CHRISTCHURCH.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3481, 2 September 1882, Page 3

CHRISTCHURCH.

September 2. Tho Customs returns at Lyttelton for

the month of August, 1882, amount to £17,016 and for 1881 £23,267. The beer duty for August, 1882, is £895, and for 1881 £957. From figures published in a local paper it appears that the effect of granting licenses to public houses to 12 o'clock is already tending to nn undesirable end. During the months of July and August there were 103 arrests for drunkenness in each of the years 1880 and 1881, but during these two months this year the total has increased to 164. In Lyttleton, on the other hand, where all the licenses are 10 o'clock, there has been a considerable decrease of drunkenness. The North Christchurch licensing committee have granted two more 12 o'clock licenses to third-rate hotels, chiefly on the ground that they were near tramway traffic, and the 10 o'clock license had caused passengers serious inconvenience. Later details of the suicide at Rangiora show that it was a deliberate and determined act. Carpenter hanged himself on a gum tree from which he coolly cleared away a number of small branches that interfered with his movements. He leaves a wife and six children quite unprovided for.