SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11188, 10 August 1898, Page 6

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

•. TO .'. THE. ElsifOK. ' V : ' ; ..: ' ■ Sin,—l cordially agree with the c'pricludin& / • remark of your leader of. the Ist inst.—"Sly '. grog-selling and perjury, must .be r put down.''1 . But how? That is the. question. f > While. we1 -.' are discussing this, and^ endeavouring to , | thrash out the best and most effective! method j of doing what we all' want done, '.siirejy we j need not quarrel wifcli-one anotheri. i;. ~■ ■ : Neither -sly grog-selling" nor "perjury'!.. • is a new crime. It is ah, extrpiprdinary statejjriient for you to make-^" This [perjury] is o.ne, - of the most deplorable results of.'tnej illicit traffic that has sprung, up in the place of the, .-'■ open and regulated trade.".- Surely you ; have forgotten. Many years ago. before'ovet»'the ■ prohibition crusade had been talked /'about; i our .own:'city ~ magistarte complained : fre- • j.quently. and publicly of the amount of false Iswearing he had to meet.; And as 10 "sly grppf- .- 'selling," has that.'"' sprun{j%up in the rnlaho?of :';.■ the open and regulated trade";? .Hear Co'mmis; ' sioner'Tunbridge (vide-Otago Daily: Times,. .: £ugust i,-1898)—" That there is a'greati'dSal, . of illegal,. Sunday- and., aftec-hour trading on \-: the part of ■many pelicans throughout the y , colony cannot be .denied." The "fact is the ■:; aly grog-selling has been going otlbhese'tnany'',.^ •years under, the shelter of. the licensed;'1 regu- .:- ."lated " trade, the main : difference- between v Glutha arid the rest of the;countryvbeiiig that. r j in Clutha/now that the shield of "license has ~;, j been withdrawn, the criminal trade;is more". >~ i manifest; But. it is not greater.'.: iYou*- in ;.-v L your leader .broadly suggest, that:the;sljjvgrpgr'■,<'.{■■'sellingis on. the increase-in Clutha.,'. Yoi(;■-," [.say,.1.: ■;.' Unless there' wpa.a /'de-,'-;:, : ''m'an'd. Iso many .would not,embark-in"- the rie'-i -: .'faripus. business.".^.Hear ; the coinmissione.r^.'i,'. agaip: "The prosecution!? serve to-make th.ci, dealers more wary, atid now .it is only in rare , lirjktances'-thaV theyv;can/ibß 'induqedlto: seli' tq,-!'.-'.'; persons who..are urticnojyn^p.them." Does/-. • that look like increasing b.usineas? ~' Qf course •we are riot, surprised;<thftt the cdrrimissiorier ' ' says; again:, V,This.'.{increase in,-thenmimber; -:, ' j of, persons proceeded against for sly grbgj . 1 selling] cannot be. ~accep; t ecl».a? ai),indication ! that the evil is being'starhped; out.''. -No, nqfe ; .; < yet! it >is: only:.being oncoveredantl'expo^ecl';, ■, ■That' exposure,"does not 'shame them—and ■th,s>," | fines ■'' ■ '/;. ";■ "■"■ ,-' :■ "!;,:-' ' These fines,-ranging.from:£3o to £80, seerri. .: to ordinary men to be very.severe. But yfhafc. . do they amount to to the liquor-trade? .The ~ .fact .is. that there ia such a vjjst aroSunt of i'money behind the trade, and. its; profits areso, i enormous, that" these fines, arid much larger' ■" ! ones,, too, are. mere trifles.-' ', - ■■••'.'-:„■,. '■•■'• ~& I Here is a point well, worthy-of^ being ih--; qiiired> into: . All over the country repeated.offerices against the^law involve " imprison^':, merit'withotit the option of a fine:". And this ' is'true of the, liquor'lairs as well, except in. . [the Clutha! There, owing to some,urifortu- ! na'te clumsiness, the magistrate cannot inflict imprisonment for repeated ''sly grog-selling.; •' ! Arid the law.-breakers do not care one' straw • ' i for the fines.. But let'us have in Glutha what | we liave everywhere else —imprisonment with -. : hard labour for repeated offerices, ■ and then. ' ,- you will see the. beginning of the process of,' : .'• stamping out ■■' the elicit trade.; . ■ -V '■.-.'' . i Again, . Sir, "we ask for la^vs-made honestly "enforceable," and for honourable .administration; and then we shall'.W'Sible to.-, see which is the stronger—the public or'th«, publican.—l am, &c.; .' ; • '••'"'; , ' . '.. Dimedin, August.3. : " Orrmw. ; ' , P.S.—Not only years ago did our magistrate ■ complain of '" perjury," but- yesterday.'-in the - case' of the Gladstone Hotel,: "his "Worship | i said it was evident the three witnesses harl ■ < pprispired to keep silence."—C. . ' ' ' ' ■ ■' i'li' ■''.:■'.,'■■ ■ '.' .'l'"' i ' —'»'••<**— ■'-' ■';/'1-; ■' V,'.'