THE L.S.D. OF PROHIBITION.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 211, 5 November 1896, Page 5

THE L.S.D. OF PROHIBITION.

TO TUB El>lTO3t. Sin, — Your article on this subject has acted as the usual red rag, and I hope you will.survive the attacks of " Optic " and the . reverend, but bellicose, Wd.U,iee. Since a ' Clinton correspondent showed up Mr j Wallace's figures, I am not inclined to accept the reverend gentleman as an authority on statistics, but doubtless he is able to prove anything to the satisfaction of those who agree with him. To talk of the anxiety of Prohibitionists and teetotallers to pay increased rates under " no license " is to utter arrant nonseose. To talk of the reduced income of boroughs showing improved results in fallacious ; for reduced receipts mean reduced expenditure on works. I would ask the Rev. Mr Wallace to say whether the business men and tradesmen in Clutha district consider that business has improved under Prohibition rule, and if be is not already aware it has decreased I, at all events, am. My acquaintance of Clutha and Mataura is probably as wide as that of your reverend correspondent, and, from what I hear and see every day of the week, I feel safe in giving him the straight tip — that Prohibition will not be carried in Mataura, and that Clutha will reverse its last decision. — I am, etc., A Ratepayeu.