HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume V, Issue 249, 2 May 1895, Page 9

HERE AND THERE.

Pressure on' our space renders it impossible for vs to give an extended description of Mr T. Porter’s breeding farm and premises at Mercer, which has been unavoidably held over until our next issue. Mr J. Mcßae, late of the Palace and Lake Hotels,- Rotorua, goes into the Waverley this week. The people up Rotorua way will miss this gentleman, as, I understand, he enjoys the reputation of being the only individual who can artificially awaken the geysers into activity. By cable from Canada we hear that after an ■exhaustive inquiry, lasting over three years, the ■Commission appointed by the Canadian Government report that “prohibition” would injure business, extinguish a large source of municipal revenue, and involve compensation.” What •says Cold-water Isitt to this. Another old identity in the person of Mr GeoB. Martin, licensee of the United Service Hotel, ■died on Wednesday of last week and was interred at the Purewa Cemetery on the following day (Thursday) a large number of friends following the remains to their last resting place. The deceased gentleman, who was 68 years of age at the time of his death, was a native of Guernsey, and, after going to Western Australia, landed in New Zealand some thirty-three years ago. He was for many years employed as brewer in Seccpmbe’s Brewery, Kjber Pass Road; since which fig 'foilpwing houses : Junction ’ Hbtel, an hotel at Wairoa South, • the Motbrua Hotel (New Plymouth), Pacific Hotel, and subsequently the United Service, at which house his death occurred. Mr Martin was widely known and highly esteemed as a man of sterling worth, and in addition to leaving a wife to mburn her loss, there will be many in Auckland by whom he will be missed. From a contemporary: —“I admit that Isitt is a success, but his success is a commercial one. If Isitt were offered a ‘ call ’ to some fat district where the- income exceeded his present gate money, Isitt would at once see that the ‘ call ’ was not only divine, but an advantageous thing, and to be jumped at. One feels compelled to ask himself after a real soul-inspiring prohibition lecture — . . Isitonlyfortheplunder Isitt blows his clarion loud ! Is it only trumped up thunder Isitt whoops it at the crowd ! ” Mr Stopes, a. well-known brewing authority, recently remarked that the brewers of twenty-two years ago used on an average 193 bushels of malt to lewt of sugar, whereas now, he estimates, they use less than 29 bushels to the cwt; and the ten- ' dency is' to a still smaller use of malt. Putting the production-of barley in the United Kingdom in 1894 at about 81,383,000 bushels, or 49,691, 500 cwt, he says that, if only barley were used in the brewing of beer, 32,000,000 cwt of that grain would be needed, but he believes that about 4 000,000 cwt will be displaced by maize, 4,500,000 cwt by sugar, and probably 5,506,000 cwt more by foreign barley, thus reducing the native barley required to 18,000,000 cwt, or 36,000,000 bushels, leaving over 45,000,000 bushels for distilling, grinding, and seed.

Mr Walker, Jun., of the well-known firm of John Walker and Sons, who was through this way recently, spent something like £5,000 in Sydney alone in placing the firm’s whisky on the Australian market. Men were engaged at a salary to visit the various public houses and call for a drop of “ Johnny Walker.”

A writer on one of our contemporaries possesses a fine vein of satire, and uses it unsparingly on Isitt in discussing his departure for England : —“ Parting is such sweet sorrow that I could say good bye until to-morrow.” Now I have got my hand in, I’ll fire off another—“ We couldn’t well have spared a better man.”

Many of the modern tavern signs are corruptions. The Pig and Whistle ishntended for Peg and Wassail, alluding to the peg tankards introduced in Saxon times. The Goose and Gridiron means the Swan and Harp. The Bull and Mouth has reference to the capture of Boulogne Harbour by Henry 111., and was originally Boulogne Mouth. The Beetle and Wedge conveys an allusion to a heavy mallet or beetle, wielded by three men and used for pile driving. Libbard’s Head mean’s Leopard’s Head. — English Paper.

“ To those that ask shall be given ” was the remark of a local publican to his brewer a short time ago, and then he proceeded to inform the gentleman that he would like to make financial arrangements more suited to his (the publican’s) taste. “ I have read the passage in my, bible,” he continued, “ and sincerely believe in its efficacy.” The brewer, overwhelmed at his customer’s scriptural erudition, consented to the new arrangements; but when we proposed to apply the text in our favour .and suggested the opening of a credit account for pints,, he didn’t seem to see the point, and changed the conversation to the bi-metalistic theory.

Mr W. C. Lupton, speaking at the fifth annual dinner of the Morecambe Association (England), compared the teetotal party with a crying child, which might disturb the equanimity of the Licensed Victuallers, but could be quieted with a jujube or a promise. Further on in his discourse this gentleman says : “We must remember, however, that, the child which is still in existence, will grow up to mature age, and would have to be dealt with in the future, It would be by the continued exertions of such societies as those under whose auspices they were met that night that the child must be kept in its proper place, and be shown that England was not to be governed by fanatics and faddists. England was a nation of men able to judge for themselves what they would eat or drink. At the present time there was less excess in the use of alcohol than there had ever been, and the habits of society had greatly improved in that respect. The reason of that was the spread of education, and the march of civilization, and not the efforts of the teetotal party. They would not accept the Bishop of Chester’s scheme, and they had a right to equitable compensation and consideration whenever the licensing question was dealt with.”

“ Working Men and the Veto” is the title of a pamphlet written by Mr A. Locke Cox, and published by the Liberal and Anti-Sunday Closing Union, 135 Salisbury Square, London, and apart from the intrinsic merits of the arguments contained in the 'brochure, its appearance is timely,and while its contents will hardly prove pleasant reading for men of the “ Cold Water Isitt” type or his coworkers’on the Prohibition League, every right thinking citizen throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand will hold with the views set forth by this gentleman. Mr Cox regards the Local Veto Bill as one of the most dangerous obstacles in the path of radical reforms, and his opposition, based on such grounds, quite apart from any personal interest must be regarded as important. Discussing the “ Veto ” through nine pages of interesting matter this gentleman shows plainly that prohibition would not cure drunkenness. On the other hand, while it would displace public, it would increase private drinking, with the result that intemperance would be increased a thousand fold. On page 16 the author ends with the subjoined vigorous summing up : “ We feel confident we have said enough to put our fellow Democrats on their guard against this most specious and unnecessary Bill when we have shown that it is based on tyranny and inequality. It is neither more or less than an altempt on the part of a few self-righteous bigots to restrain freedom of thought and speech. Precisely as the priestly tyrants of a few centuries ago thought that the regeneration of mankind depended upon the enforcement of certain dogma, so do the teetotal tyrants of to-day believe that this regenerationjdepends upon the closing of public houses, and they are equally prepared to invoke the spirit of persecution to attain their ends. We cannot believe that the workers of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, who are slowly emancipating from the thraldom' of centuries will consent to have their march towards freedom impeded by the fetters of a prohibition which is not wanted, which could by no possibility do good, and which would be certain to result in discomfort and annoyance to the great bulk of the people, without producing any counterbalancing good in any direction whatever. We urge all Democrats, therefore, to set their face against the Veto ; first, because it threatens to block the way to imperative reforms; and, secondly, because under the fraudulent pretence of extending the power of the popular will, it really seeks to enable a small- minority to set up a reign of coercion and inequality. There will now be no cause for the Liberal party if they hesitate to discard the Alliance teetotal nostrum, a nostrum which, if persevered in, means political death.”