Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-07
STRICT CURBON
LIQUOR SALESIS
NOW CONSIDERED
Continued from page one)

conduct OF the licensed premises and
report as to renewals. transfers. is
suances OF licenses, etc, and not the
police duty of raiding Illicit sellers
OF intoxicating liquors. Further. II
has not the funds at its disposal 10
employ a sufficient force TO suitably
police the city. and. even il ample
funds were available. We believe that.
on account of the great temptation Of
Tered and the small likelihood Of de-
lection, the local and federal laws
regarding the sales Of intoxicants
would be violated about as flagrantly
as they are being violated at present.
Difficult TO Convict
There is no difficulty whatsoever
in obtaining information that so-and-
so is doing Bookkeeping, or that such
and such a place is blind pig, but
it is extremely difficult to obtain SUI,
ficient evidence to warrant a convic-
ton, declared Mr.. Cooke.
Some months ago the board passed
a regulation prohibiting the sale TO
persons whom the licensee has rea-
son to suspect will resell the same il,
hcitly. Unfortunately we have re-
ceived very little cooperation on the
part of the majority of licensees in
preventing or checking illicit selling.
Also there are SO licensees on this is
land, the majority being in Homo
lulu. and a customer who intends to
resell, would have no difficulty in
going to a saloon or wholesaler at
which he is unknown. Further, by
aYnnlnvinO nT,rnhnCnrc
by using little judgment in distrib-
uting his purchases, he can easily de-
ceive the conscientious licensee.
I'VE are advised by the attorney
general that, in his opinion, we have
a perfect legal right to pass and en-
force a regulation prohibiting sales
unless accompanied by a requisition.
Whether or not we have legal right
to refuse individuals requisitions
seems to be an open question. Ger
tainly, IL the licensees will agree to
refuse all sales unless accompanied
by requisition, there should be no le-
gal difficulty" said Mr.. Cooke
In general the idea as explained by
Mr.. Cooke is as follows:
THE inspector is to have a con-
veniently located office at which all
acquisitions will be issued, and at
which he or one of his deputies will
always be present during liquor bust
ness hours. BY card indexing all
purchasers, posting all sales from the
duplicates of the acquisitions on the
index Of purchasers, obtaining sigma
lures on acquisitions Endorsements
and proper Identification, ETC., fair.
ly accurate record could be obtained
and certainly large number of sales
to Illicit sellers prevented.
I'VE would intend to cause the least
possible amount of inconvenience to
legitimate customers, and we believe
that by allowing customers to leave
with their wholesalers signed orders
for acquisitions, dates and quantities
being blank, little or no Inconvenience
should be experienced. !
"Of course there would be consid- |
cradle confusion at the start and it
is difficult to estimate the amount of
clerical work which would be in
volved. For this reason, We intend at
the start to only require acquisitions !
for large amounts of liquor and, if it |
seems advisable. when the machinery
is running smoothly, gradually reduce
the amount until acquisitions are re-
Quired for all sales for consumption |
off the licensed premises.
AS far as is known, there is no |
place where a scheme, as outlined |
above, has been tried out. Switzer.
land, it is believed, has laws regulat.
ing the use of intoxicants by licens.
ing the purchaser rather than the |
seller. The board welcomes any sug.
gestions along the lines as mentioned |
above, or along any other lines by |
which it can legally check, at the |
source, the present large amount of !
Illegal traffic in intoxicants. |
This regulation will prove imprac. |
ticable without the backing of public |
sentiment. 1t is possible that some |
unforeseen obstacle may render this
plan unavoidable, or that more prac-
ticable method may be suggested. At
present, however, the board feels that,
on account of the emergency which |
has arisen, and in view of the state |
Of affairs existing, regulation along
the lines as outlined is we'll worth
k,;o