Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1905. THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8275, 17 October 1905, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1905. THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

We have received a well-written pamphlet, under the above heading, written by a moderate drinker, which makes out a very strong case for " no-license." We notice it because it is, taken as a whole, the best losal treatise, on the question which has com:; under our notice. Tho author commences by inquiring as to whether the liquor traffic is beneficial to the individual or profitable to the State ? We cordially agree to his answer "No " to both queries ; but may we ask him whether there be not many other traffics which are in the same category ? If this, or any other traffic, be harmful, there are two ways of dealing with them ; the one is to " msnd," and the other is to " end." The author, we refer to, advocates the ending of the liquor trade, and finishes up his arguments by an impressive appeal to " strike out the top line"; but we fail to see why the trade should not be mended. The real obstacle to its amendment seams to us to have been the lax administration of the law by the Government now in power.

Singularly enough the author of the pamphlet declares that the Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, Prime Minister of Now Zealand— wittingly or unwittingly—is indeed the most practical Prohibitionist living to day," Mr Saddon, as a Prohibitionist, is a little like Comic Opera; but we can understand that the effect of his administration of the liquor laws has been in the direction of strengthening the hands of the Prohibitionists. Many houses are badly conducted, and in the past it has been, quite understood that neither Magistrate nor Constable must be too officious in dealing with them. This, more than anything else, has resulted in a determined effort on the part of all sorts and conditions of men and women to end a traffic which they cannot trust the Government to mend. A short tim£_ago we chanced to/bo walk-

ing along .Queen-street, one evening, a little after ten o'clock, and had to move o:i one side to allow three tipsy youths to pass us, who reeled along the footpath, linked arm in arm together. Sights of this kind, are, we believe, not infrequent in this town, and do more than the arguments of total abstainers to swell the Prohibition vote. . Is there no remedy, short of Prohibition, for an evil of this kind ? Is it not possible to point out to such youths that by getting tipsy they waste their money, impair their health, destroy their efficiency as workers, and disgrace their parents. Possibly the V.M.C.A. can discuss a problem of this kind. The knot may be cut by striking out the top line ; but it may be practicable to untie it by personal influences and persuasions.

Does anyone try to save these lads who are "falling down the ladder rung by rung," instead of climbing up it. They may save themselves, if there is any manhood left in them, but it may b:> difficult for others to save them. Youths staggering along thg street, late at night, after a debauch, are amenable to the law—but the law is a dead letter. The policy of the Government in the past has been to (olerate evils of this kind, instead of strictly enforcing the law. There are hotels which are well conducted, and there are hotsls which are ill-conducted; and the authorities should discriminate batween the two. If Prohibition be carried, the well-conducted houses will suffer the same penalty as the ill-conducted houses; and in this there is obviously an element of injustice.