THE LESSON FROM INVERCAR GILL.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 956, 2 July 1908, Page 20

THE LESSON FROM INVERCAR GILL.

We wonder if the recent disclosures at Invercargill, which brought to light the wholesale manner in which slygrog selling is carried on, will have the effect of opening the eyes of those prohibitionists who are frantically appealing to the Dominion people to do as Invercargill did, and vote No-li-cense. These self-imposed alleged reformers have so enwrapped themselves with their own views as to what is good and what is not good for the world in general, that they will not, in fairness to the average man, look at any side of the situation except that which pleases them. In view of the condition of affairs that exist in Invercargill, the repeated references to that electorate, and the prayers, offered up in thanksgiving that it had gone dry savours entirely of the ridiculous, and could never emanate from any party except one composed of self-righteous bigots. How dry this electorate has gone one can well imagine from a perusal of the sly-grog cases that have cropped out since the hotels were closed. Coming to a case in point, we may refer to the last big case that was brought before the court in that place, where a man and woman pleaded guilty to the offence of sly-grog selling. No defence was offered, the case being deliberate and systematic. It was no haphazard case, as both defendants had been repeatedly warned, but the nefarious trade they were carrying on was of such a highly profitable nature that the warning had not the slightest effect. The female defendant had openly stated that she in one day had sold four cases of whisky and twenty gallons of beer. Police evidence proved the fact that one hundred and seventeen gallons of beer and eighty cases of whisky had been sold since April 18th, and, they added, that was probably only half or a quarter of the amount sold. Truly an appalling state of affairs. And it is to these people and their like that the prohibitionists would hand us over.

Much has been made from time co time of statements from leading citizens, clergymen, .and even from the Inspector of Police himself, of the delightfully reformed state of Invercargill under no-license law. The plain, unvarnished, though disgraceful tale, as evidenced by this last court case, must come as a rude awakening to those who are wont to point to Invercargill as the city wherein all is peace, owing to its being a no-license area. The police supervision required for many public-houses would be insignificant as compared to that required for even one such as carried on by the defendants in the last case. And it may be taken for granted that if these people found the business such a lucrative one, they are not by any means alone in the sly-grog trade of Invercargill. It is to be hoped that such‘cases will open the eyes of the electors to the fact that prohibitioning legislation is hopeless. The prohibitionists, in their avowals, make it clear to the public that they are anxious to impose any condition of public or social life, however degrading, humiliating, or law-defying, so long as they attain their end of no-license. Very little imagination is required to picture the awful state of affairs that would result from no-license being carried in a large seaport like Wellington or Auckland. We have seen from the police courts the conditions in other places, and such conditions would be intensified and multiplied in the larger cities. It is incredible in view of what goes on in no-license areas, that the prohibitionists have the audacity to even suggest, let alone to ask, that we should put ourselves under the nolicense ban. We are asked, pressed, and preached to, to exchange a system of police-supervised licensed houses, which meet in an open and respectable manner the demands of the public, for one of plying, lying, and

spying in a form which can only pervert a respectable citizen into a drink sneaker, and one which in itself is lowering and degrading to honesty and common sense.