CORRESPONDENCE. TE ARAI MEETING.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3972, 16 May 1870, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE. TE ARAI MEETING.

To the Editor of the Weekly News. Sw«-*-?rat ffl§ to ra4wy<«pr to.getyow readers pght $s regards °- n e or twfl maecura.* cies, which occur in the " Permissive_ BUI " article in the 1 Weekly jI News of April 'the i 23rd. Your correspondent at Ta Arai doubtless intended to give a correct account of the meeting at which Mr. Edger gave » lecture on *' Reform in /the Public-house," in March last, but he has in some particulars failed to state just what the speakers sajd^* * »°t H»p»v4ft Q a¥? e»m§i B"¥eiy, sp§|ngthat to ere is huiqan, and that s^a Address ; discuasiqn qf Qveß 'two, hqurs' duration WSB , condensed into what could be read in an" eighth-part of that time. lam charged with 'having asserted, «t the Arai meeting, that illegal grog- selling was carried on in Albert- ■ land ; 1 made no such statement. It is a matter of regret that words cannot always b 8 £°.KS3#!at w|ll express the ega.cs frutfc, twenty miles f rqm Port A Jbert. It i waj to the former, or rather to the , Mangawai district, to which reference was made. No one at the meeting attempted the least denial of the statement ; some there could have taken me to the houses — for I understand there are several, — had they the disposition to do so. with as little hesita^jgn $q fgu^oql^ha^e in t*avpU|ng froni yflur p,fjipa to Queenrsfcrjjet VVhari. ' There aire se^er^J iof these illicit grog-shops, mostly pjitfonise^ b f gum.drggers,-wi^i n -thirty BWea of thii plftQe. Of coupe, the proprietors are wise in their generation, and would ' render the obtaining a conviction against them too troublesome and expensive to be undertaken by any ordinary private person. The' Maoris ' on the Oruawharo, Otamatea, and the other') parts of the Kaipava consume large quantities of grog ? which fyQVj gf| v A little ttfae, 1 » m cc they offered tQ- ( supply a Bort A_lb,ert storekeeper wholesaler m if he would consent to §§11 it tg theffi r^tatii* sjn offer not • aooepted. Jt ispretW' w^U^ known that all' liquor-selling in the Kaipara i$ illegal, and contrary -to Act of General Assembly. r Jtia.als,o w ( eU, known that ., the^ Cjfcamatea' license 'was.oijaiaed by a " trick," as I heard a Justice of the Peace lately: term) i^. There will be; it is to'b,e' hoped, a full (Permit me alsq tq ppint put aft errqrifjl your interpretation of \\ie present '^cry imsV perfect Licensing Act, an< i to corroborate th^ statement of Mr.- Edger, tUat ff thelawcom» ' jj^ls us. ta have nublicshoUses whether we will or, no." The Justices of the Peace holding C<|urt some twenty-five miles distant from, arid w bo may have nevor set foot in, this place, have the power to grant a license for Port Albert, although every settler within ! a, radius of a dozen miles may be thoroughly (opposed to its being granted.' To say they also have the power to refuse' does not alter the matter in the least, Justices of the Peace are swayed by the same motives— go 6d r bad. and indifferent — as other men j th^y a,up undey napppulap eflntr-oj, hPl^-W I believe they are in America, and perhaps itii as well the£ are not; hut what guarantee is there, under the present law, that we shall &b$ wake up some fine mprfcing and find whj&t Deijoe calls a V Devil's, chapel" quartered, ia . ourj settlement? r . . _ It should hail the reform 1 you advocate, W.L tig BraWfc' of Jftfe"'®*^. 8? ; M| ' ' '- traqfft.aa. 4^pep in. the fight .aireptycai, ftridt •<;«? twoi^ld willingly labour to hasten such,pisfeo : . .t } merits of reform! 3?he diabolical adulfcerationiv f of drink; 'slwuld be severely ptinishett'tnot 1 J by '. ' firie|only ). : But iff is at thdsfaing time perfectly ' ' f ' ■ clear to inerithat the evil is -too \rgigantio; < v to he effectually , .met, by such t mere,, , Palli*-: v . , f tiveg. 1 ' Aft toft?, fmm'tf &Jmm'\ t contend fftr is;that the Ee4edy r pJE ftg drgj]j -tramp evils- m^ust'lte* a4«fqiW% f ' J ~ h ' J ' ! " ' ! ' a r I irustthafqrbidden, ground oMibelhasiiJ « ; ,no,t ©nterisd pn,-in above remarks. ?J M , M For each and'eVery statement I am' responj , ■ ? siSi4-~Ypu¥a;^d,- f .V )J<llt '/' ay ' J ' '- I l G^oßOß'TdTriaaDEtt/'HiETNKXi,. ' u ■ > / Port Albert,) April 3&; 1870.\ >< f t -. - -j-j«..