IN THE KING COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 157, 6 July 1939, Page 10

IN THE KING COUNTRY.

A good ease for inquiry into the liquor laws relating to the King Country was made during the course of th« discussion on the subject at the Waikato Synod yesterday. Sixty years ago an agreement was made that the Rohe Potae should be opened up for settlement provided liquor was not permitted to enter the area. An effort has been made to give effect to that | agreement, under ever-increasing difficulties, j complicated by vast population changes, the coming of the motor car, and other transport facilities which could not possibly have been envisaged at the time. The effort to keep the are* free from liquor has failed, despite the most strenuous efforts of the police to enforce the law. There are too many highways and byways for entrance now to make total enforcement possible; in Bishop Cherrinfton's opinion, and he has had unusual facilities for discovering the true state of affairs, the agreement has ended in disaster. He suggests that the time is therefore ripe for making a fresh agreement on lines which would offer a better chance of proving workable in practice than the present one, and with that many will agree. It is admitted by everyone with the least acquaintance with the King Country that conditions are so very far from ideal that n thorough inquiry, followed by suggestions for improvement, would be the best means of overcoming existing evils and establishing now methods under which rigid control could be exercised. Not only the settlers and the Maoris are concerned; the wants of the travelling public, and also of the visitors i to the National Park, are entitled to consideration. • 1