MR CHAPPLE'S PROTEST

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12842, 27 November 1905, Page 6

MR CHAPPLE'S PROTEST

of-ftho "Timaru Herald." . -Rev. Mr j Chappie must have felt himself in a tight : corner after reading my last letter, as ha has had' to* oidescead to j misrepresentation in order to frame a reply. Thi» is tut worthy of a; man in hj» position, although quite in keeping with, the tactics of some of the party he is assisting. And 'as Mr Chappie seems to take exception to my assertion that lie is helping the liquor party, I will explain here what I mean by saying so. ■ There are, I believe, a good many who, while .they realise, to some- exiyilsWf the drink traffic, have not ; qnite made up their minds to-vote for no | reductidp, ana .yet do".lrot.-like : toe : resp.onsibiljtyof voting. continuance. "To such paople, the proposal for State control, comes as a salve to the conscience, I and although it is" not" pne of the issues to j be voted on at the present time, they say: i" Oh, well, we wi'.l give the (iuanaeea an-

other chance, and perhaps by next election wa shall be able to vote for State control." In this way Mr Chappie'* influence, used just before the election, helps the liquor party. Again, when Mr Chappie draws attention in the newspaper to a few extravagant statements of temperance advocates, al*o just before the election,- and at the same time makes no mention of the good and self-sacrificing work they and their comrades are doing for the good of their fellow men,- he he'ps the liquor party still more. He "should remember that hi# influence as a ministor of the Goipel is much greater than that of an ordinary person. Now for Mr Chappie's misrepresentation. He brings np again in his last letter ..the alleged statement by Jlr Isitt atfst. Andrews, that .hotels (meaning hotels generally), are houses of me i«ide-. fending Mr Isit£ib;she nqe whereas. I did i&tpbg. .of; •' I Vraa careful to say iii' : isr firsrt i&tter; and I repeat it now,, that jjuch jLf; coirectly. represented,. that all .Mr Ghappie nas wTitteti on this point in his" last letter is quit? beside the mark as far as I am concerned. >

Again, regarding the same meetiig Mr Chappie", 'says that I did not attend the meeting, and admitted • that I saw noi report; and yet ventured to judge hi* action thereat. This ie also incorrect. I stated that the newspaper report of the meeting contained no mention of a discussion between himself and Mr Isitt, that I could remember, and that I had therefore assumed that none had taken place. I am bearing in. mind' your footnote to my last letter, and shall therefore not refer to the Wellington meeting further than to say. that it was not a prohibition meeting' as Mr Chappie states," but'one of the ordinary sittings '.of the .Assembly, it was tlio duty of both. "of us, a* representativees; to. attend. ' The State control meeting which; Mr Chappie attended was of this kind, but was convened by a private member, and as I was not interested in State control I .did not consider myself invited.

Towards the end of his letter Mr Chappie fires, a random shot at me, but 'it has missed the mart. Ho states that during the forty years |ie has been on this planet, he has not spent more than twenty shillings on intoxicants and tobacco for his own personal use, and asks whether I, as a prohibitionist, can say the same. Well, I am not accustomed to boast of my virtues in the newspaper, but as I am challenged, I may say that although I have lived seventeen years longer than Mr Chappie I can name an even smaller sum as covering my own expenditure for the same articles: Allow me, in virtue of these' seventeen years' extra experience, to advise Mr Chappie "to preserve Jhis abstemious habits, so that his judgment may not become impaired by a love for liqUor; and if >he does this I can safely. prophesy that long before he has attained my age, the evidence in favour of n»;'license in New Zealand will be so overwhelming that he wili then be as strongly in favour of it as y Yours etc., JAMES BISHOP.