CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VI, Issue 5093, 2 August 1895, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

RECIPROCITY. [to the editor.] Sir—ln bis latest budgot, the Hon. Mr Ward appears to me to bo in a reciprocity fever, that will ultimately be disastrous to the chief industries of this Colony. First, the fruit-growors of the Colony are to bo injured, not only by swamping tlio market with fruit from South Australia, but in addition they are to Lave a further consignment of orchard diseases and pests, notably those which so largely affect thej apricot in that Colony, and probably | we shall hear that the dreaded, phylloxera has again broken out in; that part of the country, indeed ii is only a few years ago that the import of South Australian grapes had io be put a stop to on this account. The greatest harm, however, will be done to the Colony's industries by the proposed Canadian treaty. It is here that the working man and artisan will be most alfected. Is it not a fact that since the start of the! Vancouver rome wo have lost the Sydney trade in oats and other ceroids, because the mail ships 1 are running in immense cargoes; at rates that effectually block; the New Zealand fanner. Their what do we want to import hinder | twine for ? Have wo not an inilimi-1 led supply of raw material, and thus i give large employment to many Colonists and their families 'r 1 Is it t wise to remove the duty from kero-: sene by way of Canadian ports (I ■ am afraid it is only the Yankee j article that is to come) when an effort is boing made to sink con-1 siderable capital in testing the Xew i Zealand oil springs '! Willi regard! to the lumber and timber trade, if' I am not mistaken, if was-only the I impost of a duty of two shillings per i 100 ft., that prevented this Colony! being Hooded with American timber, sonn fen years ago, when practically \ half the mills in the Colony would : have had to stop working. We have ] now plenty of timbei to spare,! bill free (ratio with Canada in this commodity will mean ruin to our sawmillers, whose lot at present is far from enviable, and as yet the English market is a long way off, and does not show much sign of being a satisfactory one. Does Mr Ward expect us to look on pi anos and organs as articles of every' day necessity and a step towards a j free breakfast table which should be. j the aim of every honest and practical, Treasurer ? lam afraid the whole! scheme is a bold stroke for self on our Treasurer's part whose hand isiu most pies iu the Southland district, but ha has failed to cover his trail as a wary Canadian pioneer would have done and he cannot fail to be severely criticised by all members of Parliament who have the good of their country at heart. If the door is opened to Canada it will not be long before the enterprising Yankee will ship in no end of goods via Vancouver, and reap a rich harvest at the expense of our already over-taxed colonists —I am, etc., A WoiiKixi; Max. THE ANTI-GAMBLING CIiCSADIi f'l'O flit'. Eltlß'l!,] Sii:,—Will you allow me Io call the attention of your readers to a Bill inlrodueed into Parliament by Mr William Hutchison, one of the j members for Duncdin, entitled! II liestraint of Incitements to Betting! or Wagering." The Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand has, for several years, passed resolutions in favor of legislation thai would make the publication of mutter inciting Io betting a punishable offence. Oilier sections of the Christian Church have also allinned the desirability of such legislation. The Anglican body, through representatives like Bishops Mules and Williams, has done so. The Presidents of Methodist Conference, Primitive Methodist Conference and Baptist Union have also done so. In England proposed Legislation on this line was approved of by the editor of fW. mporurij /iVri'i'i?, Richard Webster, exAttorney General, Archbishop Vaughan, Archdeacon Farrar, and by the Bishops of Glasgow, Peterborough and Aberdeen, and also by leading men in the non-Conformist Churches. In the opinion of the foregoing the newspaper press is responsible for ut great amount of the gambling evil, and Mr Hutchison s Bill aims at suppressing incitements to gambling in the newspapers. 1 enclose the principal clauses of Mr Hutchison's Bill, and here quote clause " 5. If any one publishes or causes or permits to be published in any newspaper, book, pamphlet, or other publication, any tip, betting odds, or other information or advice as to betting or wagering upon any contingency whatevei',lio shall be guilty of a nn'sdcmeanoui and shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding one month or to a lino not exceeding #20." One of the most ably conducted journals in New Zealand, the Otwjo Daily Times has declared in favour of this reform. The editor of the Australasian Review of Reviews writing 1110 01110' week in the Southern Gross said : " Gambling, on the existing scale, is " a huge vice. It is an instrument of " national corruption, It destroys " every year the character and lives \ " of multitudes, The law, in a hall- " ing and illogical fashion recognises " all this. It forbids lotteries; it "nhuls tlio Queen's mail against " sweep circulars; it austerely frowns " on fan-tan, and even now and then " runs a group of Chinameninto gaol; "it prosecutes people who keep' hot- "• ting places.' The principle undcr- " lying these acts when intcrprtftcd " logically, implies that betting is a " moral offence and a social curso,

" No decent journal would publish the " tariff of a brothel, or Ik market rule ''of burglars tools; undhoie can they " consistently lend their assistance to the " gambler's business t" I would appeal to various sections of the Christian church in this district to pass resolutions in favour of Mr Hutchison's measure and also to tlio Temperance and Reform Leagues, I am, etc., Roiieiit Wood. Manse, Masterton, 30th July.