ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 14 July 1880, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

I OUR liquor traffic.

JO THE EDITOR OP THE OA3EAKU MAIL. J —At a time like the present, when -or legislators provide against adulterajjona of the moat harmless kind in articles of food, such as water in milk, &c., is it nut strange that there i 3 no system of inaction whatever as regards the quality liquor supplied in oar public-houses «jd hotels 1 Sir, I am neither a teetotaller jari drunkard, but I cannot help raising me voice in protest against the sale of 110110113 drug 3. Poisons, under the jMcions name of refreshments, deprive ffl ßn of their reason, render their j om es and families miserable, and jfluil tc an alarming extent our aljjjjy overcrowded hospitals and lunatic j.jnma. 13ay, Sir, and I assert it without fjjtof contradiction that it i 3 the duty of every Government to remove from our &ad the crying evil of adulterated drink. ff» have, I believe, already at least one analysing- chemist in each Island; we lave oar University Professors, who maid, I am sure, gladly volunteer their ! ser vics3 in such a cause. Could we not, thon, trust our police to obtain samples of spirits as actually sold to the public, and get them periodically analysed by men of scientific experience 1 If someone Boldinga public position would only take my crude proposals into serious consideration and put them into shape; if some member of the House wonld only introduce a Bill making the sale of poisonous liquors a felony, without the option of fine, the electors of New Zealand at large would soon see who are the true Liberals, and who the true friends of their country. —I am, &c., A WORKING MAN.