"CIVIS" AND NO-LICENSE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14381, 26 November 1908, Page 4

"CIVIS" AND NO-LICENSE.

Sin,—As "Civis" is never tired of girding at the Prohibition ilai-ty, his otfusioii in last Saturday's-paper need not surprise his readers. Ho sees that prohibition is coining, and regards its advent as a return to the Dark Ages and ".Monasticisiu, the principle of which is the principle of uo-license." Ho regards -this as self-evi-dent, but I flicnturo to suggest that most thinking nion will discover an essential difference. All of us—mou and women— understand what a drunken man is, and what a publiehouse is, and to the unlearned and ignorant it does seem that occasionally there is somo slight connection between the two. No doubt in the monastic seclusion of " Civis's" study this would not appear. I readily grant the simplicity of Dr Johnson; but ' times havo cjyingod, and " C-ivis" will find thnt- the simplicity of his roaders is not oqual to believing that the doctor's groii-lnc.a or the manhood of tho nation displayed at Trafalgar and Waterloo depended upon or was enhanced by the drinking habits of these days. Unfortunately for such n theory our generals unhesitatingly, give the palm for endurance to tho total abstainer, and our doctors say such an award is inevitable. With Tegard to the last paragraph quoted from Dr Johnson, I will only say that nino out of every ton who arrived home drunk from our hotels on Saturday night last would accept tho author as a boon companion and endorse tho sentiment as soon as they wcro able to read it 011 Sunday afternoon.

Wo lmvo it on the highest authority that some truths hidden from the wise arc revealed unto babes, and possibly time' will show the university " babes and suckling" to be more enlightened than "Oivis" on this matter. ].n any case, they appear to tie equal to any liquor champion they have met so far, and require none of my aid. Apparently " C.'ivis" gives ihn Prohihition party credit for wishing to uplift the drink-dogradod, though in their ignorance and folly t.liey go the wrong way about, it. Can he refer u« lo any of his " Notes" that show that, ho ha.s to any extent realised the degradation that the drink traffic is effecting or that suggest any method of preventing or alleviating it? I venture to say that by far the grealor immbor of those who arc making any rarnist and persistent effort to frco our kind from the curse of drunkenness are to bo found among the Prohibition parly. Their causo has grown by the constant and self-deny-ing efforts of its members to enlighten the community on the drink question in nil its aspects and bearings, anil to enable it to realise its responsibility in the matter. Can " Civis " point mc to any organisation of "the; trade," any champion of "the trade," or any member of "tho trade'"" who is doing similar work? Why, in the name of patriotism, does lie save all hie gibes 'for the Prohibition party?—l am, etc,, Sivio.