MRS. ALDIS AND TEMPERANCE WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8565, 13 May 1891, Page 3

MRS. ALDIS AND TEMPERANCE WORK.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—There are spots in the sun, and spots.' I am afraid, in Mrs. Aldis's logic. Still I can join hands with her heartily on all issues, so far as I know her mind, save on that of the drink question. In treating of it, i.e., prohibition, she is so unjust to the " set" who work for it, that by your leave, sir, I would ask her a question or two, to which I would' beg her to give a plain yes or no, as in the sight of the God she loves and desires to honour. I am a radical of radicals, and believe in free trade, even in brains. Mrs. Aldis calls " protection a double-faced sham." Is she prepared to grant free trade in drink * I am. I would instantly cut the drink traffic adrift, to stand or fall on its own merits, aa all legitimate trade must do. The prohibition, " set" desire to be masters only, so far as to secure to the heavily burdened ratepayer the right to say whether they will support legitimate trade, or the bad trade that needa "protection," which with it is still a bad trade, with abundance of the sly-grog selling and a police powerless almost to secure a conviction against Sunday trading and aftec hours. Does Mrs. Aldis mean to say that a majority is necessarily tyrannous except when it favours her own particular fad? Does she believe that the ever-living Christ would range Himself on the side of'the drink interest! seeing that it makes its victims by the thousands; so filthy that it is an unwarrantable reflection on the brute creation to call them beasts. Would He not rather sweep clean such " a den of thieves?" On© p.bove sees at a glance all the misery four walla hide—the unvoiced misery of weak helpless women and children. The instant a publichouse is opened in a new district its demoralisation begins, as witness the Herald's " Owe Correspondent's" report of the Hukerenui gumfield, etc. It has been said that the ** brewers and piiblicans are shaking with laughter over their late triumph." Ido not think it. I think they see closing rpund them a huge wall built up brick by brick— awfut bricks, too, of the dead and dying, cemented by a limitless waste of blood and treasure—as a witness against them, or the traffic rather, that will assuredly overwhelm them, because good is stronger than evil,, God than Deyil. It is indeed well nigh impossible to believe this, seeing that the nations are ever saying, " evil be thou my good." Our legislators are immeasureably more criminal re the drink traffic than are the publicans. They (our legislators) are the guilty partners in a bad trade and believe that in protecting it they protect their own interests—a double-faced sham indeed, and a sorry respectability they throw around it. They might be expected to have the intelli* gence to see that the revenue gained from trading on the vices of the people is worse than wasted by their degradation. The people send these men to make the laws—• hence the necessity of educating them, the people, as to their own responsibility in the matter. I love liberty too well to wish, even if I'had the power, to take artificial stimulants from the people, but I would teach them the penalty their use entails — a clouded eye and brain; a nerveless, tremu» lous hand and step; an alternation of high; and low spirits, of which abstainers know nothing, and a general inclination! to shirk work of all kind. If Mrs. Aldis wishes to assure herself that the evils deplored are not exaggerated I will gladly lend her Booth's " Darkest England." In our hospitals, for instance, the doctor's brain should be ever alert and at its best, since the wrecked and helpless may be brought in at any moment; but if he is only a little " fond of his glass" we know well what to expect, and yet doctors, as a class, are not more sober than other men. Free-trade-ought to be given to "one of the good creatures of God." Why not J It's a wonder such a " god" does not rain down beer, rum, and brandy from its heaven to pleasure thirsty souls. While labouring to educate the many on the evils to body and mind of drink even in what is commonly called " moderation," I would urge abstainers never to lift a finger, directly or indirectly, to remove those evils beyond bringing them prominently before the public. Let the drinkkig community have the full glory of thet " liberty" thereby engendered—the "liberty" to curse their kind with the bitterest curse the world has yet known. With the present sly grog selling it is quite farcical to urge that it would be greater under prohibition ; as sober people may be left to deal with sly grog selling, resj assured. Mrs. Aldis has worked nobly for. woman's rights and against the infamous CD. Act. Why not have left these to the sword of the spirit as well as other evils 2 The sword of the spirit is niigjhty in the hands of the bravely resolute, it is powerless alone, or the world were not what it is. If God casts Satan down from Heaven man must cast his own self-made Satan down to the nethermost hell. Then, but not till then, shall reign righteousness, peace, and joy. Will Mrs. A. kindly answer these without wasting time and space on side issues.—l am, etc., Ellen E. Ellis.