Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1892. DRINK IN THE KING COUNTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4146, 23 June 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1892. DRINK IN THE KING COUNTRY.

Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is IDENTICAL

The public meeting held in Masterton last night to enter a protest against the introduction of liquor into the King Country was not only numerically large, but was enthushw ,'tio to a degree, That the inhabitants of a district several hundred miles distant from tho part affected should display so keen an interest in the question at issue, indicates clearly that no small importance is attached to the recent proclamation of the Acting-Governor, and that Native ohiefsin this part should attend a public meeting and denounce the proposed licensing of a special area in the King Country ig still more significant,

| It will berememberod that in 1884, at the request of about fourteen hundred Natives, the King Country was deolared by Sir William Jeryois, the then Governor, to be'- a prohibited area, Prior to this time the unwary Nativeß, led from the paths of rectitude and probity by beiug brought into close contact and intercourse with Europeans, had abandoned themselvos to drink, with all its concomitant debauchery and vice. From the King down to the most menial i representative of the Maori race the inQuenco of alcohol was so great that moral and physical ruin was fast pursuing its innocent viotims. The per-

petuation of the traffic meant the certain extermination of the race, and that in the quiokest possible space of time. Who does not remember how this faot was impressed upon the degraded King, how His Gracious Majesty " donned the blue," and bow on his return from England a war against the unholy liquor trade was. cominenced ? And does not the great Mes* sing conferred on the rjative race by the proclamation of Governor Jervois linger in the memory of all ? j

But it is left to the Premier of a Liberal Government, a Government which professes to retain some interest in the welfare of the masses and of the Democracy, to demolish a structure of grand moral eduoation, to efface and nullify in a few months the results of a work which has been the accomplishment of years. Bah I to such sham Liberalism I There does not exist a shadow of an argument in favour of creating a licensing area in the King Country, We cannot believe that the Government has really granted the request of a speculative half-caste—as we understand the applicant for the lipense to beon the petition of a paltry thirty Natives, whilst the fact that n petition, signed by fourteen hundred Natives, was presented praying that the sale of liquor in tup King Country be prohibited, is still fresh in its memory. . Surely itisnotnecessaryfortQurists, seeking to gratify their visual organs at the beautiful Waitomo oaves, to improve the measure of the observation bestowed upon them by Nature by partaking of stimulating drinks, If it is, then it is to be deplored tbatthewants of a score, or a hundred of these festive '■ glohe-troitcrs" is to be supplied at the expense of possibly a couple of thousand members of one of the finest races of peopln the world .possesses, For bo sure bs a lioense is granted to one house in the' King Country, and JBPfe particularly tba house on the 'line of ihe> Mafa Trunk Railway, will the evil spread until our noble tape of aborigines is .again plunged into the mire'from which it has em'trged and be led captive by the terribly vice introduced' by' the more civilised European, J " We have reason Jo. brieve that the proclamation" recently issued py the feting Governor was the outcome of pressure brought' to bear by unspeculators,' seeking W establish tljemselveino the King Country with tjje avowed object of lining- their pocket? it the expense of- the Native race. We refuse'to believe that it is

the. wish of the'great body of Natives in tbe King Country to again introduce the enemy which "steals away their brains," and we-confidently anticipate thatai-monster petition will Ibe presented to Parliament by those interested, in opposition to the application made by a speculative halfcaste lor a license to retail ruin in the shape of liquid 'alcoholic solution, Resolutions such as those passed in ■Masterton last night mil pave the way for the monster petition from the Natives which we suggest, and there is little doubt but that Mr 'Ballunce and his colleagues will, in their own interests, if not in those of tbe aboriginal Maori, take prompt steps for the revoking of a proclamation which is .unconstitutional, as it is discreditable'to the Colony. L