BISHOP CROSSLEY AND THE DRINK TRAFFIC.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1416, 17 April 1912, Page 5

BISHOP CROSSLEY AND THE DRINK TRAFFIC.

Sir,—His Lord&liip Bishop Crossley, by urging that something should be done immediately to stem the. tide of drunkenness iu New Zealand, is to be heartily commended. In so acting he sets a noble example to some other exalted dignitaries of the Church. Instead of publicly .reviling the Prohibitionists about their methods, or denouncing Prohibition under the shallow pretence that it endangers a sacrament of the Church, he pleads eloquently for soino instant action. All earnest souls will wish him well. But unless his experience is different from thai of many nf the lending New Zealand Prohibitionists be will in time discover liow powerless all remedial agencies arc Hint stops short of Prohibition. Such men as L. -M. ls:ilt, the laie . K. Taylor, and .-omo others after years of toil on less drastic lines, were finally driven to Hip convict ion Hint Ilio licensed business of making drunkards must, be stopped, and that could be eifeolcd only by Prohibition. Hence (hey became zealous Prohibitionist:?. While one doc; not wi-h to damp the Bishop's ardour, it is onlv right In point out that the two sugeestiuns lie makes are neither new nor effective. In New Zealand for sinie years Hie (jovcrrinieii! , employed anaivr-ts to pay surprise visits to hotels l(i tc.il the liquors dispensed at I he burs. The principle adul'orafiou they discovered. [ believe, was the larse amount of water by which the -piriis were diluted. ' Then a few years ago a CoumuiioA of

lnve-ligalio;i was set up in the Old Country. i\i\d Hinugli whisky was tlic mily liquor dealt willi, tins rosull proved how lillli' ground there was for the off.-repoat-ed statement that I lip harm in Ilio drink i-: chiefly duo In Ihe impurities il. contain*, ('iunmeuiing on (his rinding, tho London "Time*" snt<l: "II i-oeins to show Hint :i {joiitl deal of nonsense is talked about in.vslprious ingredients, when it is jn-4 alcohol, no more no less, that is doing mi-chief."

Saw, as to the Bishop's suggestion lo throw, open the bar? to public view. In iiiiiny of tin; Stales of America this has been in I'ni'pp. An extract from an English nine Book (inO7) on "Tim Liquor Traffic Legislation in the Cnilcll States," dealing with several of the Stales, reads;

"The u>lll.l principle enforced i- tlnil nothing shall be allowed of a nature to impede a lull view of the interim- of the saloon from the outside, and several of the States will onlv allow the solomis tu lie on the ground floor, and fronting the public street." Tu spite of these provisions tho traffic in the license States is little, if any, better than in other parts of the world. The people in the States are realising this, judging by the enormous strides tho Prohibition cause is mnking in that country.—l nm, etc.,