SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1894. THE MASTERTON LICENSING DISTRICT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4740, 7 June 1894, Page 2

SECOND EDITION Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1878.] THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1894. THE MASTERTON LICENSING DISTRICT.

A I'oii'fXKiUT ago the Mnsterton correspondent of the Now Zealand '■Times drew attention to tho inadequate sleeping accommodation in the Mnsterton hotels. The inference from this was either that additional houses wore required or that tho existing ones ought to provide more bedrooms, As fur ns we are able to form an opinion wo hnvcqliitecnongh houses and a sufficiency of stooping 'accommodation for nil ordinary occasions. If when a race meeting takes place a number of shake downs have to be mado up or private boarding houses have to bo invaded, tliero

is no great hardship or inconvenience to the travelling public. At the last race meeting, the occasion specially referred to, a number of very undesirable visitors appeared in the town, and if special accommodation were needed for some of tliem it should be furnished 011 the domain of Sergeant llcAvdlc. The existing houses furnish ample accommodation for all reasonable requirements and occasionally they give too muoli. A short timo ago wo had occasion to 1 complain of the great number of intoxicated men to be seen about the town and it was quito evident that there must bo one or more houses in the place,which in the matter of alcoholic beverages, were dispensing too much refreshment, Masterton could probably get along betlcrwith fewer ratWrthauwitlnnorelicensedHouses and under ordinary circumstances we should have expected some Nemesis to have befallen those Licensed Victuallers who were responsible for the inebriety to which we refer.. Of late wo have heard 110 complaints, and possibly on the eve of a Licensing meeting greater caution is exercised. But in fairness a House must bo judged not by its conduct on the eve of the annual Licensing meeting, but for the full period of twelvo months proceeding it, Tlioro arc probably one or more Houses in the town that can .ill stand such a test, However, on this occasion, a now Act conies into force and a new Committee, and some mensuro of Indemnity for past offences may fairly be conceded. The time has arrived when open and flagrant breaches of the law must be cheeked, and ive expect to fico the new Committee jmiclt stricter with regard to tbeso than the old one. Orderly and well-conducted public houses aro of decided value to [ the community; it is the disorderly and ill-condwcted establishments which give the trado a bad name and furnish Prohibitionists with their strongest weapons. The latter must for the future be suppressed without the slightest compunction by any efficient Licensing Committee,