GOVERNMENT PROTECTION.

NZ Truth, Issue 130, 14 December 1907, Page 7

GOVERNMENT PROTECTION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— The Government has passed a GariiinK' Bill which is supposed;^ ; tq 'protect the worker from being ' r nipK. .I" cd .. by the . bookmaker and the tote I bettor. Now, Sir', what 1 want to know is, /Why- don't, the Government ■ib something to prevent the public "• from bein£ • nipped m other ways.. | 6w, I chucked 'up- punting arid tried I hurch. I got damned little out of' jit f arid got nipped by , the parson |retty.considerabl6, and had no ilmnce of drawing' a divy either. So then I " thought I might . as . well spend my splosh sonic other way, nd spent. Sunday picnicing .at Wainui-o-mata. tierc I got nipped . ith sanidflos that bally badly that ■wasn't fit for 'work on -Monday. ow, what's the Government goinf!; !to do about it. I maintain 1 that if Sir Joseph .Ward is true to his principles, ■he must bi-ihg down a j ill next session making it a crimi- '! al offence for parsons to spohge on , the public, and will also make it legal by Act of Parliament for sundflies to bite picnickers on Sunday; ■My wife says this is nonsense, th'e andfl'ies' wouldn't talrel a bit of noice "of the Act. But ; she came round my w-av of thinking 1 when I explained things to her.' I pointed out that any prohibited person could et as drunk as Cirloe' if : h.e ! o, and any decent citi7.en with the necessary : doin could fill himself lip to the back teet-h On a Sunday if he felt 'tihat way, 'that 'any; rurfl'my, that wanted ,a couple ; of quid : on his fancy on. a race day coutd get it. You see, Sir, these sort of laws are made for popularitv?s sake. We are 1 a nation hypocrites, and like to think that : we are m oral. Poli+iciaTis are men . who.haye tumbled. to this, and they .ass laws accorflingily. Nobody, not veh the wowsers^ take Uhe.se'' laws seriously, but they have to he pass■ed ; or" • the m«mh6rs couldn't keen their seats. Now' -I think, Sir, tha^; a Sand fly Bite Protection Bill would ' be a very popular measure, and could hejust as striotlv administered as any other old Bill.— T am, etc., JONAH FAIR GOOSED.