NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 132, 5 June 1901, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE.

PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting' was lielti last even- I ing in St. James' Hall, Mr C. G. Hill I presiding. There was a fair attendance. The Chairman made a few .introductory remarks, in which he express- I ed the hope that good would come out of the present conference. .The Rev. F. W.lsitt, in the coarse 6i 5 an earnest speech, strongly advocated \\i local option as against provincial option. People were looking at Clutha, watching the progress of prohibition there. Of course there was sly grog- 11 selling there, but there was sly grog- : j|| selling in Auckland. There would be more of it in Auckland this wreck than in all Clutha, and there would be more • of it next week than there was in Clutha rfor a year. As to liqiior in the King Country, the Maoris did not want y it there; the liquor merchants wanted it. " i A letter was read from the Rey. F. A. ; Bennett, Church of England missionary t to the Maoris, who apologised for being unable to be present. The writer ( i stated that he was more than ever persuaded that an honest effort by the .• Government to enforce the law was ! what Avas wanted in the King Country. i He had made a point of bringing home to his church-people the awful respon- ■ sibility which rested on the pakeha in the introduction of "waipiro" amongst the natives. ' Mr E. H. Taylor emphasised the im- ' I portance of work amongst the young. He thought the outlook for temperance reform in New Zealand was very hopeful. During the evening the combined Band of Hope children's choirs sang a number of songs. The N.Z. Alliance did not hold a session this morning. This afternoon the delegates attended the G. M. Reed memorial ceremony in the Albert Park, and at three o'clock the business of Hhe conference was resumed.