PROHIBITION ON TRIAL.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10450, 14 September 1899, Page 2

PROHIBITION ON TRIAL.

Writing on the subject of prohibition, the "Taranaki Herald" says, referring to the Clutha district: —"If the extremely; limited experience of that electorate is worth coo»" sidering at all we think the weight of evi-. dence is against, prohibition. But the experience is altogether on too small a scale tOibe of any value. In the United! States on" the other hand, the populations of the various States affected total many millions, and the experience spreads over nearly fifty years. And what do we find? Out of a total population in 1890 of over 62,000.000, States with an aggregate of about 37,500,000 have tried prohibition, and over of these have given it up, leaving onjv about vfirft and a, quarter millions still retaining prohibition. Even in these. States there is abufM&y evidence that the law is more or less disregarded. In 1883. in the prohibition city of Portland, Maine, tile, proportion t>f arrests for drunkenness was one arrest to every twenty-three inhabitants. In.New Zealand the ; proportion is about one arrest to every one hundred and forty inhabitants, and in Taranaki it is one to every five hundred. The fact that the seven States which have prohibition retain it, proves' nothing, for there is no strong motive to work for a change; everyone who wants -liciuor can get it. On the other hand, there is a very strong interest m maintaining it; the drug-store proprietors who are more numerous than licensed publicans ever were, have an exceedingly lucrative interest to preserve, a trade which is the. direct outcome of prohibition." 1988 A CANADIAN RECTOR'S VIEWS. • The Rev. Geo. J. Low, rector of Almonte, Ontario, Canada, a fearless and outspoken opponent of the prohibition movement m the Dominion, thus emphatically justified his position: "Others, again—even my clerical brethren—have urged upon mc: "We quite agree with you; prohibition is a mistake and a great evil; but, there, hush! let it alone, it is an evil that will cure itself. Are the minktera of tie Gospel to let all evil alone on this plea? If we are bound, as we are by our ordination vows, to banish ajrd drive away all'false doctrine, must the minister of the Gospel, who honestly believes the. doctrine of pjqhibitiop tp.be JalEe eive of' morality, aiid productive of '•■■ far greater evils thsta those which i* strives to abolish—must ihe be hounded and persecuted, while all applause for holy zeal is accorded to the minister who (with equal honesty, of course) gees stumping the country in favour of- prefiibition eraetnjenfc?."- Referring, farther on, to those who, while indulging themselves, yet vote to prohibit others, he indignantly exclaims: "0, generation of, vipess! one is tempted to exclaim, in ' the worda of scorn our Lord used. agakist the hypocrites of the day. If. prohibition is right, then go for it—honestly, manfully, whole-heartedly; give up your wines and beer and spirits altogether as you want others to do. " If you don't intend to do this, and yet advocate prohibition —or, what is a>3 bad, by cowardly silence ■ and apparent acquiescence, let judgment go by default— then you ai-e simply acting the hypocrite. The maa who votes or works fer prohibition and yet takes his alcohol—in whatever shape, beer, wine or whiskey—is just as much a hypocrite and. criminal as the , illicit dealer or peddier, who .votes.for prohibition because i-t puts money in his pocket."