WHISKY THE BOTTLE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 97, 17 January 1908, Page 9

WHISKY THE BOTTLE.

» RECKLESS OKAHUNE.' Tho old days'that old goldminers can remomber are hot doad. A bottlo of whisky can still fotch £6 in New Zealand—ono is said to have been sold the other day in Okahune for that sum ,Okahuno is • on tho Main Trunk line, in the prohibited King country. The nearest publichousa is at. Tokaami, on the south end of Lake Taiipo, distant much more than a Sabbath, day's journey. More accessible, for thero .is'the Public Works' Department's train, is the hotel at Taihape, but that, though the next nearest, ift 40 miles away. : And on- tlio north tho nearest legal place- ' for quenching thirsts with strong stuff lS'Te Awftuiutu, further .distant still. Tho normal prico of whisky in Ohakune is £1 a bottlo. It was fairly plentiful at that m'ice when ari-official' of the Public Works Department visited ; tho district some weeks before Christmas, and the rough, thirsty men at Okahimo told him that when Christmas cauio it. would bo very plentiful indeed. Christmas had not long passed when it was strangely scarce;.: Drought reached a serious point, and a 'gentleman who passocl through Okaimne before the holiday excitement "and thirst were finished, states, as a ■ fact widely. vouched for, that a bottlo of whisky was disposed for £6. One man, reckless' for the moment, bought two large "nips" at fl a nip, and tho remaining contents of the bottle wore,,it is said, then put up for auction, and were "knocked down" for £i. ' Tho officer of the Public Work 3 Department, who is acquainted with Obakune, states that be does not find it difficult to believe, this story. . Tho normal price' of whisky, in the thirsty township is, he says, £1' a : bottlo, and: people who buy a dozen bottles in-a licensed district' for about £.3, and smuggle them, into Ohakune to be sold at that rate,, make a very pretty profit. The Public' Works Department, which runs the train to. Ohakune, is always on. the watch for such people, and when an officer of the Department sees a suspicious-looking swag, or portmanteau with no obvious owner, he makes examination. .Whisky by tho dozen bottles can be carried easily, rolled: up with the ■ blankets, tent, and other articles that make 'a bushman's swag. Scores of bottles are seized by officers.of the Department, and l are sent to the Taihapo constable. There is never any, inquiry on tho part of owners. Most of the Department's officers, on the lino know who; the men; are who. are likely to sniugglo liquor in for trade, and, on tho mi BUB P.'oica,- their baggago is overhauled. Though it requires some. cunning to get 1 liquor, in largo quantities. into Ohakune . by. ■ thd train,, there is hardly any check on the pack-horse loads that como from Tokaanu and other places. There is always, oil tho part of many,; sympathy, and, perhaps, a covert .admiration, for tho aniuggier, • and unless tho penalties .for. 1 breaches of tho law are made much heavier/ this Public Works ■ official does not think that Ohakune and its district.will easily .bo kept ciry..