CORRESPONDENCE CONDENSED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE CONDENSED.

' " True Blue" writes that the following information regarding the working.of no-.j license in the Statq of Maine is supplied j on the authority of Governor Cobb, present Governor of Maine, which should be sufficienti guarantee , for any ordinary \ individual:" Fifty years ago, under license, Maine men were 20dol annually on liquor; today they are spending 15 cents. Then Maine farms were neglected, and the people shiftless, a vast number of their'homes being mortgaged. To-day in no-license Maine 49 per cent, of her people own their own homes; in license Mass., 19 per cent.; in license Connecticut, 1!) per. coat.; and in license New York, 17 par cent. Cinder license Maine had oniy iivo swings banks, with a total savings of 90,00000}. Now, under no-liconsc they have 57 ■ savings hanks, with an aggregate savings deposit of 113 million .dollars. Maine has more savings bank depositors than sho has voters, more schools in proportion than any other State, and a. wTder circulation of newspapers." Can licensed States or electorates compare favourably with this? "J. Nathan" observes that the Rev. W. Thomson, asserted at South Dunedin that if he ,had not the £1000 he had offered to stake (he license euuso was "up a tree'' and bankrupt. This is tho first .public admission that Mr Thomson is tho liquor trade's champion, prepared to fight its battles by proxy (and probably by arrangement). The public knows where it is now: anything Mr Thomson may say will be 'said, firstly, to protect and benefit the liquor trade, in the way that anything the Rev. Messrs Davis, Hammond, Isitt, Slade, and a .host of others may say will be firstly in the interests of the Christian Church and the advantage of the general bulk of the people outside of tho liquor trade. This will help the electors to come to a decision as to the extent of the credence they give to the conflicting statements. Wo have had visits from several business men of Invercargill, Asbburtoirj etc., extolling the results from no-license. Mr Thomson says . that if no-license is carried in Dtmedin we shall see a double row of drunker men stretching from here to Outrani; and, further, that no-license tendencies were so bad that if it went on every mat and woman would bo drunk. These arguments are so very reasonable that- comment is 6uperfluous. "H. L. N." says that, when one listens to lectures such as Mi Hammond has delivered in Dunedin one feels there, is hope—very «real hope—for a. grand victory for no-license. The earnestness and winning manner of the speaker could not fail to convince- the doubters. A man who loves the weaklings as Mr Hammond loves thorn must, and will, receive God's blessing on his efforts to lift them from the gutter, where most undoubtedly the open bar sends them. "Out and Out" writes that Mr Wm. Thomson is always holding up breweries, etc., as grand and noble institutions, that are going to make men sober—though they have failed to. do so.-and yet at the debute in Rcslyn, when Mr Hastie made reference to men working in Sueight, and Co.'s brewcrj-, Mr Thomson and" several liquor men rose and objected, and there were cries of "Why should we be accused of working in Speight's brewery?" Why are the liquor men ashamed to be told or to own that they work in breweries? " Invercai;gillite" says that though Mr .Wm. Tihomson quotes figures to sliow what quantity of liquor comes into Invercargill, he says absolutely nothing about the quantity that goes out, again to supply the snrlOMiding licensed districts. The'statement that flic people of invercargill drink more liquor now than before no-licanse is altogether erroneous. With regard to the insinuation directed at the Invercargill police, "Invorcargillite" ventures to say' that Mr Thomson will not reiterate in Invercargill that and other statements which lie seems to think he is quite safe to continue making in Dunedin. And since no-Jicenso is such a failure and .Mr Thomson is such an earnest advocate of temperance—truo temperance, forsooth!-why is he wasting his time on a virtuous city like Dunedin? Why does he not go to Invercargill and exert his influence to prevent il<i inhabitants from drinking themselves to death? Hut no, he knows that the electors .ire so thoroughly satisfied with no-license that his time would be- absolutely wasted there. As to the statement, by Mr Thomson that a. gentleman had told him that he had seen more drunkenness in Iny.errar.cill than in any. niber. Jewou New;,

Zealand, " Invorcargillito" declares it is a most uncommon sight to sec a person under tlw influeneo of drink in Invercargil), and that lie liaß never yet scon any proof of drunkenness in tho homes.