LIQUOR IN THE KING COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15332, 15 June 1910, Page 6

LIQUOR IN THE KING COUNTRY.

We are afraid that Mr Henaro Kaihau has not been following very closely the work of the Parliament of which ho is a member. There may be some ground for his fear that tho liquor trade will ultimately make its way into the King Country, but if this catastrophe ever occurs it will not be the fault of the "pakeha" legislators. Thirty years ago, when the Government of tho day was seeking to open up the Maori lands to European settlement, the Native chiefs who were interested in the .movement made an earnest plea for the exclusion of strong-drink from their territory, and Sir John 'Hall, who was then Premier, warmly supported by his colleagues and by Sir William Fox, inserted in the Licensing Act of 18S1 a clause giving the Governor power, by proclamation in the " Gazette," on tho application of the owners, to declare that no license should be granted within any area of Native land. This clause, to the credit of Parliament, has been preserved in all our subsequent licensing legislation, and in tho amending Act of 1904 it was amplified to the extent of making it illegal to solicit orders for liquor in a proclaimed district or to deliver any liquor intended for sale. This is the point at which Mr Kaihau's acquaintance with the law appears to end. Of course, the prohibition was never entirely effective, but tho Government seems to have done its best to keep liquor out of the country and to save tho Maoris from the danger which was threatening them. Last year, however, the Taumarunui Licensing Committee, .acting on legal advice to the effect that Native land which had been proclaimed Crown land or which had been alienated to Europeans was no longer subject to the prohibitive law, granted several wholesale licenses in the district, and though this proceeding was strongly resented by the Nativo chiefs and by every friend of the Maori raco it was found that the committee and the liquor-dealers wero entitled to have their way. Tho Government met the difficulty as far as it could, by passing tho King Country Licenses Act, which provided that all the proclamations made under the previous legislation should continue in force and that tho licenses which had been granted should not be renewed. This incisure should enablo Mr Kaihau to take a much less gloomy view of the situation than the one lie expressed at Taipu yesterday. A time may come when the European electors in Native districts may demand the same privileges under the local option law as are enjoyed by the electors in ether districts, but we do not believe that the country will ever consent to temptations which shameful experience hits shown them quite unable to resist being put in the way of the Maori people.