The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 766, 25 September 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1878.

The individual to whom the people of Waimate are so greatly indebted for the musical treat and display of ornamental fireworks the other evening, would probably like to live the last week or so over again. It is surprising that an acute man of business should have fallen into such an error as to suppose that a drunken demonstration was the proper method of registering hi 3 disapproval of the actions of the principal police officer of the town in which he conducts a grou shop. His grievance is that Sergeant; Err;.bixtr. re- | ported him for serving a man already disj gustingly inebriated with more drink, and i for keeping a portion of his premises in_ a ! filthy state ; and he had recourse to the 1 choice expedient of a jrrand processionof j the drunkards that occasionally advertise I the potency of his liquor at the Police | Court, in order to disprove the foul aspersion. We venture to express an opinion ! that he will not do it again. JSven the bushmen, who are, as a rule, pretty rough ■ and ready, disclaim all connection with, and express their disapproval of, the affair. It will therefore be seen how easily a man might damage his business by adopting the method of this Waimate publican in showing his distaste for law and government. There are few people who do not recognise the necessity of maintaining strict discipline and order, even at the expense of curtailing the profits of a dispenser of intoxicants. Let unscrupulous grog sellers have their full swing and dissipation and anarchy would reign in Waimate to such an extent that it would become too hot even for the indignant publican. Sergeant Rutledge may be a little strict, but if he is so he errs on the right side. It is to the interest ot all hotelkeepers who are desirous of conducting their business ivith all possible respectability, that the sale of drink to men already drunk, laxitv in tho management of pub-lic-honaes, selling drink at all hours, and other violations of the law which is supposed to control the sale of intoxicatimliquors, should be put down. If hotels are to be allowed to degenerate into grogshops pure and simple, then there will be but little chance for hotel-keepers. \\ e are "lad because we are able to state that the publicans of Waimate, as a body, did not identify themselves with the rjbald proceedings about which we are writing, They, in common with the whole of the inhabitants of Waimate, with the exception of a few men who love drink, " not widely, but too well," and a number of boys who appear to be on the high road that leads to our criminal institutions, view the demonstration with shame, and sympathise for Sergeant Rutledgk. Had it been otherwise—had the orgies influenced public opinion against the official

the representation of whom was buffeted about and ill-treated in a manner that implied that the depredators would have liked, in their beery madness, to have similarly treated the reality, instead of bringing down their displeasure upon the ringleaders and perpetrators of the deed, it would have been wise for Sergeant HUTLEDGE to have made an example of the principal offender in Court. He has, however, suffered sufficiently, and so have the poor dupes, who. rilled up to their nuaiths with beer, dribbled as they shuffled through the streets of Waimate a few nights ago, at the instance of an indignant publican. Sergeant Rutledge has nothing to fear but promotion in restraining the wrong-doing of \inscrupulous people, whoever they may be. No one has any right to complain so long as a man holding his position does not, by overstepping the bounds of his duty, drive mm to cominir a breach of the law.