Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4339, 8 February 1893, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1893.

Being the extended tiiib of the Wairarai>a Daily, with which it is IDENTICAL

The three front rank champions oi Prohibition in New Zealand, wiio ara beginning to make things lively for the coming General Election, are the liev. L. M, leitt, Mr R, T, Booth, and Mr E. Tennyson Smith. In spito of the poetic appearance of the latter, the more interesting porsonago 10 residents in Maaterton is Mr Isitt. He, it will be remembered, dwelt anion" us for some two or three years, and most of us know exactly the kind of man he is—a brilliant, but not a profound thinker, a truinod orator who possesses magnetic power, honest, open and munly; a man who figLts fairly and bravely, and is respected by even bis opponents. We somewhat regret to hear that he proposes to abandon his projected trip to the Prohibition States of America, be* cause we would have liked to have had his personal testimony to the strong a 6 well as the weak points of Prohibition in America. No doubt, there might bo some prejudice in bis survey and he would possibly display a consciousness of holding a brief on one side, but he is too straightforward a man to actually misrepresentfactsand too intelligentto ignore them. Apparently he has decided to leave America alone and spend his time moving from electorate to electorate waking up temperance sympathisers into making prohibition a tCBt question for every candidate who comes forward. Ho has, it is said, come to the conclusion that the present Act is unworkable and that a more drastio measure embodying a direct veto must bo obtained from the neit New Zealand Parliament. The chances of success are extremely good because in every electorate a block vote which may decido the return of a candidate will be offered in return for a pledge. Very many candidates will, from conviction, bo prepared to give the necessary pledge and many others will give it simply for the sake of votes, Men who have been tho dearest friends of the publican, who have been his best customers and bis strongest supportera are beginning to say that if the people want prohibition they must have it, Publicans are aghast to find that some of their warmest-friends are as ready to swallow prohibition aB they are to imbibe whisky.

For all this wo are not quite satisfied that prohibition is a right principle to inculcate or local option a desirable form of legislation, If we are to have tyrants in New Zealand we would much prefer temperance tyrants to drink tyrants, but wo would much sooner have neither, A re* turn to the conditions of twenty yoars ago when competent authorities controlled the drink trafflo is we iear impossible, What we hare to face is the consideration that our religious, and' social institutions and our educational system are so defective th^ they are powerless to shield men from intemperance and so poor humanity must be put under look and Jioy—mußt be prohibited, . /