WALKING HOTELS. How to Shut Them Up.
Free Lance, Volume X, Issue 481, 18 September 1909, Page 6
About this newspaper
WALKING HOTELS. How to Shut Them Up.
LAST week we pointsd out how ineffectual a £10 fine is to stop the highly-profitable operations of tne sly-grog seller. Thisweek we are glad to notice how neatly Mr W G Riddell, S.M., made the punishment fit the offence m the case of an old hand at the cheerful occupation of "walking hotel. 1 ' Two' individuals were bi ought before the Court on Friday last, charged with making a practice of strolling about Tory-street on Sundays selling strong liquors to thirsty way-farers. • • • One of them, pleaded guilty to two charges, and got off with a total fineof £10, with 14a costs. It is still our opinion that this is not a strong enough deterrent m so moneymaking a game as selling grog without a license at about double its market price. You have only to get a fairly long run at this sly-grog game to be able to pay an, occasional £10 fine without turning a hair. Still, harking back to the case under notice, the other "walking hotel" pleaded not guilty, and fared very much worse. The case was proved right up to the hilt, and, as he had been three times previously convicted, and besides had a healthy little stock which the police had nosed out, he wasn't allowed the option of a fine The magistrate gave him six weeks' hard, turning a deaf ear to his request for ten days in which to pay a fine which, at the maximum, would have been £100. Now, m this o-fime of sly-grog selling imprisonment is the only way to make hard the path of the transgressor The people who openly flout the law m order to vend slygrog aae playing for big stakes, and a £10 fine now and then is only a kind of moderate discount, which they can well afford to pay. Imprisonment is the only weapon with which you can fight them to a finish. Besides, fair play to' the honest trader demands it. • • • If he is convicted of a breach of the licensing law, and sometimes he is convicted merely through the? laches of a servant, his license is endorsed, and three endorsements amount to virtual confiscation. The pirate, however, has neither license' nor reputation to lose, and he sniggers at your fine, and is able to go on as merrily as ever to recoup it from more aly-grog. In the interest of honest trade and fair dealing we are glad therefore to note the new departure. In this connection, Tory-street seems to have been a pretty lively place on Sunday in thesly-grog line With a thirstier season setting m, it is just as well that the unlicensed "walking hotels" should have a good fright. The Otaki Maori Racing Club's spring meeting is notified in our advertising columns. The programme of events for the two days' meeting is set out at length, and full particulars with regard to nominations, weights, acceptances, etc., are appended!. This successful racing club have made their meetings traditional for good sport and. excellent racing, and this years meeting promises to be no exception to this role. • • • The Secretary of the Postal Department notifies in this issue tlhat the time for receiving tenders for the Wanganui River Mail Service has been extended to noon on ifae 14th October, 1909.
