PROHIBITION IN MAINE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11462, 28 December 1897, Page 3

PROHIBITION IN MAINE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —In your leader of this morning’s issue you state that the evasion of the prohibitory law in Maine is “open and wholesale.” You represent Mr M’Nab as an authority for this opinion, but, judging from his reported interview with your representative, it is evident that you have attached a stronger meaning to his words than they were meant to convey. An “ open and .wholesale ” evasion of the law would involve the opening of the hotels in the ordinary way for the sale of liquor, but neither Mr M’Nab.nor any other authority tells us that this is the case. You further gather from Mr M’Nab’s utterances that sectional prohibition' is better than national. Now, Mr M’Nab tells us just the opposite, for be clearly states that the chief cause of the partial evasion of the prohibition law in Maine arises from the fact that it is not national. He says, “The operation of prohibition in Maine is said to have been greatly hampered by the law which prevents any State from shutting out the products of another State of the Union. Thus the fact that liquors could he freely imported into Maine was a serious bar to prohibition getting a fair trial.” In other words, Mr M’Nab tells us that even the partial failure of the prohibition statute in Maine arises _ not from a defect in the principle of prohibition, but from a national law coming into conflict with a State law. As we will not be confronted with this difficulty in New Zealand, the enforcement of prohibition here will be comparatively easy. In your leader you say, “ Many previous visitors have told of the failure to enforce prohibition in Maine.” This is a one-sided statement. You say . nothing of those who have expressed a totally different opinion. Not six months ago, in one of' your leaderettes, referring to the good effects of prohibition in other places, you wrote as follows“ Even more gratifying results were shown in Maine, where, as the consumption of liquor fell off, crime and pauperism decreased, and the money to credit of the people in savings banks increased enormously.” These words were written as late as June, last, and yet this morning you tell us that the prohibitory law in Maine is “ inoperative,” and that its evasion is “open and wholesale.”—l am, &c. # C. PALK. ,