THE NO-LICENSE FARCE.

NZ Truth, Issue 169, 12 September 1908, Page 7

THE NO-LICENSE FARCE.

HOW IT AFFECTS THE HOME. House to House Swilling Parties. The Introduction of Gambling and Vice. Since the closing of the public bar, Ahich was the social safety valve, and did more to prevent drunkenness than all the experimental No-license legislation* with its attendant, farcical application can achieve, a deplorable system has grown up m the alleged cold-water towns and the majority of private houses visit-: ?d will toe found . to contain spirituous liquors of some description or other, .which are always dispensed with a lavish hand. Denied a convivial drink with a friend m the custom which maintains throughout the licensed districts of the Dominion, it was not likely that an Act of Parliament would prevent the elector having his usual drink when he required it, especially as it could be obtained m bulk and almost without limitation. The whole social system of the No-license towns ,has . been changed,: and drink is now introduced into every house, the trademark of hospitality being summed up m the question, "Will you have' a nip." Houses which were free from any rviee, homes that were happy, even if Bill had his glass o! beer at the comer pub., have now been turned into drinking shops, where liquor is devoured almost ravenously and honest women and good mothers drink to excess under the guise, of hospitality, often m the presence of their innocent children, who an natusually being reared m an atmosphere of absolute ' i , HYPOCRISY AND DECEIT. Night after night there are appointments to be kept at Mrs Jones or Mrs Smith's and the younger children are sent to bed, Millie, who was the pride of her parents' heart, the first-born, being allowed to stay up till: mother comes home— and what a home-coming. They had v spent the evening with the Smith's. Smith's had a five-gallon keg. Lizzie Smith was 'musical; she -was not a Melba, but could roar "We Parted on the Shore." Everybody had.- to- drink and hospitality only stopped with the emptying of the barrel. Then Joej the telegraphist, felt it was up to him, as he lived m a boardinghouse, and he repaired "to a sly-grog den and caugnt hold of a bottle of the best brand available, and the whole gang, mind you reputable and respectable citizens, finished all that was offering, and the visitors staggered home (men and women) to meet their Millie m the early hours of the morning, crushed and broken hearted at the state of her progenitors. But Millie's day came. These evening parties had to be repaid, and though, after a sore head "Dad and "Mum" would like to have. avoided them, ' The following Monday brought about their little return party and it became THE GREATEST SOCIAL SHOW

3n. coldwater Ashburton. After a Christian Sunday, never without its plethora of beer (a state of affairs which cannot exist m a licensed district with its restraining laws), the Robinson's invited their friends, .who were good enough to fill them up with all that baTley . and malt could give them, and on Monday evening the Jones and Smitfis and their friends, whose turn is later on m the week, drop m after washing-up is done, and they stay thereuntil the Robinson's' larder is dry. If there happens to be an invasion of jolly fellows m the shape of a dramatic company or a theatrical show of any kind m the town, solid drinking wi'l not commence till the arrival of the jray Thespians, who, m nine cases, out of ten,\,WQuld be glad to go to bed, but m every case the "actor" is the chief charm of the carousal, and be his playfulness ever so silly to himself, it is the means to an end joyfully accepied My the hosts, viz., a good excuse for extraordinary libation. Millie now has her chance, and for her goodness m waiting up for "Pa" and f'Ma," she is permitted to grace th# company with her presence, and must necessarily DRINK A LIGHT SHANDY when the various asinine toasts are proposed, these being m .many cases without rhyme or reason, and Millie, , the flower of the flock, thug gets bdr first taste- of the waipiro, and shortly afterwards goes into "society" and joins m the carousals Which her parents indulge m simply because she has grown up sufficiently to accompany her mother everywhere and Lily has got sufficiently old to look after the children during her absence or be youn< enoueh 1o be sent to roost vh'n vMtdrs nre expectpd. So drunkrnnfss, or 'at least a fondness for Jquor, spreads, aiii- #c damnable Wo-

license law has. made it possible, for children of tender years to be led astray and reduced to common abasement even by their own parents' example, when the same children m a licensed town would not know anything about drink unless their father staggered home drunk from the common pub, which is rather unlikely. The Millie of -some of best-con-necte* people m the No-ritcense districts is . being dragged .down daily by the result of- ■•..-••

THE PRESENT INIQUITOUS LAW, and every- honest woman should vote to maintain the "open" pub even only witk, a view of keeping yqunger sisters from open degradation, and worse. These family parties do not stop at drink. When local, scandal- is nnisbed^-and these gentle bibbers do love one another— cards are introduced, and the game goes 1 on. and the unpleasant 1.0. U. is seen more often over the card table m the coldwater districts than anywhere else m the Dominion.. The cursed system has not only degraded their common manhood and womanhood, but- visitors who have been entertained can , certify that a sheaf of 1.0.U.'s are not a marketable commodity. To what depths has this terrible farce (No-license) brought men and. women to, to what deeper depths of de-' gradation can it g<K? Night after night m a No-license town there is always a friend's house to go to, and that house always has its quota of liquor when the friends arrive, but God help the host, if he has not put a drop away, who will net be thirsty m the morning. However, thirst is easily cured m a Nolicense town, and even the first acquaintance you meet can assuage it. Of course, all hosts don't enjoy the drink alone, cards play a great part m the evening's entertainment, and the card party m the more financial centres ot population is an adjunct to , the drinking habit. Primed with liquor, one does not always see so much as when sober, and these cunning, cute coves reap a harvest be th m Oamaru arid Invercargill. At 1 p.m. m the latent "heaven," the writer met a friend of years' standing, who vaguely said, "don't know anything about' the --cards," but come with me. 1 went and was introduced to the leading men of the town— lawyers, doctors, staid business men of all kinds, and watched carefully their proceedings. I left at G. 15 next morning, -and SAW MORE DRUNKENNESS, more of the worst side of men's character, more roguery and more moral degradaticn than ever it has Jfeen my lot to see m some of the wildest parts ofAustralasia m my almost fifty years on the earth ; and this is the much-vaunted No-license district of "God's Own Country." Let every elector be honest to himself, honest to his wife and children and honest to the people who live m the world with him every day, and vote to \purge "Hiis bright country of the . blight which* now threatens it m the shape cf No-license. You have been born of honest stock (no subterfuges like Nolicense) and you live m a free and enlightened country blighted only by asiaine laws of the No-license kind, and to rise superior to these things is the bounden duty of every elector m this country who has an honest heart beating within his bosom. Later you will hear of the unfortunate effect, on trade that the : awful Nb-Jicense has had, and honest? thought should to-day^ wipe the existing' laws off the statute bock of the Dominion.