PROHIBITION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2546, 24 August 1893, Page 3

PROHIBITION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As the above question is occupying the mind of the public, I ,would like, with your kind permission, to lay my view of the subject before the public. I Shall not take either side, but simply give my opinion for what it is worth. Now, Mr Editor, the unemployed is the leading question of the day. It is the source of trouble all over the world. There are strikes in every country, and, while the granaries of the world are full to overflowing, there is starvation everywhere. What is the cause of this 1 In my opinion it is tho want of employment. If every man, woman, and child was profitably employed there' would be prosperous times. Now, sir, the Prohibitionists must begin at the root of the evil, and stop the "breweries, distilleries, and vineries all over the world, because so long as beer, whisky, and wine are produced, they will ■ be consumed, and if this is done what is to become of the hundreds who are employed in these various industries ? I see some farmers are taking the side of Prohibition, trying to cut their own throats. We are £40,000,000 in debt, the interest on which amounts to a large sum, which will have to be paid by the farmers if the liquor trade is abolished and that source of revenue destroyed. Prohibitionists say : “ Put all these unemployed workmen on the land.” But they do not consider that eveil now, with all the beer that is brewed, and whisky that is distilled, there is more production than there is consumption for, and produce is cheaper than it has been in the memory of the oldest settlors. If this scheme is carried out, it will shut up millions of capital that the working man is receiving his living from. Now who drinks this beer, whisky, and wine 1 It is the farmer, the merchant, and the tradespeople who can afford to spend a few shillings when they go to a fair or market, and do good by putting mouey in circulation. On the other hand, there is nothing so loathsome as a drunken man. If Prohibitionists would stop in their own districts and teach their people to bo sober and industrious, they would do more good than by trying to shut up capital and throw people out of employment, but some are making a nice living out of temperance lecturing. When Tennyson Smith was in Geraldine he said he could not live on less than ten guineas a week. Now, sir, I have trespassed too much on your valuable space already, but I would like to give one piece of advice to aspirants to Parliamentary honors at the next General Election. I would advise them not to go for Prohibitionists or Licensd Victuallers, for Labor Unions or Farmers’ Clubs, but go as free, independent men, and do their best. Encourage all the industries —the dairy faetories, woollen factories, breweries, etc.,— and if you could start a distillery or two in the colony, to help to consume some of our produce and create labor for the unemployed you would be doing a good thing, and keep at home all the money that is annually going out of the country *Tor~ the importation of liquor. It is rumored that a staunch temperance man is going to stand for this district. I give him the same advice, and would be glad if Sir Robert Stout would take it also.— I am, etc., Observer. August 9th, 1893,