The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, APRIL, 21, 1891. To-morrow's Battle

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

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, APRIL, 21, 1891. To-morrow's Battle

.We publish a letter to-day over the signature of" Total Abstinence" on the ■public house question, and have printed it word for word as received. vVe think that fair-minded, and unprejudiced, men will read that production with some considerable astonishment. We may at once state that many — nay moat — of the charges 1 against Feildiug as a drinking, or drunken, place are exaggerated until they reach the realms of fiction. After a long experience extending over nearly sixteen years, we can say with the most perfect confidence, there is not such another sober and law abiding community in the Colony. At the beginning of the time indicated, Feildiug was, without exception, the . the most drunken the writer had ever 1 seen in this colony. What was the reason? There was no licended house, and sly grog selling was : rampant. Since the sale of liquor has been regulated and controlled in. ' well conducted Hotels, the "drink traffic" has ceased to be an evil. Why, we have not even got the re- '■'■ gulation " town drunkard," so universal in other towns. As to the men " reeling about our streets in • their drunken merriment " at race 1 times, this is such a patent misrepresentation — to call it by no harsher '. term— that it hardly needs contradict- • ion. We have never seen it, and , furthermore the police records show nothing of such a condition of things Suppose the friends of "Total Abstinence " are put in the Licensing Committee, and the voting is against the extension of licenses, does he know what may happen ? We will tell him. By closing the hotels in Feilding, aahe advocates, there would be ; a loss of about £150 a year in rates and license fees, all the present hotel busi- : ness would be sent to Awahuri ; and : hotels would spring up like mushrooms at Aorangi, and Makino, and Menzie's bridge, outside of the borough boundaries. Then, all the busi ; ness -attracted by the public stock sales would be driven away, because . the stock salesmen would have to hold their auctions where their clients couM be supplied with a good dinner aud the accustomed refreshment. All coffee pa/lace speculations suggested by our correspondent to replace the hotels, have turned out a failure in ; Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne, i where there are dense populations, : therefore it is arrant nonsense to even i hint that these sort of establishments could earn a mere living in a village ; hamlet like Feilding. We do hope that the wild assertions made by " Total Abstinence " will be taken at their true value, and, in concluding, we must express our sorrow that an old and respected resident, who has ' prospered in the place, should have v tered such foul slanders against hi fellow settlers. i The timber industry which has been ' somewhat slack in this district for the . last year or two, has taken a fresh departure. We notice that the timber yard of Mr John Bartholomew at the railway . station, is rapidly being filled up with first-class building timber, from his new ■ mill at Kiwitea, and another yard will shortly be established by the Mauawatu Timber Company. As the new forests which have recently been opened coutain : a splendid lot of available totara trees, ■ and the new mills have as many orders : as they can conveniently supply, the old mill hands will have plenty of work I before them. The railway returns will be augmented in .proportion, and last. but not least, all the business people in \ town will receiva a share of the benefits derivable from this staple industry. With reference to the recent retrenchments of the Government the New Zeaj laad Times says-: — " The general result , of the retrenchments in all the Depart • inents, the Government, feels, will produce an increase rather than a dimmii tion of effciency. For years their posi- ; tion in the Service was without any cer taiu regulations about admissions. The consequence was that men were admitted . very irregularly, and there grew lip a ! system of taking on new men m Departments that were overmanned. The necessity for retrenchment compels adjustment. The retrenchment ia, as oce Minister informed us, the preliminary work which must clear the way for the arrangement and 'classification under the Civil Service Bill which Ministers are getting drawn up. One effect of the retrenchment, it is added, will be that the Government will stand by their Edti mates in every particular. " These anticipations have yet to be realised.