CORRESPONDENCE.

Northern Advocate, 17 December 1887, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

(We are not responsible for the opinions oj correspondents. JFriters must give their names, not forpttblication, but as a guarantee of goon faith.) (To the Editor). Sib, — The simple effusion of "A bounty Elector," that appeared in your issue of the 3rd inst. would certainly have passed by me unnoticed only for the melancholy fact that my late dear brother, though wholly innocent of the false and slanderous allegations preferred against him, had been, held up for the last twelve months, as the very incarnation of tha evilgenius that overset the -wonted harmony of Waipu in connection with the so-called "Bogus Ratepayers." The whole colony knows, by this tune, what a tornado of an ultra-temperance revolution has swept over the settlement; yot; curiously enough, we have been all calm and undisturbed, plodding our usual routine of every day life. Now and then w« were amused by correspondence and articles published in a sectional portion of the press, startling us with romantic reports of orgies and horrors alleged to have taken place in our midst j but on further inquiry these temporary ripples of sensation suddenly collapsed on discovering that their origin had been only clumsy repetitions of the " Three black crows," purely, resulting from the undisciplinei and morbid imaginations of a very few weak minds. All medical adepts well know, that such mental idiosvneracy cannot help concentrating all its feeble powers upon some accidental idea that gradually develops into a chronic hobby, and destroys all capacity for generalization. To minds so constituted trifles, unobserved by others, become to ythem momentous events, keeping them in contentious ferment, with .the innocent delusion that on their own individual exertions hangs the^ate of Cato and of Borne. Though such afflicted persons are really objects of commiseration rather than of censure, yet they become grievous elements of disturbance in quiet i^d otherwise orderly communities; for the moi? respectable and sensible Betttw leave them* undisturbed to the full enjoyment of their hobby ; and a few congenial in&dawttl always be found to encourage the hobhy»tpianjjer. and thereby gain a little notoriety for thenjselves that they cannot otherwise attain by any original talent of their own. Unfortunately these susceptible temperaments are periodically inflamed by ignorant itinerant lecturers who, from self-interest or fanaticism, make it their sole object to keep up the ferment that rakes in the subscriptions and collections. These, with their discordant tin whistles, endeavour to suspend God's immutable laws of sociological evolution, and ignorantly strive to thwart his glorious design by erratic and abortive legislation, turbulent combinaiipns and cerebral derangement. I have always been a devoted supporter of the temperance oftuse, and received,) in Melbourne, an iiltuainated complimentary testimonial from Mr Butnet, the "Apostle of Temperance," lor the assistance I gave him through the press aud at his publio meetings. I do not mention this for vainglory, but omy, to show the difference of his mild and effective system contrasted with the abusive, virulent, injudicious and tyrannical methods prevalent in New Zealand, where every person, however worthy and temperate is howled at with .incessant vituperation, unless he fall down aud worship the blue ribbon. These methods, in. obedience to the universal law of the conservation of forces, must result in a corresponding re-actidn most disastrous to the cause of temperance. It is a singular fact, though seemingly a paradox, that the much vilified Mr Simson, during the term of the clublicense, did more here towards the suppression of illicit traffic in liquor, than all the efforts of , the licensing committees, police raids, and blue rbbonite fulminations all massed together: And that license was annulled, not for any proved mismanagement or misconduct on his part, but merely on the official ground that he had inadvertently neglected to forward the required periodical return to the Government within the necessary time. It has now become self-evident that we cannot restore harmony, I or suppress sly ( grog-selling except by getting a license for a properly conducted hotel. The wonted good character of the settlement has been blasted by the unscrupulous misrepresentations of a comparatively late arrival, although no abnormal indulgence has occurred, during his residence ; and the settlers have uniformly continued in their steady, temperate, sensible and respectable career as of old, notwithstanding the persistent and contemptible efforts made to exhibit Waipu as the " dreadful example " of the colony. The alleged bogus ratepayers, including the sons of many of our most respectable and substantial old settlers, are pretty evenly divided between both parties, thus balancing the voting to its equitably normal condition. Our gumdiggers, moreover, are a very superior and intelligent class, and many of them have been residents in the settlement for years, and- become virtually incorporated with our stationary population. " A County Elector " is evidently a mere tyro in political economy when he 'calls for more legislative interference. This meddling, domicilliary legislation is. one of the great drawbacks to the progress of the colony, cramping the) native energy, independence and self-reliance of the people, and more interference in that dowdward direction would only agravate an already excessive evil. . D. MoLbod. I Waipu, December 6th, 1887.