THE LOCAL OPTION BILL.

Evening Star, Issue 4184, 25 July 1876, Page 4

THE LOCAL OPTION BILL.

• ; ,;., Tothe Editor., v. " I Sijß,-~Ditfing the debate on the Local Option. Bill, Mr Ballance is reported to have said, " The member forDunedin should have posted himself up better with regard to the Main Liquor Law, because he could quote ffie highest, and best authorities to show that A complete '.'revision y of feeling had taken place regarding the prohibition of the salfe of liquor."': It ia said, "Hequoted; the words •f the governors of Maine and Michigan to ahow that injurious effects of an alaraiing character had. sprung out of the American system of prohibition." These sayings of .Mr Jiillanco were quoted with much approval by the ■' Otag'o Daily Times' in last Tuesday, whenit made the very extraotdi'nary' announ<Seement that'.',V.Mr Stout had withdrawn "his 4 Local Option' nr<ea,Bure."' If Mr Ballance has no better authority for jthe statements made by him than the ' Tinies '• hail for. saying.the Bill had been witljdfcaWn, the.public will be able now to'judge of jtbe reliance to be placed in them. It is Very funny to read of "the ;poor thing ' r being irr ttich " mortal/anguish," that it cannot be wondered'at that "th'e : author of its being -desired, to :puF it. -out., of: its ; misery withaiit' any long-drawn tortufe," .while (»11-the "While the "..thing!". was.in.the riost' hearty, iand^,,vigorous health. I giveithe ' Times' the benefit of its own elegant ;J>hri3eok>gy in describing ■ the debate and it 3 results:-*-" During the debate on the Bill the usual arguments pro and, con were duly

trotted out, and the common sense of the House-was found to be too much for the fanatical, party," as evidenced by the fact that the second reading of "thepoor thing" was .carried by the respectable majority of ten. But to return to. Mr Ballance. I apprehend there will be as many opinions ajs to on the operations of the prohibitory liquor ,laws of AmericSTas the 'Times 'says, there are about ,','tlie.effects in Maine." Butputside ' -the oirple of. liquor menj or ',' of those who for /'political., purposes are ,\fipsirpus of securing ;ihe liquprvpto, I am of "opinion., there Will be considerable difficulty in finding "the authorities to; show that a complete; revulsion of feeling --had taken place in _ America regarding the prohibition of the >' ksle'bf" liquor." lam disposed to think that "facts speak louder than words,"'and what the people of the United States con : tmue to dp is much more valuable testimony to the condition of public opinion than the utterances of individual men, even :[, though these men may.be governors of Maine and Michigan. What, then, are the facts of the case? In Maine the List electfohs, but 'recently over, proved the people to be in ..favor of a more" rigid enforcement, of" the law than has yet obtained. . After'all that has been,said by ono and another as to the failure of the Maine Law the most strenuous endeavors of the liquor

, party cannot obtain the least relaxation of ' She law. Every year's experience confirms .tike people in .tho deep conviction that their frohibitory liquor law is one of the most valuable on the Statute book of the State. Then Vineland has re-voted the prohibitory t*w..: GreeDsb.oro', in'Korth Carolina, has ▼oted prohibition by a majority of 247 ; Pemberton, in-. Burlington Co., by a majority of thirty; while State after State ; ls\adopting a Local Option Bill, giving the ■"■ eeveraf ttfwus and districts of the State power to.prohibit the trade in liquor. On the 12th' May a State convention of temperance Reform, Clubs, was held in Lowell, .Massachusetts, with an attendance of 114 delegates,: representing thirty-seven clubs, when it was claimed that at no time has temperance sentiment beenso general in the State t»now. ■•' At the annual meeting of the State Temperance Alliance of Maryland, held in Baltimore on May 17, the president of the Society—the Hon. "Wm. Daniel—showed the '' result 'pjf the .operation ~6i ; the : local option law illustrated in the ejnptying of jails, reduction, of arrests,, the. lessening of crimej taxation, &c, in the counties where it is enforced. Ho quoted from the report of the .Prisoners' Aid Society, in which it is' stated +hat—- -.■■'■'.■'

The Ideal option law'has produced''the most •favorable ■re'eults at reform. Of this fact I have the strongest evidence in the decrease of prisoners, which T notice in my visitation to certain countries and in such districts where tho Jaw had been euforced. I have examined the prisoners jind held special intercourse with the sheriffs and other' officers who were expected to know its effects, and Am informed that it has produced the most decided and happy changes in promoting peace, safety, and quiet.

The National Prohibition Convention for the nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President, met in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 17th May. The following is the first plank in their platform : The legal prohibition in tho district of Columbia» tho territories, and in every other place subject to the Jaws of Congress, of importation, exportation manufacture, and traffic of all alcoholic beverages as high crimes against society; an amendment to tho National Constitution to render these prohibitory measures universal and permanent, and the adoption of treaty stipulations with foreign powers to prevent the importation and exportation of all alcoholic beverages. The Convention named Genl. Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, for president, and G. T. Stewart, of Ohio, for vice-president. It is well known to those to keep up to the times in these matters that the liquor men of Massachusetts have recently secured the repeal of the prohibitory law in that Sta J e and the adoption of a license law—a license law, however, before which the publicans of New Zealand -would stand aghast. Having obtained so much they desired to get more, and accordingly secured the passim' of a law modifying the regulation of the 3ale of liquors, which amendment law the Governor of the State, vetoed, giving his reasons as follows :

Under this new provision, therefore, our citiea tmd towns throughout the Commonwealth would be nubject to the establishment of open bars and lippling houses, unlimited in number, and deckc-1 with the allurements of temptatiou to the young and. the unstable, and spreading 'the seeds of poverty, desolation, and crime, where they are, and ought to be, for ever excluded. I cannot but feel that the enactment of such a measure would he a step backwards in our civi'isation; that while we are expending v st sums of money in the maintenance of schools, colleges and churches, in charitable and reformatory institutions and prisons, and watching with anxious solicitude the causes which lead to the increase of insanity, pauperism, and crime; that while we are prosecuting discoveries iu science, developing the useful arts, and extending our industries, in the hope of increasing the employment, the comfort and wealth of our people,—to establish tippling houses and the open bar, with their concomitant vices at every step of our progress, would seem to be a reproach either to our intelligence or to our integrity. The other changes iu the law contemplated by this Bill, which for the most part meet my approval, sink iuto obscurity in my esteem, iu comparison with this great aud threatening evil. I give these extracts from papers to hand by the last 'Frisco mail, for the information of Mr Ballancc, the ' Otago Daily Times,' and the public generally, each of whom must form his own opinion of their value and lessons.—l am, &c, i Citizkk. Dunedin, July 2-1.