TWO SIDES TO EVERY QUESTION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1648, 29 August 1887, Page 2

TWO SIDES TO EVERY QUESTION

Tho following is culled from an American contemporary :— There ore some people m America who havo {great uympathy for hotolkoepers when tho ratopayera refuse a liconse. A man, a few days ago, said : " You temperance people are depreciating the valuo of property ; our hotelkeepor will lose £2000 oa hie proporty if this town remains without a liceneo You will admit this, won't you ?" " Yob, of couruo we will admit this ; but, my dear sir, lot us boo if thia hotel has not been tho means of DKIUtECIATINCI THE VALUE of real estate. " "Do you know how ' mach Gorton paid for hie farm ten years ago ?" " Yea, he paid £10,000 for it, and at that time it was a bargain." " I wan by there' to-day aod I saw the barn doorß wore off the hinges, the fence down, the house needed painting ; all along the fenca I saw elders, briars, etc. How much would you give for it now, you are a good judge of property ?' " I would not give over £6000 for it ; m fact, I would not want it at that price." "How did this farm come to run down as it has 1" " Why, you know Carton Spent all his Time at the Hotel, neglected his farm, has a heavy mortgage on it now — and it came from the hotel. Am I over-stating it V" " No, his farm has run down m the way you have mentioned." " How is it with John McLaney, Will Allen, MoOormick, and others I might mention ? Has not this hotel, you have helped to keep running, been the means of deprecating the real estate of this town ? Look at tUe farms mortgaged because the owners spent their time and money at the bar." •' I think you are right. I had never looked at it m that light before." We then recommended him to reckon, and at the figures this man Bet himself, we found on 17 farms a loss of £27,000 coming direct from tho hotel he had desired to keep open. He came to the conclusion it was bettor for tho hotel to loso m value £2000, than taxable proporty to .the amount of £27,000, How much' longer will it be before the people will see the wholesale ruin coming from the public houses 2 Wo would ask our readers m town and country to look routed them and boo if they will not find vory much to parallel this m their respective neighbourhoods.