THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Evening Star, Issue 4315, 26 December 1876, Page 4

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

The occasion of Mr Fox's return to J»augitikei was taken advantage of by the teetotaller? to give him au ovation.. .Air Fox was entertained to a sumptuous luncheon of a , temperance kind, and afterwards a public .meeting was held, at which he made a speech in support of the c-.aise.of tutal abstinence, • and at. the same time gave au account of the : working of the Prohibitory Liquor law in the States of Maine and Portland. Judging t>y the report of his speech, Mr Fox is not quite so fanatical and bitter on this topic es he used to be. Possibly travel and r-hauge of scene may have enabled kirn to get rid of some of his excess of bile, and thus made him a trifle better tempered than of yove. Possibly, also, the many really eloquent speeches in support of the cause which he has heard in England may have taught him th-it the most successful advocates of lemperanae are those who arc most moderate in the expression of their views. However that may bo, the change is undoubted, and we congratulate Mr .Fox on the improvement. In his opening remarks Mr rox, a ter referring to the growing prosperity of the Kangitikei district, took occasion to lament the fact that a third hotel had been erected in Martou. " Were not two hotels," he asked, " enough to bring misery and sorrow and degradation into their homes, that they must needs have a third—a gigantic, beautiful .house, with all the allurements to induce the unwary to indulge in habits of drinking ? He was deeply grieved and seriously hurt to see this additional public.-house. He was grieved to tind another addition to the great army of destruction in theii midst." There is a touch here of the old intolerance. What nonsense it is for Mr Fox to talk in this way. Since he was last in Marton the population of the district and the amount or traffic have so largely increased as to render additional hotel accommodation indispensable. This new hotel is, moreover, a first-class one, and surely it is rather satisfactory than otherwise that any new hotels which may be required should be of the bes-t and most respectable kind. Mr Fox spoke generally of Mb travelß in the States of Maine and Vermont in the character of "amoral detective." He declared that the prohibitory liquor law in those two States has been an almost complete success, and that ninetenths of the drinking which previously existed had been swept away through their agency. "During the fortnight I was there," says Mr Fox, "1 worked very hard, going out at four o'clock in the morning, and poking my nose into every hole and corner where I thought i. might lind drinking going on, and yet during the fortnight I was in these two states, which have a population of 1,400,000, I did n-.t see a man, woman, or child that had the appearance of having ever tasted wine or alcoholic liquor in their life." Now this statement is very gratifying, but it is at the same time of' the most vague and general character. That people don't look as if they drank does not by any means prove that uo drinking goea on in a community. There may be no open publichouses or legalised sale of alcoholic liquor in a place, but private driukinw may still go on to a considerable extent! Mr Fox admits that in the seaports of these States, where facilities for smuggling exist, private drinking takes place, but only, he . contends, to a slight extent. We do most sincerely wish that Mr Fox's statements on this point may be altogether accurate, but we fear he has allowed his. strong feelings of partisanship to bias his judgment. Other travellers in Vermont and Maine have testified to the partial failure of their prohibitory liquor laws, and until Mr Fox has fortified his case by the production of well-authenticated facts and statistic*!. we shall still feel, to a' certain extent, incredulous about his assertion?." Mr Fox, however, must not therefore set us- "down as the opponents of the temperance cause. It he can convince us that the prohibitoryliquor- law has really effected what he claims for it, then we shall frankly admit that a great good has been achieved by a means of the efficacy of which we have hitherto en tertained serious doubts. With Mr Fox's idea of forming new townships on temperance principles, we euti^yia£ice J .ji.ti.lhe cxperiv

menthas been tried in England and America 1 with success, and it might well be attempted ; on a large scale in New Zealand. Mr Fox, in alludirg to the temperance movement in the. United Kingdom, observed :—" In England, Scotland, and Ireland there were townships in which there was not a publichouse, and in these the people were wellto do and orderly, possessing all the vir- j tues one would desiiv to see, and very few I vices. In England alone there were 1,400 , townships where there was no public-house,. ! He was glad to see that in England the movement was making great prouress." Mr Fox announced his intention of next session proposing the adoption of the plan, which he says is in force in America, by which all public-houses are obliged to close on election days. He also advised those he was addressing at Rangitikei, and abstainers throughout the Colony, to combine to return members to Parliament who would vote straight f.>r the Permissive Bill. Thi-i question he said was of such vital importance that if nsccssary they should be prepared to break up all old party ties and take their stand on the platform of returning men who would put a stop to the liquor traffic. Taking it al o jether, Mr Fox's speech is both interesting and instructive, it is deficient in facts and statistics, but then Mr Fox was always vtry weak on such points.—' Evening Post.' Mrßryoe, M.H.tt, Mr Fox's colleague in the representation of Wangauin, urges that the power of granting licenses should rest with the County Councils.