NO-LICENSE IN ASHBURTON.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10110, 4 October 1910, Page 5

NO-LICENSE IN ASHBURTON.

A MAGISTRATE'S REMARKS. EVIDENCE OF DRINKING. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) ASHBURTON, Last Nieht. About a month ago Mr V. G. Day, Stipendiary Magistrate, stated at Timaru, when dealing with a case of drunkenness, that there probably was more temptation in a prohibition cistrict than in a licensed district, and that his experience had led him to believe that there was liquor in practically every house in a no-license district, and dipsomaniacs would have many opportunities for secret drin'iing.

In view of an indignation meeting, which will be held in Ashburton tonight, a Guardian reporter interviewed Mr Day. He stated that he had been asked to attend the meeting, but, being a magistrate, he oould not accede lo the request. The case he had before him at Timaru waa an extreme one, and the experience he had gained at Ashburton, in his position as magistrate, respecting liquor generally, prompted h>m to conscientiously make the remarks the No-Licensc Party was objecting to. The opinion he expressed directed only to the case he had before him, and he never intended it as a reflection on the working of nolicense in any district. The unfortunate woman in question is a dipsomaniac, and he believed "she would look for liquor in heaven." It was absurd for anyone to say that there was not a great deal of drinking in Ashburton. In support of this, he could say that three thousand notices of delivery of liquor to Ashburton residents had passed through the hands of the Clerk of the Court during the past six months, independnitly o f the quantities that were brought in in other ways. "It is not for me," said Mr Day, "to advance an opinion regarding the working of no-license in Ashburton or other similarly restricted areas; but I would like a Commission appointed by the Government to go thoroughly into the matter and obtain the opinions of medical men and others who are in a position to give unquestionable evidence bearing on the problem. If the No-License Party think that I made the remarks objected to for the purpose of general application, it is perfectly at liberty to do so. and if»lhe cap fits the No-License Party they car. wear it. The Timaru footballers, who wet'e in Ashburton some little time back freely stated that they had bought a number of bottles of whisky from sly-grog sellers, and when a person witnessea such liquor being consumed he must believe the evidence of his own eyes."

INDIGNATION MEETING.

A STRONG RESOLUTION

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) ASH BURTON, Last Night. An indignation meeting, convened by the No-License League, was held to-night to protest against the statements made in Tiraaru by Mr G. V. Day, S.M. The meeting was largely attended, and was addressed by Mr Poole, M.P., and the Retf. W. J. Williams, of Oamaru. The following resolution was declared carried unanimousJy"That this meeting of electors and adult residents of Ashburton district emphatically denies the statement made by Mr V. G. Day, Stipendiary Magistrate, so far as such statements apply to this electorate, that (1) 'there are prob- , ably more temptations in prohibition I districts'; and (2) 'that there is liquor practically in every house in a no-license district.' The meeting considers these statements are utterly mis'eading and fallacious so far as Ashburton is concerned, where total abstinence from intoxicating liquors largely prevails, and | where, with the abolition of the open bar, the facilities for obtaining alcoholic beverages Siave been reduced to an extent hardly conceivable to people living in a licensed area,"