AS OTHERS SEE US.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 1001, 13 May 1909, Page 21

AS OTHERS SEE US.

NEW ZEALAND’S “ DRY ” AREAS. Mr. Sam. L. Stead, who recently visited New Zealand for Wolfe’s schnapps and other lines of goods outside the Trade, has a story to tell of the vagaries of the no-license system. To show how the thing acts, he cites the case of Wallacetown, just outside the boundaries of Invercargill. There a hotel which formerly paid £2 per week rental now pays £l6, so greatly has the trade gone up. The no-license town has suffered, as the workmen from outside the “ dry ” area will not come in to spend their money in that barred spot, but get their stores where they can also get their liquid refreshments. This the townspeople in the “ dry ” area are beginning to realise, as it pinches them in the pocket, and property values are going down. Mr. Stead heard from reliable authorities that there is more drunkenness among youths than was the case formerly. Those whom respectable hotelkeepers would not serve now get their own stuff in large quantities. Mr. Stead finds that in the no-license areas the hotel accommodation has woefully deteriorated. For many years the N.Z. country hotels were the best that he had ever seen; but the proprietors where the bars have been closed have allowed them to run down. In Dunedin the trade for over 40,000 people will after June be carried on by thirty hotels, all that survived the reduction vote last election, when sixteen hotels were closed. Many “ temperance ” women have told Mr. Stead that they were disappointed at the effects of no-license. They thought they were fighting for prohibition and find themselves deceived, as there is more drinking than ever. Business people who voted for no-license last time, declare that they will vote for license next time. They find that