GROG SHANTIES,

Otago Witness, Issue 904, 27 March 1869, Page 6

GROG SHANTIES,

(by our travelling reporter.)

Attention has from time to time been called to the prevalence of this pernicious system in the rural districts of the province, and more particularly upon the goldfields. At the last sitting of the Synod of Otago and Southland, the subject cropped up in a debate upon the Licensing question, and since then, attention has been drawn to it through the open columns, of this journal. The system complained of appears to be not only demoralising in its tendency, but border ing so closely upon wholesale plunder in its operations, that we are compelled to ask why more active steps for its suppression have not been long since instituted. We have inquired into the matter, and while we cannot, without a certain amount of reservation, endorse the sentiments given forth by the authorities noted above, it is evident, neverthless, that it is an evil, and one that is assuming formidable dimensions, what we have heard, it is likely to increase rather than diminish, in some of its worse phases. This opinion is grounded on the fact that what is commonly known as the " sixpenny nobbier" is extending throughout the entire length of the province, the, pljarge previously, in the more remote districts, having been precisely one hundred per cent. more. This change, it is believed, will materially affect the number of licenses applied for next year ; and in proportion as ?he legitimate trade decreases, the unlicensed traffic is liable to increase. This appears to be the invariable result. With the withdrawal of the license, the word * ( hotel" is obliterated from the signboard.

the fermented liquor and ardent spirits removed from behind the bar to a less exposed position, and its place supplied with a few decanters of non-intoxicating beverages. A? a rule this is the only change that is made ; and in far the largest number of cases the trade of the establishment goes on as previously ; unless, perhaps, rather more recklessness can be detected in the mode of conducting it. On behalf of some of these places extenuating circumstances may be found. Wayside hostelries, for example, remotely situated from licensed houses, cannot in many instances very well afford the license dues and otherwise conform to the strict letter of the Licensing Act. The traffic being small, what little trade they do is at best precarious ; at the same time, by sweeping them entirely away serious hardship would be entailed upon many a lonely traveller. On the other haud, the entire absence of supervision generates into that licentiousness which lends a colouring to the graphic scenea described by our correspondent "Investigator" in a recent issue. The question then comes to this, would it not be wiser to make some concession, whereby the traffic under such circumstances misjht be legalised ? It is in one respect at least a necessity, and in its present outcast form, it becomes a necessary evil ; whereas if it could, at a rate commensurate with its means, be elevated to a legitimate calling, it would be surrounded by certain restraints calculated to check its more vicious tendencies. The subject is not so very profound but that it might readily be dealt with by the Legislature. Places of this kind beyond a certain distance from a licensed house, furnished with prescribed accommodation, and subjected to wholesome restraint, might surely be authorised to retail liquors — such authority being subject to a provision that the person applying for it must be a person of fair reputation. The police would then be put in a better position to take a determined stand against the non- licensed vendor. This is the main difficulty they have got to contend with at present. Parties situated in such out of the way places are looked upon as pardonable offenders, and when their cases are paseed over while more flagrant ones are*broughl to justice, an outcry is raised that the police are biassed in their proceeedings. Moreover, the shanty- keeper krows how very precarious his calling is. He cannot tell the moment when the authorities may come down upon him for a LSO or even a LIOO fine. Hence he becomes less scrupulous in his dealings than he would otherwise be. If in his own parlance he can get his hands on a "long wool," the temptations to fleece him are very strong. Indeed it is just with him as it is with every other species of outcast. As long as he is kept without the pale of law, he will revenge the exclusion by watching his opportunity for inflicting a covert injury upon the principles by which it is regulated ; but so soon as the barrier is removed, he gets an incentive to become one of its recognised members.

"With regard to the other and by far the largest representative of the cla^s — the unlicensed vendor in towns and populous places — no excuse whatever can be offered on his behalf. Under these circumstances, the shanty-keeper becomes a downright pest to society, and the community fails in the duty it owes to itself when it tolerates his cxis r ence. A place of that kind, siuated next door to a licensed house, is a piece of toleration at which we may well be surprised. Many such are to be found on the goldfields and elsewhere. Indeed instances can be stated where the unlicensed dealer does the lion's share of the trade. One of these may be quoted. During a recent visit of our informant to some of the interior districts, he came upon a place of the kind situated within a mil 9 and a half of the thriving township of Tapanui, where about a dozen shearers were dissipating. They had finished shearing the same afternoon at a neighbouring station, and were " sweating out " their cheques. In other words, they had deposited the proceeds of their earnings with the keeper of the place, by whom, they were supplied with liquor until it was found convenient to tell them that their amounts had been spent. We have a further insight' into the character and peculiarities of the trade, in the fact that the keeper was a female, and that she had engaged the services of one or two others until shearing in the neighbourhood had been finished. Still nearer the township there was another similar place doing a share of the same kind of trad 9, while inside the township the licensed hotels were doing absolutely nothing.

This exhibits one ef the worst phases of the system — a system which certainly demands intervention of some kind or another. At the same tijie, in calling for such intervention, we would desire to point out that where it can be showti to be beneficial, small, perhaps, in degree, but of some consequence in effect, it is no less requisite that provision should be made for placing it on a better footing,