PROHIBITION.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXIX, Issue 9497, 28 November 1899, Page 4

PROHIBITION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir: A perusal of the Thames Prohibition- League, leaflet.'No. 16 reminds one of a well-known axiom in mechanics, namely, that a chain/hpwever massive it may appear, is no stronger than its weakest link, and the same may with propriety be applied to a chain of logical arguments. The expressions contained in the fourth "par" are so. utterly opposed to facts that the other links or "pars" are worthless to convince anyone who had an opportunity of seeing and studying the very transient effects of the late Father Matthews' : crusade. Although a resident in the largest centre of population in Ulster and connected with the editorial department of the Northern Whig, I never knew or heard of the closure of any distillery or brewery, and there was no appreciable difference in the consumption of liquors at the fairs and markets within the area of my cognizance. The disappearance of "pauperism and crime" must be regarded as a huge joke; in other'words, it is a nude untruth. It is true that the Irish Poor Law Act came into operation about that time,;- and consequently the beggars who had previously roamed the country were obliged to hidethemselves or enter the buildings provided for them irrespective of Father Matthews' efforts, and certainly the half-yearly assizes had the average number of criminals to dispose of. The ephemeral nature of the impression produced may be judged by the fact that on one occasion I .met husband and wife, -who had "walked six miles to take pledges on Saturday, and on Monday again met them with

their medals,.though in neither instance were they sober. One effect of prohibition will be, to use, the. words of Dr. Giles ,the wellknown Resident Magistrate, "to inincrease the already too numerous class of law-made Offences, to give us more officials, whose duty and whose pride would be to bliow;themselves efficient, that is, to secure as many convictions aa possible against their fellow-citizens."—l am, etc., • . NEW, CHUM.,,