Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-10-28
SATURDAY PRESS
SATURDAY. OCTOBER as, 1881.

7YE NEWLlQUOR LAW WORAINGS.
The working OF the recently enacted law,
making the purchase OF intoxicating liquors by
native Hawaiians free, so far as any good
moral effect is concerned proves a failure.
Under il, drunkenness has become rampant /;
and large majority Of the criminal cases daily
tried before the police court, are either medi.
a,ely or Immediately dependent upon the abuse
of rum. Domestic brawls and wife.beating
and street fights have become common as a
consequence, and natives allured by the at.
fractions OF the bar-room, are devoting much
Of their money to the purchase of rum which
should go for food and necessary domestic
| comforts. Reports which have been presented
by the committee on Temperance, for consid
Grafton by the Young Mems Christian Assoca-
Iion in which the working Of the Liquor Law
has been considered, give bad showing in
deed. According to statistics being gathered
together, it appears that butchers, with whom
trade has been chiefly among native customers,
now complain that their sales have been re-
duced to at least third since the operation Of
the law while the same is said to be the case
with the fshmongers and restaurant keepers
who have depended mostly upon native GUS
tom. Other trades-peope are doubtless suf-
iering, in consequence, an abnormal diminu,ion
in their sales Of wares ; the rum-shops only
| excepted
Talking the other day to an intelligent young
Hawaiian mechanic, he remarked: Although
| indulge in the moderate use Of liquor myself,
and although did once advocate the right Of
the native to use liquor, and insisted on his
ability to use it without abuse, now acknowl-
edge my error, and am sorry the tabu was ever
removed. Since the law has been removed,
the neighborhood about my dwelling has been
turned from condition Of peace and quiet,
into perfect pandemoniunl, where nightly
brawling and disgusting orgies have become
the order" Conversing the other day with a
physician, he remarked that he had seen the
second case OF lock-jaw among natives since
his sojourn on the islands. lie said that he
could do nothing FOR the man, as everybody on
the premises was in a state Of beastly intoSi-
cation, and unable to assist him in the least.
We have been informed that the calendar of
the circuit court, to be held at Waimea, ON
Hawaii in November next, contains larger
number OF criminal cases than has ever before
been known and these are said to be nearly
all result of drink.
In the face of all this, however, there are
men who deliberately assert, that, though
travelling the streets regularly every day, they
have not seen drunken native since the re-
striction has been removed. The Police court
records too have been referred to as supporting
the allegation, that there has been no nJsa5s
Of d,1nksnnei5 rhgce the ,sD,orai eft4e aba.
From personal inspection of these records, how.
ever, we know that such Is not the case 7Aes
ar none 50 Wind as those ioAe sciX not sef
The organ Of the Government. the r. c. H.,
has admitted the deplorable state Of affairs un.
der the new law \; but INDUCES the hope that
the condition now seen is but the temporary
effects OF a sudden Acknowledgement from long
continued restrictions, and suggests the inst
to the evils rehearsed- Better TO dig out, root
and branch, deadly tree than to keep an ex
pensivc gardener to trim off lis extending
limbs II is not to be expected that III,
n c. a. should see any blame attaching tC
the executive in the matter, but how does The
case actually present itself to honest thinking
menl The Stree liquor bill " Is known to hay,