IS PROHIBITION A FAILURE?

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43378, 26 September 1908, Page 3

IS PROHIBITION A FAILURE?

To the Editor.

Sir, —In reply to “ Anti-Humbug ” I think that most right-minded people will think he is all humbug. He seems to object to the temperance party distributing facts, printed matter, dealing on the liquor traffic, yet if he will only take the trouble to notice the hotels, he will see cards hung up showing us poor brainless residents how to vote. I suppose he does not object to that- Taking “ Anti-Humbug’s ” letter on the whole, it is all Humbug, for if No-License was carried, say, in Te Aroha, what a boom it would be for the district. True, the hotel-keepers (may) spend hundreds of pounds every j ear in stores, etc., and he goes onto say what a blow it would be to the business people if they did not spend it. Yet we business people must lose some thousands of pounds every year, because the money we should have is spent in most cases in the hotels. I maintain that it would be one of the greatest blessings we could have if we had No-Liceuse. “ Anti-Hnmbug ” says that it has been proved over and over again that NoLicense is a ghastly failure, wherever it has been tri d. You will excuse me, sir, but I must say that is untrue, as it has been proved to be one of the grandest things ever known Let “ Anti-Humbug ” write to any respectable business man in the NoLicense districts of Gore, Balclutha, Dmrcargill, Ashburton or Oauiaru, and I dare wager that in every case the reply will he in favour of No-License, and yet he talks about ghastly failure. Well, Sir, I consider his letter a ghastly failure, if he thinks to convince right, minded men and women that he is right.—l am, etc.,

Storekeeper.

To the Editor.

Sir,— ln Thursday’s issue of the News appears a letter signed “ Anti-Humbug ” attacking the principle of No-License. As a believer in No-License, I hope that many letters similar to Anti-Humbug’s will be published. Illogical, misleading, untruthful and evasive of the greatest aspects of the drink question, such a letter must inevitably injure the cause it is written to help. “ No-License is a ghastly failure ” Anti-Humbug tells us. Indeed ! Why then has the business of the Ashburton branch of the Canterbury Farmers’* Co-operative Association been increased by 100 per cent, during the time of the No-License ? Why is it that in Ashburton the gas and building industries have shown marked prosperity and the deposits in the Government Post Office greatly increased since the advent of No-License ? As for the pamphlet on Invercargill of which AntiHumbug complains, we hope that he and many of his friends will read and study its contents. Were No-License to be carried in this district would the residents cease to eat as much food, wear as many ©r as good clothes, read as many books or desire as much amusement and recreation as at present ? Of all the weak arguments the statement that NoLicense injures trade or business is about the weakest. Anti-Humbug’s letter is an example of the way in which the drink question is faced by a certain class. Not one reference to the moral aspect of the subject is given. What of the wrecks to be seen in our streets ? What of the I women, some of them in this town and I district, whose lives are blighted by the j curse of drink P Are these facts not worthy of consideration p I have no desire to attack botel»keepers. My quarrel I is not with them, but with the whole system of licensed bars. There are ! clergymen to be found who can uphold that system. How they can do so is to me a mystery. In conclusion let me quote the following statement concerning that article, for the selling of which our licensing exists: “From an ignoble beginning alcohol, the ruthless destroyer, has come forth to run a course marked everywhere by wrecks of health, of strength, of purity, of honour, of reputation, of hope, of ambition, of intellect, of industry, of competence, of home happiness, of family joy, of all that makes life worth living. License declares against it, economy condemns lit, education cries for its removal, and religion pronounces its irreversible doom.— I am, etc.,

Temperance,