PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 245, 16 October 1922, Page 6

PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN.

ADDRESS OX "MAKING MEX." i'

(Published by Arrangement.)

MR. FINXAYSON'S MISSION. ADDRESS AT TOWN HALL. INDICTMENT OF THE TRADE. An address in connection with the prohibition campaign was delivered by the Hon. W. t\ rinlayson, ex-Labour member for Brisbane, in the Town Hall yesterday afternoon. The Hon. George Kowlds presided over a large attendance. An unusually clear and "eloquent speaker, Mr. i'inlayson gripped ttie at- ! tention of his audience iroiut the start, and retained it to the end. New Zealand and Australia, said Mr. Finlayson, were united by very close I fraternal bonds; the enemies of one were ■ the enemies of the other, and whatever developed and strengthened either one of these Dominions ox the British .Empire affected the other in similar manner. In the matter of temperance reform there was a very strong bond. The Victorian ' Anti-Liquur League had sent both the speaker and a woman delegate to New Zealand at its own expense to help the Dominion in its great campaign. (Ap- | plause.) I AX AGE-LOXG QUESTION. ! There was a growing feeling throughout the whole world, continued ilr. Finj layson, on the part of the people versus the liquor traffic. It was an age-old question, and there was no record so ancient but it bore reference to some form of intoxication. "There have been long year 3of experiment, every kind of fancy scheme has . been tried to make the liquor traffic a decent, respectable one, but we have been forced at last to the conclusion that prohibition is the only thing that is likely to offer freedom from its evils. "The liquor people profess to be very anxious with regard to the personal ! rights and liberties of the people as polling day draws near. They are anxious to show how good and necessary a thing : it is that they should be allowed to conj tinue the traffic, and by their attitude they are challenging the virtue and honesty and patriotism of the people of, the whole country. They talk of uphold-; ing the 'rights of democracy, , yet they worked so assiduously that a three-fifth's ma jority at the poll was required for many years, and it was only by most strenuous effort that a decision can now be obtained on a straight-out majority basis, as it should be obtained in every democratic country. Their action in this connection showed that the liquor people were by no means democratic." (Applause.) AMERICAN PROHIBITION. Mr. Finlayson stated that the American people did not need to vote for! national prohibition as constitutional pro-! visions for an amendment to the consti-' tution do not provide for the submission : to the people by referendum. Moreover I before national prohibition was made '■ ; effective 33 Statei out of the 48 had ! already carried prohibition by popular vote. ' r ' THE DRUG QUESTION. Dealing vyith the question of drusrtaking, which was another point the liquor trade talked a lot about, the speakor said that one authority' fre- ' qiienth- quoted was the president" of the Allied Medical Association of America who had stated that the drug-taking habit had increased, with disastrous results since prohibition wae there. This body was not an authentic representative body of medical men in the United States. As a matter of fact the drug-taking habit, which in recent years had -pread throughout the word ! Had gripped the American people six ! months before prohibition was enforced j ..ftUisties showed at that time time drug-taking in America was far wore* ! in the I nited States than in either Germany or France. He quoted statements affirming that drug-takin? had not increased since prohibition had been '< granted, one being a hospital report i showing that drug-inanity and opium- | taking had decreased in recent years. EFFECT UPOX THE REVENUE. The question of revenue was next dealt with by Mr. Finlayson. "The i trade recently iesued „ statement that i a vast amount of money will be lost in j customs duties and licensing fees if pro . i hibition i, carried," he said, "but we know well that it would ~ot be lost, l that it would go into better channels, and that the Government would not i only receive back the amount of its pre- ] sent revenue from drink, but world Ip saved a large portion of the £-2,300,000 I now expended yearly upon the upkeep i of gaoe. hospitals and charitable insti- i tufons. At present £ 7 ..iOO,OOO j s o-oin-! out of the pockets of the people" every ' year in drink—nothing to show for it i not one respectable worthy industry ' benefited by it. Well, .whatever else is I wrong with thi* country, it certainly i s i not hard n;> It ~ no ~s e talking about I the ooet of liv-tajr when the people of i New /eal. u 1 have that amount of ! money to throw away year by year!" (Loud applnuee.j ' • j -Mr. Kinlnyson's comments i.-pon the ' «p.or traffic- »■,„ vigorous and out-j Z ' . '-traffic" was eigni- : hcant. he declared, when one re mem i world th " a<l eTer affl'ctpd the I «orld. The ~s e of the word "trade" ' "at-,?? 1 ' 7 *'' POiUt T hk ' h rame i for scat! mg comment lt was t ,, e of all trades, ami not fit to be associ uted w,th clean, decent, ordinary trades traffic w.T ! ar:lo, ' tllOir b '" L>aa - fur j T »as in human-hves and ha,p P iby itse.f; the regulations which 'J controlled other trades and other nd j ies could not be applied to it. and t'^ to°i'-f tr ,H (k , in the «-»rid t ha h Jared to defy the law and defiV tli-lo institution., of the country. I

THE QCESTTOX (, F CHARACTER r Thr subject of Mr. Finlavson* even >1 in? address at the Town " Hail v ,- n s I I -<ded " Mr " ° SOar - Mrßrine I"""- ? -Air. Finlayson said the greatest a«et ! n a coufltry was not it> natural re i 1 sources, its material wealth it.-t nossib , '' itie ? or its potentialities, but it, men jl inrt the greatest asset of a man « as his f •haracter. The world needed men and ! ' γ-n of the right type, who ' had I character, ability, truth, and honour m<l he trusted that God would <m- e :hem as many of these men as possible r, New Zealand was to be frre.l from the '■ ?vi!s of the lkjuor traffle by the ppople s -honnelves, who would have"to work cut J .heir own salvation. In carrying on the work opposing in- a Siuences would be met. Then." was'one ' set of influences seeking to elevate and improve, and theiv was another eeekm" I to debase, degrade, and destroy. Was (

the liquor traffic developing and t_A_. the character of man. or was it ___^ « ing it? The trafiic stood out abaol ut !t condemned as a. useless and dangero™ thing to the community. It had fen material, for it took the best the co try could give—the young men *, women—and l.y means of its abomi_.lv .ycitem threw them out on the stiy.** Thus was God's glorious crea'in ruined, and one wondered how l on . *l intelligent people of the country allow thy; liquor trafiic to destroy _, people in such a wholesale fashion ft! hihition. on the other hand, was _ * man-making movement, and helped J -make man as Clod meant him to be. m° traffic would not stand up to a' f" criticism: it made excuses and apolori™ hut never had the courage to stand 2 to the charges made against it. I Th- speaker said he would say op*,,. | that the, liquor tralhc was responsible il 1 a certain definite evil result, and that it. was responsible for some of the crime |of the community. An official V i York statement showed that 12„ooo persons were committed to the Stats prison in 1017, while the correspond,,, figure for a year of prohibition v _ 2t_,000. There were over 900 people co_ fined in New Zealand prisons daily __\ he estimated .00 of thorn would not be there if there had been no .iquor traffic. A great deal of insanity was caused by drink. Medical opinion was that drink was the first and principal cause of __ sanity, and whatever was the propor tion of mental cases caused by $_}__ that proportion would not be there if it wa„ not for the liquor traffic. ___, liquor was responsible for a good deal of poverty. He had been told that poverty caused drink, but he charged liquor witt loading the community with waste and economic loss, and, worst of all, with debasing men. It had been argued that the iiquor traffic paid, for it contributed two and a-half millions to the menu, of the country. Did that amount, how. ever much it might be, compensate for the wasted lives of men? The Immortal soul of one man was worth more than all the revenue from the liquor traffic S-veral objections to prohibition wers dealt with by .Mr. Finlayson. The liquor traffic was the great champion of personal liberty once every three years. Hs rea,d the following statement from the "American Brewers' Gazette":—' __ c _. called question of personal liberty loss more and more of its force. The issua must be fought out on the question oi public welfare. The speaker said Australia and New Zealand were the two freest countries in the world, yet they had more laws than anywhere else, I-Vople were given liberty to do every, thing that was right, and not things that were wrong. With reference to tie question of unemployment, it was not how many people would beeoma unemployed, but the kind of employment that was being lost. Xo one would suggest that the war should have been continued bo a_ to keep the munitions industry alive. As a matter of fact, the money spent on liquor, if diverted to other channels, would lead to the employment of four times as many men. Where 1.000 ravm were formerly employed in Illinois distilleries, 4,000 were now employed in manufacturing foodstuffs. If the money spent in Xew Zealand 011 drink was diverted, the country would not have the men. machines, and factories to cope with the demand for goods that would be required. After two Tears of prohibition , President Harding said: "Homv_, families, life, and business are better. A new race of men and women are growing up to whom the liquor traffic will have no appeal."'