RE PROHIBITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9285, 12 February 1889, Page 3

RE PROHIBITION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As the licensing elections are now on, and the Ponsonby temperance party have again brought forward the "Prohibition ticket," it will be well for the ratepayers of that district to well consider the question befoue voting day. Ratepayers of any licensing district should remember that hotels in any district are not only for the convenience of the residents of that district, but for the general public. Take, for instance, the Ponsonby district, where there are only two hotels, and any holiday, if myself and friends take a walk there, I find I can get proper accommodation, walk into a well-furnished room, read the paper, call for a glass of beer, or, if my friends happen to be on the temperance ticket, have a bottle of lemonade, etc. If the Prohibitionists had been earnest in their cause, they would have issued that ticket for every licensing district in Auckland, bub they must know quite well it would not be carried, as a great many of the temperance party are against them on that question ; bo they select a clietricb where there are only two hotels, and if they should succeed in introducing Prohibition into Ponsonby, they ruin those two men, and at the same time are enriching other houses within five minutes' walk, but in different licensing districts. If Prohibition is to be the order of the day, get an Act of Parliament passed, prohibiting any importation of spirits, &c, into the colony, and then we should see the colony swarming with illicit stills, &c. I should have thought that Sir W. Fox, who is the principal mover of Prohibition, and one of the candidates for the Ponsonby licensing district on that ticket, would have altered his opinion when, during his recent visit to Melbourne, he with Mr. Ewington and others went through the low dens at midnight, first through the Chinese dens, and then through the first-class brothels, where he must know they sell spirits, &c, and make the unfortunates pay pretty dearly for them, and often get drug. ged. Ponsonby ratepayers, be wise ! Vote for the moderate party, and have your licensed houses under the control of a committee who are respectable residents of your district, rather than allow sly grog shops and brothels in your district, which must reduce the value of your properties.—l am, &c, Moderation,