POLICE REPORTS BY COMMISSIONER TUNBRIDGE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 21, 15 July 1899, Page 3

POLICE REPORTS BY COMMISSIONER TUNBRIDGE.

We give hereuoder exrracts from this report bearing on drunkennes* and illicit trading. That prohibition prevents drunkenness js proved by the decrease of convictions in Clutha, concurrent with an increase for the colony. Drunkenness and Sunday-trading. — Drunkenness has, I regret to say, a decided tendency, the increase for the year upward on the figures of 1897 being 328. Wellington has the unenviable notoriety of being the most intemperate of the four principal cities, fne figures of those cities and suburbs being — Wellington, 953 ; Auckland, 697 ; Ifanedin, 597 ; and Chvistehurch, 583. Th« number of arrests for drunkenness on Sundays during 1898 were also higher an Wellington than in either of the abovenamed cities, -the figures being — Wellington, 63 ; Dun-

edin, 46; Christchurch, 40 ; and Auck- j land, 33. Taking the latter figures as an indication as to how far the law relating to Sunday-closing is observed, it would appear that Wellington is the greatest offender in this respect, and the question " "What, are the Wellington police doing ?" naturally follows. During the past yetf-r the number of informations laid against publicans in the four cities for breaches of the licensing-laws was — Wellington, 45, leaulting in seven convictions ; Auokland, 20, with six convictions ; Christchurch, 21, with six convictions ; and Dunedto, 12, also with six convictions. It will therefore be seen that in Wellington, althougn there were more than double the number of informations laid than in either either Auckland or Christchurch, and neatly four times as in Dunrdin, still the convictions obtained were only one in excess of the number in each of the other three cities. The foregoing figures will, I think, be sufficient to show the difficulty the police experience in dealing with Sunday.trading, especially in Wellington, where the publicans ran so little risk of conviction. Li^or sold in defiance of the Jaw is sly grog ; we draw the attention of those people who hold that Prohibition create? sly grog sellers to the fact that in four cities there were $8 cases of this sort in the twelve months. Sly Rio" Soling.— There were eightyeight prosecutions for this offence during the year 1898, resulting in fifty-eight conviethvs, fines amounting to £1.526 lOrf being imposed. This 6ffence, although not generally so prevalent as a year or two a<jo, is still rife in many districts. EXTRACTS l-KOM ANKtHLREPOIITS 0F OFHCEBB IX CHARGE OP DISTRICTS. Inspector 3. Cxjllkn, Auckland, Waikato, and Bay of Islands. — New stations have been opened during the year at Poro-o-taiao and Te Kuiti, both in the King i country. Soon after these stations were opened the constables in charge of them 1 succeeded in obtaining convictions for slygrog selling against several noted King I country sly-grog sellers, and this has had the effect of checking sly-grog selling in that part of the King country for the j piesent ft't any iflie. | Jnspfctor E. J. Gillies, Wanganui and West Coast. — Sly-grog selling ha? been carried on to some extent in the outlying portions of the district— namely, Mokau, Kaetihi, Maowhango, and IvTeremefo, but owing to the vigorous action which has of late been taken by the police, and the substantial penalties imposed, I hope that sly-grog selling will soon be a thing of the past in this district. Inspfctor J. W. Ellison, Nelson and Westland. - Sly grog selling cases deoreased by three. This illegal traffic is earned on in some isolated places, but the trade done is on a limited scale. It shall, however, receive due attention. Inspector W. S. Pi.»DY, Otago, Southland and Lakes.— A number of successful pioseeutions in sly-grog cases have taken place in the Clutha district, also in ' other parts of the district. As regards Olutha, there is such odium attached to peis^ons giving evidence in these cases that it is with the greatest difficulty that anyone can be got to do so. If these extracts do not prove that slygrog selling is a concomitant of license", and not a creation of prohibition, what do they prove ? On Tuesday evening next, in the Temperance Hall, the Rev. A. S. Morrison will speak on " Lessons on the Liquor Traffic from Uncle Tom's Cabin." The Rev. J. Blight will speak on "Prohibition in Clutha a Success." The Temperance Choir will be very much in evidence, and altogether this will be a meeting which you would regret to miss. A collection for the Fighting Fund will be 1 taken up. Chair will be taken at 7.30 sharp.