THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 173, 4 March 1902, Page 3

THE LIQUOR QUESTION.

TO TUK EDITOR, dm.—lt seems pretty dear that 'Vuir.i 'to >t. il turn on the tap o“ tile rivers if i- would only turn oil the tap of its j barrels. Whether this could ba u ”!!■ ;ii th:ec or in live years is a minor n.'iisidt ration. But this ‘•if" is a. very i i.; one, and involves considerations winch, it wmild appear, neither the protuhit ionists nm their oppomnti tf.ink it w..rth their while to contemplate. One of these considerations is the insatiable ♦ Inr-it of the natural man, not for alcohol e dipior, as the temperance reformers •would have us believe, but fur varied and i detesting companion-hip—in a word, :: >r ulcasure. Ami beh nd this coaaidcracion there are all the social and economic conditions wh oh render it impossible for ao many working men to hav- any other source of pleasure than the public-hous-. Again, our drinking habits are the result of customs of hundreds of years. The sipping of wine and the quaffing of ale have beeh celebrated in story and song as far b ck as the time of Noah anti his a’ k, and farther. From Bobby Burns and ■‘Battlin’, Roarin’ Willie” and merry Dick Steele, away back to the immortal ■ gods, to ihe divine Hebe and her fellow 'cup-bearers, all the classic tales and ad the Noise Kings’ saga—fll literature and all legend is saturated with “ the blood of the grape, the ripe, the royal wine.” Yet, in spite of all this, drunkenness, formerly considered rather an amusing accident, is mw -considered a lastmg disgrace to a man. This is an advance,' as I take it, towards the time when all 'men will be wise enough and strong enough to be voluntary abstainers. But ■ I ca >1 ot think tha- time is Jto-day. : e’erhups we might batten its arrival by “ohmiifegup all the lot Is in Wiimate, ■tliMrby’f -tpib y preventing mahy a v Weak -Vud-1 foolish one from speeding his sub-

stance far that which was not bread ; but this would make tho dull life still duller. Unless the working man’s life is made much richer mentally and physically than it is now, it seems to me ha will a'ways fight tooth and nail against prohibition. I confess myself, strong temperance advocate and total abstab er as I am, that we>el one of 'the thousands of “ men of labour ” who, even in this fair land, are compelled to “ spend their strength in daily struggling for breath to maintain the vital strength they labour with, so living in a daily circulation of sorrow, living but to work and working but to live, as if daily bread were theonly end of a wearisome life, and a wearisome life the only occasion of daily bread ” —I soy were I compelled to sp3nd my clays thus, I should undoubtedly apfcnd my nights in the oblivion of ; the drink ’cup. And to any prohibition advocate who chanced to meet, me in one of my sober moments I should say, “ Give me a varied and happy life—a life such as every free-born man has a right to. Give me this, and I’ll give you my barrels of beer and my botfles of whiskey. But leave me as I am, toiling and uneducated, and I’m if I’ll give op my pub.” But -E am far from saying 'thru 'this state of toil exists in many cases in Waimate I only want to emphasise the fact that, far from drink being alwaysthecausoof poverty, poverty is very often tho cause of drink. I think probably mo t of those in Waimate who drink do so because, unfortunately, they don’t like doing anything else better. They belong to the class

Whose head proud fauc-y never taught to steer Above the muddy ecstasies of beer. And anv way there is not much e-Le to do. If tho temperance reformers could seethe pressing and immediate need of sup lying freak and varied interests and tr iued capacity to enj-iy them, to all men and Women, and if they would endeavour in a reasonable way to aupuly these interests much might be done towards abolishing indulgence in alcoholic stimulants. But, alas ! whatever is done in this way is usually dona with bo Id.tle tact that failure is foredoomed fr-nu the beginning. The tempera ice reformer comes tome and says : “ You are a bad, wicked man ; you drink nasty stall out of a black Lot tie that destroys the inside lining of your Btomach and makes your wife and children cry. Bat I ha\e determined to do you good, I have opened a hill in this town where lectures will be given ; in those rooms cla-sos will lie opened for your instruction, and over there is a gymnasium—ill for the express purpose of keeping you away from tho whiskey b'»ttl?. Of course, you’ll have to puss the ‘ pid) ’ to get to this hall, but the Lord will give \ou strength to do it, and perhaps you’ll be able to shut it up by and bye. Yju see, we got this section cheap—tho one on the town side of tiie ‘ pub ’ would have cost twice as much, audit’s only half a mile further to tl o hall than to tho ‘pur,’ anyway.” Now, my dear Blue Rihboncr. it- is no me going to v/oik this way. If you wish to benefit us, give us these tilings because you want to vary the monotony of our lives, because you wS’-t to give us pleasure, because you want to give us opportunities for developing our tastes, mental and physicd —not because you want to stop us drinking. We ilon’'- want to drink any more than you do, if you can give us anything eKe better to do. Why don’t you try? I am, etc., E. B.