WANGANUI NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 749, 23 February 1910, Page 8

WANGANUI NEWS.

■ ' " MASTEUTON NO-LICENSE''' ' ; ■ CRITICISED; 1 ' (From Our Special' Correspondent.) " , Wanganui, February 22. ; ,-lwo •,hundred: 1 and thirty-two public '.school, calets .'with their officers, left'• to.day. to attend' I 'the. Kitchener.camp at 'the .Hutt, arrangements having been-made to .enable •thorn ;to. go ( by express. a ,'day earlier than was ...intended, in order, to :give them a' day, iu "Wellington. They •were reinforced by„s2 at Aramoho, : 21 at ; lurakina, and 50 at Marton,. making a total of 355. Major Aitken is in.command of 1 , tho' battalion. r - Accompanying them were also two patrols of :boy' scouts. \ At a meeting of the. Council, of Churches to-day, the ltev. A. Morton 1 was elected' president, 'vice the Rev; Mr: Drake, transferred , to 1 Dunedin I .' The. latter, preached farewell sermons ;on 'Sunday last, and leaves for 'the- south in a few days. 1 The wea'ther still''continues veiy warm, lieing-71 iri the shade this morning and 80 in tho .'afternoon 1 . '. The. Waugamii 'Highland' Rifles held their, last parade last, evening prior 1 to lioiug merged into the new .territorial force. Headed by their pipe band, they ■ marched through the streets, after which a farewell speech was 1 delivered by Captnin M'Naught, who exhorted them to show the same discipline, and strive after the same efficiency in the new conditions as under the old.. 1 : <

The now valuation of the borough of -Wanganui East, shows that last year the .capital;-.'value'- increased by. /£12,620. /The annual rateable 'value of tlie- suburb is now i!20,ll(!. ~ . :Now,'that the suburban •council 'lias carried much-needed/ works' well towards , completion, it .is felt'the .timo is-'ripe for. amalgamation with: Wanganui,■.especially as this seems the only way in which the . question of water sup':plj" can be .satisfactorily, settled. Notice, of, motion liiis 'bean given, to set up a coiiimittee with a ' view to negotiations witii the parent, borough. ...

. A correspondent of the "Herald" gives a somewhat startling account of his.experiences ,in, the No-License district of Masterton during the timo.of the recent show., Ho 'details. the working of. tho, locker system, and as ail examplo of . what it leads to, says: "At, Masterton things 'were .a disgrace to civilisation. On the night of the first, show day the noise, in one hotel was deafening. Men—young men at-flint—were so drunk- they couldn't stand, and lit 2 o'clock;is the morning.'ihe proprietor had to throw some men out of one of fcho bedrooms, where they had locked the door, and had proceeded to con : sumo several bottles of whisky they had in their bags. One young mnn remarked ■to mo, "Ami yet there are hundreds of people in Masterton who will tell you NoLicense is a great success. They are stay-at-homes, who never come out at night." ;"I went to Jlastorton," says tho 'writer! an open mind, but came away with .the' conviction that though prohibition] .might: prove a success,' No-License'under the-existing-laiv :is a'rank failure." j