A CEUIIL WEONG.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 73, 10 September 1879, Page 2

A CEUIIL WEONG.

Wts are not a rabid follower of Sir William Fox m his teetotal crusade, but we honor arid respect the men who are earnest m their endeavors by their suppression of drunkenness to alleviate the misery which is entailed upon mankind by that wide' spread evil. While being perfectly at one with them as to the end, we by no means endorse the methods taken by ijome to secure the object, and have far greater belief m the efficacy oE moral suasion than either Legislative action or compulsory measures. We hold that it is impossible to make men sober by Act of Parliament-, and with all respect to the statements and statistics of Sir William Fox, we assert that the much vaunted sobriety of the" State of Maine is a mockery and a farce. Perhaps since the days of .Father Matthew, that Apostle of Tern perance, there has arisen no man who >has reclaimed so many hundreds of thousands from the deptliß of degradation as tiie Eev, P. Henncberry, and he has called neither the Legislature nor the Incensing Bench to iixis aid. He j does not war against publicans, individually or collectively ; neither does he seek m any overt way to destroy their vested rights. His creed is to apply to the hearts and the reason of his hearers, and let his word 3 work their own impressions ; if he be successful, the publican loses a customer, and the eyil is lessened. Some mon are so deeply imbued with liberality that they are prepared — liko ArtemuslWard, who was willing to sacrifice his mother-in-law upon the altar of his country— to ruin their neighbors' prospe;;tsfor the good of the body politic, or the supposed welfare of the community, and of that class would appear to bo the majority of the Licensing Bench at Foxton. An appli? cation was made by Mr. Schultze for a re-granting of his license, which unfortunately he had allowed to lapse, and acting upon a petition from a gang of Mioris, the license was refused. The conscientious gentlemen who had the welfare of ihe dark-skinned gentry so much at heart, never thought for a moment that by the exreise of their arbU trary power they were at a stroke oß.the pen absolutely beggaring a man. They did not take into consideration that the hotel had boen m existence for a number of years ; that it was recognised as an absolute want to the travelling public, and that their predecessors or colleagues on the bench had compelled Mr. S'-hultze to expend £2500 upon a suitable building ; and they certainly could not have thought that by the .refusal of the license that money was irredeemably thrown away. If they i did they will now hear with pleasure that their endeavors to ruin a man have been eminently successful ; that the men whose assistance Mr. Schultze sought to, enable him to comply with the order of the Benoh m erecting a suitable building, have taken the initiative, to recoup themselves, and tomqrrqw. he stands forth to the world a beggared man — a victim to the heartless conduct of those vested with a little brief authority. Had there been the slightest complaint against the management of the house m the past ; had there been a single witness m whom the slightest faith could have been placed who opposed the license, there might have been a shadow of excuse for tfye action. But what was the case : a notovioiis old drunkard, named Tapa te Whata, who m Court freely admitted that when evor he went to 3£eilding or. elsewhere, ]}c could not keep from drinking, waV trotted out as a stalking horse for those who secretly pulled the wires, and upon the evidence of that man and such as he, the license was refused, and the hous.e shut up. We say that the case is unparalelled for injustice., and we haTe not the slightest doubt if the time facts of the case were represented to the Grov.eunmant, the decision would be quickly reversed Under such a state of affairs no man is ssife^and -the publicaas whose lots arp ; cast-^'withiii.|he doomed^^^ circle, ■inside which Messrs. EockstroTC "and ■ Saiison jTold sway, j: may. thenceforward live m hourly expectation of the fate of : Jfc. Schu.ltze. Any, debauched old "chief who for the nonce straddles the stool .of repentance, can attach the . signature of .his tribb to a'dpeument which an' the eyes of those honored Gommissioners is" ? qaite • sufficient •" Ip : destroy -»:. man's vested interest at one Jult stroke^^e licensed viojtuailer :s _ • ' cectainly •take--con^te3" ; BCi^oiS^a^<i : make the •pUs^^SfcSchuilzea test case to, bring before the Government, to show the injustice of hoisting on to. the Licensing Bench mon with such warped and biassed (opinions as are evidently held by Messrs. Eockstrow and Sanson,.