ON "LIBERY & THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC BY AN ENGLISH MAN.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIII, Issue 1500, 5 December 1899, Page 2

ON "LIBERY & THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC BY AN ENGLISH MAN.

I ' (Isy a Wanganui Man.) Aa Englishman in Saturday's issue 01 the Herald is clever, very, at drawing a red-hering across the scent ; a subtle, crafty, innocent-looking "deep-down" ar tide ; it reads well and looks :-peeious. The greatness of our Empire, the gr'eatness of the American nation is admirably depicted: The unconquerable Cove of li- : bfcrty ever found! amongst Anglo-Saxon nations the world over exulted in, nn'd with it all the Liquor traffic exists side by ;?ide looks nice, doesn't it. But examine it for a moment ; because greatness and expansion of Emphe foes' on with the liquor 'aw in existence also, therefore the liquor trade must ba good ; that is En«-- -; li.shman's contention, divested of his spec iousi twaddle, 'et me ask, has not the "nefarious callings" of infoimcr, blackmailer thief, murderer, also gone on, while Bri- ; tain and her sons have been, climbing up the bank to world-wide Empire, existing side I by side with the growth of the British Lion ' and his off-spring. ) Are those nefarious callings good things ? | According to Englishman's ogic they must be. "Folly can go no further in Vueh a ridiculous contention." Englishman's naive remarks on the "wise limitations on. the sale of liquor' 1 are very ludicrous ; Jiark Twain > ou'.d not have written anything more exquisitely humorou*. If the liquor traffic is per se a good thing, what need is there for "limitations." No one dreams of limiting the operations of "parson, schoolmaster or printing boss," or miller, or fruit Tendor, or putting them under polioe' surve'Jiance. The very fact that it is leemed imperative to hamper the liquor seller, is in itself a proof that in the trade lies daiiger to the well-being of the community, and that something must be done to keep the' tiger somewhere within limits, for if it was not so kept what would happen to "reason and good behaviour," saeing that the science of to-day, and the experience of thousands of years," a'l tend to prove that all indulgence in a'leholic liquors it harmful; ' and that the traffic in itself is destructive t,p "deaency and good morals." Proof of this statement is to be found everywhere. We all know that ths existing law fat's to chain up the beast, and that violations of it go on under the very noses of the "Ar-gus-eyed policemen, whose duty it is to ; watch crime and yheet home offences." Englishman, this is very funny. The fact is that you cannot regulate Hie liquor Irai ffic, and there is a power behind the police : ; it. will leap over any barrier if you license i ifc at all. The only way ; a 10 go in for "No Liaense," and as for the sfy grog : shop bogey, you leave that to the Prohii bitionist, and these law-breaking scoundrels : will spon be wheeling sand under the hand i of Mr Beaaley, Working men's clubs; peaoefu', innocent retreajfoj. for the industrious working man, ; where lie can be in his own liome ; -iV^ry nice, is it not. Working men's' plaaes where cheap beer is vended, and to , be had late at night and on Suudays, and no one suffers ? No one? \sk the wives ; and mothers and children of these men who on Joy their beer at nominal cost to' the injury of "no one." Ask the suicide, k and the drowned, and the ruined. They will tell you who surfers'. Spaee and time forbids, me to go on. apd expose every statement of this clever Englishman who wishes to throw dust in the eyes of the Wanganui public at this juncture, when "The Trade" are <ioin.g all they know to keep Wanganui bound in the fetters of License for yet another term of three years. Englishman,, some day, Austin or some other poet will write something like ■jjris when Britain awakes : .. as sflrs a lion from his bed ?| Lengthens his limbs and crisps his mane,' Then puts out all his strength and flashing said — Drink License shall die. And they who walked from where the west wind, blows, Since great themselves, proud that their kith are great, Said, see what comes when England with her foes, Speaks within the gate."