LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 199, 4 September 1903, Page 4

LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Your leader on tbis subject; in Tuesday's issue is very interesting, but might be misleading, and is certainly incomplete. It nvght be misleading in that many people would read between the lines that all this valuable property, and more valuable services, would be lost to the country it' no license* for the s»le of liquor were granted. This of coarse, as you are aware, would be a wrong idea. The whole error arises from mixing uo hotel business proper with the mere sale of intoxicating liquors. Separate them, and then the value of the prop-rty used in the liquor trade would be reduced ro not more than one-tenth of the £3,000,000, at which you estimate the property; leave out the cooks, housemaid?, etc, who are not really in the | liquor trade, and the number of parsons employed would be reduced to lees than one-half the number given in the official return to which you refer, Oo the labour question generally, it is well known that no business ia the country piys so small a proportion of its turnover in wages as does the liquor trad >; but, lest I become tedious, I will piss I this at present. The most sc rious rejection I tike to your leader is is ii oompteteness. After giving figures [siio'rtlng monßy and persons employed in tho trade, we ought to know what comes of it. It is not good business to look at the assets and ignore liabilities. In most businesses the promore.-s show what they produce— pa* ent food makers show fat, lusty babies ; hairdressers ehow fine hair produced by their pre[para'ioue, etc., etc. What then do's til th'R money and labour produce? There is first 7344 cases of drunkenness on the police r:cords for 1900, the last ye?.r't) record I have, besides the cases of drunkenness which do not come before the Courts, an enormous total if it couli be got at; then the crime begotten, or let loose, by drink if only a half of the total cf 19,380 for the year is a fearful amount; a similar proportion of the 2675 cases of lunacy; the hundreds of drink-caused deaths,! amounting to nearly, if not quite, a thousand per annum. No one can count all the curs9s, tear?, diseases, accident?, profanities, inanities, etc, etc., prcducad by alcohol in the wrong place—the man who can show a thing of beauty, or strength, or real joy produced by the trade will be a treasure to the traders. To epitomize: keep the liquor trade to itself and do not mix up the boat d and lodgings with-it; and look at both sides, what it costs and what it produces. Hoping you will find room for my complement of your interesting leader.—l am, etc., Geo. H. Maundee. September 3rd, 1903.