A POLICE RAID.

NZ Truth, Issue 327, 30 September 1911, Page 6

A POLICE RAID.

MILLER'S MYRMIDONS OF MASTERTON. Suspect Sly^grog- «t the Club; Chief Justice on the - Premises. Police Draw a Blank. One of the "strong" arguments of the Prohibitionists is the freedom of Masterton from serious crime under No-license, and the fact is beyond dispute that at the last , sittings of the Supreme Court at Masterton, only one case, and that where a Chinaman was the accused person, occupied the attention of the court It would, however, be still better advertisement for Masterton if another peculiar fact, and one, needless to mention that -is carefully suppressed, by the Prohib., could not .be established, and that, is that criminal cases from Masterton are sent down to Wellington, and there disposed of and included m the business :■ of the Wellington.. Supreme Court. If, too, if could b"e shown that BUSINESS HADN'T SUFFERED through the "dryness," and that bankruptcies are not pajlnful and frequent, then Masterton could claim a •most virtuous record. •; - Masterton, as a town, might also be proclaimed a model if it weren't for other peculiar facts, and these peculiar facts are the increase m the con;sumption of liquor, the increase m the sly- grog industry, an increased police force, and the contraction of an unfortunate habit by the police to search residential hotels m. quest of sly-grog, and the liability of a resident of these hotels to be- subject to police raids and various indignities incidental to such raids. • • Under License, the police of Mas- ■ terf on used to make things very hot for hotel-keepers, and Sergeant Nat. Miller, m those days, was a terror. When No-license was carried it was expected that the police would have nothing to do, but the result has been that the police have had; to double their energies- to cope with- the Illegal swankeries that are known to honeycomb the town. < Unfortunately,* m "dry" districts policemen develop an extraordinary bump of suspicion, and suspect sly-grogging m the most unlikely • places, and the police of Masterton have proved no exception to | the rule. . The leading residential -i quarters of Masterton _is JDouglas's: Club Cafe, which, m THE HAPPIER DAYS OF % '-.;.' : LICENSE, '•■",•■• . ■ vras known' as ., the Club Hotel. Masterton, since it 'entered upon its dog j "days,, can't boast of comfortable, cosy i hotels,, the. exception being the. Club, which is an oasis m the .desert, and deservedly receives the patronage of .all travellers through "tne Sahara." Now, it is only recently that the Supreme Court business of Masterton concluded. The sittings were presided, over '/by '. the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, and that legal knight, despite his many idiosyncraeies, . likes comfort arid ; cheer, ey en if that cheer is corked up and labelled "ginger pop." '. . It so happens, that . Sir "Robert ; . quartered | himself: at the" l eiub Cafe, and while I he was a resident of the cafe, some] fool of ,a policeman got the idea into his "grey matter" that an, illegal traffic m liquor was being carried on. To j make ; a break at this juncture i "Truth" wishes to record that at frequent periods it, too, has put up at j the Club, and, as far as getting a drop was concerned, it was found to be im- j possible, and a request . for "something^ was as the request from Dives, . the .plutocrat, to' Lazarus, the stonybroke, for a drop ,-. of water on his tongue, which modest request, if, we have not forgotten the Biblical story of our innocent childhood, was em-, phatically declined on the authority of Father Abraham. It was, while his Honor the Chief Justice,, and. the Acting Administrator (when his Ex. is off the' premises) of the t Dominion was a .boarder, that the Masterton police executed -a search warrant for vile . liquor, . and his Honor actually stood m the/corri-. dor of the- hotel at the very moment that Nat, or "Gnat " Miller's myrmidons , . RANSACKED THE SOFT' DRINK ■■. v . ' '.'■■ ' ' '■' BAR. ; ■-.■' '■■ ' ' It is to be recorded m favor of the landlord-, as Jaw-abiding and loyal citizen '.: as can' be found m the Dominion, that not a drop was found, and the . police • once more drew a -blank, while we have aiithority , for stating the C.J. enjoyed the joke, and even, smiled -with that cheerful complacency pi' a contented man at the discomfiture of law and order. The incident is, ' to "Truth* s" way of thinking, . most regrettable, and does not m any way redound to the generalship of Sergeant Nat Miller. The suspicion east ori. the Club of be-! ing a sly-^wank emporium is a ser-. ] ious matter ; for the proprietor, while the .raid also showed, on the part of the police, a lack of respect for the dignity of the Chief Justice. . We cannot venture to think of the consequences had the suspicion of some foolish policeman proved well-found-ed. What could be said? What would have been thought ? Sir Robert Stout found m "a sly grog- shop!" Terrible! Terrible! •