TEMPERANCE REFORM.
[To THE ED/TOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Sra,—You are, I believe, genuinely interested in temperance reform. Is it wise, therefore, to estrange your most probable allies by saying, "The last thing the Temperance party wishes to be told is the plain truth " ; or, as you say of the Bill sketched by Mr. Chamberlain, "If the Bill were limited to this single object, it could not, we think, meet with serious resistance, even from the Temperance party " ? We read history differently, and I cannot agree with Mr. Chamberlain that Mr. Bruce's Bill in 1871 was wrecked by the Temperance party, and still less that Mr. Chamberlain's own proposals some years after were so wrecked. But I can speak with confidence on his present proposal. If he introduces a Bill to put "grocers' licenses," the pre-1869 beerhouses, and "bogus clubs" under the present licensing authorities, and that Bill, to quote your words, "introduces no new principle and calls for no new machinery," it will be cordially welcomed by every Bench and the vast _majority of the Temperance party. The Central Temperance Legislation Board holds its annual conference on October 29th, and I trust it will justify my expectations. Whether you are right in saying it will "evoke no opposition on the part of 'the Trade," I wait to see. But, alas ! the Bill is not drafted yet.—I am, Sir, &c„
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