THE BEST ABUSED MAN.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume V, Issue 231, 18 July 1885, Page 2

THE BEST ABUSED MAN.

A correspondent writing from Otahuhu to the Auckland Bell furnishes the followin,!;, in which there is a good deal of truth :—The publican pays .£25 to £3O per annum for the liberty to sell beer and spirits. If he refuses to get up in tne night to supply the demands of travellers, he gets fined, with a chance of losing his license ; he pays at all times rent, double the worth of the house ; he is rated higher than the value of his premises, and he pays more taxes than his neighbors ; he can never tell how many will dine—he therefore provides liberally, aud looses very often ; his cold meats, &c, he sends to the poor, whilst his teetotal spy lets his brother starve Then on Sunday when poor Boniface needs repose for both body and soul, and he thinks himself secure, even from the snares of the devil, up comes the " harmy." They stand in front of the doomed man's house. They kneel r pray, sing, howl, curse, and blaspheme. They play cornets, trombones, tambourines, rattle the bones, and turn summer-

saults. They tell the publican he is on his way to hell; that his wife, his (laughters, and his barmaids are wronged, and his men servants are in the nay of the Devil. Surely this poor man should be protected ; he pays his way honestly ; he contributes revenue to the state, taxes to the coffers of the municipal chest; minds his own business; tries to injure none, and he never growls, but quietly says to himself, " I am the best abased man in the town."