EX UNGUE LEONEM!

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 2

EX UNGUE LEONEM!

Sir,—l have received a oopy of your issue of the 15th inst., containing a paragraph in which the Kev.K. J.' Liddell, of Ashburton,' is reported to havo s said .that 'on a recent visit to Temuka 'he saw mow dnnking and drunkenness in an hour and a-quarter than ho had seen in Ashburton, m 18 months." With your kind indulgence, I would like to make a few observations on this statement: I speak 'as a'resident of Temuka of nearly half a. century. The impression conveyed 'by the Rev. Mr LiddcllV statement is that Temuka is a drunken little place. That is entirely contrary to fact. For sobriety I know no place of its size in New Zealand which surpasses it, and I have lieen iro.u Aw;., laud to tho Bluff. , Its hotels, taken as a whole, are conducted better than will be found in any. other .pan of the Dominion! for proof of my assertion''l refer those interested to the Police Court records of iemuloa, to Mr Thomas Buxton (Mayor of Temuka)—one of the leading prohibitionists in New-.Zealand,—and to any of the ministers of religion in the place. To make suoli an extravagant assertion as tho Rev. Mr Liddell has done is not' only an insult to the people of, Temuka, but it is most'discreditable to the iitterer. That the rev. gentleman saw the drunkenness he speaks of I do not deny—l have seen the same state of affairs on occasions of Ashburton picnics to Tomuka,-but to put forth an impression that Temuka is a drunken hole is a totally different matter. No doubt Mr Liddell was looking for "drunks" in Temuka. Can he honestly say he over Rooked for them in Ashburton? . I conscientiously declare that at the recent local option polls I voted for prohibition, but, from what I have $oe,n in Ashburton and Oamam during these last two years I shall not dp so again until the Prohibition party takes stops to haW; intoxicants abolished from prohibited districts. I know young men who took an .occasional glass under license, whom P'had never seen intoxicated. ! With tjie' advent of no-license they started to get 'whisky by the bottle, at which they sucked till it was all consumed. 'Now they are confirmed drunkards. Let us either .have'no, drink or have it openly. I appeal to all thinking voters to leave well done until prohibitionists' prove, their sincerity by bavin? the law amended in the direction of abolishing liquor from, prohibited districts.—I 1 am, etc., ■ i i ■..' Teuuiaite. Temuka, Oololjar 1& ,