The Same Old Drunks.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4739, 2 September 1893, Page 5

The Same Old Drunks.

TO THE EDITOR. j | Sib,— l am sure many of your readers ' i •will endorse what you cay about; the lady . . Isabella, who has been sent to Her : : Majesty's boarding-houße for the hundred . and fifth time; also about her fellow [ miserables. It is indeed sad ! But what < is the remedy ? You object to prohibition. \ : So should I, if cases like what you have ! mentioned could be cured without it. If not, then the sooner we get prohibition the : better. You said the other night that less ' liquor was being drunk than yeara ago. Yes! and if things get worse, less still ; will be oonsumed. The present Govern- ') ' ment lost a grand opportunity in not i ; bringing in a Bill which would have lessened the evils of drinking. The Bill was not so bad, if they had not accepted the amendments, which virtually killed it. As it is, the battle has to be fought over again ; and until we get better laws, we shall have to put up with the same old drunks.— l am, &c, DISAPPOINTED.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, — Your leader under this heading ' last night truly Bhowed a deplorable state of affairs. That a woman who is not yet old, save in looks, should have received her one hundred and fifth conviction for drunkenness or relative offences makes | one wonder why ? There must be some- ■ thing wrong somewhere besides in the helplessness of the poor fallen woman who is powerless to resist the habit, ■which has become her very nature. How does she get the drink ? It Beems to me that there are others who are fallea besides Isabella Leckie, who are so far • gone as to consent to supply and profit by the Eale of! drink to thia poor bonded creature. I notice that you say the Magistrate did the very best thing he could do ! under the circumstances, that is, to j i send her to gaol for three months. ; : Perhaps he did. As you say, she will there be safe from her insidiou3 foe, and for this period will be kept sober. i You then go on to say that it would be j better if ahe were locked up for ever. :<• why should Bhe not be ? It would be better for her, * * * -would prevent her wallowing in the slouch of degrada- . tion from which she cannot lift heraelf, and it would be bettor for the public who would be spared the infliction o£ her noisome presence aud the contagion of her foul example." This is rather a big bill don't I you think ? How would it be if, instead ■ of putting this poor unfortunate woman away from the drink, you were to advocate the putting the drink away from the , woman. Let me quote you again. "As > . r mattsr%.are'at^regeflttbi3.canQofc-be t dojae > .|:;

and Isabella Leckie and her fellow miserables must remain, save for brief periods, at large, living plague spots to torment and infect the community. How long shall these things be ?" The reply is— Until you banish the drink from the land ; until you put it beyond the power of any person, from mere mercenary motives, to manufacture, by the sale of strong drink, j creatures who can be termed "living '■ plague spots to torment and infect the community.'* The manufacture is still ! going on. Isabella and her fellow-miser- i ables will soon find their destiny in the ! river or the more horrible death which awaits them, but there is coming on a great host to fill their places. Go and look on ; the streets of our city, you will see them j there. Go and look in the diveß and bars of the pubhc-houseß of our city, you will . see them there. Young girls barely out j of thoir teens, just stepping into the \ whirlpool of vice and sin, learning as the concomitant of other evils the awful one ; of drink. The cure for these things | is prohibition. Not the prohibition j which shuts a woman up in gaol half her life to keep her away from liquor, but that which shuts up the bars and drinking shops, and thus keeps the j liquor away from her. Do you say there j would be sly-grog selling, and that Bhe > would get drink that way? I am not going into that question now, but I am \ Bure that women of Isabella Leckie'a character would not get much drink on the sly, as those who did this illicit business (if any) would not have them for their customers, unless they wanted to be discovered and convicted straight away. The sly-grog selling is invariably to those who are clever enough to evade the law, not to those who have attained their hundred and fifth conviction.— l am, &c, JOHN OSBORNE. :