To the Editor of the Evening Mail.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 88, 14 April 1874, Page 2

To the Editor of the Evening Mail.

Sm — In the Marlborough Exprest of the 2. r )th March, you wil find' an article entitled ' Fatal result of drunkenness" the preface to a report of «n ''nqneat held upon tin remains of a man of tho name of Powick, who was killed near Blenheim by falling from his horse. I enclose you the article in question, and as tho matter is one of grave importance you may perhaps deem it worthy of publication. Ido not know what you, Sir, think about it, but it has made upon me a most painful impression, and I should regard it as a great misfortuno and public danger if things of this sort were to occur without tho attention of the public being directed to them. The p ior man who lost his life, and who affords to the editor of the Marlborough Express an opportunity of airing his morality, and at the same time of letting tho dead man know how he would have caught it if he had not been perverFe enough to sell the Resident Magistrate by dying, was by no means a drunken man. He had been in the emp'oyment of Mr Norman Campbsll of theKaituna, as his foreman for a length of time, and enjoyed that gentleman's entire confidence as nn industrious, honest, and trusfworthy servant. I have frequently heard Mr Campbell spe^k of lvm in terms of th) highest commendation. After having been a long time in the country he had occasion to go to town, and on the way got eomj liquowhich took effect upon him. When he reached Blenheim he was drunk, but in spite of this tbe publkaas supplied him wilh more liquor, and when he left the town he did not know what he was about. He fell off his horse two or three times in Blenheinu, the police and others quietly looking on, and instead of locking him up or taking away his horse, helping him onjtgain. The doctor met him near the Opaw.i bridge, and deposed thai the man was quite unconsciou , pile as a ghost, his eyes starting out of hi? head. Ho fell off again, and when he got to Shepherd' a public house they gave him more drink, and shortly afterwads the poor creature, already bruised about the head, delirious, and reeling with the poison he had taken, fell off his horse once more, was dragged in the stirrup, never spoke again, and diel a few hours afterwards. A coroner's inquest was held over the remains, and the jury found " that deceased came by his death by a fall from his hoise while In a state of intoxication." The people of the Province of Marlborough may, perhaps, be satii-fiad with this verdict. There, as is the case I am sorry to say in this province, the public houses enjoy an immunity from the visits of the police, and an a-nount of license generally which are anything but favorable to the maintenance of order and decency. But those who happen to read the sickening story of how poor Powick came by his death, and are influenced by the ordinary feelings of humanity, will not fail to ask whether the verdict expresses fairly what ought to have been eaid under the circumetances. If the jury had found that a disregard of the law was habitually tolerated by the Executive of tbe Province, who allow pub'icaus to do wlnt they like, and among other things to supply drunken men with more liquor; if the jury had visited with honest reprobation those citizens of Blenheim who saw a man ia danger of losing his life and did nothing to rescue him from his danger; if they had called upon the Government of the Province to visio with its severest displeasure a police which had utterly neglected its duty, they would have said nothing more than was fully justified by the fact i of the case. If Powick had been put into the lock-up as he ought to have been, when he was drunk in the streets of Blenheim, or if any of the people of the town, seeing his condition, had taken his hirse from him, or got him away to bed, he might be alive now. Tho3e who know me will not suspect mo of seeking to palliate or promote habits <>f drunkenness; but there is a great difference between the habitual sot and the maa who oily occasionally gives way to temptation. There are none of us that may not from time to lime stand in need of the assistance and sympathy of our neighbors. It is much to be deplored that some assistance was not given to Powick. That this was not cone is, to say the least of it, not creditable either to the citizens or the authorities of Blenheim; nor will a juster opinion ofj their conduct be diverted from them by newspaper articles destitute of truth or taste, and inspired by the temper of Burns' " Holy Willie." I am, &c, Veritas.