The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1891.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3723, 30 January 1891, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1891.

In some parts of America, over areas much larger than New Zealand, containing population counted by the million, prohibition laws are in force, and the spectacle is presented of vast communities in which from oneyear's end to the other there is no drunkenness and but little crime. This prohibition extends oyer town and country, and we copy from the report of a gentleman who lias personally visited the prohibition territories the following description of one of the teetotal towns within them : Evanston, writes Mr Henry J. IVoorn, situated in a perfectly charming position on the shore of Lake Michigan, and twelve miles north from the great city at the southern point of the lake, te not only beautiful and healtful,but is aperfect Eden as to physical advantage. In all its miles of streets and avenues, broad and straight, and edged with long lines of stately trees, not a single drink-shop of any kind is to be found, or in fact exists. Evanston lias over 12,000 inhabitants, comprised in Evanston proper, and North and' South coterminous sections of one township, and the nearest " saloon " is four miles off, at Rosehill. The history of the prohibition district is deeply interesting, dating back as it does, thirty years or more. The town is named after aMr Evans, who gave some land for purposes of an university, hence its name. The generous donor wisely bargained that flic College Charter should secure prohibition of the liquor traffic—hence the peaceful and happy condition of the place. The point so imposed was duly incorporated, and forbids the keeping of any saloon, or any sale of liquor, or beverages, within a radius of four miles from the college buildings. The provision is thoroughly enforced, and it keeps the place free of the liquor traffic. The four miles is measured on three sides by land, and on the fourth into the lake. The will of the people has fully endorsed this whole arrangement, and the prohibitory clause has been made secure for ever by an enactment of the Illinois State .Legislature. The town is a stronghold of the prohibition party. Close and particular enquiry failed to discover any place where drink could Le bought. Stately church buildings abound, and they aro well filled; thirteen hundred students read in the College Halls and uiue.tenths of them are in favor of the prohibitory principle ; there are only three undertakers, and not one pawnbroker, while in Evaustown proper two policemen help one another to do nothing, and the officers uf the loeal justices are, figuratively speaking, grass crown for want of criminal business to be done:

Temperance reformers in New Zealand look forward to a time when similar prohibitive laws can be enforced in this colony, but we believe it will be a long day before the great social reforciii which are accomplished facts in America caa bp introduced here. The reason why measures which have been proved to be of a beneficent character elsewhere cannot be brought within a practical range here is probably the comparative newness and heterogenous character of our population. In America almost the whole of the people within a particular state are bred and born there, their social relations are fixed and understood, and they oau develop strong self-governing systems which would be impossible in a colony like New Zealand, where we have a British born —"Vio» wbiph to the tradi(J.o'',' „ , —*--Ue? eouutiy. and has »ons ot the _/ t ' JV6 . yet paramount over u~

•jolyuiyts, A town in tbe pUL6b has a

distinct American type and is in no sense a copy of an English city, whereas a town in New Zealand is in many respectsa duplicated an English centre of population. Local selfgovernment in the States is within certain denned limits a strong, vigorous, and irresistible power, but in New Zealnud it is a sham. In America a county or a city has a certain charter under which it can raise a revenue adequate for the efficient discbarge of its functions without fear or favor of or from any superior controlling body. Here the local bodies are under bonds to the general government, and as contrasted with America, our local instutious are mere cripples. If this be so the efforts of temperance reformers should be directed to securing an independent position for the_ local bodies of this colony, for until this is obtained they are unlikely to take upon themselves the work of social reform, which has been so successfully accomplished in many parts of America. In the States there are Presidents, Governors and Mayors, wbo are invested by law with autocratic powers that enable them to rule wisely and well. In New Zealand all our public men are elected or appointed in such a way that one blocks or checks the other, and from an up-country Mayor to the Premier there cannot be found a man who can rule. In Amsrica men act, whereas in New Zealand they talk. In the States we sse a democracy born on the soil con trolling its own destinies, but in hevf Zealand we find a bastard democracy recruited by tongue waggers from other shores which is able to agitate but powerless to govern