Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18th., 1932. LICENSING ACT.

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1932, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18th., 1932. LICENSING ACT.

CONSIDERABLE public interest is being taken in Greymouth and district regarding police activities in connection with the observance of the Licensing Act. It would be perhaps improper, if not contempt of Court, to make direct comments on any charges being dealt with by the local Court. It must be assumed that the police

are endeavouring to carry out what I they regard as their duty,—sometimes an uncongenial task, —and that any errors made are those of judgment. A general review of the position may not be without interest. at this juncture, so that if any sense of proportion has been lost, it may be regained. What is popularly termed “six o’clock closing” was a war-time measure, coming into force on December .1, 1917. In those days when the needs of the country demanded sacrifice of personal liberty and comfort, abnormal measures were accepted passively, the spirit of patriotism silencing even reasonable objections. Thus, it was that the drastic earlier closing of hotelbars aroused little outward demonstration or protest, the ideal that war-time needs must be placed first, being accompanied by a popular belief that the new law was a regulation, rather than a decree that must not be broken. Rightly or wrongly, the police were expected not to keep too keen an eyesight on after-hours trading, so long as the hotels maintained reasonable discretion. This “gentlemen’s agreement’-’ has been more or less observed since, as year-book statistics show. Indeed, if the police were extreme to mark what is done amiss, few hotels could abide it, that is, if rumours are true that from one end of New Zealand to the other, after-hours trading does occasionally occur. The statistics in the 1932 yearbook, show that 1130 publicans‘and accommodation house licenses were issued, in 1930; (the last year for which figures are available) and the convictions during that period for being found unlawfully on licensed premises totalled but 2113. This means less than two “afterhours” customers yearly for each hotel in the Dominion I According to Commissioner Wohlmann’s report to Parliament, last week, there was a still further decrease in such convictions, in 1931. These figures suggest that prosecution is not made persecution, generally, throughout New Zealand, thus any district which is marked out for special police vigilance, without adequate cause, may be expected to complain, and to demand that law be tempered with justice. Candour compels the admission that “after-hours” trading is not regarded by the majority of New Zealanders as a very heinous offence, many ranking it with such venial sins as riding a cycle without a light, after sunset. Indeed, any drastic attempt to force the issue, might lead to a popular agitation to extend the bar-trad-ing hours. Ultra-temperance advocates are losing ground in this country as well as in others, as the prohibition polling figures show, and from the “Drys’ ” viewpoint, it would not be good tactics to become unduly aggressive. New Zealand is not a land in desperate need of strong measures where over-indulgence in liquor is concerned. Drunkenness is annually decreasing, the convictions in the last decade having been nearly halved, being now under 3,500 a year. These figures do not give cause for national anxiety, but rather gratification. According to Commissioner Wohlmann, there was a further decrease in drunkenness last year. Space- available does not permit us to go further into details, at present, but calm reflection on all the facts of the situation emphasises the unwisdom of disturbing an “understanding that, whatever its defects in theory, has worked successfully in piactice. There will not be much public sympathy for any taking undue advantage of the situation.