PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3382, 8 January 1919, Page 3

PASSING NOTES.

(From Saturday's Daily TiatMJ For what reason we dismiss the Old' Year —a friend old and tried—as if he were a culprit to be ashamed of, and sit up all night to bring in the New Year — of whom we know nothing—with indecent merriment, does not appear. The poets, it is true, give us countenance. Thus Tennyson's "Ring out, wild bells"—a tag much affected by preachers at this season, well-worn, but still quotable—

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light ; The year is dying in the night: _ Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. He is going,—let him go; a good riddance. He is dying,—let him die; ring out wild bells!—it is a life not worth saving. Why this tone of heartlessness? But the poets are seldom to be trusted. In this same context, after remarking that it is bitter weather and demanding "great logs to make a solid core of heat," Tennyson adds— And fetch the wine, Arrange the board and brim the glass. In presence of which depravity the pious prohibitionist will please assume his stained glass attitude, crossing his arms upon the breast and iifting his eyebrows in pitying sorrow. The Old Year 1918 was a year great and good; no poet could Eersuade me to the contrary. True, it rought us tho influenza plague—brought and took away;—l say nothing of that. But it had already brought us a national joy greater, deeper, wider than any in our history; it Drought us . victory and peace. Not yet have we understood the fulness of this boon. It will grow upon us. Let any one give himself to the story of the great naval surrender as told in the Daily Times of this morning, Friday; let him follow the recital of armistice scenes at the front. He will be of tougher fibre than I am if he can read without wet eyes.

Another gift of the Old Year over whoso departure we burn crackers and fire joy bombs is the British General Election. Never before was the country so closely

polled—the soldiers' votes taken in, the women's vote not left out. Result, an overwhelming majority for Mr Lloyd George and the Lloyd George way •of thinking. British representation at the Peace table will be backed up by the whole weight of the nation. The peace they will ensue there will be a peace logically related to the war, its causes, and its course; not a 'peace born of academic idealism. And for that reason we may hope for a peace worthy of the lives given to win it. Incidentally this election has swept Parliament clean of a scandalous of "pacifists, wobblers, cranks, and wild men " who were there only because their misrepresented constituencies had no opportunity of turning them' out. Under another category comes the defeat of Mr Asquith, that of ordinary chance and change. Taller plumes than Mr Asquith's have gone down in election fights. Mr Gladstone in full career was defeated for Oxford, Mr Balfour was defeated for Manchester. To some faithful henchman Mr Asquith may yet be indebted for a seat; or, like his friend John Morley, he may move upstairs. When in 1908 Mr Asquith took over the Premiership from CampbellBannerman there was a conversation of this tenor:

He (Asquith) hoped that I (Morley) should remain with him, and would like to know if I had any views for myself. "I suppose," I 6aid, "that I have a claim from seniority for your place at the Exchequer, but I don't feel that I have any special aptitude for it. ... So, if vou approve, I will stay at the India Office, and go to the House of Lords."—Morley's " Recollections."

He would "go to the House of Lords." Hardly so much as "By your leave." These politicians when they get to the top settle things amongst themselves with great simplicity. 'lt is like a dealers' knock out" after an auction. To transfix a prohibitionist and hold him up—twirling like a cockchafer on a pin—gives me no pleasure. I am a humane man, and this is holiday time, a time of peace, good will, and good humour. But if he insists on impaling himself it is not for me to say him nay. And impale himself he does when he writes to the papers that the Bible wines were non-intoxicating —a mild form of vinegar, or mayhap a primitive anticipation of ginger beer. Yet to this absurdity he is shut up if he would not throw the Bible overboard altogether, —the Bible, as every sane man sees, being the . charter of the moderate drinker. Your moderate drinking of the wine that maketh glad "the heart of man is all right —says the prohibitionist; —vinegar won't hurt you, nor ginger beer, taken in moderation. 0 sancta simplicitas! It is painful to see a moral reformer writhing and wriggling after this fashion. But when he has to do with' St. Paul—who, as the legislator that first applied the principles of Christianity to social life in a large way, cannot be kept out of this business —when he has to do with St. Paul the prohibitionist twists like a convulsionary. " Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess," said St. a thing which no prohibitionist could ever say. What the prohibitionist wants to say is—" You shall not be able to get drunk?" Meanwhile he is reduced to making St. Paul say—" Be not drunk with vinegar, wherein is excess, —nor with ginger beer." Simplicitas is not the word here; let us change it—O detestabilis duplicitas! Simplicity or duplicity, ft is all one; — morally the prohibitonist has not a leg to stand- on. Despairing of converting tho sinner, he would clap him in irons. Whoever objects that the normal processes of moral reform are outraged thereby is denounced as a partner in the sin. Oppose prohibition, and you are hand and glove with the brewer, with the whisky importer, with the publican selling drinks across the bar. The blame of drunkenness is your blame, and the inmates of every home depraved and desolated by drink may justly curse you. This is the

gweet reasonableness of prohibitionists in letters to the editor. All the same, the vote I hope to ecore against them in April will be a vote for temperance and good citizenship, for the Bible and Christianity, and for not merely the best way of reclaiming the drunkard, but the one and only -way —the way of moral reform. If I am in a minority, it will be because the brewer, the whisky merchant, and the publican who sells drinks across tho bar are voting on the other side. The prohibitionists have bought them—for four and a-half millions of money.

If the people of New Zealand really desire to wall themselves in by a prohibitory ring-fence, they need not pay fou¥ and a-half millions for the privilege. They have only to vote prohibition- at the next general election, and "prohibition will Follow ;-—without compensation, observe. The * recommendations of ' the Efficiency Board (the only Bible now recognised by the Prohibition party) had in view wartime economies, not peace-time gratuities. Compensation is a sheer gratuity, unasked, unlocked for, and the Liquor party would be fools to refuse it. A bird in the hand, don't you see! Hard cash is hard cash. Compensated, they lose nothing; carrying on as now, they risk uncompensated deprivation. When the time to begin again comes, as come it assuredly will, how handy a capital of four and a-half millions! How vastly better this position than the other! If the liquor interest were my interest, I should vote prohibition at the April polling and bless the, prohibition wiseacres who had given me the chance.

Thus and so much had I written before aware of the prohibition broadside to my address in Friday's Daily Times. A salvo of "duds," as they say at the front, —> shells that scatter mud But fail to explode. Fire away, good people; it amuses you and leaves me unharmed. Dropping metaphor, one of these belligerent Prohibs fills a column. A column, if you please. And J. Robinson, South Dunedin, writing in defence of "Ireland and Mrs Gummidge," fills another. In the view of devotees Roman and Mahometan (the Prohibs being really followers of the Prophet), this ia "heavenly length,"—as music enthusiasts say of Schubert's symphonies. Length for strength 'is the true account. But in each case a column of "argument," solid and stodgy, will be of immense comfort to true believers. And they need it. More and more it comes home to the simpleminded prohibitionist that he is going to present the liquor interest with four and a-hadf millions sterling. In exchange for nothing at all, since if New Zealand wants prohibition New Zealand' can have prohibition by simply voting prohibition at the next general election. This is the short and easy way, —the cheap way to boot. For the four and a-half millions would remain where it rightly belongs, in the public pocket. Whereas of the way now proposed one can only say as before —0 sancta simplicifas!

It remains that I boil down a few correspondents, ' want of space compelling. "Auld Identity" recalls the " bonme fecht" of thirty years ago when we were sotting up the Burns statue, —a question of site, some wanting the Triangle, some the Octagon. The alternative was submitted to subscribers in town and country by referendum, and the Octagon narty won, "' Civis' handsomely assisting." "Auld Identity" notices that the Chap-man-Burns monument ".looks the better for a fresh coat of white paint." It is not proposed to freshen up m like manner the statue opposite, despite the surprise of benighted visitors', who " didn't know Burns was a black man." But on turning to look at tho bronze statue of tho poet I found it almost hidden by tree branches. The trees could be pruned, or one or two cut down without detracting from the beauty of tli9 enclosure. This should be done soon, as it is getting near the anniversary of the poet's birth, when a garland is placed on his statue and tributes are paid to his memory.

Agreed; let Mr Tannock look to it. Here may come in (from Hawke'3 Bay) " A Forty Years' Subscriber to the Witness" who would argue again the disputed line in Burns's " Twa Dogs"—

Our whipper-in, wee, blastifc. wonner, Poor worthless elf, it eats a dinner. . . To substitute "whelperen" or "whippet " or any other word borrowed from local doggery" is "to air one's ignorance," he says. " Whipper-in " is just " whipperin," and needs no mending. Yet "it eats a dinner"—it, and not he. Like the Highland minister the Hawke's Bay critic "looks tho difficulty in the face," and passes on:

It is over forty years sinoo I left the land of Burns, and over fifty since I first read the tale of "Twa Dogs." and evary time I read it I wonder more at the man's marvellous ifcjK&ht into human nature and his power 6 to describe it. Obscurity is not peculiar to poets. Two illustrations supplied me by correspondents: The Defence Department advertis-

ing a aala of surplus stores by tendef winds up—" The lowest or any tender nofc necessarily accepted." Good old formula, here slightly out of place. Next, from a corner of the Daily Times : The War Office saved 60,000 tons of steel by using wood pulp boaxd instead of tin for the soldiera' jam rations. From -which it appears the soldiers' jam rations now consist of wood pulp board instead of tin; further, that by substituting tin for -wood pulp' board the War. Office saves 60,000 tons of steel. There is some-* thing here that might have been other-, wise expressed. Another correspondent sends me military, stories: Dear "Civis," —A high military authority recently stated: " That owing A to educational facilities in the colonies, the colonial soldier acquired a grip of . his military duties in one-tenth of the time taken by those of. less favoured localities, and also showed a resource and discrimination which had evidently been acquired simultaneously." In support of the above here are two incidents. The first displays " resource," the second " discrimination." This perchance you may hand over to the prohibitionists for digestion. Colonial sergeant is being ..examined for promotion. Examiner: ''Now, sergeant, if you were in charge of ,_ 100 men and were surprised by an enemy force 500 strong, in possession of all strategical advantages, what order would you give your men"? Serjeant (after a moment's profound thought): "Let us pray." Next, a benevolenjß, but strictly teetotal old lady, was entertaining come wounded Tommies at her home. Said she: " I trust you are particular as to ' your drinking water at the' front " ? "Ho yes. Mum, you see first of all we boils It." "Capital!" said the lady. "Then we filters it." "I see." "Then we chlorinates it." "Most excellent." " Then," said the unabashed Tommy, "wo gives it to Our 'ofsea. We, mostly drinks beer ourselves." " Anecdotes " he calls these veracities. But it is -always understood that an anec dote is not necessarily true. Civra.