THE OXFORD NOTE BOOK.

Oxford Observer, Volume V, Issue V, 7 April 1894, Page 3

THE OXFORD NOTE BOOK.

Different people look at a question from different standpoints, and therefore I wish to give a few extracts from the heading article m the N. Z. Methodist on the Licensing Elections —

" The memorable fight of March 21 st, was a maiden battle for our raw recruits. They were disconceited and thrown out of steps by the engineering of Seddon. The walls had been heightened, and the scaling ladders fell a little short. But the " wild charge" they made " struck terror into the h^art of the foe. Some of our levies m the North did not change and thus weakened the impression. This, we think neither wise nor heroic. Great attempts are educative and purposes of great pith and moment, gather rescruits. It is over the wreck of defeat that we must climb to victory. Those that fall fill the ditch. Tis better to have fought and lost than never to have fought at all. In the battlet of tue warrior a great victory is only less disastrous than defeat. But m the battles of the reformer defeat is only less glorious and useful than defeat/ It then goes on to give certain figures that go to show that the Prohibitionists have great reason for rejoicing. " Surely defeats like these are stimulating. They show that at the next assault the walls will be scaled and half the city taken. "No License" is simply postponed, that it may come m with greater emphasis next time. Public opinion is rising like a tide. "When that tide begins to trickle off, the Seddon wall wiil prove to be a rampart of sand,"

In the same paper " Oliver Martext " makes some interesting comparisons and observations. He says — I observe that the South Island is much ahead of the North. Island m temperance strength. I don't know how to account for it. It cannot be the less perfect settlement of the North Island; for Auckland is the most backward of all, and it is the oldest and perhaps the largest city we have. It canuot be the climate, for liquor flourishes more m cold climates than m hot. Can it be that the cold South has felt and seen more of the bad effects of the traffic than the North, and hence is more pronounced against the business.

It is certainly very remarkable that the four large towns have voted with a vigour proportionate to their nearness to the South Pole. Dunedin is first .Christchurch a good second, Wellington a fair third, and Auckland nowwhere. The secondary towns along the East Coast give a similar result. Invercargill is nearest the Pole and wanted liquor less than any other part of the colony. Port Chalmers makes a good second, Oamaru a good third, Lyttelton a fair fourth, and Napier is the tail. Is it really a question of latitude? , ,

There is another way of looking at tnis singular fact. Dunedin is the commercial capital of the .colony and is the first to discover what will pay. Hence she feels more keenly than the Other cities that "no license" will pay. Christchurch is the educational^ capital anid has a lot 1 of cold • reason m her atmosphere. But cold ..reason does not mpve people quite so, strongly as interest. Hence she is scarcely up tp Dunedin. Wellington is the political capital, and of co.urse goes by. expedi-

ency and takes middle courses which' like Mr Seddon's Act, are to please everybody. Hence she is just about balanced between the two contending forces. But Auckland is the religious capital, headquarters of Missions, home of the Alliance, centre of enthusiasms, and hence —

One thing almost amuses me. It is that Westland is the Stronghold of the Publican. There, at least, he scored heavy majorities. Now every fox likes the smell of his own hole, and hence Mr Seddon thought that the smell of his should be the standard for the whole country. Pennib.