The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1891.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3879, 6 August 1891, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1891.

A horrible thing happened in Masterton this week ! A poor hardworking woman, the mother of several young children, was arrested for theft. We believe from what we know of this woman that her trouble was in directly caused by the intemperance of a member of her family. Another horror too, was reported yesterday, when a highly educated gentleman who ought to hold a high social position in a district like this, was sent to gaol for seven days as a vagrant, and even this terrible penalty was an act of mercy towards one who who had become a helpless victim to inebriety. On the threshold of the licensing election, when the battle of prohibition is to be fought, such things come to us as texts. We do not go out ot our way for examples of this kind, but unfortunately, any month in the year, or any week, instances of the havoc made by drink come across us, and we are compelled to ask the question, how is such misery to be dealt with ? how is such utter degradation to be avoided ? There are three ways it would seem to us for meeting such evils. One is for society to exercise Buch a moral influence on men prona to excessive indulgence that they may be strengthened to resist temptation. This is incomparably the nobler and better way, but it is one that is hard to follow, one that produces very slow results. We are not, however, sure that in the long run it does not accomplish the best and truest work, and we have always thought that this method was the secret of the marvellous success which has attended the missions of the Salvation Army. A second way is prohibition, i and this plan, though it is on a lower level, has much to recommend it, and at least in many parts of the United States has been emphatically a success. The third way is locking a man up, away from temptation, and this is undoubtedly the most unsatisfactory of the three. Every honest man in the community is bound to help his neighbour who has succumbed to the influence of drink by one method or the other. We have no quarrel with a man who elects to try to the best of his ability to lessen the evil by the first method we havp briefly indicated ; he is as mu»h entitled to our respect, if not '"ore so, as one who believes heart and soul in prohibition, and who moves heaven and earth to bring it about. The present election bas aroused personal animosities which are to be regretted, because a man may be a mortal enemy to intemperance and yet not be a prohibitionist. It would be well if each ratepayer to-morrow, in recording Iks vote, would discard all personal feelings and decide the issue on broad grounds. If he believes in prohibition as a principle, and that the time has arrived for applying the principle, let him vote prohibition regardless of individual interests, but if, on the other hand, he doubts the remedy or considers that the district is not ripe for such a measure, let him vote for the so--called moderate party. Within twenty fonr hours the election will be over and the Colony is watching the result with interest. The " banner" which has been held aloft here will in time be raised in every nook and corner of Hew Zealand. Prohibition seeks to control not a comparatively insignificant up country town like Masterton but every town and village in the Colony. Masterton happens to be in the forefront of the battle, and it is for its citizens, looking at the : interests of the Colony as a whole, ' as well as to their own doors, to give a fearless and a conscientious vote for ' the side which they deem to be right. It is possible for a man to commit an •

error of judgment when he makes a choice such as he will have to do tomorrow, but if he honestly votes in accordance with his conscience he is, whether right or wrong in bis decision, entitled to the respect of bis fellows.