The "Prohibitionist" is very much con cerned over a sermon "recently delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hosking, hitherto regarded as one of the most strenuous advocates of prohibition. The following are extracts taken from the Auckland otar*':—

"Prohibition in the King Country was a dismal, sorry and absolute failure. As people get educated, so reforms that are not based on moral suasion beconv* difficult to enforce. The liberty of man is a priceless treasure handed dow_r to us from our forefathers. For that liberty we fight to the very death. No number of a majority should ever tyrannise over the liberties of a minority. There should be an appeal to tho reason, the conscience, and the will, If you push moral reforms by legislative enactment against the will of a people, you arouse the devil in man, and a dire obstinacy is the result. In the King Coun try a few people, mostly natives, are tyran nised over, thty think, by the Parliament of our country. It is heart-rending to go amongst the people of that district. He had had opportunities of gauging the moral life of the people. The natives there are degrading themselves by the drink. Some of the vilest stuff human beings can con sume is being clandestinely dealt out in the whares and shanties of the settlements in that vast territory. If prohibition in the King Country is a sample of what pro hibition would do for New Zealand, then it would be the greatest curse that ever befel us. Lying, cheating, suspecting, bribing, and cursing are the order of the day among the people who ought to be patterns of the reforming power of the Gospel. His conviction was that licensed houses under Government control would ba infinitely bet ter than the present state of things, and he meant to lift up his voice in the interest of a crushed and degraded people. It is an insult to Auckland that a little over 100 miles away w© arc a'ding and abetting the cap tivity and misery of a people who are of the same blood as ourselves. We absolutely refuse to allow these people to do what we pride ourselves in doing, i.e., express our opinions at the ballot box. If a man is determined to drink intoxicating liquor, to force him to be temperate by Act of Parlia ment amounts to tyranny. 