THE SLY GROG SHOP NUISANCE.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 799, 22 October 1915, Page 8

THE SLY GROG SHOP NUISANCE.

Hard Labour the Only Cure,

ABOUT every week or two some keeper of a sly-grog shop, generally situated in that unsavoury area of Te Aro which, has come to be accepted: as the natural home of drunkenness and vice, is hauled before the Stipendiary Magistrate. Sometimes he is fined; . sometimes, aided by the professional ingenuity of some clever legal practitioner, he succeeds in escaping from punishment. It is evident from the reports of these cases that a very large proportion of the time and energies of the police has to be devoted to

the never-ending war against the slygrog shop. It is clear to- our mind, as it must, be to that of the public ia general, that the fines which are inflicted upon the impudent rascals who carry on this wretched traffic are ludicrously- inadequate to meet the' requirements, of the case.

The only way to stamp out the evil, v, as it ought to be stamped out in any decent community, is to imprison all": proved offenders—with hard labour—■ and that even for a first offence! The : profits of the traffic must be very great, otherwise those who engage in it and carry it. on, desoite repeated vigilance of the police, and the numerous prose- rcutions which are reported in . the daily press, would not be able to, em- '' ploy the lawyers who specialise in this class of work, nor could they pay the fines, occasionally, fairly heavy, which are inflicted. If "the existing "law provides for imprisonment, then let" it be enforced without mercy. If not, then, when Parliament next ,meets,the PoliceDepartment should insist upon proper legislative provision being made which will enable the guardians of public order and decency to drive these lawbreakers out of the city. Meanwhile', ' it would not be a bad idea were the daily papers to publish the names of landlords of the properties used as slygrog shops. It would'be;.rather interesting to know who the people are who derive big vents from the tumble-down hovels in which this traffic '■ is carried on. ■•."•■• ;> ._ --.