(Wanganui Herald). That > this is to be one of the chief questions which the electors will have to answer during the general elections now close at hand is evident. The advocates of prohibi fcion are feverishly active ; their chief orator, the Rev. L. M. Isitt, is touring the colony" fro.n end to end, and imploring the people to vote for a legislative prohibition order being issued against the popu lation of New Zealand^ * * * Mr Collins, in his able address on the. social, moral, and. political aspects of the prohibition question, showed -he " weakness of the case of those who would by Act of Parliament prevent the > people of New- Zealand from taking a little wine for their stomach's sake, and who are anxious to condone "the faults they have a mind to, by condemning those they're not inclined to!" _ As-he pointed out, the advance of civilisation and prosperity has been co-incident with the increase of liberty. Freedom of speech and the liberty of the Press have been the chief factors in political, industrial, and social re forms, and these reforms have been attended by -increas d sobriety end thrift. * * * Prohibition, as re marked by Mr Collins, has been tried in the United States for over forty years, with the result that it has not done what its supporters prophesied it would accomplish, but on the contrary has encouraged hypocrisy, slyness, and deceit. That this is %o the most un deniable evidence has over and over again been given; and as a further proof, if such were wanted, we have the fact that although-thirty States have^ during the last forty years, given prohibition- a trial, twenty-three of them have discarded it as a useless, mischievous, and irritating interference with the liberty of the subject. 