KING COUNTRY LICENSES

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1789, 31 July 1926, Page 5

KING COUNTRY LICENSES

PETITION FOR A POLL.

SLY GROG-SELLING DEPLORED.

Inhabitants of the King Country to the number of 5356 have petitioned ■Parliament for the right to vote on the' question of whether licenses for the- sale of liquor should he issued in that area.

The petitioners point out that when the area was proclaimed a dny area it was practically a native reserve with few European settlers. Now the Europeans outnumber the Maoris. They further state that the law does not now prohibit the introduction of liquor, but merely its open sale. “ Your petitioners,’ the document continues, “ view with alarm the widespread and pernicious results of the' sly grog traffic, which, in spite of the acknowledged vigilance of the police, cannot be kept in check, and they consider the effects of this traffic particularly on 'the younger generation, to be deplorable in the extreme. The evils land, abuses of 'the (present system would be reduced to a minimum if the sale of liquor in the King Country were permitted but properly controlled. It just and equitable that the inhabitants of the King Country, both European and Maori, should be allowed a voice in their own government on this question, and that the licencing area ■should be submitted to the votes of the electors and 'determined thereby-” ' .