DRING ABOLITION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIV, Issue 7690, 6 December 1899, Page 4

DRING ABOLITION.

IO TUB EDITOR.

gxn, I havo beon much lii conversation with mon latoly anont the coming vote on Hconaoa, and if you can spare mo the space for a fow oommontß I Bhall fool obliged. It ia very chooring to note the strong and gonoral fooling that no-liconao ia tho thing, and that no-Uoonao 1b coming. But discordant notoa aro still hoard, and I propoßo to note four or fivo argumonts amoDg othora I havo heard to aupporb the open bar system and oppoao tho grand reform. Thoae aro tho following, and I append to each my own romarka. They say 1. "To voto no-lioonso ia to interfere with tho liborty of tho subject."—l could Hay much on that point, but refrain. I find it vory generally adinibted that when threefifths of tho people dooido that it ia against tho ooinmonwoal for fchoso bara to exist, it ia much against tholr liborty to prohibit them from putting their opinions into practical foroo; and tfiat when two-fiftliß of the pooplo only wish an inourablo " cancer in tho body politic" to romaln, it ia iniquitous that they ahould bo allowed to havo their way, Bettor to intorfero with tho liberty of two-fiftha, than with tho liberty of threefifths of tho whole. 2. " Tho fault is nob in tho use bub in the abuao."—l undoratand, howover, that medical meu aro now vory largely agreed that tho nao of alcoholic liquors a 8 boverago3 in hoalth ia both unnecessary and in the main injurious. If they aro correct, lb follows tho trado in suoh liquora aa bovoragea ia both unnecessary and prejudicial. I hold that Buoh unnecessary uso ia evil, bocause it loads to Buch abuse, ancl thab this is proved by tho admitted contention that without tho uso thero could bo no abuse 3. •' Ono portion of tho trado (Canon Farrar oalla it tho anti-trado) is good, the other bad. Keop tho good ; oliminato the Tho boab regulabed laws keep up the ouatom of drinking bettor than tho worst, and tho best liquors croato in many a craving for themsolvoa. The respectability of auoh laws la kept up outwardly by driving drunkards as thoy dovolop to lower bars, but thoy aro roaponßiblo for firab cultivating tho ta«to. Ia it good to do thia'! 4. " Prohibition ia against Bible principloa and nob tho will of God."—The reoonb appeal from tho Council of tho Churohoa to tho pooplo to voto no-license, aignod by 110 mlnistors of Otago and Southland, should make those who aay thus reconsider their "say." Ono friend I me?, who had boon an abstainer for 20 yoars, was nob a Prohibitionist. 1 found ho agreed to tho prinolplo of total abstinence on behalf of tho weak brothor aa propounded by St. Paul in Romans 14, but ho had nob observed thab in bho aamo chaptor tho following paisago occurs: "So then every one of us Bhall give account of himsolf to God. Let ua nob, thoroforo, judge ono another any more, but judgo this rather thab no man pub a stumbling block or occasion to fall in his brother's way." If bara and their assooiationa are nob "stumbling blooka" and " occasions to fall" whab aro 1

5. 41 lb ifl going to create & greater evil than wo havo at proaonb."—Tois is the grand bogio uaed by thoao who are fearfully indifferent) to the evil as it at presont exißts, or too muoh intoroated in ib to have it alborod. And aomo ournoßt men have been Bcarod. Olutha ia reforrod to; and of courso thoro uro two atoriea about Clutha—one, that it is in a worse atate than bofore tho othor, thab ib ia bobtor. Ib muab be lefb to tho common aonae of thoao who havo nob tho fftoba bofore thom to judgo whioh side is tho more likely to oiroulato the mosb truth, whilo to thoao who havo bho facta laid boforo thom ib would bake othor than common obnso to question tho benefits Clutha has derived. It) ia to bo romembored of courso that the Licensed Victuallers know bhab Clutha would bo an objeot leßßon for tho colony at this olootion > and bhab bhoy would accordingly concentrate their enorglea on annulling tho forco of bhab lesßon. If drinking has increased in tho Clutha homes, how ia ib that although throo wholeaalo liconaea were taken oub in tho olootorate Boon after no-licenso camo into forco, two of theso havo lapsed And only one now exists? Though sly grog-aolling oxiatn, it cannob bo in the aggregate a worao ovil than the other, for crime In spito of ib ia enormously roducod. Thoße who assort that) there is moro drink sold, virtually arguo that tho moro sold the lesa orimo, bocauae official atatißtioa prove thab orirro haa groably decreased. No aane man thoroforo will accopb their assertion. If it wore true, why is Olutha oxpocted to poll a abronger voto than ovor, and Bruco, the adjoining electorate, to follow BUlt ? Prohibition orders against) drunkards are a case in poinb. Lftsb week a Jusbioe of bho Peace gavo mo hlB exporienco on bho bench. He said : "It aeoma oo bo debasing to somo bebauao thoy aob illegally and geb worao stuff: bub mon of a bettor principle, who scorn to gob ib illegally, arc saved." A policeman, however, wenb farther. He said, "Of courso they find ib harder to get ib, and ib atoadlos thom a lob." If bhis is so with liconaed bara all round, what may we oxpeob in reforonoo to confirmed drinkers aftor tho bars havo cloaod, and what moro may wo nob oxpeob of moderate men, who havo hlbhorbo honored tho law. With regard to ib boing debasing to Bomo who would violate tho prohibitory law, ib ia aurely a mistake to blame tho law for ita prohibition of wrong, becaußO under that prohibibion Bomo do a greater wrong. Boaides bho morality of tho man provioualy mußb bo consldored, for ib waa wrong of him to got drunk. Ro Bly grog-solling generally, wo ndmit—wo alwaya havo admitted—that some confirmed drinkora will gob ib, whatever tho penalty and whatevor the law. But we say that that confirmed appetite, and that tondonoy to lawlesanos, haa been bred by tho punt bad law, and nob by tho coming good ono. And thab bo save such fuburo taw-buainoDß a full blow muab be sbruok ab tho legaliaod »alo which oncouragoa " shouting, anil which immensoly multiplies tho rtnku of modornto drinkeia, who drink bobhoy wunb ib and who thomsolvcs Will voto to pub tho custom down. We Bay that tlio aoutimonb which has hithorto .been lax in roforenco to licensed pale haa beon lax alao in roforenco to unlicensed sale, aa shown by tho provalonoo of

Sunday drinking, and that the sentiment whioh has become strong.l enough to say. " Wo won't have a legalised sale" will be still stronger in its assertion that it won't have illicit sale. It is hard for many to show their colors now, but, once prohibited, it will bo only reputable for any and every citizen to insist on the Government) giving efreoto to the people's will. Prohibition not prohibit! Did not prohibition of slavery prohibit? Did it not annihilate slavery both in England and the United States 2 6. " I believe in national Prohibition but not looal option. Stop the importation and manufacture and lam with you."—ln some thiß is a subtle subterfuge for not doing what they know to be right; in others it is a genuine difficulty. To the latter I would say, " You really want national Prohibition, then take the only means at hand toward that end. You ask your candidate for Parliament if he will vote for the measure of national Prohibition. He says no I don't know whether the people want it. Vote in your respective districts what you do want, and each exactly as you would individually desire, then as soon as 3-sths of the electorates of the colony shall havo voted nolicense we will legislate accordingly." To fail to vote no-license under local option is to fail to give practical evidence that you desire no-license nationally. It leaves undone tho only thing that can be immediately done towards ib. We admit that it is partial reform, but not nearly so partial as a •• reduction " vote. And the electoral districts are largo areas or large communities, is ot to overthrow an evil in one district becauso an adjoining one should retain it, is simply tho same as not giving up one's own sin because one's neighbor frill not do so and might lead one into it again. 7. " You must not go ahead of public opinion. If you do, you will do more harm than good."—These people have either ignored or completely overlooked the fact that it can't be done ahead of public opinion The three-fifths majority is the law, and they all admit that a three-fifths vote represents a strong public opinion. Henco, if they wish it done when there is a strong public opinion in favor of it, they should consistently vote as thoy wish if, knowing that their vote cannot take effect till the three-fifths is seoured. There can be no doubt but that the bulk of business men want tho bars closed. They do not fear its proving loss, they know in must mean gain. One remarked to me, "We see by our ledgers better than you do." Yet many are not avowed, and I would quote the remarks of the London Gazette, 1666 (of which I have just seen an original), on the Great Fire of London, as very applicable : " Some think that if the whole industry of the inhabitants had been applied to the stopping of the fire, and not to the saving of their own particular goods, the success might have been much better, not only to the public, but to many of them in their own particulars." A lew want tho bars closed, but are kept from exercising their votes in that direction by their honest scruples on some such points as I havo mentioned. But, though their minds be not fully clear, because not fully informed, as to voting out the trade, neither are they any clearer as to continuance or reduction. And, considering the difficulties of regulation and their responsibility as individuals of tho State, are they as likely to be in tho wrong if they plump down for noiicon3e as if they plump down for continuance. A man often has to act before he has got over his last scruples of difficulty, and, so doing, often acts aright. Finally, let me say that this is an independent letter, not involving any association. I simply state my own views. But I would add : SVhilo we work and while we vote, let us ask Him who was manifested to destroy tho works of the devil to destroy this, remembering that " Prayer moves the hand that moves the world that brings salvation down." —I am, etc., \V. SeTh-Smith.