A Crying Scandal.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 287, 10 June 1907, Page 2

A Crying Scandal.

It is strange how the colony abounds in contrasts. For instance, Lyttelton is represented by a strong prohibitionist in the House of Representatives in the person of Mr Laurenson, and yet the Lyttelton Licensing Committee, if we are to judge by their action at the annual meeting, is about the worst enemy to the decent conduct of licensed houses to be met with. It seems almost incredible that a. number of respectable men, elected to administer the law in its integrity, should be guilty of the offence of renewing a license for a hotel to a man of the oharacter possessed/6y the licensee of the Mitre Hotel, Lyttelton. There was no concealment of the facts: Counsel for the hotelkeeper admitted that on the j night complained of his client had had several drinks and that he had used the language complained of . The barmaid deposed that the man had used the filthiest language she had ever heard to her in the bar, had followed her upstairs to her bedroom, had broken the panel of her bedroom door, and turned her out into the street. She had taken civil action against him and he had settled the case out of Court and made an apology. In giving evidence the licensee admitted that he had previously been charged with assaulting a barmaid, and had had to pay £10, and that he had assaulted his brother at a cost of £10. And yet the elected members of the Committee decided that that man was a fit and proper person to hold a licensee. Either the standard of character at Lyttelton must be a very poor one, or there is great need for the member for Lyttelton to spend some of the time he is wasting in advocating the Land Bill in educating his constituents to a proper sense of what is an offence against decency and morality.