"THE PUBLIC HOUSES."

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 128, 21 April 1891, Page 2

"THE PUBLIC HOUSES."

TO THE EDITOR OF THR STAR. Sib,—- As the ratepayers will be called upon to- morrow to exercise their franchise upon the licensing question, in two forms, I should be glad if you would allow me space to offer a few words of advice. First, I may say it must be patent toevery thinking person that the whole system of hotels or (to use plainer language) drinking dens, is a great evil, I can, day.after day, see fresh and- strong? evidence of the fact that our once fair and, little town is becoming more and more' open. to vice. The late.two race meetings alone supplied strong proof of the evils of" allowing hotels to exist in the midst of our community. What was.the state and condition of, I may say .scores of people on those two days ? ; Why, sir, they could be ; seen reeling about our streets in their drunken merriment entirely oblivious of what was passing; on aronnd them. Is : this creditable, or should such; things be 1 permitted? I say, sir, emphatically, No,; a thousand times No ! Then let us entirely put a stop to the drink traffic and such things as are an inducement to it*. The time, sir, is not far distant when that great and -awful gambling machine, the totalisatbr will be swept off the face of theearth, or at least our portion of it r and the downfall of racing must inevitably follow the death-of one evil. Now for the other. A great chance now presents itself. Here we have five citizens-^---popular, good, and true— Messrs Carthew, Gould, Monckton, Peter Thomson and Watts. These are our hope. .They, sir, haye given as their solemn pledge to'prevent our town from becoming the home of vice and debauchery. They, sir, havepledged themselves boldly to do their duty to the grand and beautiful temperance cause, and not only, sir, prevent, with all their might and main the increase of hotels, but also, sir, to wipe out and abolish those already established, as our brothers in Sydenham are pledged. I have heard one argument used by the advocates for the hotels, and that is if ; we had one other it would ;pay the borough's 1 share of the interest to be provided for the erection of the bridge over the Oroua river at Aorangi, and if we have not a new house the rates which we now have will be reduced by the sum to be paid t on account of the new bridge and will be quite insufficient to maintain our present roads, let alone the question of new ones required to be made. A nice argument, indeed ; better, sir, say,. " I would have noroads at all, bridges either, rather*than provide for the same out of that accursed, drink. Let the roads and: bridges go; let its get rid of drinking houses. The purity of out- town is to the minds of all Christian people a question of much more moment than roads or bridges. , Fancy, sir, what a- sight it would be instead of having the three existing hotels in our midst to have' the sites' occupied by handsome coffee palaces I It would indeed gladden the hearts of all true soldiers to our cause. Let all true comrades and friends to? that dear cause unite their" forces on the morrow, and we shail gain a great and, glorious victory then. When we have re- : turned the above true champions, and cast out from us the three existing hbtels r : will true prosperity ensue and a bright and golden future follow.— l am., <&c., Total Abstinence.