TEN O'CLOCK LICENSE.

NZ Truth, Issue 156, 13 June 1908, Page 1

TEN O'CLOCK LICENSE.

A Fanatical Prohibitionist Fad.

At vfche sitting of the Masterton Licensing Bench held on Wednesday last application was made for the continuation ol the 11 o'clock license that Masterton had previously been granted. This application was opposed by Sergeant Millar, who stated that during the past 12' months ended June 1 there had been 295 arrests for drunkenness alone m Masterton, while 56 orders had been issued. "The travelling public did not require the extension," he said, "which caused a great inconvenience to townspeople generally." Whether this Sergeant Millar is a rabid prohibitionist of the fanatical order . or just a conscientious copman who really belitfves that that extra hour of grog selling at night is responsible for increased drunkenness, this paper knows not, but judging from a subsequent remark of his when m answer to a query as to whether Eketahuna had .11. o'clock license, he said, "Yee, it's monstrous !" it seems more them probable that he belongs to the first arderrsWhy should it be monstrous that Hfcetahuna should have the extended time.?. M*at paople who have had to spend a Bight or two m Eketahuna consider it BMMtroui that the hotels are not open all night. Possibly Sergeant Millar was quite sincere m ; -fcis wra'tlr at the iniquity «f the Eketahuna people keeping their imbß optn x io late, but surely he forgets , he dose not constitute the people and that hfe ftmction is to protect the community tatltr existing conditions and not to die- , fete h«w conditions or create a new code of morality of his own. Policemen with (MKTictions (not Police Court convictions) art too apt to dp this, and often make •onsummate asses of themselves m the pr»e«s. '■'■•. '». « * ■ But it is not. of Bobby Millar nor the nitre fact of the Wairarapa capital losing ftfc eleven o'clock license that this article is written. It is on the broader quesjtiqa of the general effect of this "no me** drink after 10" howl. It is patent (to everyone who frequents hotels at all, that as the hour of 10 draws nigii there is a general scramble and rush for the bars. Men who have had business or who bav# been visiting or attending meetings have to hurry along at the last minute to 'get a drink before going home. The •onsequence ' is an overcrowded bar, and .the devil's own trouble on the licensee's part to get his bar cleared by the time ithe town clock has done striking. If the bar is sot cleared sharp at the' hour the chances are that some sneaking fanatic of the cold water crpw.d will report him to the police and he has trouble with the licensing committee through what is very often no. fault of his own. These sneaking brutes are more numerous than, is generally known. They know- 1 nothing' of the routine of an hotel. They know nothing of what 10 o'clock licenst maans. They are enemies of Bung, ami any point they can score against him they count a gem m their crown of immortal glory. It isn't 10 o'clock license they want ; it is to give annoyance to the man who drinks at all. It is the same old tale of the (Puritans, told over and over again, they didn't object to bear-baiting-' because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the populace. It has tver been the same with these prohibition ranters, they care little whether men be better or worse for the want of drink, but drink pleases some people and they are against anything that pleases. They Would model all lives by tiieir own," many cf them well-meaning, no doubt, "Truth" giving them this credit. Many of them are genuine m what they preach, but the majority are merely emotional fools carried away by the eloquence of men. who cannot, succeed m other branches of life. The temperance racket is an excellent medium for mountebanks/ who have the gift •f the gab to appeal to weak men and •motional and hysterical women. The shrieking sisterhood art loud m their' cry for 10 o'clock license. Why ? Because anything tbat can injure Bung "m their estimation is for the public good. But . what about the public ? If they didn't "want hotels open until eleven they wouldn't patronise them. The shrieking sisterhood, like all other fanatics, seem, to forget, that they are only a portion of the public and not the public itself. * ■ *■ * It has yet to be proved that 10 o'clock license, reduction, or even no license at all mates for a decrease m. drun' nness. A correspondent of "Truth," writing Irom a southern no-license district, says : "No-license here has had a most disastrous effect. Gangs of quite young boys, who would never have been served

by a publican, think it aline thing to club together and get a cask ol ..beer. They take this away to some secluded spot and drink the lot. : The result is they are all mad drunk before the orgy is finished. This sort of thing is never known m licensed districts. The boozer (unfortunately) gets drunk m licensed districts, but then the boozer would find means of getting drunk on an uninhabite"d island. Nothing, to my mind, has proved more effectively that men cannoti, be made, moral by Act of Parliament than the liquor laws of this colony. The old fact always remains, that you cannot change human nature, "and the more a thing is denied a man the more he seeks after it. The only true test of prohibition would be the total prohibition of beer, wine, or spirits throughout the whole of the Dominion. What the result of this would be I fear to contemplate. It would mean excess. j.ot other vices, leading to violence and bloodshed," »*• Our correspondent is quite right. Prohibitionists make the fatal mistake ol thinking that by restricting the hours of the licensed house and reducing the number of such houses they are making for the betterment of the community by less* ening druhkenness. An absolute fallacy. If they really wanted to work for good m the conduct of the liquor trade they would set to work upon entirely different lines. In the first place, both the reductipn^of licenses and the limitation of selling""£ours tends towards monopoly. Let any member of the prohibition party examine the prices offered for hotel leases ■now and that offered 20 years ago. If he has any sense at all he . must see that prohibition has made hotel-keeping a monopoly and that holders of licenses can ask fabulous prices for - their business. What is the consequence ? Certain people (a very lew) get rich, enormously rich, at the expense of the consumer. That the number of consumers has not gone off is easily proved by • the prices paid by licensees for hotels, but for that licensee to make his money he must charge bis public just the same as the baker and the milk' man must put up his price according to the wheat or feed market. But the prohibitionist never thinks of this. He is too pig-headed to consider the advisability of sensibly controlling the traffic he hates. He must attempt the impossible and try to make ' the. majority conform to the ideas of the minority. He utterly fails to see that by his one-sided one-idea methods he is making the rich brewer richer, without m the least degree doing anything for the drunkard, except making him, and with him the moderate drinker, pay more— not m price, but m quality— for his drink. But the prohibitionist, anyhow, is mostly a man of one eye and one idea, and a small idea at that. He is like the fellow who wanted to do away with womankind because hi once met a whore. This sort of intolerance has been given, a good hearing m New Zealand, where, this paper regrets to say, a beautiful breed of hypocrites is being reared. And what is the result ?. Let sensible men and women read our criminal lists at each sittings of the Supreme Courts, and they will find a schedule of crimes that should bring the; blush of shame to the face of every truehearted New Zealand native. "Truth"' has been maligned and cursed and passed by by the so-called "respectable" members of society for daring to lay bare the fact that our social life" iii every sphere v is rotten to the core. But '.Truth" defies any newspaper m the country to disprove its statements that the criminal courts of the land show us to be more vicious and immoral than any of the Australian States. And yet we lead the van for prohibition, prosecution of so-called immoral publications, suppression of the Sunday press, ultra strict gambling laws, and limitation of the hours for the sale of intoxicating liquor. What has this wowser, legislation led to ? A state of wickedness and degenerate immorality tbat stands unrivalled for our population m the world. Monte Carlo itself, that socalled, In Christian circles, hot-bed of vice, cannot show a blacker record. And this Is the result of your work, ye selfappointed men of God. Oh, when will you learn tbat mankind "is human and preach not that hatred born of bigotry, but tolerance and love ?