THE WAIL OF THE INNOCENTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 284, 25 August 1908, Page 7

THE WAIL OF THE INNOCENTS.

In- every walk of life, we como tho ; individual who' seems by naturo fitted to ■, play the part of tho social wet-blanket. ■■ ' Ho" "w'iiils about this and that—ho is full of _ \ dismal forebodings, ho. even ventures now and again to supplement his large stock-in- . trade of misery by.diro.aud awful prophecy,;, of the terrible happenings which will, or a • surety, como to pass. Ono of tho most pronounced type of this kind of person is the avorago organiser of the " cold tea persua- ' . , . ■' From a pamphlet, which is now being ac- ; tively. circulated, and of course eagerly read and devoutly believed, by "numbers .of the . credulous, it is suggested to us liere in Now . Zealand that we are in a pretty bad waythai wo are easily tho most drunken rf not ■_ the niost immoral peoploin tho wliolo civilised . world. The precious circular roforrod to , would' givo ono the impression that tho anciont-, Romans, in tho height of their excesses, were but children at the com- . pared to the awful stato of affairs in Now Zealand. Now aro wo? _ . ' In tho courso of an intorviow by tho Ho- • raid" reportor (Auckland) on July 17, a. prominent member of a high-class theatrical company says: —"It is a very rare tiling,to seo a drunken Dominion. Evorybody seoms to be as straight nud as law-abiding as any I liavo ovon scon. The samo sontiinent is expressed, by ovory ■ 9110, oxcepting the jaundiced individual who never can see any good in anything or anybody excepting himself. Theso croakers and waiicrs should bo suppressed by law. Will they inform us what is tho percentage of . drunkards in New Zealand? From, official : documents .wo gather ttyt.it is,, simply infinitesimal. A microscope would bo noeded-, to boliold tho quantity, as a mattbr of fnot.. ,' Surely it is disloyal and. libellous 011 thev fair namo and fajno' of tho Dominion for • this so-called""Tempcranco party" to thus attompt to discredit us .in tho eyes of tho world. Comparatively .isolatfcd. cases of excess, wherein indiscretion has brought tho offenders before tho magistrates, aro cited . by our No-Liconso " reformers " as being the gonora] rule. Drink-is held up to ho tho primary cause of man's downfall; 'but any student of the question soon finds out that poverty, insufficient living wage, comfortless homes, elc., are tho real, causes of the trouble.' Will No-License euro a slattern of a woman, and cause her to mend her ways? If you aro Retting Bs. per day, will No-Liconso increase tlio amount to Bs. 6d. by any manner of reckoning? Unless tho workers can assure thomsolves in tlio affirmative on both questions, then,' obviously, No-Licenso is not tho euro • for poverty, whatever our Alliance ifriends • may say to >tlio contrary. • ... • C 905 •