AREAS WITHOUT LICENCES

Southland Times, Issue 25746, 9 August 1945, Page 10

AREAS WITHOUT LICENCES

ABUSES EMPHASIZED BY CITIZENS

(P.A.) DUNEDIN, August 8. “If the purpose of no-licence is to reduce drinking in an area, then we believe it to fail in this object and to bring with it other abuses not found in wet areas,” stated submissions made to the Licensing Commission by a number of residents of Palmerston, including business people and professional men and women. A written statement was put in by Mr J. D. Willis, counsel for the Crown. “Palmerston became dry as a result of a change in the boundaries of the electorate, not because its inhabitants wanted it. So,” the statement proceeded, “to obtain drink legally in Palmerston one has to send a signed order to a warehouse or publican, ordering at least two gallons of liquor. This results on one hand in excessive drinking, as the quantities ordered are generally in excess of what is necessary, and, on the other hand, in making it easier for minors to obtain fairly large quantities of drink, either in their own name or through a third person. It would obviously result in better drinking habits if smaller quantities could be ordered, yet he who brings in one or two bottles of drink is technically breaking the law, although his behaviour is preferable to that of a person who orders three gallons of liquor and makes himself drunk. One may argue that it is not necessary to drink large quantities, and in the case of spirits that may be true, but beer goes flat very quickly, and the tendency is to drink it all before this happens. ~ , “To sum up,” the statement added, “we think there is as much, if not more, dringing in dry areas such as Palmerston, as there is in wet areas, with the additional fault that there are more petty ways of breaking the law. We think it is morally harmful that there should be any sense of illegality and secrecy about drinking liquor.