It is now nearly two months since a largely attended public meeting was held in the Town Hall, for the purpose of considering what measures should be adopted to check the evils of excessive drinking among the inhabitants of this province. The meeting may be said to have originated in a paper previously read by the Dean of Christchurch at a Church gathering, and there can he no doubt, judging from the reception which the several speakers met with and the discussion which afterwards took place in our columns, that the subject took considerable hold on the public mind, for a time at least. Whether the public now feel the same interest in the questions which were discussed at the meeting may be doubted, and we may be permitted to suggest that the committee then ap pointed are in some measure responsible for any apathy that may be apparent. Comparatively few know how often the committee have met, or whether they have met at all. Fewer still know what they have done, or whether they intend to bring the result of their labours before another public meeting at an early date. It is in no spirit of fault-finding that we make these remarks. On the con trary, we earnestly desire to encourage the committee by every means in our power, and we may be allowed to take some credit for having directed public attention to the temperance question from time to time since the Town Hall meeting. What we desire to impress upon the committee is the necessity of doing something to prevent the in terest which was undoubtedly felt in the movement from flagging. Not that we would hurry them in any way in the preparation of the report which they will no doubt submit to a public meeting, or even hint for a moment that they have taken more time in its preparation than is necessary. The subject is a large one, and only those who have attempted to consider it carefully are aware of the difficulties with which it is beset on every hand. The committee may fairly claim, not only that they had the materials for thought to collect, but that the subject was comparatively new to most of them. And it must also be borne in mind that a somewhat prolonged holi day season has interfered materially with the progress of their deliberations. 