THE DRINK QUESTION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2797, 13 July 1866, Page 5

THE DRINK QUESTION.

To the -Editor of the Daily Southern Cross. Sin,— l find, by your paper of Thursday last, that you have conferred upon me the honour of comment' , ing tipon a letter of mine on the " Drink Question" Which appeared in a former number of your journal, on behalf of , the Temperance cause in this city and neighbourhood. I tender you my most sincere thanks 1 for the 'services ytiu have rendered that important ftocial subject, by condescending to shed the light of your countenance upon it : thus proving clearly that although; you "have no sympathy with apostles of, moral reform,'.' you are not actuated by " narrowminded obstinacy. like unto those fanatical people tailed teetotallers, who "disregard all social and moral laws that do not, square with their own contracted ideas." The nobility of action is worthy of all praise, and cannot fail to raise you eventually to the highest pinnacle of honour in the estimation of all men who reverence a comprehensive intellect and am Unbiassed judgment. There are in my " contracted" opinion so many salient points in your remarks that are amenable to confutation, that were I to answer them all in the way th»t justice to their merits demands, I should be, making the communication too long for your approval. I shall therefore confine my observations to two or three of their leading characteristics . ' Tn the. first place I think you place the supporters of the Temperance cause in a false position by not awarding to, them a common platform of intelligence. , By ignoring the principle of an equality of intellect, you assume a superiority over the premises of your adversaries, which allows jou to arrive at conclusions most consonant to your own ideas, and most unfair to. .those of your opponents. Where, I would &sk, would you look for just, wise, and impartial judges of ,the " driuk question ?" Should, they be Bought for amongst those who are interested in the liquor traffic, or should they be obtained from those persons who are guided more by their pleasures from strong drinks than that of their judgment? Methinks from neither of those classes could an unbiassed judge be found who could hold the scales of justice evenlybetween the traffickers in strong drinks and the total abstainers, for their decisions would be open to serious 'objections, for the dealers might be biassed by their interests, and the consumers by their appetites. But if I were to step out of the beaten toack that the inhabitants of the world have, been making for themselves, during the last century, I should be met with the assertion that T am one of those apostles of moral reform who mar a noble undertaking by narrow-minded obstinacy. In peril of the consequences of such : an accusation, I intend however to continue in the course which my " contracted ideas" haVe proved to me to be the right one, for the support of my physical comfort, the advancement of my; worldly status, ami the promotion of my moral happiness. When I review a portion of the past, and direct my mind to sacred and profane history, I am more rod more impressed with the injustice of yourdogma — that of "the narrow-minded obstinacy" of those who differ with you in opinion. Why the history of mankind from its earliest period down' to that of the present day is full of analogous cases. I hope I shall not be considered a wrong doer, by calling to my aid a portion of sacred writ in order to advance the cause which 1 am now advocating ; but although Temperance is not wholly the Gospel, yet it is in my opinion one of its chief corner-stones, for we are told that "no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom .of heaven." Paul, the disciple of oar Saviour, haVing been brought before Agrippa for preaching » strange and,to the majority of the people, ftn unknown' doctrine, gave, by permission of the king, a description of his life from his childhood, and alsoexplained the principles of the Christian faith. After he had finished, ' ' F estus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad." But Paul replied, "I am not mad, 'most neble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth- and soberness." Might I be permitted to ask who in that court of judicature was the "narrow-minded" person — Paul or Ftstus ? But it requires no reply from me. I could name hundreds of "narrow-minded" individuals who have suffered for conscience sake, not only for theological doctrines, but for scientific principles. Turn to the career of Galileo. He was declared to be not only " narrowminded," but absolutely mad, for presuming to discover that the earth revolved round the sun. I will omit many names that come now before me, for the purpose of referring to a highly gifted nobleman of the present age, who may be taken as a type of a large class' of men of the highest calibre of intellect. lalludetoLord Brougham. That profound genius may be taken, I suppose, to be equally gifted as a public benefactor and an able writer as the gentleman who penned the article I have referred to. Yet Lord Brougham is a teetotaller to the fullest extent of the term, and is doing all in his power to advance the principle throughout the world of total abstiuence from all intoxicating liquors. But weighed in your standard Lord Brougham is " marring a noble undertaking, by his narrow-minded obstinacy and disregard of all social and moral laws" — because his Lordship is a teetotaller and you are not. Sir, I now allude to a passage in your editorial article which has given me considerable pain. The following is the quotation referred to, " Capital does nob regard morality orthe physical improvement of mankind. 5 ' I am sorry to find that there are no expressions of regret made, use of by, you to qualify that true unfeeling'statenienr. It appears therefore that Capi-' tal must be looked upon as a despotism, and whatever may ,be the results flowing from its investment, society at' large are nob allowed to question their nature.' This is the quintessence of political economy, acfl fully carries out the paternal instructions from a father to his son, " My son, go thou iato the world to make money — honestly if thou canst, but at all events make money." During the eighteenth century Great Britain supportedby its laws the infamous traffic in slaves, and it was found that that business returned a profit to the investors of capital therein ; but the immorality of that trade eventually, as we know, caused it to be abolished. Capital used to be invested instate lotteries, and Jfoypaid ; but their unmoral tendency caused them to be stopped. Many other social reforms that have within the last few years taken place can be referred to, but I think it it superfluous to bring forward anyadditional evidence' upon the point. The remarks further add — "It" (capital) is governed by well-known laws." There is no disputing that assertion, for the ' investment of capital in public-houses is governed by laws that are found to be necessarily restrictive in their character. -There' 'are laws regulating the sale of poisons, and also restrictive enactments which the police are charged to see duly enforced One of the latter laws is specially directed against the investment of capital in certain houses which are proved to be plague spots ; but if your doctriiie ware admitted'then every man and' woman would be justified in investing his or her money in any undertaking, or " capital," you tell us, "does not regard morality." I willf,nowj jpass on to the monetary phase of the subjeofc ; but as you do nob dispute the accuracy of the returns, I need not defend that which is unassailable. The life 'assurance, plan' suggested by the Rechabite' Society in their redent.annual report is open to a little comment;.' p am sorry to find' that you have ungenerously- 'substituted the word "impossible" for " improKable;" and by so doing you have thrown a false sconii across the path. The Rechabite report never implied that such a plan of life assurance in New Zealand was "probable"-— would that it we're so ; bat it did state, and I now reiterate the statement, that such a plan of life assurance, is "possible," or •lse the whole superstructure of that science 'is based upon a false < foundation. -When we -find such able mathematicians as Professor de v Morgan and numerous other.actoaries, supporting, during the last ccntury,th&plan of life contingencies, and reducing that science by its. results into a fixed annual percentage, I think it somewhat bold in any one who is not very well versed in the subject to declare the scheme to be an impossible one. , „ - , , , - j ' I will now bring the letter to a close with a few eommenta'tip&n that portion of your remarks which treats of political economy, ' but in doing so I am fearful I shall be treading up ; ou "debatable, grouud, whioh will prove to font- Satisfaction my " narrowmindedness." You put the following question to me, (( Will our correspondent, whoso recently charged the public on the drink question, venture to tell us that an expensive aad'Well-condu'cted distillery, ' if established in Auckland, would not materially lessen the waste»ptoduoed by thedJu-ge expenditure on imported drinkp, and provider reproductive (.employment calculated to-improT* the., community both a morally aad physically T'\. There is involved in this* question sufficient* material upon which a volume could be written, for.facts would have. to be quoted to disprove the allegation that is raised therein ; but I will briefly 'allude' kK one or two of its leading features. In the first place lam greatly surprised to find that you recognise the possibility, of a " moral" result arising from this investment of capital. It certainly does not " square" with your foimerly de-elared-dogriM^fchat-^-Oaprfcal does not regard morality or the .physical /«gtt r .°7« m «} ! ?*< of mankind." .However, 1 wilOetMUjpis^ •$ W! merely. jbe, ingua. 'The $«,«,#& wiflflif Y9#V be. divided, .into, three parts, to answer it properly. lam asked "if an extensive and well-conducted distillery in Auckland would not materially lessen the waste produced

by the large expenditure on imported drinks." My answer to that question will be in the affirmative, for it would save the expense offreight,&c.,and retain a portion of the capital invested .in such *n undertaking in the colony, "«ind provide reproductive employment,,"— ye«, to a very limited extent. But when I come to give a reply to th« last part of the question, whether it would be ' ' calculated to improve the country both morally and physically," I most emphatically answer No ! la the following observations yon Seem to have anticipated the reply, for you say, " Of course we are -prepared to hear that liquor traffic is a ' curse, ' and a hundred other things as fallacious and bad ; but then assertion is not argument, and hard- names do not alter faots." Unfortunately that is too true, or else long ere this the facts connected with our Police dmits, our Gaols, and our Lunatic Auylums would have been altered by reducing their number. To reicue society effectively from its habits' of it will be necessary for every oho to " touch nob, taate not, handle not," for in total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors lies their only safety. — 1 am, &c., OSMCHTD LKWIS, Secretu-y Auckland Total Abstinence Society. June 23, 1866. [Mr. O. Lewis has not only intentionally misquoted us, to give his readew a wroDg impression of our remarks ; but he .has altogether begged the question at issue, and which he himself raised. We must bring this correspondence to a close.— Ed. D.S.C.]