" A BREWER'S " EVIDENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4610, 3 June 1872, Page 3

" A BREWER'S " EVIDENCE.

To the Editor : Sir,— ln the Cross of Saturday "A Brewer" writes ab considerable length, and quotes several bits of news, &0., trying thereby to disparge the teetotal cause. Will you allow me a few words, in reply?— First, on the opinion of the eminent Judge aßeoket, be tries to prove " that drunkenness ia not the offspring of crime." Another Judge, Sir Matthew Hale, held a very, different opinion, viz., " that drink was the cause of three-fourths of the crime committed," and his opinion is supported by hundreds of others in connection witb the jn&ieia'l bench. Some years since a Commission of Inquiry took evidence in all the parishes and convict establishments in England, regarding the source of so much crime and degradation, one result of which was, it was ascertained thata very large proportion of the inmates of these places were once Sunday-school teachers and scholars ; and on questioning each of these separately it was proved that more than two-thuds owed the first steps in their downward course to drink. If it comes to proving fact?, I prefer good, hard, dry statistics to tho opinions or observations* of any man, or any body of men ; and on the strength of these statistics I fearlessly assert that more than half of the crime that is committed is caused, directly or indirectly, by drink. Meantime, Ido nob deny that in some few solitary instances crime precedes the bottle. Second — Your correspondent says, "That the teetotallers of Sal ford are large consumers of opium and laudanum," and questions, supposing intoxicating drinks were done away with, whether some other vice as bad or worse would not take its place. This is a direct charge, and may be true of the teetotallers of Salford. But has this bad habit, or vice, gained the ascendency in any other of the teetotal districts in England, Ireland, and elsewhere? On the contrary, are not these districts mentioned with credit, and quoted in the House of Commons as instances of what tho land might be without drink, as patterns of order, intelligence, comfort, and health ? If druukonnes9 is the uational vice of Britain, it does not follow, supposing that done away with, that we should bo wholesale consumers of opium, &c. Were that so, and the choice lay between these two evils, I should certainly prefer a glass of Whitson's prime XXX. For the information of "A Brewer "and others interested in the matter, I beg to say that we are not going to spend quite all our time discussing a positive evil, but devote a little to seeking tho remedy for it, with this end in view. More than half the Nonconformist Sunday-scholars in Auckland are total abstainers, and in some of the schools more than two-thirds (Newton Congregation for one). Many of these children have never tasted, intoxicating drinks; and, supposing they grow, up thus to be men and women (at present they are pictures of health and strength), will they ever thirst for intoxicating drinks any more than the horse or cow ? No, they •will not. We liave living examples in proof of it. There are those of us who have been thus brought up. The wine cup has no charm for us. We confess it is no sacrifice for us to sign the pledge, and requires little or no effort to keep it. Whether teetotallers are doing good or notjremains to be proved j but this I know, that if every child was thus brought up from the cradle they would never want the intoxicating stimulant, would be far happier and healthier, and when the de« mand ceased it would require no Act of the Legislature to prohibit its sale. This "happy time " may be far distant, but as often as the rosy-cheeked boy and girl sign the pledge it is surely coming nearer. Further, I venture to say that a population composed of such teetotallers, when under the influence of an enlightened education and the guidance of Christian principles, will not succumb to either opium-eating, laudanum-drinking, or any other secret vice. Your correspondent raises another question with regard to ille« gitiraate births in Salford, but, as he does not directly charge this to the teetotal portion of its population, it is not worthy of mention, unless proved. Unlike your correspondent I sign my name, — Yours truly, Noah Wood, Collingwood-street.