THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 16612, 22 August 1918, Page 6

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

To the Eiitor of tl e "Timaru Herald.' 3 Si--, —Permit mo to drav." yoi'r atti'riion' and that' of your, renders to a .trick which has been phyed up.;ri you • by tcmo ikpior advocate R : pimi<r himself "Neophyte." The- letter. which lie dciubtlet>» sent in &s his'owi!. is ren'lv an r.rticle take-i withoul. aokfov'icdgement, frcii l t.ho Sydney "Hiillotn:' 1 of July 25. "Xeoplvyto" omits a f?v,- sentences and the figures' that, noply t:> Australia, but Qtlierwise the■ nrHeio is lifted boldly from ihe ■ ' -ljul'etiii." 1 enc.'ose r » page -of the When I am writing i)i°y I snv tV.at the paragraph in' this- morning's "Herald, ' covrecihig Uie fu«t Press

J v . v tnt::Uioi! message about; iln: liquor party's new programme. sh<~ds en what lias been. puzzlinjc manv of your readers lor- the i»asb day or two. " We cpnltl not undcrst;uid tho liquor party r.d'cpiin»i a policy which Iff*, out -'coniitiiianco" as one uf ik- i«ue;. Indeed '!u-> new policy is a duir-.SY ru?e meant to seruro continuance, and *o fasten tho liquor traffic und ;;ll its OTila with, firmer £iip uj-on Ihe people oE our Dominion. In th<» -programme «jf _ tho liquor psy-iy "Isaiionr.l ownership" and "Nition.il prohibition" wi!i both involve ''St.vtrj purchase." and ilifc.v well know that ihe coimtw will never submit : to that. No Government; will yevtive oil i\e perilous path of "Stpte purchase.'' The T mpori:!l GovoiT'i'icuo coquetted- fo; a timw wi:h "State .purchase," out when tlicy realised liic stren«h of the oppos-fcon »o i-; t]<uy definite';/ and {in:'.lly abandonee! it. ]t is now a dead issue at IJ-mo. The temi;era>ue forces will ii.oet the new progranifo wi f h nnecr-pi'ir-ifein<; .-pposition. \Ye liav" or.lv ocir-i x-ted to. a penny of compensation because of the extreme- -urgency of an immediate settlement, and b?c:m:-o tho pps-cn*; legislation Rive* the trario vl >ear« life after nations'. s prohibition "s tallied. As the prev-nt Parliament will nofc shorten ih;:<" 4A y'-ars we hnvc-r.£tTec-d, in deference to the F'Seion-y Beard, to ihe proposed payment, of •» money mm instead, of givinij t-ils intended lima for tro.dinjr. The cvnpci«sation is enly meaiit as r. "o'liu nvo for ."he 4.V years Uovoiid that wo are not prepared to ;xo "We f.pht purchase" f.nd "Nritionnl ownership" to tho list eartridco The liquor want tlm whole matter hnnjr up till nexti clcet'on_. wlr.ch Parliamentarians tell us wil not. taho place this year and mav not t:.k;-- pla-o next year. Our demand for a po'l tins year is necessary and urgent.—7 ans, etc.. THOMAS STIN'jON. Timaru, 'Asgust 2C. [•'Neophyte's" If! tor was sent in as k:s - own. The deletions, apart from were mad» by oursclvet. lid ;or, "Timaru 11-raid."]