LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

SPIRITUALISM : A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Sir, —Will you allow mo through the columns of your valuable paper to ilianJk " U.A." for his very able letter on the above subject? Such a letter could not but bo helpful to all young Christians who are seeking to know i the truth about spiritism, and Scripture proves what a curse it has been to all who followed it in davs past, and times, have not. changed. '' G.A. 1 ' evidently knows his Bible well, and I have cut his letter out to make use of on future occasions when people try to prove spiritism is "right." One has only! to prove from the good old Book that such tilings are from Satan, even if. he j may come as' an ; Angel of Light. I will pass on a woe bit. that convinced me of the sins of spiritism. Some spiritualists had asked a certain man to attend their meetings. and lie refused, telling them it was of j lie devil, but they would not have if, ?iWd told him if he attended they would convince him of his mistake. -So ho went. lieu he got to the meeting lie saw a sheet of white paper and some triangular affair on the table, and was told that the spirit would write whatever he requested, so he asked for his favourite line in music. The instrument began to move, and iCon " Home. Sweet Home." -was written, and when asked if that was right he said yes, and the friends began to think he was convinced. But ho was not, and asked that he might make another request, and when given the approve! of the spiritualists he asked that, the name " Jesus" might be written, and what was tho effect? There was a wild scrawl over the paper, but no name there, proving to the spiritualists that it was indeed devilish, as he had said at the beginning, and the people were -.vise enough to see it and threw the lot in the fire. Paper and writing apparatus found a safe resting-nlace there, where everything else connected with spiritisn't ought to lie. Oh! friends, lwvvare o' this terrible, agency ot Satan, and leave dark things alone. If you do not you will have your eyes blinded so that you will not be able to see. Trusting this may help someone, and not wishing to argce with anv- - one who may try to sny this is not fact a = I know it to I)*?. Leakxeh.

THE MA UK [I DISTRICT. . Sir, In reading tho account of the meeting ilie I'ranklin Licensing- Committee in voir, issue of the 7th inst., re the application for the renewal for the Mauku Hot,-], I notice it. was granted because the cornmit.tec. consul r,.j the proposed improvements l>eing made we;,- ample for such an out-of-the-way pi aci< us Mrtttku. Kindly allow me, sir, to take exception to the latter assertion, as the situation of the Alauktt Hotel is vcrv far from being an out-of-tho-way jilace, for it is on the main coach road to Waiiilcu, and within half an hour's drive of Pnkekohe railway station by a good metal road. The remark made by the committee. might have appked when, 1 first was planted in it in 1358, for it was a badcblook then, but is far from being so now, as the district has ©very advantage which civilisation requires. Heywood Cnisru. LEGISLATION AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. ' Sir, —In your issue of yesterday I notice a paragraph in which your London correspondent. gives an account of an interview between a Mr. W. ,T. Napier and Mr. Roosevelt. According to your correspondent the President asked the question, How does the legislation affect private enterprise, and has it fettered individual industry in any way? Mr. Napier assured him that it had not, and told the President that "on tho contrary, the more New Zealand extended the functions of the State the more it freed individuals to €,•)!bark on other enterprises and engage in other spheres of activity.' Now, sir, as' a looker-on at the game, I must say that the answer to tho President's query was in my opinion contrary to fact. My experience has taught me that much of the legislation in this country during the past 14 years has had an entirely opposite effect, having a tendency to put capitalists, and employers out of action, who would, under fair and reasonable legislation, be willing and eager to embark in the various enterprises, and thus givo employment and circulates money that, now He's stagnant or is being' taken from here to other countries, where the man with tho money is not looked upon as a ghoul, and where the capitalist is protected as well as the labourer. Now, sir, as I am only a poor man I am not holding up the end of the stick for the man with the dollars, but I say this: Let us keep all the money we can in our own country ' God's own country"— making laws, that will protect .all classes' in all walks and industries, instead of the onesided legislation of to-day, which has a tendency to protect the idle and the impecunious and oppress the thrifty, hard-working, saving, and industrious. The latter class have been steadily leaving our shores as opportunity offers; the former we still havo with lift, and they are being constantly reinforced by others /rom Australia and elsewhere, attracted no .doui t by the legislation and the Government that suits them. 1 know of many case® of New Zealand-born young men, who are sons of the pioneers of these is'es, who hav-- left the land of their birth—reluctantly became exile because they could find no encouragement ft: their industry or energy, or protection for their investments' here, under the laws of this Government. Among some of these young men whom I have in . view, seven went- to the Argentine Republic, where we are led to believe that person or property is not too •>c '-■ui'o; hut there they elect to stay rather than return to their fatherland and become drones and noneties. LOOKEK-ON.

THE TOTALISATOR. Sir,—ilr. G. G. Stead, in his letter upholding the totalisator, lias shown, according to his figures, that gambling lias increts<ed about , 200 per cent, in the last 15 years: i but that is. a -very low estimate of the animal increase. Ho dots not inform the public the amount of gambling the totalisator causes, apart from what is recorded 011 it. He does inform them that the small investor, can gambit* on the totalisator •as well as the wealthiest, or, in other words, has equal opportunities;-'but how can a poor man, who is compelled to invest a pound on the totalisator, have equal opportunity with a rich man? The poor man fools the loss 01 the pound. The rich man does not feel the loss of his investment, however large it may be, which proves Mr. Stead is wrong, and goes to show the totalisator affects those who cannot afford it. I would like to knowwhy Mr. Stead is so strong an advocate of the totalisator, when it is a well-known fact, that lie himself never invests on it. Why should lie champion that which he will not patronise? Is it not the rich stakes, which the profits from the totalisator enable the clubs 10 give, and which are often won by Mr. Stead, that are the reason of his being so favourable to the totalisator? The thousands of pounds gambled with bookmakers, the great increase of that fraternity, the incentive to gamble to old and young, rich and poor, the great number of police prosecutions against bookmakers and others, the impoverishment some of the working and gambling classes have to suffer, and the many infringements against the law are frequently caused by the totalisator; The Government have made it an offence to bet with any person under the ago of 21. How many thousands are there that put money on the totalisator that are not of that age, and yet do so openly, and no notice taken by the police? Why should they refrain from doing their duty? In my opinion I unhesitatingly declare the totalisator to be the most iniquitous Thing ever thrust upon a public community. It is demoralis- . ing in its influence, and it frequently causes the law to bo broken. Surely it is the duty of tho Government to suppress and not increase opportunities for crime. The totalisator has increased gambling a great deal more than Mr. Stead makes out if has. It i« too severe a strain oil the public on account of the excessive percentage charged, and as a medium of gambling anyone investing on it must eventually lose. The abolition of this machine would be one' of iho 'vs»t, ?f not: the best. Acts the present Government eotna pass, because it would nr.- \ 'J< bfineiti a vast 'majority >A the J pe«. £*'■•*> New Zealand, j Anti-Tot.v

! THE CITY HOTELS. J ' >>.—ln your if:.,-- of -;in» v tli.' Lit .;•••.%•, } : - •-,:nmitte© are c.-cii" fit? v<> .olio-" : • pjonoancement:—" Tlie committee eon.mo- ! «■ the employment of ' .-V : tho b-. 1 l.'Mt® licensed prom! •• ••• a< ■ » th ■ ' •'ijiempcrai.w, st?!.' 1 i.. oVrrtwi i is Lest interests of the nsimuuitj-'. Tit. -Tmmitteo senile' warn license). I i vir'i , 't.i of the oi;, " at pi • -L' opinion i, jirongly against females being omplovcd in the bars of the city hotel*, and would earnestly invito their co-operation during the coming 12 months in bringing xbaut a mucliceded reform at their own instigation, to thou- the community a conciliatory spirit, rather than an antagonistic otic, in the conduct of their hotels. Pending stops being taken 011 the part of the trade in the direction indicated during the coming 12 months, tho committer refrain from taking anv.derisive action until the next annual meeting." This is ft wicked misuse of statutory power. What right has the Auckland Licensing Committee to attempt to coerce tho hotel-

keepers in till? matter? The only way' In which this could 1*» ' clone would be by an . amendment of tho law, but any such amend• mcnt would be as unrighteous as the present local option Jaw Will 'th<« i-omwittee wh<;»' : «s-3 so cruelly, surest the Auckland barmaids.; should Ih> thrown out of employment thtl -;v-£j some othc:- employment for them? Es_ is..rV'.-si unfortunate that the hotel employees (in- : " eluding barmaid") are not registered it *- "" trades union. If. such were tlio • case • tn» -"A meeting of barmaids to consider ; pronouncement of the Licensing Committee /y.y? would probably bring to light wme whole- , y some truths m well as teach the members . i of that, body some useful lessons in Christian charity. lr is very easy fo» persons ...y.;;;. occupying a statutory position to protend. that they are tho persons without sin and are therefore justified in throwing stones, but tho [rood sense of the community .will rebel against the gratuitous assumption of the Licensing Committee that barmaids' are v , a factor in youthful intemperance. , I advise the barmaids and other hotel eniployi^ff* ; to form themselves into a trades union 'to : v! fight sue!) unjust aspersions on their characters. and 1 ion quite prepared 10..|r»v« my services aratis to initiate such a union- '. i to combat, thi« most unjust proposal of acommittee acting without l;'niM:itive au- : ; thority. The spirit which suggests tin* embargo on barmaids is the san<«* spirit which biui>-d Protectants ill tie' reign at Mary, wli it burned Roman Catholics in tiia reign of c.liz • .»'th, which destroyed the Cltutcli , of K tig land in lie,, time of Cromwell, and . ' destroyed Puritanism at the time of the Restoration. It is the spirit that governed, the massacre of St. Bartholomew It is the y mi-Christian spirit of the New Zealand no- .yi lUer.se law It is for the voters menaced by this body of men to formulate a counter-..' yy blast to the iniquitous suggestion. _ v .J DtiO.N- \\ ART.).