PUBLICHOUSE TRUSTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12989, 2 June 1904, Page 10

PUBLICHOUSE TRUSTS.

and broad-mindedness on the liquor a","? tion began and ended with these particular person. No doubt they are doff good «' h>t mUi your permission I wilf briefly show another side of the ease. Yon nuote one passage that contains tho germ of tie whole argument for no-lieense. This quoti turn reads: "Forty-threo per oent. of the cittteuton now ordered non-intoxicants in preference to alcoholic drinks, and novn(lays local opinion had changed so much. Ilia, a brewers drayman can, and fro(juently docs, take his cup of coffee on tho doorstop of a trust publichouso while watchnig his cart, without incurring the ridicule of his associates." This,' Sir, is put forward as a triumph of publio trust manage, mont, but properly speaking it is the result of education as to the hurtfulncss of alcohol I agree that it is an improvement in the eaa) of that particular brewer's carter, but his condemnation of tho cartload of beer by taking coffeo instead is eloquent testimony to the correctness of our assertion Hint "alcoholic liquors are not fit to use as beverages, and are worse than useless "'J , !!. 0 ! , -" T'hs i>s U'o whole lino of cleavage. VVhilo tho publichouso -trust people rejoice in tho improvement caused by man's having the pood sense to abandon alcoholic dnnks. they strll continue to sell these hurtful concoctions. The no-license stand is H'fnutely more logical than that, AH thoughtful men who havo really studied tho subject are agreed'that the main attempt should bo to discourage and' make unfashionable tho uso of alcoholic liquors as beveragea. Until this is done tho crop of drunkards will inevitably continue. Alcohol should be put in its true place as a medicine, and that only. The difference between us is one of methods. Earl Grey evidently believra tho true way to discourage the drinking of alcohol is to use tho profits made in the destruction of weak men and women to build libraries and other counterattractions tb amuse strong men and women. ThcM others may bo no better mentally or physically than, those who become drunkards from foolishly venturing on moderate drinking, but may happen to lie born of bober ancestors, or for other reasons drink does n«f obtain tho mastery over them, and time as regards liquor they aio strong. Personally, I think tin above method will make drinking more rather than less popular. Our effort is to save the weak. Tho gieat underlying principle.which Earl Grey ignores is that consumption of liquor mode-, lately by, say, 10 men sooner or later causes' at least one of these to develop tho craving for alcohol. Once this craving is thoroughly roused there is but little chance for-this man, and very few permanently overpower it. Every man who has watched drunkards in tho making knows this to be true. Lot us, then, be logical, and discourage even ordinary drinking. You say, further: "In all cases the report shows tho result to havo been eminently satisfactory." If the report does say this, it is a false one, for I have before me particulars of the annual mecfong of tho BroomliiU I'ublichonso Trust. Canon Bulkely, of Morpoth, said "there had been ro much drunkenness that the movement, in which they were engaged stunk in.the nostrils of niany people."" I. thought from the way tome talk that it was tho private profit that made men drunk, but it is evidently the beer and the whisky. Again, you say the founders of tho trust houses get 5 per cent, on the money invested. Who would not be a .philanthropist at 5 per cent, profit on capital invested in an absolutely safe speculation? In England, 5 per cent, is high interest. No wonder the trust spreads. Lastly, tho houses taken appear to be beer and spirit houses, purely and simply. You forgot, Sir, that in New Zealand the matter is complicated by tho fact that the catering for the travelling public goes with, tho licenses. If tho beef and spirit-selling were not inextricably mixed up in New Zealand with accommodation for tho travelling publio I would not give twopence for the value of the great bulk of the 'licenses in New Zealand at tho nsi'-t poll. Whatever may be done in England, the _ 'company system will not work hero; tho agitation for it is 20 years too lato.—l am, etc, G. Bernard Nichoils.