ILLEGAL LIQUOR SALES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19978, 1 July 1939, Page 14

ILLEGAL LIQUOR SALES

ASHBURTON MEN FINED (For Press Association.) ASHBURTON, last night. Robert Montgomery, a pensioner, was fined £lO 'in the Police oi to-day on a charge of selling beer without a license. He was gwen till August 31 to pay in two instalments. Frank Leonard Soal was finel £l7 10s if or the illegal sale of liquor at Waterloo. He was'allowed a month to pay.

had large reserves set aside by moie prudent Governments, but now all these had gone. The people .should notify the Government that it was time to call a halt in its extravagance, which liad never been so great, either in peace or in war.

Inequality of Taxation

In reply to the arguments raised, Mr. Williams said that the meeting was heartily in accord with Mr. Adair that the Cook Hospital Board was running its business as economically as possible, but under the present conditions the hoard was not able to' do what it should do. The question was, who was to carry the fcurden? The inequality of taxation had been pointed out by Mr. Benson, and Mr. Williams said that a man with a quarter-acre section in town paid only from 6s Gd to 10s towards hospital rates, even though his salary might be many times that of a farmer paying many pounds. No one would quarrel with the principle of unionism, Mr. Williams (proceeded, provided they did not interfere with the rights of others, but he submitted that the farmers’ rights were toeing interfered with by the trades unions, or, perhaps, by the workers, not always the unions. The farmers were paying directly and unnecessarily for all stoppages in work. It seemed that ithe Government was waking up to the position and was out to put a stop to unnecessary waste. The fanners should endorse that action fully.

The gathering was not political, he continued. The farmers might quarrel with the Government, but the purpose of the meeting was to ask the Government to correct the force of circumstance. (Applause.) Preparation of Evidence

After the main motion had been carried, Mr. Williams moved that a committee of seven be set up to determine the nature of the evidence to ibe put before the commission and to frame a case on behalf of the Poverty Bay farmers. ,Mr. F. Fitzgerald seconded this. Mr. .Stafford urged that the A. and P. Association, the Sheepowners Union, and the Farmers’ Union should handle the evidence to be placed before the commission. Mr. Adair supported this suggestion and urged that the farmers should be combined and backed up by a combined farmers’ organisation. Some people could hardly understand the need for so many farmers’ organisations; there should be only one. (Applause.) He moved an amendment that the three bodies concerned in Gisborne should get together on the matter under discussion.

Mr. Williams agreed to alter his motion that the committee should comprise three members from each of the three bodies, the A. and P. Assocition, the Sheepowners’ Union, and the Farmers’ Union, and Mr. Adair then withdrew his amendment. Mr. J. Hope, Matawai, said that there was a weakness in the proposal, which might not give the hill-country farmers representation. T.he Matawai men 'had different problems from those nearer Gisborne, such as mineral deficiencies in the soil. He asked thah, if the motion was carried in its amended form, would the hill-country men be overlooked?

Mr. Benson replied that the Farmers’ Union would see that the Matawai area was not omitted. Mr. Williams also assured Mr. Hope that the best of the evidence from the district would come from the back country, and if the committee was alive to its responsibilities, the back country would' not be overlooked. The motiou to appoint a committee comprising three members from each of the three bodies was carried unanimously.