"THE EFFECT OF PROHIBITION."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxii, Issue 6456, 28 December 1904, Page 3

"THE EFFECT OF PROHIBITION."

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,-I road with amusement the letter by "Grenadier" in your issue of Tuesday. No doubt he considers himself equal to Sherlock Holmes in his method of mooning and deduntion, and ia gui c satisfied that his conclusion that I am a pedlar of collar studs, etc., is the correct one ; but unfortunately for his reasoning (?)—don't forget the query mark please—and deduction, he is rather wide of the mark. As it happens, I represent one of the be jt known Hrms in iho colony of N.S.W.

My object in replying, however, is nn£ to argue with "(Grenadier," who with all his reasoning (?) and deduction, failed to rightly interpret my le'ter. but to corr^ot any erroneous impression his reply may have made on the minds of your readers.

My letter simply gave my own experience of Ashburton at the present time, and as for any opinions expressed. I w;»s careful to express the opiuion of Ashburtonites only, and distinctly refrained from exp essing my own opinion of the cause of the prevailing slackness of trade in the town. The object of my letter was to give the Ashburtonites a friendly suggestion whereby they could do away with the sly grog shops and also keep more money circulating in the town.

" Grenadier," however, pays no attention to all this, he simply calls me a hawker, and insinuates that I travel round Ashburton annoying the housewives. Considering that my business is wholesale only, I can afford to treat him with con'empt; but I take exception to his call'ng ray letter a " jeremiad," and as it is impossible to apply the term to my letter, I presume like many others, that " Grenadier " is using a word which he doe 3 not know the meaning of, and would advise him in future, when using words of three or more syllables, to study the dictionary before committing himself. Might I suggest, Mr Editor, that you place this letter under the heading of " A Plea for Stats Control " instead of" The Effect of Prohibition," as it is possible, although I hope not probable, that there may be o'bers in the town who are as ignorant as " Grenadier/ and it is just as well to be as explicit with them as possible.—l am, etc., A Business Man. Ashburton, Dec. 28fch, 1904.

P.S. —In reply to the Key. A . Peters, I would merely ask him to read my first letter again, and he will see that E simply mentioned my own experience of Ashburton on this trip, and my letter was really a suggestion to the residents of this town to experiment with State Control. It occurs to me, using a little of Sherlock Holmes' or " Grenadier's " methods, that as the sly grog shoos will be the ouly losers through my suggestion, it is possible that" Grenadier" might be a proprietor of one, seeing that his letter appears to be a deliberate attempt to make your readers misnnderstand my letter and turn the question altogether. I would also remind Mr Peters that a man who has travelled the colony I dare say more than he has, and travelled onlbusiness only, should be a better authority on business matters than a clergyman. I regret that I have to leave to-morrow for Christchurch ; otherwise I would be pleased to challenge Mr Peters and " Grenadier " to a public dehate on " Doing away with Sly Grog SShops," or " State Control " whichever name they like to call ltby.—B.M.