DUNEDIN NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1904, 11 June 1892, Page 3

DUNEDIN NOTES.

(From our owe- Correspondent.) The decisions of the City Licensing Bench hare come upon us like a bolt out of the blue, and among the brewers and publicans and people of that ilk there is consternation and despair. Yet,strange as it may appear, the Licensed Victuallers' Association, and my authority for saying so comes from a reliable source, have been, however unwillingly, a party to this latest staggeriug blow to the beer interests. The truth was forced home upon them that some concession, some sacrifice to public opinion, was un-

avoidable in order to save the trade from being swept away by the rising tido of prohibition. It is very much like the atory of the traveller who was being pursued by wolves and, to save the entire party from being devoured, was driven to the desperate alternative of throwing out occasionally to the ravenous animals the less-favoured members of his party. By recourse to the same desperate expedient, it is hoped *he present "moderate" licensing committee will placate the more reasonable portion of the public, and by again securing their return, defeat, or, at least, postpone the violent designs of the prohibitionist party. But the latter, so far from being disarmed or deprived of the moral support of the less extreme portion of the community, oynioally regard the action of the committee as an indisputable admission of the strength of the prohibition movement, as well as of its righteousness, and are confident, if not of sweeping away the trade wholesale, of destroying it in detail.

The moderate party in the city rely on defeatingprohibitionbyenforcingarigorous compliance with the licensing law and making respectability in the conduct of licensed houses the condition of their existence. At this the prohibitionists laugh sardonically, and say that not all the powers in heaven above nor ou earth below could invest the liquor traffic with a single element of respectability. There are respectable men in the business, they say, but their respectability stands no chance against the multitude of iniquitous influences that belong to the trade. Just as malaria, poison, and death are the inherent and everlasting elements of insanitary surroundings, so demoralisation and crime are inseparable from the liquor traffic; and if only tomorrow there was but one such establishment in the city, it would within a week provide sufficient justification for its destruction. Neither concession nor argument nor remonstrance nor opposition can avail with people imbued with such sentiments. The Mahomedan soldier believes that every dog of a Christian he slays in battle secures foV him an additional houris and more delight in the great hereafter; so a prohibitionist, I believe, looks on the destruction of a publican and his beer barrels and other belongings as the eurest means of laying up stores of grace for himself in the sweet by-acd-by. People call this fanaticism, and smile pityingly; but if it is, the world is a vast store-house of fanaticism. Just look around you and see if there is a single individual you know who is not interested in some reform or change which he believes above all tilings else in the world to be for the good of humanity or some portion of it. And these are the men who are called fanatics and faddists by those who differ from them. It would be a cold, bald-headed kind of a world without such people — a world given over to what is known as the " practical " men, the men who roll themselves snugly up in their own concerns, mind No. 1, and let all the rest of humanity go to sheol. It seems like the irony of fate, or the playfulness of the devil, or the inexplicable ill-luck that so often pursues even good men in this world, that t;:e heaviest loser by the edict of the Licensing Bench in closing up the hotels should be a clergyman. It's strange, but it's a fact, though, and the cynics and unbelievers and Philistines generally are all merry over the incident. The rev. gentleman's n*\me was very much before the public recently in connection with his advent in the commercial world as a flour-mill proprietor. Adjacent to the flour-mill stands a public house with a sporting name, the proprietor of which complained that the vibrations of the clerically-owned flour-mill almost shook his boarders out of bed and made men prematurely reel and stagger, the net result being serious injury to the business of the house. The result was that negotiations were entered into and the pub. was purchased for £1000 as a going concern by the mill-owner. I understand the house was doing a very fair trade, and the loss of the license will be a serious blow not only to the licensee but to the rev. gentleman to whom it belongs. The more rabid of the prohibitionists say it was a judgment from above, and that nothing better could have happened; while the irreverent ones look upon it as a rather good joke, and pretend to see in it a fine illustration of the sameness of human nature whether in the church or out of it, and as giving one an idea of the consistency by which the world is governed. I understand there is likely to be some trouble in a public institution not quite a thousand leagues from here. From what I have learned, it appears a woman was received into the establishment in question for treatment, and on the first night after her admittance she got out of bed in quest of a drink, which, it is alleged, should have been supplied by an attendant, and wandering about in a weakly state she fell and injured herself severely. On her husband calling to see her, he was put off on some excuse or another, and on this being repeated, he insisted on his right of seeing her, and, learning the circumstances, he had her removed aton.ee from the institution. The woman died a few days after her removal; and as it is said that the injuries she received aggravated her disease and hastened her death, there is a probability of something more being heard of the matter. If the facts are as they have been stated to me, and I have been assured of their correctness, nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of a searching and exhaustive inquiry. Our public institutions are generously supported, and those whose circumstances compel them in times of physical suffering to look for comfort and. relief in them should be protected and kindly and considerately treated. The First Church dispute in connection with the refusal of tho session to receive Mr Chas. Moore's nomination as elder is a very much discussed subject just now in Presbyterian Church circles. The preponderance of lay opinion, at all events, as far as I can learn, that is to say disinterested opinion outside the First Church, is clearly ou the side of Mr Moore. The action of the elders in refusing the _ nomination, without attempting to justify their action on any valid, grounds, is rightly regarded as a most unwarranted and arbitrary invasion of the rights of the congregation. And, besides, to such treatment, putting aside Jail questions of church polity and principle, no man who valued his self-respect or the respect of others could possibly submit. It is, of course, unfortunate that Mr Moore and his entourage and supporters should take up a position of hostility towards the Rev. Mx Gibb. who is an ablo as well as

a liberal-minded man and a fine specimen of the modern type of Presbyterian minister; but there is nothing in all this to justify the action of the session. No doubt it might be better for the peace and unity of the First Church that Mr Moore should not occupy the position of elder; but the speculative advantage to be gained by his exclusion does not warrant wrongdoing or injustice. Any member of the congregation i.-* privileged to nominate any other member as a candidate,and any attempt to limit or impair or extinguish this right should be resisted. Whatwould be said were the nomination of a properly qualified and respectable citizen to any public position arbitrarily refused and his name struck out without any reason being given ? Would not the law be invoked, and such an exhibition of tyranny resented not alone by the person directly injured and insulted but by every man who desired to see the law upheld, because in such a case the public liberty was threatened, and it might be anybody's turn to suffer a similar indignity to morrow or the day after? The Presbyterian Church is above all things else a democratic institution ; the people have a good, clear, btroug voice in its management, and they should allow neither minister nor sessions to deprive them of it.