LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3196, 21 September 1917, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

NO-LICENCE IN MASTERTON Sir,—With your kind permission I will rotor very brieily to the letter signed Awapuni.' (How difficult to get these supporters of the liquor traffic to append their signatures!) _ i am not aware, and it is scarcely justifiable for that correspondent to lead readers to infer that I admitted, that residents of Masterton arc "seoking to improve their position by migrating to licencing districts." Nothing in. my letter affirmed or suggested any such allegation, nor do I for one moment credit it. A geutieman' well known in Auckland commercial circles, whoso name will be accepted without hesitation as a synonym for probity and absolute impartiality, told me a day or two ago that during a recent visit to Wairarapa lie made it his special business to inquire into the effect of No-Licence in Masterton. One solitary individual was found to condemn Prohibition. He was the driver of a conveyance in which my friend made a rural tour. But in the town, prosperity was writ large. Not a shop to be had for love or money, and scarcely a dwelling of the better class. In conversation with several business men, the verdict was universal:. "Never again! Never again shall the drink traffic bring our town into disrepute." X notice that my friend "Awapuni" does not refer to the closing of the llasterton Dorcas Society, and the causes that brought it about. Can he tell me of any similar happening in a district in which the drink traffic is still legalised? Thanking you, sir, for permitting me to reply in self-defence, and in the cause of truth and justice,—l am, etc., ALEX. M'MIKN.. • Auckland, September 17.