Rev. W. Thomson at Otautau.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 28, 7 November 1905, Page 3

Rev. W. Thomson at Otautau.

The above gentleman, who is lecturing m opposition to the nolicense advocates, and m support of a continuance of license as at present m force, delivered an address m the Otatutau Town Hall on Friday evening. There was a very large attendance of both sexes, and the speaker received an attentive hearing, his remarks . being frequently applauded, and at all times respectfully given attention to. Mr Wm. Affleck occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker, who referred m flattering terms to the good impression the town and district made upon him on this his first vist. He wished to state at the commencement that "No-license is not temperance." We all believe m temperance, which means the control of one's self and one's passions, and being temperate m all thing's, not merely abstinence from strong drink. A man may be a total abstainer, and yet be intemperate. A man who cannot control his passions may be a prohibitionist, but he is not a temperate man. Mr Thomson here gave an instance of a Dunedin lady, an ardent prohibitionist, who had induced her husband to make over to her all his property, and now made his life miserable and unbearable by her bitterness of tongue, want of sympathy and an outrageous denunciation of hotels, This women, he contended, while a prohibitionist, was not a temperate women. Prohibition sought to white-wash a man on the outside, but you cannot make a man temperate by that means, you only succeed m makhim a hypocrite. He was an advocate of temperance, and -would say if any man felt himself better without alcohol, then by all means;do"not touch it. If, however, a man feels himself better with it, and is moderate m its use, then he maintained the total abstainer had no right to dictate to him whether he should drink or not. He advocated moral suasion to induce temperance, but not coercion, which had never done any good. The lecturer drew a stirring picture of the splendid type of manhood and womanhood forming the pioneer settlers of Otago and South- j land of 40 and 50 'years ago, not one whom, he stated, were no-license folks. He emphatically declared to tbem that j there was a bitterness of spirit m the | no-license movement, and m support of his contention, cited remarks from the New Chivalry, denouncing a great brewer of a Newcastle - on- Tyne who had presented the town with an art gallery. The lecturer contended that no-license advocates departed from Scriptural teaching, and twisted the Word of God to suit their cult. He wished to say emphatically that nolicense meant prohibition — that, if it were oarried throughout the land, it meant the utter prohibition of liquorf and the licensing laws were so drastic that, on mere suspicion m a no-license district, a policeman could raid a private house. He urged them to consider the position, and related the instance of Mr George Neiil, of Port Chalmers, whose house had been raided, and who had been summoned, and actually sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment because some liquor was found m his house, which the police considered m excess of his personal requirements. . " Let . me impress npon you that, on suspicion, you may have your house raided and searched ; you may be summoned and imprisoned { how dp. you. like that? Remember behind] no-license there is the polioe, behind, the police the Magistrate, behind the Magistrate the gaol." He maintained that if we put up with suoh treatment there was a lack of true British pluck. He was against no-license because he ' contended it was oppressive to the poor, and m favour of the rich, and all should be on the same footing. It was equivalent to the action ofthe 1 English m striving by foroe to compel the Irish people to alter their religion, and to the attempt of England tollrive Presbyterianism out of Scotland, Both attempts had failed, and so would prohibition. As an evidence of the failure of prohibition, he instanced the city of Portland, a prohibition town of 41,500* people, and yet which had 175 liquor saloons, while Dunedin, with a muoh larger population, had only 50. Portland, with no-license, turned out annually 40 drunkards per 1000, and New York, with license 13. He had the authority of Mr Buchanan, the husband of Jessie McLauchlan, the famouß* Soottish singer, that Prohibition m Ganada was a failure. He read an extract from the correspondent of the Otago Daily Times m Ganada, to the same effeot, and also quoted Dr. Homerville, of Glasgow, as a further authority. Coming nearer home, he read the result of the Lyttelton Times special agent's visit to Ashburton. The first night he was there he discovered three or four grog shops and reported that there was more liquor {scattered over Ashburton thah under license, One man gathered up

15,600 bottles m 5£ months, another man 8000 whisky bottles m three months. Prohibitionists, it appeared, were a thirsty crowd, but what he complained of was that the characteristic straight- forward habit of the British race was being converted to hypocracy and deceit. Instead of openly asking for a drink m a publio place, men now sneaked m to private places and asked for " Bovril," which had become a by word m Ashburton. Glaring instances of wholesale dealing m liquor were oited, as taking places m Stirling durthe few months no-license prevailed there. Mr Thomson contended that the no-license party has been utterly inconsistent m their rejection of the famous clause 9, which meant nolicense no liquor. He also wished to point out that no-license meant decreased revenue m Otautau of £120, which the ratepayers have to make good, and he pointed out the injustice of putting 8387 persons, who were engaged throughout the colony m connection with the trade, out of work by abolishing license, and this meant, with their dependents, 24000 people being deprived of a living, a result, which he contended, was grossly unfair. He had written to a great many famous divines m the old country, and he gave the names of the following eminent persons who had replied, and were all opposed to prohibition :-— Dr John Muir, convenor of temperance com mittee of Church of Scotland, Rev. Arch. Abbot, Dr. John Calder, of Aberdeen, Principal Storey, Glasgow, Rev. Marcus Dodds, Edinburgh. Rev. Charles J. Anthony, London, ProFlint, Rev. Ronald Macdonald, Dingwell, Rev. G. M. Argus, Canon of York, The Bishop of Bath, and Wells. Rev. Dr. Cameron Lees, of Edinburgh Rev. George Matheson, and the Mayor of Bangor, a prohibition town of the United States.

The chairman intimated that Mr Thomson would be glad to answer questions for a limited time, the opportunity for this, however, was spoiled by Mr Gilltrap starting to harangue the audience, who became impatient. The chairman proposed a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr Thomson for his instructive and entertaining address, and the usual compliment to the chair closed the proceedings.