THE NO-LICENSE LUNACY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3033, 2 November 1908, Page 5

THE NO-LICENSE LUNACY.

To the .Editor. Sir, —The letter that appeared in i your issue of Saturday last above the signature of "Manaia" (whether it was an advertisement or not; dealing with the no-license question and the "Undisclosed Object" was brimful of sound reasoning, and was a splendid forecast of what is in btore for the residents of this territory (if the no-licenses regime prevails) who prefer to see a few drinkers rather than a race of bondmen. It can safely be said that the majority of those in opposition to the no license theory are not personally interested in the preservation of the liquor traffic, but are interested in the perpetuation of those principles that ennoble a people and teach them to rely upon themselves for their social salvation, rather than upon a public policy which may change with the phases of the moon. Stripped of all its surplus trappings, the argument of the No-License advocate is simply this:—"Some men drink to excess—therefore no one shall be permitted to drink at all. We must insist upon a complete reversal of our inherent tastes and time honoured habits in order to* prevent those who cannot be trusted with the guardianship of their own appetites, from over-indulgenca in liquor." The people of every age and clime have used stimulants, and it can safely be concluded that; license or no-license, stimulants will be used so long as the human biped is built on present lines. Tho No-License advocate is waging war upon what he imagines to be a frivolous habit of man, quite forgetting that he is runnine counter to an immutable Biblical decree. However, he will never alter a physical constitution of the human race in its demands for stimulants by the process of no-license. Such a course can only result in a greater evil arising in the shape of sly grog shops, with all the attendant evils, such as are known to exist ir the prohibited areas in New Zealand today.—l am, etc., ÜBEl'iY.