The Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1894. SOCIAL DEFORMATION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12120, 6 December 1894, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1894. SOCIAL DEFORMATION.

It must have affoi'ded great pleasure to such temperanco advocates as were present afc the sitting of the local Licensing Committee on Tuesday last to listen to the testimony of ll r Fitzherbort, the counsel for the hoteikeepers, as to the facts of the diminution of drinking and the greater sobriety of the people of the colony at the present rime as compared with a few years ago. The evidence on this point by a gentleman occupying the important position of Crown Prosecutor for the district is a valuable tribute to the efficacy of tho work undertaken by the temperance reformers, aud to the gratifying success that has so far followed their labours. Mr Fitzherbert did not Bay in so many words that the manifest improvement in the drinking habits of the people was due to the efforts of temperance advocates, but his free acknowledgement that such improvement lias taken placo during the period of the greatest and most widespread temperance activity in the colony brings cause and effect together ie such close relationship that nobody n.an escape the obvious application. Oi course, appearing for the hotelkeepers, Mr b'ikhcrbert was bound to contend that any good that had resulted in Wanganui was not the result of the action of a temperanpe committee, but simply of an improved state of things which was common to the colony generally. It will not, we think, escape unprejudiced observers that the chango for the better m the general sobriety of tke people of other parts of tbe colony has been brought about by precisely the name means as have proved effective in Wanganui. Tho 'closure of unnecessary houses, the

reduction of the'houisof selling, the more strict enforcement of the provisions of the licensing law, are all part of the programme upon which the tempc r anco organisations have been working for yoai\spast, and all unprejudiced people uiiiht admit that the crusade of the temperance reformers has worked advantageously to the people of the colony. Mr Fitsdierbert unreservedly acknowledges tho improvement manifest in Wanganui, but. he is unwilling to acknowledge that is the direct result of any efforts at reform that have been made in Wangauni itself. Improvement has been in the air, and Wanganui has benefited by it. Well, we presume the temperance reformers in the town will be satisfied to reflect that they aimed at effecting certain reforms, tli fit they succeeded in thoir aims, and that the improvement in the habits of the people consequent upon, or concurrent with, the carrying out of such reforms are so marked that they are freely and fully acknowledged by the Crown Prosecutor. That fact should be amply sufficient to satisfy the temperance people and the public generally as to what has already been effected. Mr Fitzherbert, however, representing his clients, rejoices in the belief that the wave of temperance feeling that for a time, as he thinks, swept over the colony, is now rapidly receding, and points out that tbe introduction of a fresh Licensing Bill iuto the Legislature, ■which the House ot Representatives would not pass, can hardly be taken as a sign of tbe progress of temperance sentiment. We, on the other band, hold that the very fact of the introduction, under the auspices of the Government, if such a Bill- perhaps the most advanced tempeiance measure ever introduced into any Legislature in the world— affords significant proof that the temperance sentiment is stronger and more universal at the present moment than it has ever been in the history of New Zealand. In no previous Legislature would such a Bill have bad a ghost ot a show of passing its second reading. Yet this drastic measure met with firm support from an absolute majority of the House, and was only prevented from passing by the obstructive tactics of a mere handful of opponents, whose obstruction was tolerated because the cause of femperanco will be jus 6as effectively served by the passing of the measure next year. We should bo sorry to lull tho publicans into a false sense of security, by allowing them to think that the temperance crusade is over, or is even on the decline.