LIQUOR IN THE KING COUNTRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4801, 23 June 1939, Page 5

LIQUOR IN THE KING COUNTRY.

(To the Editor). Sir,—Recent publicity on the question of liqour in the King Country has resulted in numerous private letters being addressed to me, some of which reveal such a commentable lack of knowledge on the part of their authors as to warrant a public reply to their queries:— (1) I have always opposed the opening of hotels in the King Country owing to the “pact” with the native race. (2) This “pact*” has nothing whatever to do with the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed 100 years ago. The liquor agreement was made between King Tawhioa Wahanui and Rewi Maniapoto and the Government when the railway passed through this territory, fifty years ago.

(2) The intention of the “pact” was “To prevent the sale of intoxicating liquor in the King County,” and not as is generally supposed, “to prevent liquor coming into this area.” In his address at the historic ceremony on April 15, 1885, when the “first sod” of King Country native soil was turned for the railway, the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, said: “We are standing here on soil on which there has been a ‘Proclamation that no liquor shall be sold.’” (See daily papers of that date).

(4) The original idea of the Rohe Potae or King Country was the cutting off of sufficient area of land in which the native race could segregate and develop their own culture apart from the pakeha. (5) The existence of the native pact is not the only “barrier” to licensed hotels in the King Country. If the “pact” was abrogated it would still be illegal, as the licensing law does not permit any increase in hotels in any part of the Dominion. (6) T have not changed my views on the ethics of the liquor question. I still believe intoxicating liquor at its best to be a useless luxury, and at its worst a dangerous and destructive poison. I am, however, forced to the belief that the present conditions are degrading, debasing and demoralising to the community, and would welcome some changed and better form of control of liquor in the King Country.—l am, etc., GABRIEL ELLIOTT. Te Kuiti, June 22, 1939.