PACKET LICENSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3038, 7 November 1908, Page 6

PACKET LICENSES.

NO-LICENSE MEANS MORE DRUNKENNESS. OUTSPOKEN COMMENTS. At the Kaipara Licensing; Court recently a petition was lodged by the local No-License League, asking the committee to refuse packet licenses to vessels plying on the Kaipara. Mr Coates appeared for petitioners, and Mr Singer for the Kaipara Steamship Company. Messrs Day and Field, being interested parties, took no part in the deliberations of the committee. Mr Singer, in opposing the petition, stated that the company had not been notified of the objections to renewal, and as he had only been instructed at the eleventh hour, he asked for an adjournment to enable him to prepare his case. The committeo expressed the opinion that evidence was unnecessary, and by two to one were opposed to renewing tne licenses. Mr Singer strongly protested I against this decision being given un- j til he had been afforded an opportunity of showing how necessary these licenses were. He pointed out that it would be a manifest injustice to wipe out the licenses without giving the licensees an opportunity of stating their cases. The chairman said he could not grant any lengthy adjournment, but would adjourn proceedings until tUer lunch, to give counsel a chance of procuring witnesses. After the luncheon adjournment the following witnesses were called and gave evidence: —■ Captain E. Ross, master of the Awaroa, stated that he had been thirty years on the local river, and had had every opportunity of judging of the merits of license and NoLicense on river steamers. Where men knew a boat had no license they brought liquor with them, and drunkenness was prevalent. Where boats had packet licenses he was able to control the supply of liquor. He had been on the Awaroa three years with a packet license, and had had no complaints, but when running a substitute boat with no packet license, he had had a lot of trouble with passengers who frequently got rowdy and disturbed other passengers. Cross-examined, he said he seldom saw liquor brought by passengers on boats where there was a bar for the sake of the travelling public and their comfort. His boat was licensed to carry four hundred passengers. He had been twentyseven years on the Kaipara boats, and his experience was that in the best interests of the travelling public the boats should be licensed. At the request of some friends, when he purchased the steamer Kawau he decided not to apply for a license, and he ran her three months without, with the result that the people brought liquor aboard in sugar bags and cases, and he had so much trouble with intoxicated passengers that to protect himself and the travelling public, he was compelled, in his own and their interests, to secure a license. Since then no trouble had occurred, and he had noticed no drunkenness on the boats. In reply to the Magistrate, Captain Ross said that his honest opinion was that the wiping out of packet licenses would, lead to increased drinking and discomfort to the passengers. He considired a packet license necessary, as it would enable him to have complete control over the supply of drink, and no passengers would have cause to com ■ plain. Mr Lang, of Raupo, Mr Foster, a local flaxmiller, and Dr. Horton, of Dargaville, gave corroborative evidence. Constable Thompson said that the worst drunkenness he had seen on the river-boats was when he travelled on the Kawau when she had no license, and this was not an isolated case. He did think packet licenses necessary. In reply to Mr Dyer, he said his honest opinion was that liquor would be less under control without the license and there would be more drunkenness. On behalf of the petitioners, Mr Coates called Mr Alfred Gregory, secretary of the No-License League, who said he was firmly of the opinion that licenses* were not necessary. He preferred travelling in a NoLicense boat. He had seen people bringing -bottles which he believed contained spirits on board boats holding packet licenses. In reply to the Bench, he stated that he had not been disturbed by men under the influence of liquor except on one occasion. Constable McDonald, of Aratapu, said he had seen liquor carried on No-License boats in large quantities. At the same time he complained that on some occasions liquor had been sold on licensed packets to residents on the shore front. In considering these matters in open Court, Mr Basset favoured renewing the licenses, while Messrs Tounson and Marriner opposed. The chairman said this practically left the matter for him to decide. He said that before the luncheon adjournment he was in favour of not renewing these licenses, but the question he had now to decide was, Would there be less drunkenness arid disturbance, and would it be in the interests of the travelling public that these packet licenses should be again renewed? He really thought, after listening carefully to the evidence on both sideH, that the renewal should be granted. He was of a different opinion before hearing the evidence, but, after the sworn statements of the captains of the boats and the constables, his firm conviction was that there would be less drunkenness, and better control and comfort for the travelling public, if the licenses were renewed, and he decided accordingly that the licenses should be continued. The Court was crowded, and extraordinary interest was taken in the case. *

7 THE LIVER'S WORK. By "Regulator." The liver may bo described as an exceedingly complicated chemical laboratory. The blood which enters the liver lhrough the portal vein is loaded with the products of the digestion of food. These products the liver deals with in such a manner that the composition of the blood when it leaves tlio liver is very much changed, » sort of secondary digestion having taken place in the liver. Bile has been manufactured out of the blood: acid, which is practically insoluble, lias been converted into urea, wluoli. is completely tsoluble. A substance called glycogen has been made horn the sugar in the blood and store,d in (.ho liver for future use, and various other transformations have taken place. The liver also removes irom the blood red corpuscles which are worn out, and are of no tuithci utility. The liver makes and extract* from the blood two or three pounds of bile every day. The bile is delivered into the intestines, and as a natural cathartic, besides assisting in the digestion of fatty food and retarding the decomposition of such food as it passes along the intestines. The glycogen formed is retained in the hver, and is again converted into sugar, which is supplied to the blood gradually, and in such quantity as may bo necessary for the blood's enrichment.

Now, if the liver fails to do its work thoroughly, it follows that the blood, instead of having its su-bdtmic* dealt with and cleansed in the manner described. is carried by the veins to every part of the body in a condition which is inimical to the welfare ot the body, tn other words, the blood is kide.iv with biliary poisons, and it is the presence of these biliary poisons in the blood which causes us to suffer from indigestion, biliousness, sick headache, general debility, anaemia and jaumdi.ee. If the liver properly performs its functions, the blood distributed is pure, and nourishes the nerves, instead of being laden with poisons which irritate the whole nervous system, and give rise to the disorders named. A wonderful remedy in eases of disease or inactivity of the liver is found in Warner's Safe- Cure, whieih_ for thirty years has proved its efficacy continuously, even when treatment by all other means had failed. Sufferers from a disordered liver should lose no timo in availing themselves of the relief to be obtained from this valuable specific. Tn addition to the regular 5s ami is Dd bottles of Warner's Safe Cure, a concentrated form of the medicine is now issued at 2s 6d per bottle. Warner's Safe Cure (Concentrated) m not compounded with alcohol, una contains the same number of doses as the 5s bottle of Warners bate Cure. 11. H. Warner and Co., Limited, Melbourne, Vic.