STATE CONTROL.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16702, 10 December 1919, Page 10

STATE CONTROL.

V MODERATE LEAGUE'S ATTITUDE. ADDRESS BY MR R. A. ARMSTRONG. There was a eood attendance in the , King's Thentre Inst night when an address on Stnte control of the liquor traffic was nivcn by Mr R. A Armstrong. Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Moderate Lenprue. The Hon. J. IVirr, M.L.C., presided. The chairman said Mr Armstrong was going to lay before them certain views on State control. He (Mr Barr) was there purely in the capacity of chairman, as he. personally, d'd not believe in State control, but he d:d believe in freedom ef speech (heaj, h r ar) and he considered that in a British community they shou!d hear all sides of a question. It was only those whose side was weak who refused their opponents freedom of speech. Personally, he thought his side was strong, but ho was always willing to learn. (Hear, hear.) CAPTAIN HAWKINS. Mr Armstrong said he feltsure they all appreciated the very fair way in which Mr Barr had stated his position in view of his pressing that night, and ho (Mr Armstrong) particularly appreciated it because Mr Barr was a Prohibitionist. He (Mr Armstrong) believed that someone who was adve tiMng himself as being connected with the Prohiliitionist Party had, in order to queer his (Mr Armstrong's) pitch, ni'de n very bitter attack unon him, and had gone «o far as to call him a liar. He would like to tell Captain Hawkins that if h< wore an officcr lio shoiiUl he a gentleman. Captain Hawkins should l>e the last to question his (the. speaker's) veracity. Captain Hawkins advertised himself as a "Dijiger," and thif was particularly appropriate, as beeaus after the coming poll nis services would be required by the Prohibitionists as gravo-digger. THE NEW ISSUE. For the first time in the history of the country those people who did not believe in the existence of the Trade as at present conducted and did not belicvo in Prohibition, wore able to exercise a vote in another fashion. It was but another step on the road to democracy. They wero approaching this new issue .because it was the socond part of a bargain between the Prohibitionists, the Trade, and the Government, and tho Prohibitionists being a party to it, had no reason to complain now. One lesson of the last poll was that Prohibition had gone for ever. . (Cries of dissent.) Prohibition, bv the defeat of the April referendum, had been put back unquestionably. The other great lesson we had had from tho referendum was the soldiers' vote, because the soldiers oversea had voted four to one against Prohibition. That was looked upon a? a clear indication of the views of the rounder men of New Zoaland. Some Australian nnners hnd. as a result, looked unon the Prohibition vote as a women's, but- he d'ffered from that: he thouplit there wero as good sport' anion? women as among men. MR LLOYD GEORGE'S CONVERSION. Mr Llovd George had realised that Prohibition was not practical politics ' for a British community, and he had moved in favour of State purchase 1 and control. He had failed to secure ' this altogether, but lie hnd socured the appointment of a controlling Board. Mr Armstrong quoted from a pamphlet written by the Rev. Bramwell Evans, a Methodist minister in Carlisle, which vigorously defended the State purchase system as the result of its working in Carlisle. The T -'qtior Control Board had appointed t' - best of the Carlisle hotelkcepors its managers, nnd tlicv had turned out very good men. In prewar years the convictions for drunkenness'in the Carlisle area averaged 2.50 per annum. In lp!6. owing to the pocnliar war -conditions, they had jumped to 953. Tn 1917, when the • Stato purchase system came into operation. they fell to 350. In 1918 they ■ dropneil .o 80. and for the first two 1 months of 1919 thev were seven, which : was eonal at the same ratio to 42 for 1 the year. The speaker quoted the tes--1 timony of various persons, including ex- ' Prohibitionists, as to the value of tho 1 nurrliaso system in Carlisle. 1 Mr George the d<"» hnd testified to the pond results of State fontml. and jts elimination of drunkenness. Ho (Mr Armstrong) had in his hand a memorial sirned by thousands of in : nisters of all denominations 1 in Groat Britain, doctors, solicitors, trades union secretaries, and others, • askine Mr Lloyd Georuo to apply the ' principle of St"te control to practically " tho whole of Britain. An ex-honorary secretary of the United Kingdom APianco had announced his conversion to Stato control. . Mr Armstrong said ho ' felt confident that mnnv of thrsn who ' in tho past hnd voted for Prohibition 1 would chaneo their views. (Dissent.) 1 He knew thev could not expect the ' old Prohibitionists to chango, but thev > knew there were mnny thousands or } people who voted for Prohibition in the past, because they hnd nothincr else to vote for: thev were more sympathetic ' fnwrds Prohibition than towards tho 1 Trade. COST OF STATE CONTROL. , The Prohibition party in New Zea- . land wero opposing State ownership, and that upon tho ground of cost. That I was a regrettable thing. The reason p why ho and liis League regretted that the Prohibition party wero opposing • State ownership on the ground of cost 5 was that it was tho lowest ground of opposition, particularly when thev based J their appeal upon mural grounds. He , urged tnem to stick to their moral grounds. They had eight days remainfng in which to mend their evil ways. ' The League were prepared to prove con--5 clusivcly tlint thc statements regarding • cost were mere bogrys. Through the 5 Government failing to do their duty in • the matter, the Moderate Leaguo had • had to secure estimates. There wero » about 1200 licenses, tho land tax valuo

of which properties at the last census was £4,2o0,0l)0. If they liked, tiio League 'could say that was all that would be paid tor tuem. Hut i-e League were not going to do that, be- j causo they thought that in equity the Trade could ask for a little more, because the Government valuations were always below the true value, and slight improvements may have been effected '.luring tho last few years. Ho would therefore add 25 per cent, to the nbovo values, making a total of £0 ; 312,0'J0. Furniture ana fittings they fo'und, on making a fair estimate, would come to £900,000. The value of breweries in the four main centres was. they found, £000,030. and in the country and small vntres thry it at £150.000, n total of £'750,000. Stocks wero valued at £970,0C0. Termination of trado or goodwill was the only item which tho State would be asked to pay for which it would not secure a realisable asset in return. Parliament had limited tho amount to two years' net profits. Business men would understand that tax returns never erred in tho upward direction, and as all tho returns were in tho hands of the Commissioner of Taxes tho Stato, in prying on tlieso, would not be paying too much. Tliis imount would be £1.800,000. This was tho only amonut that would bo paid by tho State to the Trade for which the people did not get an actual n.sset valuo in return. In addition, they put down the amount thev would have to pay the wine makers at £50,000. so in round figures they would have to pay nino and three-quarter million pounds. People in Christchurch knew that hotel prorerties hero were situated on the best business sites available. Tho same appertained in -»thor centres, and so the Stato could dispose of mnny of these very effectivelv. Such properties immediately disposable could bo put down at C 1.750,000, leaving n total capital investment of £8,000 000. Of this the nottinl asset values amounted to G6.200.000. Tlie net profits of the Trado were estimated to be £900.000 rcr annum. To this must be added the rental value of hotel properties, which the State as owner would bo relieved from paving £212.500, leaving the State's profit, on a conservative estimate. and without allowing for increased efficicncv in management, concentration and economies of non-com-petitive business. £1,112,500 per annum. After deducting £400,000 for interest pnynHo or caritnl there would bo loft a profit of £712,500. This could •e utilised, if thought fit, for immediate liquidation of capital in such oroportion as sound finance . dictated, or if this consideration be determined in the usual way by sinking fund of, say,_ 2 per cent, as an anruml charge ?gainst profits, making £160.000, leaving the amount available for annual appropriation f or public purposes C 552.500. In addition, tho Stato would retain oyer a pounds of revenue whiph it was drawing now. So tho difference between State purchase and Prohibition would be anvthing from one and a half to two million pounds per annum, which, the League submitted. was a considerable amount. Tho Moderate Lentruo were quite prepared to submit these fiTures to anyone, and they invited a Government investigation of them. A considerable nrofit had been made on the Stato purchase svstom in Carlisle and it wns stated that if the profits continned tho capital cost would bo written off in a few years. If at. tfie end of three venrs the people decided in favour of Prohibition, the cost would not hnve been nearly so murh ns if ProbiKition were earned last April. as the State would have the assets and trading profits. FOR ALL TIME. If Prohibition were carried it would mean Prohibition for all time, as in accordance with the Act tho , would not have tho opportunity of recording another vote. Why were not the Prohibitionists honest? If they were they would tear down the placards put up by them all over . Christchurch. He wanted the electors > not to fall into a trap. As he had 1 snoken on tho question all over New I Zealand, and the placards were still up, I it. like a deliberate trap by tho | Prohibitionists. Tho Prohibitionists said if we carried Prohibition now we could get State control later on for nothing. He asked his audienoe could ■ they <ret anything for nothingP It cost • something to "build a hotel. One could i —

not get anything for nothing on this Mr Armstrong referred to_ the failure of the Alliance in Grent Britain. A voire: What about the Zealand Alliance? , "Fcr months beton? the April elec-l tion," replied Mr Armstrong. "wo had, the ccuntrv flooded with \nnkee lecturers. and* the were flood- j cd with advertisements. Yet here we| ore within ten days of the poll andl ;.ve hardly hear the Prohibitionists, which snows they are a declining force." i SOUNDEST PROPOSITION, i it, had boon proved that State otraor- ! ship was the sound preposition. If i ! Great Britain had discovered that State ownership was the best, this should be : pood cno'ugh for us. fCries of Some people apparently favoured the! \mericin system. If tt'cy favoured it; they should take the first boat to America. Voice: What about Canada? i Mr Arirstrorg said Canada had re- ! verUxl to the wet sy«tem until nt some; ' future dfte the people l eld a plebiscite to determine whether they would have Prohibition or not. Ho read a statement ehowinc the inconvenience and jndicrnity people wore Inline M'biocted to in America by zenlots of the Prohibition law. women especially being snbto "-mi : ndignities by searchers, aftor contraband. ALCOHOL BFXEFTCTATv. i The Moderate League claimed that the moderate and iudirioiis dm of l : <pior was not only harmless, but beneficial to the user He quoted a report containing the unanimous verdict of Hiding British scientists in support of tl'is contention. The pamphlet, he snid, j b!e\v sky-high all the old Prohibition about the intrinsic harmfulness of alcohol. Tlie Moderate League recognised its responsibility. They believed that the proper course for the people to follow wn« to use every proper control and restriction, but they contended tint Prohibition was wrong in equity and a«ainst the Word of God. *A TEMPERATt; f'FOPI.E. We liad to decide whether we wero a temperate people, and, according to the Year Book we were the most temperate people in the world, and we were showing a remarkable advance in sobrietv, as since 1914 convictions for drunkenness had decreased nearly 50 per cent. A Voice: Six o'clock closing. Mr Armstrong said six o'clock closing ! had not come' into forco until Decera- ] her. 1917. whereas the biggest drop had been beforo then. Convictions for drunkenness had been recorded as fol- : lows:—l9l4 1.1,480. lf)lo. 13,334, 1916 10.998 1917 8397, 191S 7293. A Voice: Tho men were out of the ; country. Mr Armstrong asked the interjector ' if he meant the soldiers, but the interjector, after some confusion, replied in the negativo. Mr Armstrong said the obvious explanation of the interjertor's meaning [ was that the soldiers must have been . drunkards, and he differed from that. . To prove that the drop in tho firtires , was not due to the men being out of the ! country he wished to point out that the j convictions airainst females had dropped | even more than that, being 47 per cent, as aeainst 46 for males. So it was not n case of the men being out of flip eountrv at nil. which, in any case, was a mn«t ridiculous allegation to make. If Stat" control nroved a failure genuine Proh : h?tionists ■would have a better change of securing Prohibition than at nrosent, h®cnttse they would nil have vr'\at ther alleged to hi the influence of the Tnde to contend with, and people observing the failure of State control would he disnowl to «**mna*h«ti"nl!T- welcome Proliih<'+ion. He analvsed tho country's drink b'll to show the nr'nute omnti+v consumed nor Head, and pointed out that in t'<o li"ht, of common-cense all the hyc+orieal outcrv oV>ont tho amount of I'nrer consumer! muct he viewed in tho light of sheer comedy. ; QUESTION'S. Several questions were answered by | the speaker. In replv to one he claimed that tho elimination of the elei ment of private trading and profit in . tho (State-owned hotels would conduce I to temperance. i "Who supnlies tho Moderate League I with its funds?" asked one questioner, j Mr Armstrong said tho I<eagne, when > it required funds, appealed to tho good I sports of the country and the good i sports, he was pleased to say, gave thom t sufficient to go on with. In movine a henrtv vote of thanVs to . Mr Armstrong, the chairman said ho ■ thoucrht Mr Armstrone had given his • address in a very fair-way. Tho vote was carried with cheers, i after -which choers were given for the ■ chairman. 48 i —