NO-LICENSE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2332, 27 October 1908, Page 4

NO-LICENSE

[To THE EDITOE.] Sir:—lt is_ a curious contrast to note the attitude of the contending forces on the line of battle for and against- license. At the meeting last, night the advocates of no-license boldly challenged their opponents to come out into the open and state their case fairly, if they had any good tlnng to say of continuance. * A few days ago it was made known that an additional donation would be given to a certain institution if continuance was carried. Of the two sides which is to be commended —the open honesty of the one which seeks the greater good,- or the cunning bribery of the other who is looking after selfinterest, and is alive to the fact- that a few pounds invested as a donation will bring a fifty-fold return if lieenso is continued. The records of our town’s drunkenness are such that comparisons arc made distressing when it is known that we are reaching the high water mark of drunkenness for the dominion, and it is indeed a distressing fact that some of the most promising and interesting vouug men are being.undermined by the insiduous ways of the drink evil, and it is the relatives and friends of such that have to bear the sorrow and shame while the publican, rakes in shekels and counts over the spoils made at the expense of somebody’s woes, and smilingly contemplates the possible gains of the morrow, unmoved by the fact that on the morrow the records of our Court will be penalising some unfortunate who the day before got shikered in his house. * While these are every-day features of the open bar we should not rest unmindful of the fact that the publican is no philanthropist. No, not by any means, for his business does not alleviate distress, but is the pi’incipal creator and propagator of it. Tho evidence given by judges, statesmen, and leaders of every grade of society is that the liquor trade is a ferment of high crimes against established law and order, that it corrupts governments, and is an obstacle t-o legitimate trade. These charges are made openly, boldly, and emphatically, and the charges have never been disproved. On the contrary, tho liquor trade has resorted to slander; and misrepresentation, and the expressions of public men who are directly opposed to them have been twisted as savoring of sympathy. The good name and records of the towns that have put on the no-license regime have been slandered to a most unwarrantable degree, and with a spluttering of morality they have proved by cunning hypocrisy that- to beguile a. trustful public is not the least of their trump cards to play. Some of their -devices to deceive have been so palpablj* absurd that the public have grown enlightened to the ©3:tent that tho liquor trade is impossible of reformation, and that the best way to mend it is to end it. — I am, etc., “FAIR PLAY. 51