EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10122, 19 October 1910, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENT.

A paragraph containing some extraordinary statements- is going the rounds of the Press in New Zealand. As it has an important reference to Masterton, we feel compelled to publish it, if only to show its utter absurdity. The .paragraph reads: — "Rev. Father Gunning, speaking art St. Patrick's Church, Bega (New South Wales), said:—l don't for one moment think that Acts of Parliament will prove effective in checking the drink curse. I was over at New Zealand recently, and never saw so much drinking in my life before. Travelling in the train from Auckland to Rotorua, one was immediately struck by that. Many travellers were drunk, and the police had to be called in at one station to remove a number of intoxicated persons. Then at Masterton where there are no hotels, the failure of no-license became more apparent. 'Can you get strong drink here?' I inquired of a brother clergyman of Masterton. He smiled. 'There are only two places where you cannot,' was the reply. Naturally, I enquired where, and was answered that the convent and the churches were the only places immune. Drinking can only be stopped by the parents using proper* restrictions by not allowing their children to ramble about at nights and frequent hotels."