OAMARU UNDER NO-LICENSE.

Evening Star, Issue 15515, 10 June 1914, Page 10

OAMARU UNDER NO-LICENSE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your issue of Juno 5 Mr O. RWise, of Oamuro, replies to mv letter which appeared on May 2. Mr Wise entirely misses the main point of that letter. The letter in question was written in reply to “ Common Sense/* who challenged No-license advocates to prove that No-license towns prosper. 1 accepted that challenge, and proved that Oamaru has prospered. It is exceedingly gratifying to have Mr Wise confirm this position. Mr Wise was the keeper of a licensed hotel up till the time the bars were closed, hence he can hardly be accused of being biased in favor of No-license. Yet here are his words; “Mr Mathieson says Oamaru has improved under No-license. I am of the same opinion." Again: “Mr Mathiesou says Oamaru is in a sound financial position, and the future ouilcpk is good. That is correct." Much obliged. Mr Wise. Taka heed ve who say that. No-licenso kills a district. Here is :i former hotelkeeper who admits that under No license Oamaru has improved, that the town is in a sound financial position, and that the future outlook is good. This. too. after eight years' experience of No-liootiee reform.

But Mr Wise contends that, while these things are true, Oamaru has not made as much progress during these years as Lave Timaru, Waimate, and Dunedin. Your correspondent forgets that all I had to prove was that N c-license towns prosper, and I proved it of Oamaru. I was no.t comparing Oamaru with Timaru or Dunedin, or London, or New York, or Berlin. As Mr Wise gives the figures for Timaru, I shall deal with that town. The challenge made by Mr Wise misses the mark; I readily admit that Timaru has made greater progress than Oamaru. There are special reasons why it should. Timaru Iras a back country four times a# largo a* that of Oamaru. It has therefore about four times the quantity of produce to handle. This in itself would account- for its growth. If a rich gold mine were to be discovered near the little town of Milton, that town might become a city of 20.CC0 within a year. License or No-license, the progress would be there because of the natural advantage© of the place. Docs .Mr Wise mean to say that because Timaru seiis whisky in open bars it has therefore made greater progress than Oamaru? As this is evidently his meaning. I have a question tor him to answer: Is it nob a laefc that Timaru made greater progress than Oamaru for. say, 10 years before No-license was carried in the latter place? Everyone knows that this is a fact. If, then, when botli Timaru and Oamaru had License, Timaru made greater progress .haa Oamaru, how does Mr Wiso account for it? Of course it must be accounted for by the fact that Timaru enjoys greater natural advantages than Oamaru. If it is to be accounted for by the whisky busiiless, the only conclusion we can come to is that in those days Timaru must have had better whisky than Oamaru. The main point is this: Has Timaru had an extra advantage over Oamaru since Noiicense was carried? Let Mr Wise answer if he can. As our worthy Mayor says, our position is sound and the outlook of the brightest kind. Mr Wise accuses me of making a wrong statement in regard to the Town Hail. He says that the “Town Hall was financed, erected, and ail hut finished under License, but was opened under No-license three months after coming into effect. - ’ Perfectly true ; but does Mr Wise not know nat. it is not when a. place is financed, erected, and almost finished” that oounts. ic is the period daring which it is paid i r that is all-important. The Town Hal! ■■ > t £10,500. Only £I,OOO of that sum

as raised under License; the rest is being paid now. Of that amount £1,250 has been paid otf the local loan out of revenue only, and the rest is being provided for ia the sinking fund connected with the Government loan, which also comes out ol the revenue from the Town Hall. Mr Wise makes this amazing statement : “There are not 50 per cent, of shopkeepers left in Thames street (the principal street), ray, from Kibble street to the Bank of New Zealand, who were there on tbo coming into force of No-license.” Does Mr Wise wish your readers to understand that not 00 per cent, of the shops are now occupied. If so, his statement is very wide of the mark. There are ICS shops in the area h© mentions and out of that number only three are at present empty, and these may be occupied within a week. Of course, many of the shops have changed cards during the last eight years. The insurance companies testify that total abstinence prolongs a man’s life, but not even the most, rabid Prohibitionist claims that total alistinence will enable a man to live for ever. Not simply because of death, but for other good reasons, shops are changing hands every week in every prosperous city in the world. That it has been so in Oamaru is an excellent sign. ft indicates that some people have doubt,ess mad© enough to retire on. It indicates another thing—people don't invest their money in businesses in a town that is on the road to ruin. Mr Wise further states : “ The money to build the new- ‘North Otago Times’ office ■was found mostly outside the town.” Very good. When outsiders are willing to invest their money in our town it furnishes splendid evidence of our prosperity. Once more speaks Mr Wise; “As to latcs being reduced, I pay as much rates now as ever I did, counting everything; that is, through extra valuation*.” The rates have been reduced, but he pays as much rates now as ever Why? Because his property has increased in value. •Surely it is a strong argument for this reform when an ex-hotelkeeper is willing to admit that bus property has increased in value since NoTiceneo was carried. Purely it is significant that daring the period of No-license eight new buildings have been erected, 20 of the shops have been remodelled, another 20 .are either new shops or have had substantial additions to them, and our main street at the present moment exhibits a busy scene of building operations. One word more. What of the 10 hotels that once did business as licensed houses. Eight of these are used as private hotels. One has been pulled down and a magnificent new drapery store, to cost £12.000, is now being erected in its place. The tenth on© has been turned into two splendid shops, occupied by a painter and jeweller respectively. The bar of the Empire is now occupied by a boot repairer. The bar of the Globe is now a chemist’s shop ; while the bar of the Queen’s is at present an up-to-date boot shop. If the evidence 1 have furnished concerning Oamaru’s prosperity is not sufficient to satisfv Mr Wise I shall b© happy to supply him* with much more of the same kind.—l am. etc., T. H. Mathleson. Oamaru, June 8.