THE TYRANNY OF PROHIBITION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14699, 6 December 1909, Page 8

THE TYRANNY OF PROHIBITION.

to,-I am one of thoso who read with misoh appreciation iho cxoelknt Letter of your correspondent "H. F. B.» .y, ahore heading, which appeared' in Iho Daily limra of 26th icet. I a,ai quite in accord with him tint it i s high tin* that tho Moderate party ami all loiercof lib;r|y should take active steps to prevent" if possibto, tho passage of any fiatw'logightion of a prohibitory character in rektion to the use of alcoholic liquor. The eminent writer and politician, Mr Frederic Harrison, in his lateet work, "Bealitfc-s and Ideals," diapter "The Vote on Drink,' expresses the mm opinion, and as the book may bo accessible to hut a few of your roadoK 1 give below in a condensed form the pafisa-gc in qu&siion:

I wish to with one supremo moral and social principle which should govern all that wo do and sa-y in practical legislation. That principle is, that the enforcement oi a moral practice by legal coercion upon tlio veto of any majority whatever is of the essence of tyranny, and has in it all tho evi! of religious persecution. ... It is for the magistrate and police to punish disord-sr. crime, all forms of recognised offenoa and jpersojuil injuries, material, civil, or moral. On this ground, which b the foundation of oivil and religious government, it is tyranny to penalise habits which masses of good and wise men Toward as innocent and even salutary. For rny part, I look on any ulterior "aim of abolishing aJoohol by statute as an insidious form of spiritual tyranny. Though the venom of fanaticism h not to bo diverted by any proviso or disclaimer, I wish to make it clear that I am not

suggesting a word against stringent regulations of tho public sale of alcohol, and of ali places whoro it •j 5 tened. . . Awl now that a heated and ignorant fanaticism is claiming this power as its lawful due in tho name of focial morality and -well-being it 'become* a civic duty to tako up an I rocom-

.prnmising position against it. I have heard from a reliable source that one of tho consequences of no-license in Invercargiil is the enhanced prevalence there of lying, deceit, and all uncharitublcnesa, I have myself tho misfortune to be residing _in a .no-license district, and while the closing of the hotel bam is to a certain extent inconvenient, the difficulty of getting supplies of alcoholic liquor in the house, the delays, the somewhat enhanced cost and, above all, the sense of a loss of free'ilorn, are much more serious consequences. It was announced lately in vour roiuinns that the piominent firm of Dalgety and Co. had been subjected to a lino r,f £5 for merely receiving an order for wholcsalo liquor in u no-license district Is it any wonder ,h:..t Mr Bowron. i,-f Christchurch, sho.ild iniorm us that prohifairion is making Xew Zealand the laughing-stock of Other nations? If tho extremists are allowed in two years' time to bring about Dominion piohibition, which they are liming at, there would be no alternative for ,-,d lovers y! 'lberty who can do so but O) ]ea\e t).'«f country, and go where their freedom in i'.'C matter of tho u=n of alcoholic liquors would be respected. I noticed a little seniciire ef pregnant meaning in a recent issue of the Daily Tnn«^—" Teirijy-ranto drinks contain from i to 13 ;x>r cent, cf alcohol."—I en, etc., Modee'*" November 20,,