The Police and the Publicans

Southland Times, Issue 9165, 15 March 1886, Page 2

The Police and the Publicans

— ♦- • The following, is Sir William Fox's letter to the New Zealand Times, which has caused Sir Gk Whitmore, as head of the police, to call on him for the evidence on which he bases his statement re police inefficiency in administering the Licensing Act:— "l entirely concur with yon in what you say in your yesterday's leader that " the police are ofton discouraged* - from energetic action by the disfavour with which their efforts are often manifestly regarded by the Magistrates ;" but I cannot admit that this phase of the question has " been overlooked or purposely ignored." Over and over again it has been commented upon by myself, both on platforms and in the Press, and it formed the subject of discussion between the late deputation and Mr Stout, that gentleman expressing twice over a very definite opinion upon it. It is quito true thac Magistrates, and. particularly Resident Magistrates, do exhibit a wonderful and almost uniform sympathy for the publican when arraigned before them, often suggesting- technical quibbles which the publican had not thought of, and deciding in their favour, and, when compelled by the facts to convict, imposing a mere nominal penalty, and, as in a case which lately came under my notice, actually apologising to the publican for punishing him, and expressing belief that the commiesion of the offence was quite unintentional ! Reverting, however, to the subject of the neglect of tbe police to take action in the case of houses which are notoriously illconducted, I beg to enclose a letter which I received yesterday. It is as follows :— Bir William Fox,— NT Oy .doubt the thanks of the right-minded public are due to you for your earnest efforts to put down the liquor traffic, .bat the;e is a wone evil than that which requires stamping out, and that ia " gambling." The Hotel i«, and has been for a considerab'e time, nothing better than a gambling hell. Characters of the lowest type assemble there Bightly for tbe pupoae of robbing the unwary with' such harmless little toys as " crooked dice and cards " To my knowledge it baa been the cause of utter rain to many a youno- man, The licensee ia what might be designated "first robber," as part of his stock-in-trade consists of " toys " of tbe description mentioned. If you will take immediate steps to stamp out the evil you will earn the heart" felt thanks of hundreds, including your humble servant.— A Suffering Parent. I do not generally notice anonymous letters, but there ia a reason for my doing so in this case. About six yeara ago I wsb a member of a committee of the House of Representatives, and, in the course of the inquiry it was conducting, two policemen had made a charge against a high official in the force that he was in the habit of gambling at a certain public- house long after closing hours, and that it had frequently happened that when he was wanted late at night, and could not be found else* where, they could find him there, and that on knocking at a certain upstairs door he would come out and speak to them. This was the very same house as mentioned in the above letter, from which for obvious reasons I have erased the name, but am quite prepared to give it to the police or Licensing Bench of the district. This and other charges whioh were not disproved ought to have resulted ;in the immediate dismissal of the official, but he was let down gently, and only removed to another district of less importance. The house referred to has for years had the reputation of permitting gambliog, and even the names of prominent citizens have repeatedly been mentioned to me as among those who frequented it for the purpose. Now, the point I want to bring out is this : This house has for all this time hud its license renewed from year to year. This means that the police have always reported it to the Licensing Committee as a well-conducted house. Were they ignorant of what was Btated before the Parliamentary Committee, and of what all the towa knows or believes ? Suppos* irq that they had not been able "to oatch them at it," they could not possibly be ig-. norant of that house's reputation, and if they had reported their own belief to the Licencing Bench they would have thrown the responsibility on it o£ granting or re« fusing the lioenee in the face of the report, But nothing will convince me that if the police, in a case so notorious as this, had laid their plans properly they could not have got sufficient to secure a conviction against the house. Since I began writing, a paragraph ia a Wairarapa paper referring to the same subject and probably the same hoaaa has mat my eye, It is as follows ; — Speaking of gambling reminds me that Ifi ia carried on to an enormous extent in the city of Wellington, Boom-i in a very larga number of hotels are devoted to this vijL ana I hear o£ clerKa wbo are nightly to bfl seen throwing the bouea for comparatively la-ge Bums of money, and looßing more in a year than twice their salaries would cove?. The billiard table of one hotel, 1 am assured on reliable authority, ig surrounded nightJy by scores of youDg men, who keep up the interesting game of Yankee Rrab till •• the wee sma 1 hpurs ayont the twal 1 without Jefc or hindrance. Tbe police are aware of the extent !q which gambling is carried oa, but tbey rarely interfere. One tv ica f said to net about L3O per week from tie per* centage demanded from the turnover in his rooms,— l am, etc., Wk^iam FoK. [It will beßeenfrom a telegr.m published this morning that Sir William has been com. pelled to « eat the leek " in this connec tion,]