CAPE LETTER.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 763, 20 October 1904, Page 23

CAPE LETTER.

(Own Correspondent, “L.V. Gazette”). August 9th, 1904. Since last writing, the Western Province Licensed Victuallers’ Association have held their usual half-yearly meeting, and several important questions were discussed. The proceedings opened with a protest from the meeting, through the chainman, against the trapping system. Representations had already been made to the Attorney General, but no reply had been received up to date. As, however, infringements of the law are not likely to be brought to notice except through trapping, our Trade is not worse placed here than at home, and after all said and done, the conviction of offenders is only a pro-

tection for their honester brethren. A’ protest, far more reasonable, was made in the report itself agaiost the closing of licensed houses on polling days, more especially as polling usually took place on days when the mail-boat was expected to arrive, and thereby not only did the Trade suffer loss, but the visitors to the port were considerably inconvenienced by the inability to procure refreshments when they came on shore to stretch their legs and see the sights. The Trade was congratulated on a legal decision in reference to cases of liquor. The decision that an unbroken case should Contain only one kind of liquor is a perfectly reasonable one, and legitimate traders are protected by it from the competition of those who, under the cover of a wholesale licence, supply such an order as any retail licenceholder is required to do. The Trade may further congratulate itself on the rtew conditions under which licences for clubs are to be issued, rendering the formation of bogus clubs more difficult. From March, 1905, it will be necessary, for a club to procure a licence from the Licensing Court, and the increased fee will be £4O per annum. As regards the Excise, their conference with the Treasurer had proved satisfactory. The bond of>£soo that had been fixed upon in the first instance would be modified by the extent and amount of business done by the merchant. The number of members belonging to the Western Province Licensed Victuallers’ Association, by the way, now numbers about two hundred,'* its increase lately having been thirtysix. With a growing membership, and a satisfactory balance-sheet, the Association is steadily consolidating, the interests and power, as well as upholding the respectability of the Trade.

Much has been said in this column from time to time on the club question, real and bogus. The club where liquor is sold and the club only formed for the sale of liquor are entirely different things. A notorious case has just come before a police court in the Cape Peninsular, the so-called club being situated in a neighbourhood efficiently provided with duly licensed houses, and not being tyrannized over by a fanatical teetotal party ; moreover, it was situated at Wynberg, where there is an important military camp, not an outcome of the late war, but long existent previous to that lamentable affair. The frequenters of this club appear to have been mostly soldiers, and the principal trade was done on Sundays, when duly licensed houses had to be closed. The police, or many of them at least, had been out on the list of honorary members, but do not seem to have availed themselves of the privilege, or the prosecution would hardly have taken place. In fact, the case was a pretty bad one, for one constable had been put on the list of paying members, although he had never paid a cent, and happened to be one of the witnesses for the prosecution. The case takes up three columns of the daily paper, but to make a long story short, the proprietor, or so-called proprietor—really a salaried man registered as such —was fined £5O, with an alternative of three months’ hard labour. His prin* cipal witness, the previous proprietor, has now been charged with perjury and remanded for trial.

It is refreshing, after the matters hitherto discussed in this letter, ?g turn to the healthier matters of education, both mental and physical. Mr Dubois is still continuing his lectures to wine farmers on such matters as ine planting, fermentation and maturation of wine, etc. A lengthy report of them would be out of place in your columns, even if you had room for it ; and, besides, there are special hooks published accessible to those most interested in such matters. But you will, not be disposed to dispute that the Cape wine farmer is in special need of instruction of a technical nature, and this he is getting by having thrown open to him the lectures primarily intended for the agricultural students at Stellenbosch. The lectures arA being appreciated, and as they are also\ fully-the public press they will doubtless he of considerable service.