MR M.W. GREEN AND THE MAINE LIQUOR LAW.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3521, 20 October 1882, Page 4

MR M.W. GREEN AND THE MAINE LIQUOR LAW.

" Civis," in last week's Otago Witness, Writes: —Mr M. W. Green, I observe, threatens us -with a Maine Liquor Law agitation. That is a department of politic.-il quackery in which M. W. Gh is eminently qualified to'thrive, and one wonders why he has never taken it up before, Mr W. GK's role is ' conscientious ' legislation, in other words, the forcible regulation of other men's lives and liberties by the conscience of M. "YV. G-.— a very narrow and ill-constructed conscience, if I diagnose it correctly. The principle of the Maine Liquor Law is— Prohibit the use to prevent the abuse. To correct profane swearing, introduce the gng ; to make street brawls impossible, let all men wear handcuffs ; to cure the larrikin nuisance, make it felony for a boy to be seen after dark, restore the curfew, and let us all go to bed at eight o'clock ; to prevent gambling, stop horse-racing, abolish billiard-tables, and decree it penal to possess a pack of playing cards. These are only extreme examples of the principle—Prohibit the v.se to prevent the abuse. It is a principle hateful to every well instructed politician, and not less hateful to every moralist who understands what the basis of morality is. When an eminent English divine some time ago delivered hirveelf of the sentiment ' Better England drunh and free than sober and enslaved " all the geese and all the M. W. G.s (Q- hard, please,) in England cackled and hissed with horror at him. Yet the sentiment is a sound one, though parodoxically put. To get drunk is bad morality, but to lose the liberty to get drunk if one likes is to lose the capacity for any morality at all, good or bad. Igo for all possible Temperance reforms which stop short of depriving a man of bis beer by force—which means depriving him of his liberty. When it becomes necessary, for the safety of others, to deprive him of'his liberty (and his beer) by force, his proper place is the gaol or thelunatic asylum.

The lively correspondent of- the Witness then goes on to say :— A correspondent sends me a list of the events, incidents, occasions, and circumstances under which, or in connection with which, intoxicating liquors may be taken medicinally, supposing—what is hardly snpposable—M. W. G.s Liquor Bill became law. The writer explains that having been accustomed for forty years to a gloss of toddy before going to bed, he is alarmed at the prospect of having his supplies cut off. M. W. G. would allow him his glass of toddy only when the same could be imbibed 'medicinally.' As the result of much thought, my correspondent has evolved the following : — When Grog-Mas , be Taken Medicinally. (As soon as the law prohibiting the sale of liquors comes into operation :) Grog may be taken medicinally— After goose, or duck, or Irish stew, or any delicacy of the season, in which onions may have seasoningly entered. Invariably after salmon. When there is any washing being done at home. When the painters are in the house. When a person feels faint and doesn't know what is the matter with him. When a friend turns up after an absence of several years, or when you are parting with a friend whom you do not expect to see for several years. When a person has the toothache. When a person lias lost at cards, or when a person has come into a large property, and equally when a person has not. When a person has met with a great misfortune, or made a tremendous bargain. When a person has quarrelled, and a reconciliation takes place. When a person is riding in a train, or is on a sea voyage, or goes out between the acts of a five-act tragedy, or before commencing a lecture, or before ascending in a balloon, or after coming off the jury of a coroner's inquest, or when you are sitting np for your wife, or when a friend drops in to smoke a cigar ; and in fact upon all suitable occasions of sadness or merriment,when a person feels in very low or very high spirits. I would add to this list: — When a person has inadvertently read in any newspaper any letter, sermon, speech, or other communication associated with the initials 'M. W. G. I have my doubts whether this code, especially with the last clause added, is not too liberal. But if Prohibition comes in, high class morality will go out, and it will be unnecessary then to stick at trifles.