MASTERTON UNDER NOLICENSE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 765, 24 July 1916, Page 5

MASTERTON UNDER NOLICENSE.

jA PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES. ! lln conseaucncc of complaints by | travellers that Masterton was going back I as the result of no-license, that it was j a place of gloom and siy grog, and that | the hotel accommodation was poor and I inadequate, a rn>re&entative of the i "Manawatu Daily Times," who is not a j total abstainer, was instructed to visit ] that town and make a careful, intimate, | and personal investigation of the coni ditions, and furnish an absolutely im j partial report of his observations. His uncensored observations during a visit of eight days are given in these articles.| I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. The evening train journey was long, dull, and exasperating, and the only relief was provided by three hilarious troopers returning to Featherston. I mentioned my destination and at once got their sympathy. Their views on Masterton were far from rosy. The station proved to be dark and dismal-look-ing, and a thin persistent drizzle was falling on its sole population, six severely sober soldiers. One*of my train companions came with me in | my cab, and looked sadly out at the dimly-lighted streets. "Ain't it like Winkin' Lapland?" he said. "Can you wonder that the soldiers prefer Trentham to Featherston with only this 'ole to go to? "Why," he went on, "Trentham's a Costleigh 'Ome to our spot." The outside. of. the hoteM at which we landed was not pre-possessing, and.the interior, to say the least of it, not over arnaie. My trooper friend came inlo-miy room, suggested that alcoholic refreshment was in order, ami we rang for soda water. I asked the hotel -porter on his arrival to have a nip with us, and he at once produced , these incredible words: "No thank yon, sir, it would make me feel very sick!" lie went out noiselessly, and as the door shut niv soldier, staring solemnly, made the heartfelt statement that the Masterton species of hotel porter was a double-starred and purple miracle. We" then set out in search of a fish supper. The streets were deserted and desolate, and the fish shop contained only one other customer, who, to the loudly-expressed satisfaction of my trooper, was a little elevated. We put a friendly query to the proprietor relating to the thirst '.we had, but got a very emphatic by way of reply. 1 suggested to the other customer that it bwas surprising that he was doing jso well in a no-license town. "No dishence me foot," he said. "The creeks is swimmin' with it." However, pressed to produce one creek, he put us off with three long, grave, land tremendous winks, and went noisily -on with his oysters. We went then to see the troop train off. it was well filled, but, with two exceptions, the soldiers were liquorless, and wearily quiet. The morning light did nothing to improve the general look of things. Our hotel required more than a new coat of paint, it wanted a whole new suit, and the town at 9 o'clock seemed quiet and lifeless. The breakfast at the hotel was good and well served. My soldier turned up fairly soon after breakfast with a flask, whose birthplace he declined to name. It was a moderate draft whisky, but well watered. My first look round was directed til finding out-what had happened to the de'I'uncl hotels. There were five of these in the main street. Four of them are at present in use as board-ing-houses, two of which have a respectable outside appearance, and the other two badly require re-dress-ing with paint. The front portion of the ether is let to two tenants, a second-hand dealer and a bicycle agent. Its huge-honeycomb;of rooms at the bax'k is empty with the ex- ; ceptibn of the ground floor, where two or three aged retainers camp and cook their own meals.. TEMPERANCE BARS. As if in protest, the most popular word on the windows of Masterton premises is "BAR." In one portioili of one side of the street 1 found three "Marble Bars," "American Lounge Bar," i "American Bar,? "Yankee Bar," and in a sort of las] strategic position a "British Bar.* There is also the "Anzac Lounge Bar" which would tlo credit to any city, also the "Private Bars" which remain on the grey wrecks of onetime hotels. x\il the live bars are elaborately lilted up, do a steady business alt day, are often crowded, and arc apparently completely satisfactory rendezvous. One runs to an evening orchestra. This multitudinous provision for Masterton's nonalcoholic thirst excited my suspicion: hut after the most persistent i\ml exhaustive sifting I satisfied myself that the Masterton article is the Simon Pure in temperance bars. Nothing but indigestion can be got by overindulgence in the aerated contents of Masterton Marble Bar bottles. Masterton is well supplied with billiards rooms, which are doing a roaring business in comparison with other towns, and provide further congregating places for the unoccu-j pied o' nights. Another oblique rei suit of the absence of licensed pre-} luisosisthe übiquity of the. guerrilla bookmaker. The places in town frequented by sports cannot, like .open bars, be entered by the police, and the consequences seem to be fairl.M open play. Another explanation of this phenomenon was furnished me by a genial Philistine to whom I had commented on the numbers and luxuriant growth of the laying brigade, lie reckoned that the capital saved on the bars of the youth of the place was spent in backing their

fancies. "A bloke must have a vice of some kind," he explained. I PROVISION FOR AMUSEMENT. | The town is wonderfully quiet and clean. No sounds of revelry are to be heard, and one prominent j business inan not at all in sympathy with no-license ideas told me thai his wife liked the town better now on account of the perfect safety of (lie streets at any hour for women and children. The "'hot copper" wailing with cracking mouth for the bar to open in the morning is a missing quantity, and there is a quite singular air of intent ness and business about the people in the streets when they are crowded: But, nevertheless, there is an absence of general provision for amusement and social fellowship, and there is a good deal of "standing about." It would seem that nolicense chiefs have missed a golden chance of divesting their movement of that chilly, unlikeable, and kill-joy quality with which it is invested by many'minds. Energetic and generous action could have been taken to brighten, amuse, and enliven the younger folk of the town, with, if nothing else, the distinct party object of proving that "John Barleycorn" can be done without in the production of joy. I imagine that 1 placed my linger on the 'reason of ibis lack, and, incidentally, what is partly wrong with a selection of no-license leadership, when I was trying to ascertain the amount of liquor legally admitted into the district for consumption. In the course of my enquiries I encountered a doughty advocate for what he called the "reform)." He could not give me figures. "Bui," he said, "there is no doubt whatever that.in this district we.-are saving at least £40,000 a year that was formerly spent in drink." A little less emphasis on the hoarding of the bawbees and a little more geniality and large-mind-edness in the movement, and whisky blooms might become as extinct as moa feathers. Although noisy and oossibly superficial, there is a good fellowship and joviality about the throng in a well-lit warm and crowded bar, and it is up lo the nolicense captains to produce or foster some belter form of collective recreation. THE "BOOZE" TRAINS. Two trains leave Masterton during the afternoon, and two return. I made the journey to Carterton and back several times, and on each occasion the line was Well patronised. One botlle of whisky, or five bottles of beer, may be legally taken into Masterton, and.it was fairly obvious on my return trips that the bulk of the passengers were carrying back at least the legal maximum. In spite of the existing shortage of young men owing to the enlistmenls, there was a large relative proportion of youths among the excursionists. I found that the Carterton hotels do a large single bottle trade, and bar business was brisk on the arrival of each train. My sporting friends al Masterton continued my observation that there was a steady "tourist traffic" lo and from Carterton, bid they did not seem to think that it affected very much of the proportion of the population. "It's the same mob all the time," said one, and added: "When the average Masterton josser hits Wellington, or any place, he (lon'l look for hard stuff, but tears a hot lemon and ginger phosphate into him, and ain't he death if the flavour ain't right?" However, the influx of liquor into Masterton in this way is steady and continuous. Whisky, on account of its potency, in relation to its bulk, is more popular than beer. However, there is a growing inclination not to go to the bother of the trip solely for liquor purposes, and on all sides there is perceptible tendency lo agree that to go without a drink is a sign of respectability. A returned trooper said lome, mournfully, commenting on Ibis aspect of popular opinion in the town: "They didn't ought to call Ibis place Masterton now, il should be Jerusalem!"