Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY I, 1880. AVOIDING THE LICENSING LAWS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5677, 1 May 1880, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, MAY I, 1880. AVOIDING THE LICENSING LAWS.

It is to be hoped that; w hen the niuelinocded new Licensing Act is introduced it . will contain more adequate provisions against sly grog-selling.' We do not mean by this a bottle of spirits sold I}y & storekeeper, but refer riUh'er to wholesale and open avoidance of tho existing laws, by tho misapplication of the club-system-. There can be no objection to properly conducted and bona fide clubs, whether affected by Would-be aristocrats or work- . ing-men-- indeed we iook upon tho latter institutions as decidedly beneficial-, "dnd hope to see tliein multiply. ]Jut there are clubs and clubs. One conducted like the Napier Working Men's Club is a useful convenience to working men ; but there are others established by private individuals for private gain, and bi all' intents aud purposes they ate sly-grog shops of the worst kind. There is oue iv Wellmg--ton which will serve as an illustration. It is established in a building to which, a license has several times been refused, not from any inadequacy iv the accommodation, for the house is a new ono 'and was specially built for an' hotel-, but because it is not heeded in the neighborhood. Baulked in successive attempts to obtain a license,' the proprietor seb to work and studied the laws relating to the clubs. Hero he found just what he wanted— a coach and four ready harnessed to drive through the licensing laws. He laid iv a stock of liquor and established a "club." The price of membership is half-a-crown, and liquors are sold a little cheaper than at any ordinary hotel, so that the .first outlay is soon recouped. Each "member" of this precious " club " has the ritrht to introduce friends by the score "if he pleases. The proprietor is waxing fat, for he has no heavy license fee to pay, ho is not compelled to keep a gas-lamp alight all night over his door, he' need never close tho house if it pleases him to keep open, and the licensing ordinances have no terror for him. The remedy for this abuse of a wholesome law is to place all clubs' to a certain extent on the same footing as a puWichousc. They should be under the control of the Licensing Bench of the district, and should be compelled to take out licenses, for which a nominal fee might be charged. Then aivyonc establishing such institutions as the one referred to could be punished for sly-grog selling. It i.s unfair to publicans, and against the interests of the community, that these unlicensed houses, kept by irresponsible men, should be allowed to exist.