SOBRIETY OF LYTTELTON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11248, 11 April 1908, Page 6

SOBRIETY OF LYTTELTON.

CONFLICTING STATEMENTS.' (Special to Herald.) CHRISTCHURCH, laht Jiight, ' Strong exception i& taiten m certain quaiteiis to the stiictaies recently passed on tlie sobriety -jOi Lyttelton. Mv Nordon, secietury of "tiie Uanterbuiy Licensad V lctuallers' Association, writesi to the Lytteltcn . Times, questioning the aceumy oi' the reports m some of the internews published by tnat journal o JI /the subject. He states one 01 the sea ouptains interviewied at once lecognised tiie report when it was submitted to liim, ,bii't proclaimed sit to be full of garolings and distortiona andi suppressions. Let me quote w!u\t he is reported to have said: "One. captain of a ship trading between London and New Zealand said . though he denied tiiat -the Government had a 'moral right to p^ohibit drink, speaking selfisliiy he thought tliat. the • closing of the hotels m Lytteltciii would be one of the best tilings that could happen m tlie interests of shipping. During his two last visits to Lyttelton he had experienced little difficulty with his men, but a few years ago Lyttelton was one of the worst sea ports m the woald. It was not the best now, but it liad improved considerably m recent years, and lie had been ablle to get. his firemen aboard the ship without any trouble. The chief trouble was with the quality of the liquor supplied to the men. He liad known strong drinking mien who had been made, 'fighting drunk' by one glass of iatisolulbly po/isonous stuff. Uood honest beer did very little harm, but some of , tie drink that the men' obtained m New> Zealand affected tlie systems of men for o>ver a week m gome cases." Now for what he really did .'.uy.. This" captain donees having* stdid that he. thought the closing of the hotels in_ Lyttelton would be one of the best things that. could happen. He and that he was totally oppos-^d to prohibition, and that if the port carried no. license he would serve out beer to the men on board! his- ship, because lie thought frliat thoy iiad an equal right with him to enjoy tlie ' alcolnolic refreshments m moderation. ;He had. paid that during the last two visit-s tx> Lytteltoiv he had experienced very little difficulty with his men, but that "during the last two or three years .he had' had, difficulty with his: men." This is very different to the statement, attributed to him by your reporter. He denied saying that* Lyttelton was at the time one of the worst ports m the. world. Furthermore, he emphatically denied that' lie had ever mode us©, 'of the expression "fighting drunk. " He did not . say that "good honesit beer would dio very little harm," hint that "good honest beer was good and. was undoubtedly benefida^ to a man's constitution, especially m the- case c.f firemen^ as the nature of their work demanded some stimulant. His reference to the bad quality of some of the liquor .consumed did not refer to Lyttelton, but to another port.