NO-LICENSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2342, 7 November 1908, Page 3

NO-LICENSE.

[To the Editor.] Sir, —I must ask you, before taking leave of this subject, to allow me a short space for this letter, only for a desire, also a right (I have sons) to fire aslioton behalf of “our. boys.” They will, I am sure, forgive the familiar expression, as it warms the old fighting vein when memories crowd back. I shall content myself on the No-license question by merely referring to the Ashburton mother's story, which 1 notice the Itev. White-house allowed to be correct, with the exception that the son’s assertion that there wore forty sly-grog shops in Ashburton is discredited. The son, I think, is to be credited, as, doubtless he had, like “Josh Billings” on another occasion, tried, them ah. Now I will come back to a personal matter tint concerns more immediately “our boys.” It is asserted by those professing reformers that their great desire is to savo our young men from becoming drunkards, by abolishing the open bars. On behalf of mine I object to such assertions being made and circulated through the press, and I also think “our boys” wall object and resent it in a way more potent than writing letters to the press. The idea to substitute the sly-grog bar for one open to all eyes is worthy of such great reformers and professional abs- a-t tainers. The slur cast on the mothers si and sisters of “our. boys” insinuating t< by the. assertions made, that we are u .' neglecting our children and rearing S 1 a lot of wasters .is, to put it miJdt ,r ago' disgusting and must bo rcdres. (T One more old military order, and I have done. On the 17th ij lt j 10 stand to your guns and give the;,,„ nf wi volley. Don’t aim at the head, ! r OYS might hit nothing, hut at the p] 0 jg where the whisky is stored. — l ani-L p„ r _ <WID XONfoio, [To THE JmjITOH.J 1310111 Sir,—l do not wish to advise Vl intcrone, but I do wish to see a g“ „ am j question, dealt with on broad pro and con, and if the liquor trai j lumor a good thing we should consider!! ] If it has the power of making A voters, honest citizens, kind hush , and loving fathers, if it leads i observance-of the country’s laws, . stands for morality and" intcllige* C Y- 1 ’ if it discourages crime and. pauper' l l ostlon illegal voting and false swearing, i ai !j X 1 13" it is plain sailing for anyone ra ’ . knows about it. If the liquor trac c ., ( l xl . e ‘ s ' a blessing it should: not lack s. 11 *?, 101 ]. men to stand by it. But on the> vlls , ol ' t-rary, if the liquor traffic of Ll ° country makes cruel’.' husbands, ? c ‘ o 80 kind fathers, if it breaks woni; s “ orne ' hearts and degrades children, jprouglit fills our penitentiaries, our aJK2 houses and our gaols, if it stimuli tao crime and degradation, and faDad deperjures the towns, if it is an em's a lie. to good Government, to law, oi ures to and civilisation, then where is tl| not a a single reason why you and Ipn had true and honest citizens, should l As and vote it out. p advoEvery voter should consider liimjo (Mr. a sworn juryman on this issue, Sided to just and fear not, let all tlio cdvocate J thou aimest at be thy country’s, cs were ! God’s and truth’s. Take the -liqjim oh. traffic and all the good it has clild not and put it on one side of your sc! voice: of judgment. Do not leave out r people thing. If there is any doubt givj never the benefit. This is the rule we w[ Mho applied to this case. After puttlicense ? all the good it has done on one d apof the scales, put all the evil it ] done on the other side. Take its! a t this oerd In this town, weigh it lionepdible. and well, and if you believe, afterlontinuvestigation of this kind, that the Party quor trade has done more good if it has done injury, that it is a hi? ing to the country, that it tends j *■ clean government, then it is y ou the duty to stand by and support it.' if the liquor shop is an enemy to, g ]y j State, an enemy' to our 'instituti'| e^ara _ I cannot .see how any honest : }llliy ‘ j can defend it—defend an institu " ‘ that is opposed to the highest’-] t p; s te-rests of the country. A man j will give aid and comfort to an enl . of his country, and thereby help k nstl ° jure it is a degenerate.—l am, etc! , . “CITIZEN! h ’ s r T Gisborne, Nov. 4. jamb in gP.S.—After the liquor bar is d’ wcro 110 there will still remain the well-3 °” ducted house of -refreshment- and lj -hoo. and the comfort and pleasure will j „ remain—minus the degrad a tU'' vant • and conditions surrounding the o “Cheap bar.— “-Cd

[To the Editor.] low u Sir, —“True Britisher” asks mc° V 6 1G tin's morning’s paper, if 1 have 1-, a tally of the drunks that have h ,„ rti .i lor turned out as “the finished artic >, q 7,1 with a record of accidents that bt. e /-.-v the same, adding a list of victims ,e * '■ have been lambed down. In rep r ~ say no, that I never thought it •ff’v! my mission to register the failA vltl i- 1 1 and infirmities of the people I f 1 AVI amongst. It answers no good pur/ sto P to know how many people get. drM' orc *- in a period, or what Q u °tc them were kiLled whilst drunk, foft 1 s ' a^the first place drunkards give no j 331 him estimate of the amount of liquor borders sumed, neither do the accidents f°' People befeCi them give any clue to 11 t° teleelianceo of useful longevity if so&ks they The craving for stimulants is, in mi cases, inherited, and the unfortk>-license ates so .'afflicted sacrifice everyth’to obtain liquor, and will have it’t; they it is within their power to do so: this class of person is to be refoj a large ed and the early temptation ta'pical Noaway from our youth, the Domini used by as a whole, must adopt total pro] ition. This the No-license Pa strongly resist, perhaps on the ]1 of a lady whose terrier’s tail hadj be cut off, insisting that it must taken off in small pieces at a t to prevent hurting the poor dog j much. When it was proved that J hibition did not prohibit, that orga] ation changed front and becameL Mayor No-license Party. They now cl Prohib that 1 the closing of licensed '"b ars f \wifl check drinking and stay the drunkard’s career. It.is amply proved that sly-grog selling, the natural child of Nodicenso, becomes a 'worse evil than the stringently regulated open sale of intoxicants. -It is quite within the experince of everybody that the putative father of sly-grog shops (the No-license organisation!, would, soon disown its paternity, and point to the licensees who were running lawful trade before its birth, as the parent. The question of lambing down is levelled fit tlio late libd vm in Qi

.lighter.) :1 lie had why he fc Magisense in>g shops, a thing

which must bo laid bare- to bo understood. In 1907 the police reports on the late manager of the Record Reign Hotel were thought good enough to grant him a license. In 190 b the Licensing Committee (nearly all Noliccnse men) were satisfied, although th© police were not, that the applicant tor .renewal was quite uj> to the rigorous standard required! to conduct a hotel business. The least that can bo said is that the No-license Committee who had control did not do their duty in granting the application. A scandal has been thrown on the whole trade through the ‘neglect of their duty by the Nolicense Committee. Now with reference to the offensive term “prating" used in referring to the demands made on the hotel landlord, and his duty and capability to perform them, 1 will say that the nameless antagonist, who thinks this disrespectful term adds to his importance, should have hesitated before signing himself “True Britisher.” I am accused of 'raising a side issue in showing that the public want men qualified and competent to hold licenses. 1 will admit that it is a side issue, namely, the other side, there being two sides to the question. The side chosen by no-license of attack with bell, book, and candle, excommunication of the hotel-keepers licensed to sell liquor by the socialreform pharisee, and the side of the poor publican, who should be allowed to beat his breast and exclaim “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner!” The cause of charity, peace, and goodwill amongst man is gravely damaged by the no-liccnse leaders’ Hons in this campaign. Those who lould be exponents of truth descend the grossest and most wanton “tcrinological inexactitudes,” or in nipler language “diplomatic hypericonic from any ho-ilctnsc SUppisy, Mr. Gaud in seconded the rfom but the audience was leaving not time. The Mayor proposed a.-v^ 5 thanks to the chairman, and tlj°to ceedingsi terminated.

.SOME QUOTATIONS, .oth .The following aro a few < 0 j: many remarks made by Mr. 1q 10 during the course of his speech,[ el , caused much merriment to tho JVO ence: — . ral “Never take tlie word, ol a pa j,j s “There- is many a man in U 0 trict who will vote no-licen.sc in|jj c that he may enter into the br rs . of sly-grog selling.' - ’• ib“l would sooner put my hancovbuteller’s block, and have it <'iot inch by inch than vote for to license.” >o“They have even banded tlienes, together to keep me out. of the (me Council on account of my sptof against No-license.” ac“l have quoted nobody wast have not got their name, and 1 to of any standing.” oot ~ “He is an old, elderly man, erse is now in his grave to-day” (reiroto a deceased medical pfactitio:ng “Bishop Julius hurled the vS’. 1 me, and immediately cleared the colony to Norfolk Island.” 111 . ‘■ We do not want our town y) rwith a reform that is bristlin llclrotten eggs.” “Prohibition! It is an ungo- n< Y immoral reform.” “1 do not consider that I w, . doing my duty as Mayor of tl " if I did not come forward am ’ save you from this terrible d"' , “At present, ladies and gei| a you have got prohibition on A, y poko and Ivaiti, but I tell you rt carry no-license slv-grog shot spring up all over the suburbs “I am proud to be a membey a I Cosmopolitan Club, and I thij much better for a young man i j )V there than in the ‘pubs,’ as lK f s inclined to go too..tar his trie restrain him.” aI-t----“It’ll be a fat tiling for and Tatapouri if they cany nc. a j e and the people will go there, the fare is only 15s, and peo ac . be going to Napier every day. rc _ “It’s the only way you’ll < lK ,]i rid of me, by voting No-liceiiiity if you do that you’ll clean n, fitout of the town” (which callq of from the audience a remark cxwill vote Ncdicense.”) \sh-

The Revs. AY. Grant and AVago will reply, to Mr. Lysriar’s or -from the Sievwright Memojj a ■tiiglrb. | in - . . _ ' :