LOCAL OPTION BILL.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 166, 7 September 1877, Page 6

LOCAL OPTION BILL.

to the Ki/mm,

Sir, — I am much pleased with your_ views on the education, Sunday desecration, and other leading questions, and especially with your eilorts in the cause of temperance, which induces me to point out what Mr Fox seems to have overlooked — viz;., the supi>i'cssion of shebeems or shanties, as the whole gist of Mr Fox's Bill lies in giving the people the power to object to the granting of licenses, while, 1 think, they virtually had tha* power before, as the bench,, as a rule, were greatly influenced, if not altogether "guided, by, and almost invariably gave effect to, the expressed wishes * of the people, sitting in a judicial capacity to sco justice done, while they were a sort of upper house preventing any injustice which might ax-ise from the popular feeling. So that I cannot see the great advantage or great benefit this Bill will confer, while the greater evil attending the shanties is left untouched. In my own neighbourhood there are four shanties for ono licensed house, which proportion may apply to the country .generally, and I don't know on what principle it may be, unless it is that stolen pleasures are sweet, or that some people have a sort of morbid delight in breaking the law, and would prefer getting drunk in a shanty to a licensed house. 1 have heard of as much as three barrels of ale going into a small shanty in one week, while the lawful -house did not sell one. So that I think ■■ on this ground Mr Fox's Bill will, to a ' certain extent, be powerless to remedy the evil. What can some members mean by giving compensation as nothing could be more absurd, or would lead to more jobbery. It might save the fire insurance companies something ; as when a man made his house too obnoxious for the granting of a license he might get compensation without resorting to lucifer matches. If the majority of the people agree to make a railway for the public good, are licensed houses along the old road or the coach proprietors compensated ; and why should compensation be given if the majority of the people see fit to put down - a nuisance ? While Mr Fox deserves all honour for his praise-worthy efforts to combat the powers that be, it will require much bolder measures to make a breach in the wall. If men who are insane hy the visitation of God are confined for the public good, why should tho self-made madman be allowed to go at lai-ge as is too abundantly shown in our police reports? The confirmed drunkard is a dangerous member of society; and his crime should be treated as an indictable offence, and punished more heavily by fine and imprisonment ; and lie should be made to give evidence against tho man who was accessory to his crime, and who reduced him to Ms helpless condition. Every person so offending should bo prosecuted according to law ; this would catch the shanty-keeper, as well as the low publican, and strike at the root of the evil. For it is evident that the confirmed | drunkard is not a responsible being, and so must be protected from those who make gain at the expense of Ins destruction. Again, why should a starving wretch be punished for stealing an old coat or a loaf of bread, while the drunkai-d may steal the shoes from his children's feet, the clothes from their backs, and the very coals from tho hearth, and crush, tlio very souls out of an unprotected family, and trample them in tho dust, the grave being the only refuge 1 All the robberies and all the murders committed are as a drop in the bucket to the arch thief and robber — drink ; and 'to take a lower view of it, what might not this country do if the two million three hundred thousand pounds spent on tobacco and drink were spent in a legitimate manner. Wo would hear no more of bad time or want of employment : but everything would go merrily as a marriage bell. No, Mr Fox's Bill does not go far enough : you caunot heal a ■broken limb with Wizard Oil, or a deepseated cancer with corn plaster. — lam, etc. , No Templak.