The King Country and Liquor

White Ribbon, Volume 25, Issue 10, 1 January 1954, Page 5

The King Country and Liquor

A few years ago, in spite of vigorous protests from many Christian bodies, including the W.C.T.U., legislation was passed giving rights to Maori women to enter liquor bars and to the Maori people to take away liquor from hotels. This was opposed by the present Government, which was then the Opposition. In November last the piesent Government proceeded to do further harm to the Maori people in the King Country by passing legislation permitting a combined poll of Maori and pakeha citizens to decide whether liquor should be sold in that particular area. Whatever the findings of the Parliamentary historian have betn, there is no question that a great many Maori citizens of the King Country firmly believe that the Government of the past gave its solemn promise that no liquor should be sold there. After the passing of the Bill, a long petition was addressed by 28 Maori elders of the King Country to the Governor-General requesting that he reserve for Roya! assent the Licensing Bill which was recently passed by Parliament “against strong and urgent protests.”

The Opposition opposed the Bill, and we would here pay a tribute to the Government members who crossed the door of the House to vote against their own Patty’s Bill and to support the Opposition amendment. Those members were Messrs. L G. Barnes (St. Kilda), H. Duxfield (Gisborne), E. B. K. Gordon (Rangitikei), J. R. Hanan (Invercargill). H. Johnstone (Raglan), J. A. Roy (Clutha), S. W Smith (Hobson), P. Tait (Napier), W. B. Tennent (Palmerston North). As women we should all feel proud of Mrs. Ratana. who stirred many by her plea for the saving of her people from legalised sale of liquor. “I would agree." she said, “that there it liquor seeping into the King Country; but why let the flood in and the walls down. . . ? It is the worst Bill any Government could put through. They say there is no pact. It has been debated and reports have been made by many capable men. I am not going to take any notice of Dr. McLintock’s report. I am speaking an a matter of principle and in faith of what our ancestors have handed down to us. . . . There is no other way to protect the Maori than by getting the drink out of the Kin** Country.”

The Minister in Charge of Police, the Hon.. Mr. W. Fortune, appeared to think that the legalising of an evil would, in some extraordinary fashion, improve conditions, and then went on to say that Members of Parliament need only look across the road from Parliament House to see “scores of young Maori women —women of tender years—come out of the hotels accompanied by men who intended them no good. The Minister sees this in a licensed area and must know that the same thing will come to pass in the King Country if it is licensed. How can he think that licences will improve conditions? On the day that the report of the passing of the Bill appeared in the newspapers there appeared also reports of two murders, and in both cases the accused had obtained drink in licensed areas. We have been disappointed in the words and actions of a number of Members of Parliament, who have taken the neculiar attitude that, because the law is broken, it is better to legalise sales. Surely efforts should be to press vigorously for enforcement of laws and the teaching of the very real benefits of total abstinence. We have pleaded over and over again for the enforcement

of present liquor laws. Our Maori friends have implored the Government to keep liquor away from their people. The Minister of Justice, the Hon. T. C. Webb, who is so very anxious to see licences in the King Country, has stated that he has lost his enthusiasm for Prohibition. Let us thank God that our enthusiasm for tills cause is as strong as ever. Daily, as we read our newspapers, we see reports of crime apd accidents due to indulgence in liquor, and we ki.ow of the dreadful waste of money and foodstuffs through the Trade.

May the actions of Governments, past and present, in increasing facilities for the sale of liquor, particularly to our beloved Maori people, constitute a tremendous challenge to us in this New Year for continual, fervent protest against this iniquitous Trade. « —V. Grigg.