REDUCTION. OF LIQUOR LICENSES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13394, 21 September 1905, Page 10

REDUCTION. OF LIQUOR LICENSES.

< TO Tltt ZDITOB..■"■: '■'.'■'''.'.■■'.}

Sir,—" Citizen,? in your Thursday's issue, in hU reply, .wanders *way : from the question of reduction of licenses altogether and indulges instead in various fnr-fotchocl and unfounded assertions to prove that 599 moderate persons trnft if. every- 1000 coerce 401 prohibitionists "into ' siifforinjr as a. community tho evil effecte of the licensed salo of ,drink." Is it necessary for mo to tell -"Citizen" that ] this is mere- vague- ' assumption and not argument,'or to point . out that the 599 moderates, do not coerce. tJio 401 prohibitionists to tako tho "accursed drink," aa they eupljoniously call it; but that, on the contrwy, tlio'y le'avo them severely alone to the,-freedom of their own wills. All that moderates nsk is for prohibitionists to return the compliment and do likewise. "Citizen," unconsciously, no> doubt, apocars to lio in the ' position of poor Mr Dick: for prohibition, to quote his own words, "is the veritable King Charles's head " that obtrudes itself into nil his writings. How 'otherwise can you account for his, so suddenly leaving the raJls when tho 'equity of reduction of liquor licenses was ttsy question in dispute and shunting Off into his favourite subject, about which, I havo.no doubt, ho knows as much a.t the aforesaid Mr Dick knew about King Charles's head. But, seriously, decs ■ho inea-n to infer that every 599 persons in 1000 suffer through taking nlch'olio liquor? Is it. not "' coercion " on tho part of 599 prohibitionista to force 401 moderates to drink water wben they we/ev fcho.tasto '■ of something more palatable? Prtf'iibitionists are tiring to .force too much water down the throats of wWskv drinkws. all at, onco. It is perhaps hi keeping with other laws in the colony—laws that, our, lawyers and Supreme Court judijes cannot undor■t*nd or interpret. Neither can the Premier make bond? isor tojils of tho inud.d)e<ki'p Shops and Offices Bill. Mv main or principal contention- all 'through in writing thoseletters is to. show- tint, so far as Bunediu is concorneil. reduction in hotel liooijfics would net in the sfiirhteet dofrroo lessen tho consmnylion of liniior; and also tlio l'ljustjcc it Msild be in tho event, of another Zo nor cent, -roduction -tafeinc place, as tho proSts which siiouW c> to 39 hotelkeepors would be absorbed by the 30 left. In tho meantime, so far ~., "Citizen" is concerned. I will led the matter drop, as the suhjoet ie an mtcnjjinablo ono.-I am, etc Soptemebr 16. -IXQCiisn. '