A FEW FACTS OF HOW NOLICENSE AFFECTS THE MODERATES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3010, 6 October 1908, Page 6

A FEW FACTS OF HOW NOLICENSE AFFECTS THE MODERATES.

To the Editor Sir, —I hope I will not be trespassing on your valued space in asking you to insert zay experiences of how No-License effects the moderate business man. Being a stranger to your country, I have had occasions to visit two pi' your No-License districts. During my visits to both Invercargill and Ashburton I was invited out to spend the evening with two different men, and in each place, being a man that has always been used to having my glass, my host knowing so had to apolog'se to me for nut being able to ask me to have something to drink, for the reason that the forms and publicity that is given to anyone keeping liquor in their private house for the entertaining of guests, bar the moderate man from doing it. in 'the course of our conversation I found out that to keep liquor in your private house you had to go through the following forms which any man who reads at all will admit is more drastic that any of the laws of Russia, and this in what is termed "God's Own Country," as I made it my business to find out what form you had to go through to procure liquor for your own private consumption. I give it here for the benefit of all moderate drinkers or people who are compelled through sickness to keep spirits in their homes: — The carrying of No-License means closing up the bars, shutting up the wine and spirit shops, and closing the breweries. If No License is carried in any electorate the moderate consumer of alcoholic beverages will be cut oft from the privilege he or she now enjoys, of being able to purchase a supplj conveniently. If a resident in a No-Licanse district wants liquor, even if it has been ordered for him by his medical adviser, he will have to send out of the electorate for it, and even then he will have to get it in wholesale quantities. Besides this, all who order their supply must have their names entered in a a book at the Magistrate's Court, and if this is neglected a fine of £25 for the first and £SO for the second offence may be imposed. The very idea of keeping in a book in a public office the names of those who order and consume alcoholic stimulants is surely re"olting to the moderate drinker. Is this habit of taking a glass of beer with your lunch, or a social glass of whisky in the evening in your own house, so objectionable as to necessitace the institution of inquisitorial proceediivgs on the part of public officers? If No License is carried, the ueer of alcoholic liquors in his own house becomes "a person known to the police," and a record of his purchases is kept by a clerk of the Court. Moreover, every case of liquor entering a Prohibition district must bear on the outside the name of the person to whom it is sent. Moderate drinkers and private consumers ought to ask themselves if they would be living >n a free country if the Prohibition dog-,in-the-manger policy is effected. % Hoping that all moderate and broailminded men and women will give my few remarks careful consideration and put their shoulders to the wheel on election day to prevent this state ot things coming into force in the progressive town of Masterton. —I am, etc.,

FREEDOM