CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1162, 26 August 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

;' THE.GOODTEMPL4ES,'.'; TO THE EDIIOB, . ■ . | Slß,—l notice in your leader of to-day you criticise Mr laitt'a apeech: of lait Monday evening, and aay that he brought a serious charge of maladministration of the Licensing Act against'the authorities in the matter of Sunday trading. You also go a step further, and prove that his statement has some- foundation, as you nay that the polibe were snubbed by' the Benoh when they made .a raid against. 'Sunday trading last year; - Jtw sir, although Iho Good Templars have a great abhorrence of drunkenness and everything that produces it, they are not necessarily enemies to the publicans individually, and. although they wish t» see the law carried m thnt,,they are called upon to bepume spies and informers, or to 1 tafee the workout of (he hinds of

those whom. they are already paying for seeing that the law-is properly carried out. You uy the Gaud Templars do not nhke much headway and yet you allow ■ that their dream has been in a measure fulfilled by the pairing of the present , Licemin?Act. How long did onr noble Knight Templar, Sir Wilfred Lawson, stand forth almost singlehanded in. the Home Parliament year after year, bringing forward his Local Option Bill, despite • numbers/and opposing influence, until at last he succeeded in having the Permissive " Bill paised? Have not our Knights' Sir .',; William Fox.and a few others'stood forth .'.". nobly for ,th.e cause striving at the fountain head to stem the,stream of intemperance \ Has this been done without'io'tive' work on the part of the Temperance party? And if- after we get .the law' framed in accordance with our wishes it is not properly administered by those may be appointed ; for; the, duty,, it .is not' 'inly the duty of Good Templars, buiot . -all rif{ht thinking'men to see that' Hie law is carried out.,.}, TheGooelTeiiiplsrs have declaWd-'iMijr aßainst trie liquor traffic, and hotonly have jjA they.fired'a,shot, but a good-many of ■' their shots have told and are'telling every day, Who was it that hoi the Maine Liquor' Law passed} Lical Option in Canada, in England, in-Yiotoria, in New Zealand, and a closing of all the public houses in Kansas ?, Why, the Good Tern- ' '■ plan and'the ob-workers of the Temper. ' auoe party; and yet we have not fired a shot! Why uur laat shut, the passing of this same Licensing Act, has so stung the licensed that." itheyr • bringing every engine they ean. possibly '. bring to bear upon it, io- as to saye the trade from bain? altogether annihilated. We must not confine our. selvesto this little sleepy hole of Master. : ton if we wish to have a fair idea of the work of Good leraplars, That they have 1 done an enormous amount of good work 1 there are very.few but will allow, even, 1 were jit only those whom they ha,va as,, | sisted in rescuing from s\ayeiy of ! drink, but th,ay Have alio paused great • numbers who do not belong to auy recognised temperance society., to., consider i and weigh for themselves the advantages 1 ! or disadvantages of abstinence, aud l if we,' 1 can Kit people to puton their considering . [ ca'piifthey will jußt think Seriously for ' themselves, one point is gained. Tjnj • Temperance Sooieties have .certainly Influenced public opiuiop,. : J remember 20! ■ years ago in Sootlan.d you coujd not visit. j your ne;t door, neighbor at any time of 1 the day or rdght but the bottle- would be' produced, and |t would Be' csousiderfld something ak> to an jnsu.lt if you did pot • take a glass, . 'Jen. years ago I visited the 1 same place, and though.l had been ten 1 yuais absent, (here was nbt v 6oe bottle 1 ' produced for.every- twenty that used to be. In fact, the omtonrhad:been done" 1 away with except in the case of a few > very old people who"stiU'olnng to the' » traditions of thejr fathers. This was the.' i. effect' of the diffusion of the temperance principle. You allow that the great mass ' of English people sympathise with the J temperance cause. How was their sytnr, 1 pathy obtained? Why, by a thorough 1 downright advocacy of the oauae; by--3 having it continually brought bofore them, 3 by the Good Templars and %jr cp,v workers,- eduoating th,em up to it) and 5 yet. you ; ; Ml,, ub that our shots have been' hwmleis I You oonolude by J saying that "If Temperance Sooieties" are to effect any substantial reform outside their own immediate circles, and '■ command the respect of the communis r ty, they must act, they rauatshow f^g-htl' l {' ' If by this you mean tt|at wa must'cha!- '{"' ' '. lenge every Afasierton publican and have " - i it out with him personally either with > lanoe or sword, then I say if that would | end it we would be ready to-morrow, but : as in this age the pen is mightier than the 1 aword we are cdntent.to oballerige them ■ to prove by the pen that their cause is, 1 the cause of right and justice. Sontj. ' mental declamation may be a poor suhjtj. 1 tute for sword and lance ( but fagts ar« 1 "chiels that w/mpfl diß«,« an,d one fact is! 1 that the Good/ 'sein,plp, like the. Knigh,t ' • Tempjajaqfold,, way of life for many a weary pilgrim who , would'otherwise be lost, - . I am tin., , . TEMPaEisoa.. [ THE PROPOSED BOROUQB LOAN TO THE EDITOR, I Slß,—ln reading over your report of fc the special meeting of the Borough Counoil_, it seems to me that Councillors aro going in for a loan in a half hearted aqft t of way. Why don't they qo.in,e for«^d and say (q ratepayers, we want a loan ' of £IO,OOO, and we promise to make every ' road in the Borough that has got a name, J They would be far more likely to get it, } Why don't they try and make the town more peaceable, instead of suoh a cat and dog grumbling sort of a place as it is at 1 present, and'it will be worse if they only ,; do part of the'streets, each one will be ■ .baokbiting the other, and frying to get' t his particular street done, Let us have enough to do every street well, not ■' muddle them through in a penny wise pound foolish sort of a way as heretofore, Every street that has any heavy W«fl jit should be covered ttpe.Qrfouii } - inches of goo,d sand and air-t as it will grind Into that j quick enough.' The more hew roads we have, the less traffic there will be on .' the old ones, besides often savinß a go,od[ » distanoe 1 through goinn direct,' 1 thus n\ak-. ing the maintenance cheaper. Would it not be just as well to get £IO,OOO, to be.. apent in four or five years say £2OOO. per annum, and .-hen raise the rates, ■ ; three, pence or sixpence in the i so. tliat we couldpay off p'rfflomai'«{ tho rata r of about 4J3QQ per yew, la it fair that t people wlw come to Masterton in its , young days should trudge about in the , mad all tneir lives, or stint themselves on ) purpose to make roads for other genera- , tjons. Let eaoh do his share, let us do a , little, and leave ,a little for the future i Masterloniles, they will have a better ■ chance than we have, as the reserve, &o. , will have become valuable, ■ ' ' .''. 'lam&oi, •"' '■'• J.O. A,