THE PONSONBY ELECTION.

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

THE PONSONBY ELECTION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The readers of the Press have been fairly well surfeited with correspondence relating to the Ponsonby licensing election, much of which is conspicuous chiefly for the personalities that abound in them. The question about to be decided to-day at Ponsonbyprohibition or non-prohibition — not only absurd, but actually contrary to the recognised rights of meum and tuum. We shall next have gentlemen desirous of retaining only one, or a limited number of tradesmen in a certain district, advocating that others shall not be permitted to carry on their vocation. As one correspondent stated, commerce nowadays is a question of the survival of the fittest, and it is quite certain that the man who vends good wares at the lowest possible remunerative prices, and who conducts his business on straightforward principles, is sure to prove the survivor in the struggle. So wrote your licensed victualler. By selling the best of articles necessary to his calling, by conducting his house on lines which can only command success, lie will prove himself the survivor. This establishment will become a very useful and much sought-for sojourn for travellers from every quarter. The catch cry that all evils emanate from the sale of drink is as absurd as it is untrue. The abuse of all things proves an evil. Even money, the great) lever, can be abused. But I maintain that all our great criminals (and that is the chief cry of my temperance friends) are men of sobriety. Forgery, embezzlement, burglaries, murders "bv slow poison (unfortunately none too rare) are the outcome, nob of men who lack self-control to abstain from alcohol, bub from the very opposite. Look at our own city, and I refer with sorrow to its present depressed state. Have our principal failures been caused by traders who call themselves moderates, or by total abstainers? I think if a report was compiled, we should learn some sad but stubborn facts. Electors of Ponsonby and other districts weigh well the issues that are submitted to you. There are evils rampant amongst us far more serious to ourselves and our children than the question whether a man can command self-control or not. Respect the rights of your fellow-citizens and you may rest) assured they will respect yours.—lam, &c., Moderation.