irl y° ur is9Ue of the 10th scarcely described the situation along the Whangamomona line in regard to the illicit sale of liquor and the effect' it has on the community. Briefly the position is as follows: The workers on the line are composed of one part honest toilers and about three parts of a mixture that would make Cairo turn creen with envy. The sly-grogger has followed the line from its inception, and the conditions are no better for a licensed house having been dumped on the people. Now, in regard to the apathy of the police, I am quite satisfied that if three police officers caught anyone breaking the Licensing Act, whether* he had a license or not, there would easily be, say, ten people who would swear that he did nothing of the kind. What is really required is "Regulation." The hotel should be closed for one week on and after pay day, and the hotel keepers employed assisting the police to detect the sly-grog seller. But to really come down to bedrock. The sly grog seller and his .customer are just a circumstance of the "Trade." Both seller and buyer should be gaoled for the first offence. What is wanted is. for the Government to appoint an inspector to visit the place on pay day and for a few days after, and to bring down a report of all he saw (and swear to the same before the Chief Justice) showing that drunkenness, sly-grog selling, immorality and gambling were rampant. Then when the details were published, Parliament would adjourn for at least a week to recover from the shock, and a Licensing Bill on the bare majority would be introduced by Governor's message and put through the three readings at one sitting, and the women and children would get a chance —and they deserve it. But, Mr. Editor, say you picked out some good, straight, clean journalist to go and live under the conditions existing there for one month and keep a diary and turn it loose on the public in the "to-be-con-tinued" style. lam sure your circulation would go up by leaps and bounds, and you would also put the general public under an everlasting debt of gratitude for exposing some of the evils that are looked upon as virtues by the people interested. The above remarks only apply to those whom the hat fits, and the decent workers would be delighted if the law became strong enough to make the country clean and fit to bring children up in. in conclusion, please don't send us a missionary. We want a doctor to do the amputating before the nurse it called in.