REV. J. DAWSON ON BEER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3155, 6 August 1917, Page 7

REV. J. DAWSON ON BEER

Sir —The Rev. John Dawson is secretary of tho New.Zealand Alliance, the heart centre of tho prohibition parly. When the Budget came out. Sflut- newspaper gave- him a cross-JiKiding- llio Rev. .lolin Dawson on tho Beer lax. The ftev. John Dawson is nothing it not thorough. He says that no increased duty would eompensalo for Hie jniury (ho'liquor business does. fco he layours 6 o'clock closing as a step to prohibitioi., but. without compensation to tho liquor business for the loss it would sustain. The Efficiency Board is favourable to earlier closing, up to 9 o'clock one night in tho week, and. it ia also favourable to paying the Trade a "reasonable compen-

sation" for the loss the liquor business would sustain. But it is of Mr. JJawso nthat 1 would write, and his disquisition on beer and its taxation, not on tho diversity of opinion that exists between the prohibitionists and the JMhciency Board on tho question of compensatioii. ~ , Tho Rev. John Dawson says that a diitv of -Id. ur oven sd. per gallon is utterly ridiculous, for he says "the best part of the beer, both in quantity and quality, is water," and why people allow this tax of Id. or sd. a. gallon to continue upon a. commodity the best part of which is water, and why the prohibitionists should have ,-o great 1 a trod of a commodity the best part of which is water, seems to be, in tho language of tho Rev. John Dawson, "utterly ridiculous." Tho reverend gentleman however ,i 5 quite anxious and concerned about the people of the Dominion who consume 11,000,090 gallons uf this liquid, tho best part of which is water. As thero is no fear of the people ; being drowned, or drowning themselves in tnis commodity, for they drink it (tho best part of it being water) to quench their daily thirst; so that it seems to me that tho revorond gentleman's anxiety <m account of.l he people, is just as utterly ridiculous as his anxiety concerning the duty of sd. a gallon upon. a. commodity the'best, part of which, he soys, is water. After Mr. Dawson's dicta on tho beer fax and the commodity taxed, may wo expect the prohibition party to cease from troubling, and go to lest?—J am, etc., xxxx.