Summary of a Pastoral Letter

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 260, 3 November 1925, Page 12

Summary of a Pastoral Letter

Archbishop's House, Wellington, October 19th, 1925. The clergy and people of this Arch diocese unci of the other dioceses in Ne\ Zealand naturally look to their Metre polittin for right guidance on the matte of prohibition —national prohibition— with which this Dominion is threatened 1 hope such a calamity will never befal it. For what is the altogether untenabl position of the prohibition advocates It is this: If they argue that win (alcoholic drinks)-is an evil in itself . then absolute prohibition, even for Sacra mental eliould. ; ernphaticall, follow; but this argument transfers re ■ sponsibility froni .thjtr.agent4o the instrn nient, and so destroys morality; more over, it is contrary to Scripture, and tlv emphatic teaching and example of Christ who used wine Himself. If they argue that wine, or alcoholii drink, is not an evil in itself, then regu lation of its traffic is surely the mora course to adopt. But if .prohibition is urged on aecoun of the misuse which some make of it then, to be morally consistent, the sami people should demand that, because tin sexual iiistinct is abused by some to thi extreme" of impurity, therefore all unioi of the sexes should be forbidden. On the same principle, printing, the theatre dancing," should be prohibited. All this would, of course, be absurd, and is almost wholly plasphemy against mar riage, which is a holy ordinance of God and is honoured by all men. The posi tion of the prohibitionist is accordingly against logic and common-sense. RKFOKM IS NEEDED —NOT PROHIBITION— reform, wise and moderate and patieni in the light of experience, education, am true morality; in the interests of tin great body of the public, and especiallj of moderate men, who constitute th< majority of the people. To brand New Zealanders who are generally a sobei community, as a drink-sodden people demanding drastic legislation, is a vile and monstrous calumny. The whoh scheme of national prohibition is a "real step backward: it would be an odiou.ancl inquisitorial tyranny, foreign tc the basic principle,and spirit of Britlali law. As the Archbishops aptly stated in their important pronouncement, "\V< view with misgiving and alarm the crude proposals of those prohibitionist;; w.ho demand' drastic legislation which would be an unwarrantable infringement on the reasonable liberty of The mass of the people; which would most probably be inefficacious for the purpose in view, and which, in the end. would produce more evil.'than it would remove. ;, v rEOHIBITIOJS* 18 INDEED FATAL TO LIBERTY, because it involves a serious outrage against the national rights and liberties of individuals, and contemptuously dis-

regards the claims of dissenting minorities. It is also fatal to TEMPERANCE, though not a few sophistically confound temperance with prohibition. Temperance is s. growth, like all moral laws, in the individual and the community. Prohibition proposes to establish temperance according to the Criminal Code. Temperance is positive, and appeals to man's sense of selfcontrol, to his reason and conscience. Prohibition is negative, and appeals to the sense of fear, to pains and penalties, and utterly ignores man's habits and education. Temperance is the development of man's righteousness and selfcontrol. Prohibition is the reduction of man to a position of compulsory national total abstinence by the criminal law. Temperance is the heritage and blessing of a free people. Prohibition is the yoke which a country constructs for itself when it confesses its inability to selfcontrol, and from which'it will take long years to free itself. Temperance is the badge of self-respect and orderliness. PROHIBITION IS THE SYMBOL FOR HYPOCRISY AND DECEPTION. • All the secret encouragement to sly drinking, the utter lack of control, the absence of all authority, the vile decoctions served, are sure to generate a low moral atmosphere of great miscluef. And such places of sly drinking greatly appeal to the young. Once let a young man become contaminated by the moral tone of the "sly grogs" "he will be damaged morally, if not utterly ruined. Prohibition will undoubtedly generate lawlessness. Its extreme character, its far-reaching measures, its enormous penalties, stamp it as a grinding des-potism-»the fruitful parent of disorder. PROHIBITION IS AS DESPOTIC AS ANY LAW OF THE WORST DESPOT. Tc utterly disregards and tramples underfoot the undoubted rights of minorities, whom it grossly insults by the way it flaunts their ' wishes and destroys their privileges. The minority under it would obey or suffer outrageous penalties Wherever it prevails it is monstrous in every way and grossly insulting to tin- intelligence of the large minority. If it is carried in New Zealand we may expect that shortly the land will be filled with dens, all of which will be schools of hypocrisy, evasion, lawlessness and deception. One extreme begets another. Prohibition would plunge us into a course of folly, bringing turmoil into the politics of the country. perjury and evasion into the Courts, arid deception into the people. Let it not be argued that "sly grog" would become an impossibility when throughout the whole of the Dominion there would be no liouor to be procured. And what could prevent the manufacture of sly gro" in the country and its introduction by a

WIDESPREAD SYSTEM OF .SMUGGLING? Hut in any case this plea is no excuse for its inherent and rampant tyranny. In a publication regarded as authoritative by the No-License Party, these words occur:-—"I recollect on one occasion, in conversation, one of the brewers said to a prohibitionist. ' I hate the drunkard as much as you.' The prohibitionist replied: ' That remark defines the difference between us. You hate the drunkard; 1 hate the drlinkard-maker.' " It is this very extenuation in teaching which is sure to add to the list of the drunken. Nay, it destroys all morality. This teaching would render morality impossible. Anarchy and lawlessness would be rampant. " I hate the drunkardmaker." In terms of logic, he hates the hotel-keeper who sells wine, the barman who serves it, the commercial traveller who represents wholesale houses which stock wine. A STEP FURTHER. He would hate the wine-grower, the labourer in the vineyard, and the carter who carries the wine, and so on. In large drapery establishments certain persons practise shoplifting. Prohibitionist teaching would exonerate them and blame the drapers. " I hate not the thief, but the thief-maker." Such a doctrine would abolish the Ten Commandments. To shift the responsibility from the man who drinks to excess to other persons is to encourage sympathy with the drunken, and still more is this wrought by absolutely stopping the supply, not only to the few lawless, but to the whole community. This remedy is fatal to morals. It is fatal to set. up a compulsory and ascetic total abstinence society for the people and to enforce its rules by a drastic criminal code. A true educational development undoubtedly means that the whole of man's attributes are to be brought into harmony. Here lies the worth of the individual and THE TRUE GREATNESS OF THE STATE. A mere negation such as prohibition would never accomplish this ; in fact. a greater violation of its principles can hardly he- conceived. This National Prohibition craze is mainly the work of a handful of fanatics. But let all good Christians be timely warned. LIQUOR FOR MEDICINAL, SACRAMENTAL AND INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES. I shall be told that we run no such danger in New Zealand, as we have had the assurance of the leaders of the NoLicense League, together with the Government, that satisfactory regulations will be made to allow wine to be

Issued by His Grace Archbishop Redwood, S.M. Archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan.

procured for Sacramental purposes. I am not at all convinced that these regulations will be satisfactory. First of all, what arc they? Nobody has .seen them, and they are to be made, I understand, only in the event of National Prohibition being carried. • IS IT REASONABLE to ask Catholics to vote for National Prohibition on the strength of regulations not yet made, and about which we know nothing—whether they will be satisfactory or otherwise? But even though the present prohibition leaders and the present Government may be perfectly sincere in their avowed purpose to make regulations that will be entirely satisfactory, what guarantee have we that in a few years, once national prohibition is the law of the land, other prohibition leaders and another Government—on the ground, say, that the exemptions are being abused —may not insert an amendment in the Act doing away with all exemptions? We have had too much experience of " rush" legislation on the part of our Parliament not to fear similar " rush' , legislation in regard to Sacramental wine. I consider, therefore, that 1 would be failing in my duty did I not warn our people of THE DANGEROUS POSSIBILITIES that are before them. Are we in this pretended free land, to depend fof the exercise of a natural and divine right on any fallible and fallacious Government or set of politicians? Such a thing is an insult, an outrage, and an indignity. It implies a prying and inquisitoral interference with every altar in the Dominion. I call, therefore, on all Catholics in the Dominion to vote dead against national prohibition, as they value common sense, liberty, and the sacred claims of their Holy Faith. Let them band with the best men in the Dominion, the majority of good and moderate men, to stamp out this noxrous thing, national prohibition, for ever. Let such inquisitorial and grinding tyranny never curse tills free land. The Catholic who vojes for national prohibition in the present condition of this Dominion—whatever other exceptional case might be conceived in other countries to make prohibition tolerable—ls true neither to his common sense nor his love of freedom, nor his loyalty to his holy religion. Let him ca?t his yore /patriotically and religiously against it, in this and every other election. Let him not become the slave of a fal?e system inspired by narrow-mindedness and fanaticism.