The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1891. PROHIBITION AT OAMARU.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2195, 30 April 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1891. PROHIBITION AT OAMARU.

I Poor Oamaeit ! It is almost bank- ' rupt already, abd novr blue ruin stares it in the lace. The Oamaru Harbor Board is in trouble. It borrowed largely, on the strength of the revenue derivable from harbor dues. Now the Railway Commissioners are boycotting the harbor, and consequently there is no revenue. The Commissioners have reduced railway freights from Dunedin to such an extent that goods now come by train instead of by steamers, and thus the Harbor Board is defrauded of its dues. In addition to this the Commissioners neglect to supply trucks to remove goods when they arrive, and vessels have to pass the place by because of this want of accommodation. The borough itself is in a worse plight. Years ago it carried out an expensive water-supply scheme with borrowed money, on the strength of the town going ahead as it ought to have done, but instead of doing so it went backward, the value of property depreciated, and great difficulty is experienced in paying the interest. In fact, hints of repudiatien have been thrown out. On the top of all now comes the shutting up of the publichouses. The trial of strength between the prohibitionists and moderate drinkers has resulted in a victory for the former, and the public houses are to be shut up. We have no doubt that it will be done. The Committee have been elected for that purpose; they have received a special mandate to shut the public-houses, and shut them they will. 'J hey cannot do anything else. The borough will in that way lose heavily. It will lose the license fees, the revenue from transfer of licenses, and the rateable value of the public-houses be greatly diminished. This will completely upset the financial arrangements of Oamaru, and as the law does not allow rates to be raised over a certain limit

the Borough will not be able to meet J ita engagements. It will lose in license fees, in transfer fees, in depreciated values of property, and in the consumption of gas. and will not be able to make up the loss out of rates. There cannot be a doubt but that this will make things in Oamaru unpleasant for a time, but in the end it will, we think, injure the cause of prohibition more than anything which has hitherto happened. Disorganisation must result from the change, and the result will be that in three years’ time Oamaru will be held up as an example of the evils of prohibition. We regret that prohibition does not get a better chance than it will get at Oamaru. Sydenham and Roslyn are no eriterions of how it would work. These two places are merely suburbs of Christchurch and Dunedin, and it will cause no inconvenience to the public to shut up the public-houses in these localities. A few hundred yards away public-houses will still be open, but in Oamaru things are altogether different, and it will be interesting to watch the results of such an experiment in such a place. But Oamaru Jieiao heavily and hopelessly in deep water, financially speaking, that results produced there cannot be taken as a fair test. If Oamaru goes to the bad the opponents of prohibition will make no allowance for the circumstances under which it has been tried, but will hold it up as a frightful example of the results of prohibition. For this reaason it appears to us that the victory of prohibition in Oamaru will prove worse than a defeat. But what about the sly grog; shops? Oamaru is the most noted place in } New Zealand for sly grog shops. I Prosecutions and heavy fines have 1 failed to suppress sly-grog-selling in Oamaru. What will be the ease now under the altered circumstances ? Time will tell.