SIDE ISSUES AT CLUTHA.-NO. II BAD FEELING, ETC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11455, 21 June 1899, Page 6

SIDE ISSUES AT CLUTHA.-NO. II BAD FEELING, ETC.

TO THE EDITOR. ' '. '• , . SlE >—"Bad feeling," the "breaking up of' friendships, and " social divisions " may all be considered together. Social friendships are good things, without any doubt, but 'it is painfully easy-to pay too dearly for them! 11 they are to have any moral value, or • indeed, to be m any way a source of real elevation of Me, or improvement in character, they need to have some balance and mutuality in them. ' Reciprocity " is a word thoroughly understood by those who have themakii^of conventions between high national contract-' ing parties, ftow, there is not the slightest 7 shadow of ' reciprocity" in the "friendship"' between the liquor trade and society, in regard to which the prohibitionists are accused of doing such wrong and evil in-breakup it up, by taking away the license1. I affirm that it is one of the most one-sided agreements fiver made. It is all giving on the one side ar. all taking on the other. The■ true.relatigr-."be-tween, the liquor trade and society has >«en that of Smbad and the '" Old Man of the S.ta." who clung to Sinbad's shoulders in' spii 'of . every ;effort to tluw him tS. Or it "is lhafc ; of the octopus, which wraps its deadly *. -ms ; around its , victim and devours him "at ts I leisure. Or the parasite, which' <mnvs u»>r^ i *h? wounded branch of the tree, and absorb I into itself all the nourishment which should | make the tree fruitful and beautiful. Or more, awful yet and still more true, it is as the cancer^ spreading its roots through all the body pontic, and thriving and °r OW ;i n g I ever more bloated as it sucks into itself all i the vital juices which should have gone to j make a strong, and useful, and: honourable [ manhood.! We only hope that we are not too ; late. We know- that things are not so bad ; socially as they, were, by a long way. -But" ; that is not by favour of the liquor trade. ;. Time was, not so very long ago, that a man ! could strike no bargain, meet no friend," per- ; form no social function at all, without the i liquor. And the tyranny of the trade oveiour social life was such that we had to fight for , our life, some of us, and endure a martyrdom, S before we won. the right to live without the liquor. Friends of the traffic can select which- ; ever of the above descriptions they choose • But I solemnly affirm that there is nothing in ] nature which comes.nearer in likeness to the i treacherous deadly " friendship " of the liquor ; traffic. The very use. of the sacred word itself j in such a connection, is the. coarsest caricaI ture and outrage! J Let us keep a firm hold of the power we possess, and in God's name use it—use it—and vote "No License "next December.-^I am et?V ' ' ■ J.T.HiXTOX. j Dunedm, June 16. ■ -, -;. -'