Poverty Bay Herald AND East Cost News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 622, 10 February 1879, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald AND East Cost News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1879.

In a late issue we promised we would reply to "Good Templar" on the subject matter of his communication. We shall now proceed to fulfil our promise ; and if we show the fallacy of his assertions, we hope to do so without indulging m that strong and exaggerated language which is only too common with the apostles of total abstinence. " Good Templar " says that " strong drink is the parent of crime, and is the cause of all evil." This we deny. Drink is not the parent of crime, but more often the offspring. The character of a man or woman is generally moulded and formed long before either has taken to drink — long, m fact, before either one or the other cares for it. The boy who robs a till, or steals from a back yard, or commits other acts of petty theft is on the high road to become a housebreaker or a bushranger, but the boy has not robbed a till under the influence of drink, or to procure drink. He robs because he is inherently wicked, or has been encouraged by bad parents, or from being led away by other boys ; but anything m the way of strong drink

has never entered his thoughts. He will spend his money m a fruit or a cake shop. He may indulge m a hidden feast of fried sausages. But except it be m sweet syrups or unfermented drinks pleasant to the palate he will certainly not spend it m intoxicants. By and by, years hence, the boy, when he has grown into manhood, may be a drunkard, and may, while .m drink, commit some grave crime ; but Good Templars are to remember that the man, as a boy, did not drink, although he was a confirmed thief and liar, with much other that was bad. Now, we will take the case of any wretched outcast girl who lives a miserable life of prostitution. That woman drinks strong drink probably whenever she is able to obtain it ; but she fell long — very long — before she added the sin of drink to that of living an impure life. She was fond of dress, fond of walking the thoroughfares at night ; fond of pleasure and gaiety ; but she did not care about beer or brandy. If she went into a refreshment-room she would prefer fruit and confectionery, but brandy or whiskey being placed before her, she would have turned loathingly against it. Late hours, lover of company, a liking for exciting amusement, the absence of parental control, was what has led the poor unfortunate woman to life m a brothel. She drinks now heavily. She will take up with a paramour. He will beat and mal-treat hex*. She dies miserably m her bed, or jumps into a river, or drinks poison, and there is no more of her. " Gentlemen," says the Coroner, " you see the curse of drink." The jury returns a verdict — Died through drink. And so drink is held to be accursed. Drink ! It was not drink ! The girl cared no more for drink before she sunk into a sea of sin and profligacy, than she does now she is m her coffin. "We hope then, m a few brief sentences we have shown that crime and the leading of impure lives precedes the love of drink, and that drink, m the earlier stages of criminal existence, does not go before, but follows after. This is why so few well-educated, intelligent, and reflecting men join the ranks of total abstainers. We admit that when a man has acquired a continued craving for strong drinks, and will swallow more when he has already swallowed enough, that Good Templarism may serve as an antidote. That it does not always so serve, is proved by the number of defections from the ranks of teetotalisin. The fact of a man making a solemn pledge that he will drink no more stimulants, does not always do away with his desire, or his longing for stimulants. His pledge may restrain him for a time. The associations, with his brother abstainers, may help him. He may hold out, as many do, or he may break down, as many also do — when the last state of that man is worse than the first. He has broken a solemn obligation. He has lost his self-respect. He has blighted the expectations of his wife, and his well- wishers. All this shows that Good Templarism is not sufficient of itself to prevent the evils of drunkenness. The remedy is deeper. The " pledge " does not strike at the root of the Upas tree. It merely lops a few branches, which m most cases, sprout again. We do not intend to weary our readers with the subject, but, having shown that crime goes before drink, as drink so frequently goes before the final fall of a man or woman, we shall endeavor to show that there is very much of deep crime and abiding offences where there is no drink — neither a love for it ; and that there are thousands of cool, calculating, cold-blooded, callous-hearted, but sober men, who do more harm m the world, because they do it more silently and insidiously, than three times the given number of inebriates. The inhabitants of the most temperate countries m the world are the most wicked, as for instance, take the case of the Indian mutineers. These cruel scoundrels never drank a glass of spirits m all their years. They had lived upon fish, rice, and other vegetables ; but they violated women, dashed out the brains of children, and mutilated men. The Turks are abstemious, but are cruel, and filled with lust. A Greek never drinks other than a little weak wine mixed with water. His food is a slice of black bread, dipped m oil, and eaten with an onion. But a Greek is English for everything that is bad. The Italian is proverbially a sober man, but he is treacherous and revengeful. The most moral men m the world — they • have the name of being so — are great tipplers. These are Scotchmen, who have fought and bled gallantly for their religious liberty and the right of conscience. They will do so again, if it were necessary, but they will not abate a half-mutchkin of their dear whisk}'. It were a curious question to consider whether, if the British people were by some means, which we know not of, deprived of all intoxicating drinks, whether some other great national vice would not take the place of that of excess m wine and alcohol.