The Hastings Standard Published Daily. TUESDAY, DEC. 8, 1896. PROHIBITION.

Hastings Standard, Issue 191, 8 December 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

TUESDAY, DEC. 8, 1896. PROHIBITION.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the v.ruii','s that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the tfood that we can do.

Ai,Tiior<;» the complete returns for the colony for the Local Option poll are not yet to hand it can be plainly seen that the cry of the Prohibitionists has not prevailed. So far as can be ascertained, in no district in New Zealand have the electors decided for "No licenses." Even Clutha teaches a lesson, for after an experience of three years under Prohibition it has gone back on its colors. Hawke's Bay was looked upon as one of the strongholds where the "top line" erasure would tend to alter things considerably; but the numbers have very plainly dispelled the fallacy. The polling throughout the colony has been the heaviest ever recorded, and may be taken as an indication that the " fad " has been ridden to death. It has been brought with such prominence before the public that the electors have taken the trouble to consider the questions 011 its merits, and have made a very decided motion that it is better for all concerned that licenses

remain as they are. Under strict supervision the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Bill will go far to remedy the drink question. The intemperate language of the Prohibitionists will not in any way aid the object they are striving for. A short time ago a gentleman from Kansas, a Mr Patterson, delivered a lecture in Hastings as to the working of the liquor laws in that State, and asserted that the improvement was so great that the prison in one town had been empty for two months, and there was a proposal to do away with the serpices of the gaoler, except when

circumstances necessitated his attendance. At a meeting in Christchurch on Thursday evening last, at which Rev. L. M. Isitt was present, it was stated by Mr W. W. Collins that according to Fanshawe, an authority which the Prohibitionists never questioned, Kansas has the largest number of persons in its penitentiaries and State prisons of any State in the northwest, and the State authorities had demanded -that the capacity of the reformatories should be increased. The apparent discrepancy between the two statements is glaring enough to lead one to the belief that the Prohibitionist has seen the matter through wrong spectacles. But it is statements such as these that make the average person dubious as to whether any benefit can accrue by going to extremes ; and such statements have no doubt gone a long way to make the voice of the people give such a decided refusal to alter the existing state of things. The electors have plainly stated that the present law is to be preferred to that of Prohibition, and no doubt the ardent followers of the latter cause will adopt tactics different from those so much in evidence during the past few months.