LETTERS CONDENSED

Evening Star, Issue 12674, 30 November 1905, Page 3

LETTERS CONDENSED

" .elector ' says that to ynung political aspirant> much is lorgive-n, but it. is absolutely necessary that tiic-y should at leaat understand their own views upon leading quolions. Speaking at Monuiigton, October 4, Mr liownic .Stewart s.uii : "As to the -(uustioii W;u; he a Prohibitionist o:' not': lie most consistently ro!us,ed to answer that quesLiou. Kvery country had been trying to solve this question m its own way, and in New Zealand they had decidrd to try Local Option. The individual candidate had nothing to do with it. ii tins question was tj be allowed to dominate elections, then he had no wish to go in. A.s a. candidate ho had nothing to do with tho question." Finally, in his letter to the Noliceuso rally of 27th inst., Mi- Stewart said be had "already answered the quest ion if No-license in tlie aliirmal i\e.'' Why the change from October 4 to the position taken up on November 27? "Householder" states that certain children called at his house, Manor place, asking him to voto No licinsu " because kither driuks." Tfaey Mould not tell where they lived nor who suggested to thciu the idea oi canvassins; : but, though they wore shabby clothes, they did not wear them as (hough they were aemstonied to thrin. 'J'hev wrs obviously not genuine. lie yd.L :" I le-ivf it to'all reasonable persons to. apply an adjective to taCLius such as these. If. the children were really tho children of drunken liooks Ihe dodge would bo mean and despicable enough. But to put up other children to play such a. part, to introduce bright young minds to a shameless excess of systematiscd dishonesty —this sixths to me a strangely disgraceful piece of business. Of course, the Nolicenso party will disclaim all responsibility. I only hope that the party will b'e able to make its disclaimer reasonably convincing." " Ant i Hysteria " writes:—"Must not a cause be essentially had when it has to be bolstered up by misrepresentation and deceit? Yesteiday a women called at my i house, canvassing in the No-license interest. 1 treated her with courtesy, of course; but I do not approve of No-licon-:-. and T do not approve of canvassing, and I am afiaid that generally I was not encouraging, iht that, this lady visitor of mine .adopt. .1 a tone not so ladylike. She tokl me thai the object of No-license was to close ileus of iniquity established to entrap voting ran. I smiled, because I have heard ~o nine!, such silly talk lut.Ty that il has censed iu make mo align . although it rontimu-s to amuse mo. This lady caller became still less ladylike, and .-.id. with a sneering superiority which made me positivelv itch to tell 'her my mind, that i.li- could not understand any res|x-eiahle woman with children objecting to a lnoe-ment lo Wo awav with the open bar. 11 is, that statement to which I particularly desire to draw your attention. These N'o license |ieop!.rarc going from honsv- to house titling careless or ill-informed electors that this vote rext Wednesday is merely for or against tho open bar. "Plainly, iiiey stick at nothing when i! comes to -miring votes. 1/ ...hordd advise the opposing party to put before the electors a- plain statement of what No-lieeiise really means. A.s it is. people are being cajoled into voting for a great and ominous evil bH" means of deliberate misrepresentation of its significance and scope. I am not a. church-worker, and 1 am not a prowlinu prude, se. i hat I may not be regarded as really qualified to sneak on this question ; but I am a wife and mother. happy (1 dare say) beyond the average ..f wives and mothers, and 1 want my children to be brought up in a free community. At one time the vice of drunkenness touch, d me. very* nearly. cansed me much sorrow. But because certnin d. ar ones ..I' mine wrc once enslaved by habit, have I .-.ny warrant for seeking to i-ring the whole community under a meaner and ready more Je-rading servitude?" "A Disappointed Kle.-tor" would like to know if Mr A. S. ,\ dams, is without .-, policy. The writer ha.- ait cede.! many of Mr Adams's mcetiiisjs. but falls t-o discover one. As to a certain ..tier neuter, it must -urelv l>e clear !<> any level-headed individual that Miss Morrison's statements were candid and *o the.poi:-. and not. to be lio'iied and twisted to mean this. that, or the oilier, as Mr A. S. Adam..-_ai,d his followers wunld like to infer, .'lure is in old saving '-There are none so blind re those who will not- -ec." and it truly applies t-o Mr A. S. -Adams, and his followers. Tbev laid a trap 10 trip other-, but t'.wy themnelves have fallen in. no matter how thev try to wriggle out of it.