The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 174, 22 August 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1878.

"We received last night the following telegram, regarding the action taken by the i brewers in reference to the beer tax, from a Wellington correspondent:— "A deputation of brewers from Nelson. Auckland, Dunedin, Chvistchurch, and Wellington, waited on the Colonial Treasurer to-day, and pointed out that the tux on beer will interfere to a serious extent with a colonial industry now becomiug fairly developed after years of hard struggling and great expenditure of money; that the tax borne by the brewers will be a direct tax upon trade, and therefore objectionable as a. class tax; that if borne by the consumers it will bear hardly on the -working man who looks upon his beer as being as much a necessary as tea and sugar; that the tax will have a tendency to increase the consumption of spirits, and that spirits, and not beer, form the chief source of drunkenness and misery in this colony, and that a tax, if necessary, should rather be placed on spirits than on beer; that it is owing to the falling off of the | revenue received on the importation of Eng ish beer, and the brewers object to be taxed to makeup that deficiency, and that the falling off of the revenue derived from the importation of spirits caused the colonial distilleries to be closed, but the Government gave them twelve months' notice, allowing them to distil for that time and to clear ail their stocks at the minimum duty, and gave them a large bonus for their vested interests; that the effects of the tax will be to stop fair competition by forcing the small brewers to close their doors, thus throwing the whole manufacture into the hands of a few capitalists; that a beer tax has never been imposed before in any British colony." In reply to these arguments Mr Ballaiice, after a long discussion stated that while the Government were willing to give every consij deration to the recommendations of the brewers, they felt bound under the present circumstances to adhere to the tax, but he promised that they would consider the question of a rebate on the stock in trade at the date of the imposition of the tax. He also thought that there should be a provision to prevent private brewing except for household purposes. The Raphael Family gave their first enter- | tainment last night, when the youngsters astonished their audience by the cleverness with which they went through a long list of gymnastic performances. They will appear again to-night, and on Saturday evening will give the people o± the Waimeas au opportunity of witnessing their skill in the Wakefield Choral Hall. A courageous act was performed thi3 morning by Mr Charles Pratt, who lives nearly opposite the Hardy-street stables, and who, on the alarm being given, rushed out of his house without even waiting to put on his bo&ts or stockings, and ran over to the scene of the fire, where he rendered most valuable assistance in removing Mr Lucre's young family into a place of safety, although in doing so he received several severe burns on his hands and feet. His self denial and plucky conduct formed the theme of admiration among all who witnessed his exertions, and we have much pleasure in thvs making public mention of them. We are sorry to learn that Mr James Lucre,, who has a wife and seven young children has been reduced to a state of almost destitution by the fire of this morning. Subscription lists have been put into circulation, and we have no doubt that the iuvitation to give a helping hand to " Jem " will be liberally responded to by the many friends he has made in Nelson and the surroundiDg districts. Mr Thornton, we understand, has with great kindness and consideration determined upon giving a " benefit " performance for the same worthy object next week. The Young Men's Literary Society in connection with the Y.M.C.A., held their usual weekly meeting last evening, in the reading room of the Association, when a paper was read by one of the members on "Total Abstinence." There was a good attendance and an interesting discussion followed, in which most of the members took part, on the merits of the paper, and criticisms on the style and manner of rendering it. Altogether a most pleasant and profitable evening was spent and it was generally felt that if the young men of Nelson would take more interest in these meetings, they would have the effect of developing much latent talent.