Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2248555

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FRANKLIN DISTRICT.

To tJie Editor of the Daily Courier.

Franklin, Huon, 12th June, 1854.

Sir,-The gond effects of the presence amongst us of an active Police Magistrate are rapidly developing themselves. The laws, hitherto outiagcd with undis- guised defiance, are being sternly-enforced, and their supremacy vindicated. Their power to chastise evil- doers and to uphold the well-disposed is made visible to all ; and hence ty is the lawless and turbulent have become affrighted, and the good and well-con- ducted encouraged. May the good work now com- menced receive no check. Such is the universal prayer of us all I

The great evil in the district of the Huon was the unchecked and almost general sale of spirits, &c, by unlicensed persons. Go where one might, the sly grog shop presented its disgusting features. Crowds of drunken men and women, cursing, blaspheming, and giving utterance to the most obscene language, met you in every portion of the district. There appeared to bo no remedy-no means of abating this terrible calamity. If we asked, why do not the police enter these dens of vice mid seize upon their contents ? - we were told that the laws were so defective that unless positive proof of the sale of spirits, mid payment made to the parties selling it, could be produced, the offenders, well-known as they were, could not be molested. The difficulties and expenses attending such a mode of proceeding wore so great, that com- parative impunity became extended to a host of sly grog sellers. Indeed "sly" became an improper expletive when applied to such distributors of " hell broth," - for, in view of and under the very eyes of the legitimate spirit-dealers, they carried on a but too

successful trade.

A chango takeB place in the Police Magistracy of the district - and, lo 1 what a difference it makcB to the grog-sellers. What a change it creates in their destinies, and in the consequent condition of the

district.

Within the last two days some of the most noto- rious grogshops have been forcibly entered by the poliee, acting under search warrants foundedupon the informations of the district constable ;-a mode of

action fully authorised by tito laws. The stock seized by the police in some of those bute would have been quite enough to establish in good business an aspiring licensed victualler. Every suspected hut and house is to be entered in the saino way, and from the consternation already created amongst the legions of sly grogdom by the steps already taken, there can be little doubt but that their complete overthrow may be shortly anticipated.

If Air. Fenwick never did an abler act as a police magistrate, this oue alone entitles him to the warm gratitude of every well-wisher of the Huon Settle- ments, and to the thanks of every one desirous of «¡eing ii terrible evil abated. Bat this is not the only good he has done Another mode of distributing spirits not less mischievous, but apparently legal, had been resorted to in this ill-fated and ill-governed district. It was this : - Every one who had ten pounds to spare took out a wholesale licence. Tho Colonial Treasurer had it not in his power to refuse any application inado for such a purpose by a free person. What the object of getting a wholesale licence in such a district as that of the Huon is may be readily conjectured. It was simply paying ten pounds to make a conviction for sly grog selling more difficult. This is notorious. However, Mr. Fenwick has found out a remedy to supply the want of an alternativo to the Colonial Treasurer. It appears the Act of Council 9th Geo. IV., No. 5, makes it indis- pensable that the licence should be countersigned by the police magistrate of the district before a drop of spirits, wine, &c, can be sold in virtue of it. This is the remedy provided by tho law against the admis- sion of improper persons into the trade of wholesale spirit merchants. That remedy has hitherto never buen applied, and the result is, that the whole district is overrun with wholesale spirit merchants I »Some of these persons have been treated in exactly the same manner as the grog-sellers, and it is remark- able that the entire stock-in-trade of the " merchants" did not nearly equal that of some of the illicit " retailers." This fact alone proves the absurdity of giving whole sale licences to such persons, and indicates great neglect upon the part of a former Police Magistrate in. permitting such an evil when he had it in ids power

to abate it. - . ~

There is, however, reason to fear that just as we were about to experience for the first time the benefits of a prudent and energetic administration of the laws, the inconveniences and hardships incidental to his extremely uncomfortable position in reference to accommodation for his family are about depriving us of his valuable services. It is to be hoped, however, that such will not be the case, and that His Excel- lency, assisted by the Council, may be induced to make some arrangements, in regard to the police of the district, which may tempt Mr. Fenwick to remain with ns. If for no other purpose, his services in put- ting down drunkenness, and to a great extent re- establishing the supiemacy of the laws in this hitherto d ¡moralized locality, cannot nor ought not to bedis p ¡used with by a' Government solicitous for the welfare of its people. W¿ are grateful to the Executive for having placed such un officer in such an important position ninongst us ; and we shall regret if any want of consideration for the necessary accommodation of Mr. Fenwick upon the part of the Government com- pels him to take a step which it is already rumoured he ccmtcinphitos.

His salary, it is well known, is inadequate to meet the expenccs ol' his present mode of doing the duties of his office. Ho must cither neglect those duties, or make unfair inroads upon his income. This is not just, cither to Mr. Fenwick or to the district, and ought to be at once remedied. The difficulty of making efficient and satisfactory arrangements for the police management of tho Huon district evidently arises from not attaching Kingston and Brown's River to Hobart Town. There could be no valid or reasonable objection to such a proceeding, and it would at once get rid of the difficulty. The Huon might then be constituted a full police district, under «no head, with perhaps the assistance of a second magis- trate with a moderato salary. At all events the present arrangements aro unsatisfactory and cannot last. They are unjust to the magistrates and incon- venient to the people.

Would not, Sir, the topics here suggested be worth the most anxious and serious consideration ?

Cacx.

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