Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1905. FIGURES ABOUT NO-LICENSE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXII, Issue 6484, 1 February 1905, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1905. FIGURES ABOUT NO-LICENSE.

The returns which we published two days ago,j giving a comparison of the criminal and civil business transacted at the Ashburton Court during 1902 (a license year), and 1904 (a no-license year), furnish some interesting evidence as to the effect of ■ No-License m this district. There is, however, one important fact to be pointed out, arid that is, that the licensing district and the county or police district I are not co-extensive. Portions of what really constitutes the Ashbnrton County, | and is included m the Ashburton Police District is, for electoral and licensing puri poses, regarded as being m the Selwyn district. Such places, for instance,. as Methven and Chertsey are not within the prohibition area, though they are with m the Ashburton County and the Police District. The result of this fact is that the total workias: effect of prohibition is not revealed m the figures, dace the business transacted at the local Court includes cases that have their origin ia Methven or Chertsoy. The criminal returns are therefore slightly better than they actually appear. The all round decrease m both arrests and convictions m 1904 as compared with 1902 is very noticeable. There is an increase m such offences as selling liquor without a license, a olaas of offence which was unknown m 1902, owing to there'being little or no inducement to commit it, whereas m 1904 ib would be the first offence which would be expected to develop to any marked extent. The suppression of slygrrog selling is a matter of time' It may, of course, never be completely extinguished, but we are oonfident it will ultimately be reduced to comparatively small dimensions: It has to be noted m examining the figures for the license and the nolicense year that the offences which were numerous m 1902 all show a marked decrease m 1904. The arrests for assault m 1902 were 13, and con fictions were recorded j m 5 cases, while m 1904 there were only 8 arrests and 1 conviction. The arrests therefore decreased by 38 per cent, and the proportion of convictions by 26 per cent. For all classes of offences against the person the proportion of convictions to arrests declined from 46 per cent, to 18 per cent. Strange to say, there were no arrests for theft at all last year, while two yeara previously there were 11 arrests and 8 convictions, and equally remarkable is the.difference m the number of vagrancy cases, there being 25 arrests and 11 convictions two years ago, whereas last year this class of offence disappeared entirely. Taking theft, vagrancy, and similar offences as a whole class, we find a decrease of 85 per cent m the arrests, and nearly 43 per cent decrease m the convictions. As was to be expected, arrests for drunkenness were much less numerous last year, the convictions having declined from 91 to 23, a decrease of 74 per cent. Excessive drinking, for which there were 32 cases with 26 convictions m 1902, was not on the charge sheet at all last year, so that those who are guilty of that failing have either gone to seek elsewhere the means of gratifying their desires or are finding the benefitß that no-Ucense confers by removing temptation. In spite of th» rise of the sly gcog evil, what the returns class as' " liquor cases" declined from 134 to 71. Convictions for breach of the peace fell from 10 to exactly half that number, while neither charges nor convictions for persistent cruelty were recorded. Even such minor offence 3as breaches of the byelaws decreased from 59 to 47, a fall of 20 per cent. Among the increases that are unexpected and difficult to understand, are those recorded m bastardy, lunacy, and destitution. In bastardy the cases increased from 1 to 6, and the convictions from 1 to 5. Lunacy cases increased from 8 to 10, while cases under the " Destitute Persons Act" rose from 7to 14, an increase of 100 per cent, and convictions from 2 to 10, an increase of 400 per cent. The increase m the lunacy cases is small enough not to require explanation, as it may be merely one of those accidental variations that occur from year to year. But the same remark does not apply to the increase m bastardy and destitution. What the ex- I planation, if any, is, we have no means of i judging at present. Most probably prohibition has nothing whatever to do with it. As regards the amount of civil business transacted, the notable fact is that the number of plaints was the same m both years, being 305 m each case. The amount sued for last year was over .£4OO m excess of that sued for m 1902, while at the same time the amount recovered last year was over .£750 m excess of the amount recovered m 1902. There would thus appear to be mote money about the place, or at anyrate people are more ready or more able to pay their debts with it than they were m 1902. On ths whole the returns just published throw a very favourable light on :tho working of nolicense, aud uo doubt the figures for, say, 1906, will compare still more strikingly with those for the last year of license.