WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH MASTERTON?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 285, 8 December 1914, Page 2

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH MASTERTON?

A DELUSiyE TEST, [PCBLISftED BY ARRANGEMENT,]"' The naked, dishonesty of the tactics by which "New Zealander seekss ; to disoi^ditVthe success of No-License in Mastertoii is frilly worthy of the Trade he champions. He professes to have, a statistical basis, fdr \his sophistries,. put; he, nianages to prove black, white by quoting irrelevant figures , and stopping sftprfc in his quotation of relevant figures at, the point where they would destroy Jiis case. Population, he declares to be the true test of progress, and he quotes figures to show that th©».population of Masterton has remained/practically stationary under if-our years of No-License. Of course, ■he knew that, the period coincided with a severe depression, due partly to world-v^ide; causes, partly to conditions, specially affecting the southern districts o-'f the North Island, partly to the reaction from a local "boom." "New Zealander". was of course aware of .a fact which was familiar to everybody. He could also liare ascertained, if he had been seeking for truth and not falsehood, that the population tables from which, ho quoted show that License boroughs in this part of the country have "been worse hit than Masterton. Let us take the- figures for Masterton and forth© three chief boroughs oh eifiber side of it. and display_ tihera in "New ZealanderV fashion:— POPULATION UNDER NO- - LICENSE. 1909 1913 Increase Masterton ... '5,500 •'5;5g5.1.5 p.c.

y POPULATION UNDER LICENSE. H ■- 1909 .1913 Decrease' 6 Palmerston N.; 12,000 11,709 4.1 p.c. Petone ... 7,313. 7,010 4.1 p.c. c Wellington ... .71,553 66,338 7.3 p.c 11 v "There is no town in New Zealand J-, so stagnant as Masterton under Nofc- License," "New Zealander" has the impudence to say, "unless perhaps •; some other No-License town. Yet °f the fact is that, while the population 1 of Masterton has advanced by 1£ per 1 cent, under No-License,, that of the , two nearest borotio-hs has declined 4.1 * per cent, under License, and that of 3 the capital city 7.3 per cent. ».■: THE TRUE TEST. j After-this taste of "New Zealandt er's". quality, one is quite prepaid to t findy^iim, equally, unscrupolous in the y. manipulation; or figures which have a r more direct bearing upon No-License. ' The best statistical test of the effect ; of No-License is supplied by a com- . parson of the number of convictions ." recorded (1) for drunkenness, (2) for ;■ other offences likely to be caused by ( trink, and (3) far all affences, before > and after the abolition of the licenses. . AH these tests are carefully avoided i by '"NewZealander," because they , give* a triumphant verdict in favor of > No-License. He prefers to show that ,'■ there are more offences in the fourth , year 4f No-License than in the .first, i but without any attempt to show how : ■ the cases connected with liquor are ; affected. That the convictions under ; No-License still only just exceed half :'■ of those recorded in the last year of License is a fact which,he carefully conceals. That the drink-cauoed crime^has .been still more, substantial:ly reduced is another '■ fact' that he is ; also careful to conceal. The relevant .figures for the last year of License and the last year' of No-License are as 'follows:— .'•'.- a ■: .. ■ • S 3 •■• • . a 6 ._ , .. , a f; Decrease Convictions for 1908 1913 under NX. Drunkenness ... 311 49 262—84 p c Other Offences 367 292 75—20 p.c. 678 341 337—49p~.c/ . A 49-per cent, reduction in all offences and-.a'n 84 per cent, reduction sh drunkenness are a wonderful testimony to the benefits of No-License, ,'wfbicli, as "New Zealander" is unable to explain away, he prefers to ignore. MORE! GRIME IN ONE YEAR OF LICENSE THAN, FIVE YEARS OF NO-LICENSE. .. The above.figures are taken direct from the official statistics. If the figures for drunkenness amd allied effences—a much fairer test that including offences with which liquor has nothing to do—are taken separately for the whole five years of No-License (June 30, 1909—June 30, 1914) .and compared with those of the last year iLm^S 80 (June 30 > 1908-June 30, 1909), the result is as follows:-----u a . ■ ■ 'Is ' « %& cS i ■ M4H !M Drunkenness ... 287 ' 208 41.6 .85 pS: Vagrancy 25 9 IS 92.8 p.'c" Obscene language 21 19 3,8 81 p.c. Jheft 44 27 5.4 S5 p.c. Indecent Blxposure 3 3 .6 SO p c Malicious Jujury . .*>•■.- to property ... 5 7 1,4 72 r, c Obstructing or Re- l sisting the police 13 .12 2.4 SO p.c. ■ . 397 285 .57 82 pZ Thus (1) a single year of license produced 79 more cases of drunkenness than five years of No-License— a margin of 88 per cent. ' (2) A single year of License produped 33 more allied offences than the five years of No-License—a maa-gin of 42 per cent. (3) A single year of License produced 112 more cases of drunkenness and kindred offences than 5 years of No-License—a margin of 39 per cent. : (4) The average reduction per annum >in drunkenness and kindred offences effected in fiv^ years of NoLioense was 82 per cent. "New Zealander" was not paid to toll the truth, so he gives us nothing ef those wonderful facts. FAIRY FIGURES. Another impudent misstatement is that Masterton's police offences represent over C per cent, of the population, whereas, the percentage of the whole Dominion is less than 2\ per cent. This wonderful result .is arrived at by identifying; the police district of Masterton with the borough. On the same basis the offences under License amounted to 12 per cent, of the population—a truly marvellous proportion, worthy of one of tlio most criminal populations of the world! The fact is that Masterton electorate, lias a population more than twice as large as the borough 12,168 at the last census, as against 5182 for tliie borough; and j ihat at least two-thirds of its cases come to Masterton. Moreover, part

of the crime dealt; with in this court, including most of the drunkenness, comes from outside the-district. SOME BUSINESSES SLACK IN MASTERTONBusiness is slack in Ma^terton, is it? Vest, some sorts of business. The business which "New Zealander" champions is very slack indeed; with, the chief factories of crime closed, the jail, is also in a poor way. "The lock-up at the Police Station," says Mr J. T. M. Uornsby, J.P. and Coroner, , "is seldom used; indeed, to quote an officer of the law, ' the cells are bluemouldy for want of occupation,' and only one of -them* is occupied as I write. That cell Ss occupied by some whisky and beer seked by the police., The remaining cells are unoccupied. -The old position is' reversed. The grog is locked up; the men who used' to be its victims are free." But of other forms of industry than those represented by the public-house and the jail, Mr Hornsby says, "Business is very brisk." . A GARBLED QUOTATION. One more sample of "New Zealander" and then we have done. "Even Mr Hornsby," he writes, /'so much lauded by the.' Prohibitionists, says, ' The contrast between Masterton, under No-License and other i towns whose license exists is a [ revelation to me;'" Even Mr ! Hornsby, it ( seems, supports the liquor-sellers' casej but that is only because . "New Zealander" dishonestly suppresses the next senteraoe, which is as follows: —"One has only to live^ in first a License area and then a No-Lieen§e_ area to realise how good a thing it is to close up the drink baa-s." Even Mr Hornsby supports the case for ■ the Trade when he has somebody to garble his words for him. An honest -man is "New Zealander," and equally expert in cooking quotations and statistics.