THE SNUFFLEBUSTING, PINKEYED PUSH.

NZ Truth, Issue 65, 15 September 1906, Page 5

THE SNUFFLEBUSTING, PINKEYED PUSH.

Blunderingly Bar Booze at the Exhib.

Pretty strong feeling exists m Ohristchurch owing tq the refusal of the Licensing: Committee to permit the sale Of liquor at the Exhibition during its currency. It was generally thought that', although the bench was composed of "dry" people the special circumstances of the case warranted special consideration ; but the canting snufflebusting crowd who climbed on to the bench somehow or other at last election would listen to no sort of argument. These pious purists would burn down every pub. m the place if they dared, and the.

1 sight of a tumbler m a crockery shop is quite abhorrent to them. Tumb-, lers should never have been invented, and the person who made the first pewters should have been hanged or shot on sight. Two conditional licenses were applied for m the present case, one that people should have a chance of taking liquor with their meals, and the other that a wine kiosk should be allowed, where only Maoriland and Australian wines should he sold. In connection . with the latter it may be mentioned that 20,000 feet of space has been taken b^ New South , Wales, South Australia and Victoria for wines alone,and it is thought that the exhibitors were going , to. expose their wines for the purpose of promoting trade,' and that if the same privilege wasn't extended to them as they had received at previous exhibitions they would withdraw from" the show altogether. It wasn-'t intended to use the wine kiosk as a wine shop at all. Each exhibitor would suppl^ the wines he was exhibiting at such prices as would just cover the cost. After the expense of running the kiosk had been meif the surplus would go to the exhibition Authorities. Lawyer Cas[Sidy, appeared m support of both apiPltc^tions;;atthe instance of the Executive Commissioners and said ; the idea was' purely to' grant a convenience to" what was aft i international show, and not a -purely local concern. .So£be asked the Committee to look at r i|.. from a colonial and not' a narrow :<stand-p6iht. The license would restrict the sale of liquor to people having refreshment, and. the request was considered to* be a very, moderate one. If anything happened to which the Committee might take exception they could review the situation. The proposed licenses were only conditional, and could be stopped at any time. Apart from that leading citizens to the number of 300, were associated with the control of the'vExhi'Mtion, and they would see that "things were run straight. They would see that the strictest supervision and proper control would be exercised at the restaurant as to .the disposal of liquor. It was' felt, therefore, that the Committee would deal with, the matter m a calm and dispassionate .manner, purely on its merits. Conditional licenses were granted to cattle yards every wesk within half-a-mile of the Exhibition, and it "would seem strange if an Exhibition, conducted m such a way as the international show would be conducted, should be refused when they were granted to cattle shows, races, regattas and. the like. Cassidy used all his spare legal eloquence m endeavoring to prove his case, but it fell on desert air; the pasty faced, puritanical, parsonical pimps and their ■■ leering, lousy colleagues on the bench had made up their minds .before they entered the court-room what they were going to do about it. Bishop, S.M., was an extra ; he was m the chair, and what he thought about the application isn't known to this writer. ; However, the coots who sat,,; With him are a biassed, prejudiced lot, and the people of Christchurch how know the cost of voting for the no-license push at ike last Licensing Committee elections. If it was to give the publicans a bit of a knock they are now sorry £">r it; but the publicans aren't sorry. The fact that no swankey will be ,"old is looked upon as rather a good thing for them. Be that as it m#,y, drink will pour its way through the Exhibition all the same. Visitors will take m their flasks, and their bottles m lunch bags and potato sacks (country families eat pretty heartily), and they will "make a day of it" sure enough. And "empties'.' will be discovered all over the place, and the restriction placed by_ the Licensing Committee on the thirst of the community will be flagrantly violated and it will be as funny as a 4 piece of cork. Also, there will be many private bottles hidden underneath counters either- for special circulation to friends ,' ; 6r customers, or for secret sale. Altogether it's a curious position, but they are a curious people m Christchurch— even the Licensing Committee is a curiosity— and the only thing that isn't curious there, is, the . way they plank their money down for -swankev. It's everywhere alike— except when they haven't got it. But how the outsideworld people will sneer at and ridicule us and our foul, mock gbodygoodyism !