THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9014, 29 March 1888, Page 3

THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —It has given me great pleasure to read in your valuable paper during the past few weeks the correspondence between our two leading merchants Messrs. John Buchanan and L. D. Nathanupon one of the principal questions of the day, viz., the drink traffic, and I, with many others, have been waiting patiently for Mr. Nathan to tako up the challenge thrown down to have a public discussion to elicit the truth upon this burning question, as no doubt the trying times we are at present passing through will cause people to think more, and will be the means of sowing the seed of temperance in many homes, and inculcating in the minds of the rising generation provident and temperate habits. Every right-thinking man and woman must admit that intoxicating liquor is a " national curse," and we must wipe it out by elevating the people above the temptations of alcoholic drinks, and the cure would then be effectual. Mr. Nathan states in his letter " that no good can follow from the controversy." In that he is entirely wrong ; the people should be plainly told the misery of their present life is of their own creating, and we should have public discussions and lectures (similar to those given by Dr. B. W. Richardson and others in towns in England) to teach them how to remedy the same, help them forward by showing them their own strength, treat them as men fit and .able to act for themselves, and they will then soon sweep away the public-houses from the face' of our fair land. The State is regarded too much as a kind of providence to relieve men of the ills they have made for themselves. The mass of people regard the State too much as a kind of nurse or second parent. Mr. Nathan falls into the common error (that all people debating on the side of drink invariably fall into) of the loss of revenue if prohibition were adopted. I must therefore tell him that Mr. Gladstone, in his reply to a deputation of brewers (consisting of Messrs. Allsop, Guinness, Bass, and other M.P.'s), who, in urging their demands, spoke to him of the millions of revenue derived from the liquor trade. The Grand Old Man at once replied to the point by telling them to give him thirty millions of sober people ana the difficulty of raising the revenue would not then cause him a moment's anxiety. If the money that has been spent in the past upon drink alone in Auckland had been placed to a better use there would be no cry of depression now, as a man cannot both eat his cake and have it. We shall soon be in the throes of another election in Ponsonby ; and a.s the eyes of the people of New Zealand will be upon us we want the battle fought out on the broad lines—public-houses or no publichouses, and we will stand or fall by the result. " What we have most to desire is to make our countrymen think" (W. E. Gladstone).

Arouse him, then ; this is thy part: Show him the claim ; point out the need, And nerve his arm and cheer his heart; Then stand aside, and say, "God speed 1" —I am, &c., C. G. Daley.

TO THE EDITOK. Sik, —Instead of indulging in badinage, sarcasm, and misrepresentation, would that " Fair Play" had devoted his considerable powers to calm discussion of the question. I do not believe for a moment that it would be to the disadvantage of the publicans and brewers if every jDublichouse in Auckland were closed. Iso doubt they would lose in money, but they would gain in position, character, comfort, ancl happiness. Even the money loss would be temporary, for they would subsequently be doing business in a much more prosperous community. It is scarcely possible that they should not share the benefits. Money is nob the only thinjj worth living for, and if " Fair Play" could make an unbiassed investigation into the history of those engaged in the traffic •who may have come under his own observation, he will admit that it is not the best trade in which he could be engaged. I have met a good many publicans, but not many who liked the business. " Fair Play" should not therefore despond, but address himself to the exigencies of the situation. In the worst case, according to his ideas, if he is a publican, he would be freed at once from the restraints of regulation and a trade that no man loves. My opponent proceeds on the assumption thab the publican's is an innocenb and

necessary trade. The article is exceptional. Let him scan the list of imports, and he will find no class of goods, outside of these liquors, that men can speak of in the same manner. In an earlier age, when our forefathers drank more freely than the present generation, they still recognised the excesses and immoralities connected with the traffic. So it has been in all nations, so throughout all time. -Would "Fair Play " be hardy enough to advocate freedom with regard to this trade ? Nob he, for he insists on privilege being given to a class. He speaks of competition on the part of temperance reformers, but his trade is based on monopoly. A brewer secures a property and then obtains a license. At once his venture for the most part becomes a capital speculation. His neighbours' property, however, for a considerable distance round gutters depreciation. Does this process v.in "Fair Play's" approbation? Is it jti.il ? But how do the public fare from the establishment of these blighting institutions? Let judges, police magistrates, and ministers of religion tell the result. Let condemned criminals execrate the hour they ever entered through them on the road to perdition. Let scantilyclad wives and famished children give their whispered verdict, and it will be against our needless and noxious bar system. Mr. Gladstone was right when ho declared that) the calamities accruing from the drink traffic were worse than the combined evils of " war, famine, and pestilence." We respect the rights of property, but must protest against class privileges, which, as we have seen, violate these rights. "Fair Play" descants on two main fallacies First: the new houses he alludes to will not be useless and unremunerative. They will be only so for the purposes for which they were intended. In a city like Auckland, they will be required for other and better uses. Nor is there the slightest doubt, occupying as they do the best trade positions in the city, that they will yield a fair amount of interest on capital. Second : I deny pointedly, and in this public manner, that the temperance committees were the cause of the new houses being built. They may have been the occasion, but that they are responsible for their erection in any way, morally or otherwise, is absolutely untrue. Brewers and publicans wished licenses for certain houses which did nob comply with the requirements of the Act, and the committees refused to give them. Then the parties interested proposed to erect better buildings. Fulfilling the functions of their public office, the committees considered the houses on their merits, and gave the license, or refrained, as they saw fit. On being asked as commissioners in City East, we refused to bind ourselves, and explained, what was obvious enough, that we could not bind our successors. This question, however, is in no way mixed up with prohibition in Ponsonby. There are none of the houses alluded to by " Fair Play" in that district. The vested interests we sometimes hear of in relation to the drink traffic are limited. I trust, therefore, that the ratepayers of Ponsonby will decide on prohibition, seeing the circumstances are so favourable, and show that the hearths and homes, that virtue, and honour, and goodness, and blessing, are first in the estimation of our fellowcitizens. — am, etc., John Buchanan.