THE 'ENSIGN' ON PROHIBITION.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 213, 10 November 1896, Page 2

THE 'ENSIGN' ON PROHIBITION.

TO the editor. Sir,— We are quite well aware that the liquor 'party are in sore straits just now, and we do not begrudge them your assistance—they will need much more than you can give them — but we do claim that whatever remarks you make should have some foundation in fact, and we think you owe some sort of apology to our party for the untruthful remark iv your leader of the 27th ult., "Every Temperance Society and Band of Hope has been transformed into a Political Committee for securing Mr MeNab's return." You must have known that the meetings which have been organised throughout the electorate by the Temperance party have for their sole object the securing of a no license vote. At each of some half -score of meetings which I have addressed, I have taken particular care to impress upon the audiences the fact that we were not working in the interests of any one candidate, and I know for a fact that scores of persons will vote for Mr G. F. Bichardson and " strike out the top line " of the other paper. We do not object to your fighting Prohibitionists, but we do object to " fabrications." If you are bent on fighting, then fight fair. — Yours, etc., J. G. Ellis. [It has apparently taken some little time for our correspondent to discover that he has a grievance, but nevertheless we have no objections to his airing it after Kis own characteristic fashion even at this late date. When we penned the remark now objected to, we did not assume that Mr Ellis comprised the " Temperance Societies and Bands of Hope," as he appears somewhat egotistically to think. We had it on excellent authority that the machinery for securing a "no license" vote was to be used for the purpose of securing Mr MeNab's return, but of course if we have done the Prohibition movement any serious injury by coupling therewith the name of the candidate we refer to, we shall be pleased to make the most abject apology in our power. A letter appearing below, bearing on another phase of the same subject might be instructive to our correspondent. — Ed. Ensign.]