TEMPERANCE MATTERS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3052, 7 April 1881, Page 2

TEMPERANCE MATTERS.

[To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sir,—The small joke of your Wairoa correspondent at my expense has created a most lively inteiest among the friendß of temperance and some others to know the fa-ts connected with my 'loings at the Wairoa. With your permission I will detail them briefly. Jn November last I visited the Wairoa, aud held a very successful pnblic meeting re insurance aDd total abstinence. Partly as the result of that, but more especially, I am fatiafied, from the growing conviction that the drink trade is a social-economic and moral evil that tbe country mußt rid itself of if it is to go forward and prosper, I found a number of persons ripe for some decisive action. The little quota I contributed was at the request of the Rev. Mr Riddle, to address his Bible class on the subject ot total abstinence, the result of which was that some thirtyfour youths signed a pledge of total abstinence, and a few adults as well who happened to be present; and, further, that they determined to form a Band of Hope for the Wairoa, to embrace the district. On tbe Wednesday evening I was announced to speak on life insurance and temperance, and despite its being a wet and dark night the County Hall was wsll filled. Tbe chairman of the County Council presided, and the musical talent of the picturesque town discoursed come fine music io a very creditable manner. The result was, as far as temperance is concerned, that several persons took the pledge of total abstinence, the chairman's signature heading the list. The outcome, it is purposed, shall be some association, either a Templar Lodge or Temperance Society, to embody the strong conviction of that community, and help to forward the agitation "which is deepening and widening throughout the civilised world, that the iniquity of the drink trade must be brought to an end. May Ibe allowed, pro bono puhlico, a few remarks on your correspondent's letter. I believe it is generally recogni°ed that nearly all local correspondence emanating from " our own " is of a most unreliable character; that the writers, instead of narrating events and circumstances as they occur, ever write with a bias more or less pronounced. Possibly this kind of thing is inseparable from Fmall communities, but it undoubtedly goes far to destroy any value wbich may a'tach to such communications. Now, Sir, I have not the slightest complaint to makeofthe very small witticism thatyour correspondent relieved himself of at my cost, but having done that, why did he not, as a fair narrator of events, say I spoke on life insurance, wbich was the special object of my meeting ? Again, was it animus or prejudice, or what feeling creditable or otherwise, that led him to enumerate as a cause—if it has any relevancy whatever —of the failure of interest to take steps to secure a medical man for tbe district, the fact that there are three clergymen at the Wairoa (two of wnom, I believe, are entirely supported by foreign aid) ? If he had noted the fact that there are three hotels within gunshot of each other on the banks of the noble Wairoa it would be more creditable to his sagacity as an observer of causes of physical ills, of social immorality, and of monetary inability to maintain the much-needed medical man. It the money absorbed in these places found its way into channels of legitimate trade there would be no need of a community like unto Wairoa to take the hat rousd to enable them to secure the services of a doctor, nor yet to be dependent on foreign gold to pay their ministers.—l am, &c, Wμ. Pbice. Napier, April 7, 1881.