Prohibition in Force.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue II, 11 July 1903, Page 130

Prohibition in Force.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, July 1. In the elegant phraseology of Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.H.R., Ashburton "ran dry” at midnight. At that hour all the licenses in that district ceased, and the publicans, having sold off the remains of their stocks at "cost price,” closed their doors. They are all heavy losers by prohibition. One who recently rebuilt at a Cost of £4Bou estimates the present value of hie property at about £l3OO.

Some of the hotels will continue as boarding-houses, but others, which are too large for thia purpose, will be closed altogether. The loss of revenue to the Ashburton Borough Council owing to the lapsing of licenses and other fees amounts to £295. The total revenue collected annually by the borough is a little over £3OOO, so that the municipal authorities had to face a loss of something approaching ten per cent, as a resuit of the carrying of prohibition. This lias resulted in an increase of the general rate. Until this year the rate has always been 1/ in the £, but, after the popular declaration resulting in the loss of nearly £3OO as a sequel to prohibition, the rate was raised in May last to 2/ in the £. The whole of this increase is not, however, due to prohibition. Ashburton is now nominally liquorlese, but “stocks on hand” are said to be very large. Already large orders have been taken throughout the district for private supplies in bulk. It is rumoured that, as a result of prohibition the whole of the police force in Ashburton will be changed, as was done some years ago, when prohibition was carried in the Clutha. The suggestion was probably originated by the precedent, as the authorities in Ashburton know nothing of the proposal. It is also stated freely that the farmer is not to he allowed to go “dry” when he pays his market visits to town, but that the prominent firms who deal with him intend to keep a little “comfort” on their premises. One particularly hard case of misfortune is attributable to the prohibition vote. This is the case of a license holder who disposed of his interest in the lease of a hotel in the Ashburton district, and took a hotel in Christchurch. Unfortunately for him, it now appears that the owner of the hotel in the Ashburton district still holds a reversionary claim upon the ex-licensee for the balance of the lease. This individual is clearly under the impression that his interest in the closed house had ceased with his sale of the balance of the lease, more particularly as the ingoing tenant was accepted by the landlord. He has now, however, to face a writ for a sum of £250 and a further demand that he shall pay the full rental of the closed house, £5 a week, until the expiry of the lease in 1906. The case will probably be ventilated in the Court.

It is unofficially understood (our Christchurch correspondent telegraphs) that the Ashburton Club has obtained legal advice to the effect that the Colonial Secretary has no power to revoke the charter. The club’s charter is dated February 16, 1886, and sets forth, inter alia, that a charter is granted to it for the common object of social intercourse, convenience, and comfort, and providing its own liquors, not for the purpose of gain. The charter sets forth, further, that the Colonial Secretary, in pursuance and the existence of the power and authority vested in him by section 229 of the Act of 1881, duly authorises the existence of the said club, subject, however, to the conditions in the said section particularly mentioned and set forth.