TO THE WOMEN OF GISBORNE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2331, 26 October 1908, Page 5

TO THE WOMEN OF GISBORNE.

[To the Editor.] Sir.—There is a cry t u vote noJicense and shut the open bar. Draw down the curtain and scatter tiro deadly poison, as it is called, among the weaker part of the human race. A man can drink with impunity, but a woman cannot afford to touch without contamination, even to the third and fourth generation. All women are not "'boss'’ of their homes. A man can bring into the home who he likes and what he likes. If he is so weak that he cannot pass the open bar, I say ho will be weaker still when the law allows him to take two gallons into his home and bring his pals to drink and degrade his home. The bar is bad enough, but the home ought to be protected from pollution. Wo abolished the bottle trade to preserve the home life; now wo are asked to vote for a greater cvd. The wife- and mother has enough trials without adding more. The love of money is too great to resist sly grog-selling. We are asked to believe that other districts have gamed. They have not. The (States of America are quoted as an example. They have the. use of the gun there. That would have a moral influence here. If women were paid the same respect here as in America the offences against women and children would cease. Women can protect herself and children against brutal husbands and any interference outside her home by the use of the gun, and she uses it:. Take care that we be not visited with a. greater evil. Drink is not the greatest evil the country is called upon to suffer. The immoral hypocrite i.s a greater menace to the well-being of the country than drink. J appeal to the good sense of the people not to vote for a measure that is to remove the open liar —to where? This evil is in our hands subject to law and order. 1 can go and demand my husband from an hotel. When they are closed I have to go and find him —where? Perhaps in a worse place. Let us vote for a measure that will not degrade, hut uplift the human race. From a woman to women.—l am. etc.'. ‘7OTA& ABSTAINER'