COREESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 11098, 13 December 1897, Page 2

COREESPONDENCE.

[We are not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents. The writer's Dame, as a guarautee of good faith, must be enclosed In the letter.") THE MAORIS AND THE DRINK TRAFFIC. TO THE EDITOR. SIR,— It was Interesting to read in your isstle of the. 11th inst., that a conviction had been obtained against a person for FUpplying liquor to native women j but it appears than even thi? could not have been procured without the aid of Mr Crabb, the temperance a^vicace. Our resptc'.ed S.M., acordinj to your report, Was gieatly astonished to learn that the above was the first case of the kind heard here ; there are scores who can reiterate this statement, although mauy are getting used to the iniction which has prevailed so long. Has not the Act been in force about two years? Is it not well known that the native women get as much drink "b they care for? la a certain thoroughfare near the centra of the town a number of Maori women and children are frequently congregated, their fneuds being employed in bringing them what is undoubtedly alcohdic drinks, both in pewters and in bottles, io the disgrace of che neighbourhood ftnd deg'adation of the Maori race. One would very much like to know why this s'.ate of affairs is allowed lo exist. The Act for the prevention of Maori woiaen obtaining liquor, it rHasfe be admitted, has been practically a dead lettef in this town— no person can gainsay this indubitable fact — and so to a greater or le s ser degree have many of the rem lining innumerable clauses of the Licensing Act which have been framed to regulate this bine of the people —I am, &c, Tuojias P. Brcoking. i PAUCITY OP HYWENE\L i'UNO 1 lONd TO THE EM'S Jit. Sib, — In these hilcyon tliya, when multifarious efforts are put forth to contract, or eradicate social evils, strauge, 1< it hot, that' the most distressing in the category of humiu wots is allowed uninterruptedly to have its course? I allude to a subject tvhich is rather an invidious one to approach, v)t , to the train of ills apt to attend a low marriage percentage — a percentage, by the by, which Ihioughout all the known world, the colony we are in can lay claim to the superlative on the descending scale How does this occur ? Is it that mental imagery conjures the thung respectability to be a% t>ome huge dromedary with enormous absorbing capacity, which is the desire of their hearts to ride, and that all iun.ito yearning must be suppressed, to support it, get ou. its back aad retain a aeatthoreon? Forgetting, a'l the wh : lo that nature in inexorable, and will not suffer to bo tampered with without reprisal! Lifo has its responsibilities, and nob the least, in fatt, tho foremost in importance among them is to be a medium of its extension. Therefore to stifle the promptings from within is done at "some hdiiird. Thi-i they may endeavour to pervert oi palliate by calling it prescience, prudence, self-deuial, or any otber t.iking name. It doea not in the lea^t matter; names can never procure special immunity for tho violating of systematic laws ! Realising this actuality, would it noc then be advisable ou tho part of spinsters or celibates, of which an unduo proportion are to the fore, to bo a little less ambitious in their W!>y, and abate their aspirations to, in some manner, conform to what they, singly or jointly, cou'd, without embarrassment, uph old ?lruitate, as v were, the leaper iv a coutost - taking a few paces to tin rear so a* to spring further to the front. Better, infiuitely, is it to be straight at the bottom, than bent at the top. Why, indeed, is it not uuiyersa!ly in evidence, that not a few of the forbems, of those now thrinkiug from conjugal bonds, through the demands which they will be called on to face, were only too delighted to get together within the* four bald w.ills of a single tenement, and now frankly admit, that umler such an inauspicious beginning, the pleasantest days of their lives were passed, aud who oitcu yet may be ca<uilly overheard humming to themselves this popular old Scotch ditty : Wo'll shake it up ; we'll shake it down. We'Jl shake it giu tho w;>, The besi bed that o'er I had, Was clean pea straw. —I am, &c, A. Hood.