HALF-HEARTED WITNESSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3023, 21 October 1908, Page 5

HALF-HEARTED WITNESSES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —As one who has followed closely the No-License controversy, I" should like to remark that the telegrams read by the Mayor at Mr Taylor's meeting came to me as a corn" plete surprise. 1 was looking forward to the Mayor of Invercargill replying something to the effect that every resident of the town had become a millionaire since the carrying of Prohibition; that the streets wdre paVed with gold; rates absolutelyl unknown quantities; and that the police stations had been converted into theatres. Moreover, I anticipated that it would have been mentioned that the most wonderful thing in the Invereargill museum was the photograph, of a man who had once got drunk. But, sir, imagine my surprise: This was the telegram Mr Boilings read"No-Liceuse no disadvantage to Invercargill, but a blessing to many families." So that is What the Mayor of Invercargill says, despite all the assertions (countless in number and questionable in fact) that the No-License party have made concerning the benefits of "Prohibition"' in Invercargill. "NoLicense no. disadvantage"—if this is not damning with faint praise, I do not know what is. Of course, there is the rest of; the message, "but a blessing to many families," bat this is on a par with what the Rev. L. M. Isitt said when he urged us to vote jNo-License for the sake .of the children, eyen if it did cost more to make the roads and maintain the municipality. Bat, sir, our children cannot survive on temperance orations —they must 'be fed and clothed. But a still feebler reply was received from Oamaru. It read: "In my * opinion No-License has proved a success in Oamaru." There are evidently people in Oamaru who consider that it has not proved a success. Why sir, a few years ago, when I was in Oamaru, you could have fired a cannon ball down the street, and would not have hit anyone. Ido not know whether things are any better there now, but the Mayor of the town does not appear to be in a very cheerful mood. If No-License has proved a success, why is there any doubt about the matter at all. Ido not suppose that anyone will dispute that the town will be duller if Nr.-License is carried in Mas<-erton. An equal number of people to those at present in the habit ot visiting the town will not come in. That is certain. Trade is dull enough already, and it is indeed questionable whether the business people will not suffer if No-License were carried here. There would, of course, be immediate depression, if only temporary,- but can the business people and the town generally afford to wait until prosperity is ultimately brought about, allowing that it is certain in the end.—l am, etc., CAUTION.