PROHIBITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 547, 17 October 1902, Page 2

PROHIBITION.

(To the Editor of the Times.)

Sir,—The residents of this district should feel gratciul tc Mr Lysnar not only lor his able, well-digested, and logical aduress on Prohibition lastnignt, but also for the tune, trouble, amt expense he has so freely given to the .subject. ■ Thoughtful people will carefully weigh me mass 01 evidence he produced against making Gisborne an experimental ground lor partial prohibition, and 111 view of the evits mat liavQ arisen mrough its introduction at Baiciutha, retrain from the old error ol mating the cure worse than the disease.

tor Lysnar’s nine points ot control, added to the admirable supervision of the authorities, would be found a far more practical remedy for the evils of the drink traffic than the ruae amputation aimed at by the well-meaning but unbusinesslike leaders ol Lire Prohibition party.

We as a people are too stubborn to he coerced, hut support lair and equitable laws with our whole being. From the actual publican to the paxsou we arc all agreed that people who are under the uncontrollable driiiKing habit should be restrained. It is lair and equitable that such persons should be loosed alter in ail open, straightforward manner, and not forced into the worse evil of the two by having to resort to clandestine subterfuges, lying, and deceit, in addition to their unfortunate failing. Thp present; system in Gisborne gives the police lull control ol the traffic. It licenses are removed the traffic still exists, as shown by Balclutha, with the added element of demoralization. There is another important factor that should have grave consideration, and that is the damage likely to lw done to property. “ Give a dog a bad name and you'd lietter hang him.” Give our promising district- a had name, and many desirable settlers will hesitate before coming to a place where they are denied the liberty of entertaining themselves without feeling criminal over it. Countries have been kept back for centuries by narrow and restrictive legislation. The Gisborne people are progressive, and I am confident. alive to the advantages of free, open, and honest dealing under the strictest control, as contrasted with the pig-in-a-bag policy of curing a minor evil hy introducing a much greater one.—l am, etc., -y?. F. CRAWFORD,