NO-LICENSE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 331, 19 October 1908, Page 8

NO-LICENSE.

THREE LEADERS ON ONE PLATFORM. MR. T. E. TAYLOR "IN FORM." "I havo waited fifteen years to seo what wo havo to-night—Frank Isitt and Leonard and Tom Taylor all together"—declared tho Rev. S. J. Scrpell at the No-License gathering which followed the scrvice in tho Taranaki Street Church last evening. The church was filled. REV. L. ISITT. The Rev. Leonard Isitt gavo a trenchant address on the evils of the liquor traffic. Ho said ho knew that his audience comprised a very few, if any, persons who wero not abstainers, and he supposed that the majority of them'were determined to register their votes against the.traffic. If the battle was 1 to bo won it would bo by individual enthusi- > asm and individual effort. The No-Licenso party could not, afford to pour out money like water, and engage hundreds of canvassers, but ho believed that they had on ' their side an enthusiasm that no gold could possibly purchase, an intensity of conviction that no hireling possessed or would manifest. _' He could not believe that the party's victory could bo very long delayed. Seventeen years ago the voters for NoLicense in New Zealand totalled 48,000, but at successive polls the number had risen to 100,000 (after the conferring of woman's franchise), 121,000, 150,000, and 200,000. He- was confident that in ' spito a of tho tremendous and unrighteous hardship of the three-fifths majority, despite tho crooked and evil ways that were being adopted by their opponents, even in this coming poll they would secure victory after victory. He had been so cheered by what he had seon in tho last few weeks that he could scarcely understand . the condition of affairs. Mr. Isitt narrated his experiences in the Waihi district, and stated that ono meeting which he addressed was attended by 600 or 800 miners, who were "intensely with us, and determined to register their votes against this traffic." Wherever he had been ho had found a new degree of sympathy with the' movement, and he had been astonished at the class of men who had attended' the meetings and expressed'their sympathy. 'This should'be an inspiration to them in the contest. The evil doings of the trade itself were another source of encouragement. Surely people who had borno with the traffic, who had waited and waited and renewed their faith in tho proniises of reformation, must find their patience exhausted, and realise that the only remedy lay in tho extinction of tho trade. MR. T. E. TAYLOR. Mr. T. E. Taylor, who spoke with all his old incisiveness, and with a passion -that rose to eloquence, commenced by reading a circular which he said had boon issued Dy one of the: Licensed Victuallers' Associations' to brewery shareholders. The circular appealed for assistance to be given to the interests of the Moderato party. The Prohibition party also made appeals, and they believed with all sincerity' that they appealed to people to cast their votes in a direction that was bound to mean a fuller and nobler lifo for multitudes, in'a direction that would at least tend to give many children the rights which the drunkenness of their parents now robbed them of,' that would ■give a clearer and nobler outlook for young men, and transform the lot of hundreds of weary women, out of whose lives all light had passed, .because of tho existence of tho licensed bars. On what. grounds did tho circular of the Licensed Victuallers' Association appeal?. It said: "Tho value of all hotel property and brewery shares will be largely increased." Now, was not that a nobler ideal? .That, by their- own confession, was tho spirit that actuated the liquor >party. They wore out for money. "If. you want to know what side you are on, that declaration is sufficient to give' you a clear lead."'' Mr. Taylor urged that if each member of his audience would convert himself into a missionary, and bring five people to tho next day's meeting, who were 'either neutral or antagonistic to No-License, the speaker would derive the inspiration which a largo gathering afforded, and "your l return will be more satisfaction than a Hew hat'would give, if you are a woman; or a good business deal, if you- are a man." "... "Within , the next fow weeks," said Mr. Taylor, "you will hear lie after lie from men who will lie for money;" 'The Rev. It. B. S. Hammond had told him that he got so tired of answering the lies which the liquor party in New Zealand had been using during the last few weeks in defence of their interests that he had commenced to feol as if he wero degraded in denouncing their methods. It was a wearisome business .to a man who was accustomed'to the truth. _ Tho liquor party had stated that in a certain period there' had been more bankruptcies in Invercargill than in Dunedin. Tho Mayor of Invercargill had since .denied that . there was a grain of .truth in tho statement. The fact was that nine bansruptcies . for the Southland district were registered at tho office of the Official Assignee in Invercargill, and not one of those bankruptcies came; from the Invercargill NoLicense area. There the liquor party said, "Look at the record of crime for Invercargill," and quoted figures .for tho Invercargili police district, including Awarua, Wallace, and othor licensed districts, and the No-Li-cense side bad to contend with that lie. Mr. Taylor referred also to the letter signed by an Ashburton mother referring to her ,child. These were words, he said, which the liquor party should never use; they were the words "child" and "mother." He would, make it a criminal offence for a liquor seller to say anything in the name or a mother or a child. Mr. Taylor opposed, to this . story of the Ashburton mother, the statements in ' rebuttal which are now familiar. Again, it had been stated in a southern paper that the bishops of New South Wales had urged their people, at the last Synod meeting, to vote. against No-License. Mr. Hammond described this statement as. "exceedingly cunning and most untrue." Out of seven bishops present at the Synod two had gone out by a back way, to'their shame, before tho motion was discussed, and those who remained protested against a question which was regarded as a political issue being brought forward at the Synod. No'advice was givon to vote against No-Licenso. Mr. Taylor urged that thore were 5000 first offenders for drunkenness last year in New Zealand. He spoke of his bright, healthy, | children, and declared with fervour, "If I thought the blight of drunkenness that has in the past fallen on many children as attractive as they are, end upon whom human affection has been lavished, and for whom mothers and fathers have spent their verv life's blood, if I thought that ever the evil of drunkenness would fall on one of my children, I would pray God to take it away now, I could have wished that God had never sent it for me to look into its eyes and feol the warm touch of its flesh on my flesh, and as I lovo my children, and as you. love your children let us remombor there are no combinations of circumstances in the civilised world making for tho wreckage of children so surely as the liquor traffic, and so long as we leave it tin open ' question S9 surely will there bo those 5000 of new victims every year."

The Rev. Leonard Isitt was to have spoken on tho No-Licenso movement in the Taranaki Street Wesleyan Church on Saturday evening, but, through somo misunderstanding, tho building was not available. This meeting was for 10.30 p.m., tho idea being that as the public-houses would then bo closed those directly concerned in the liquor question might readily assemble. Mr. Isitt did not abandon his address, however, but took his stand in Ingestre Street, about 200 yards from Cuba Street. A good crowd pathered, and asked numerous questions. These Mr. Isitt dealt with as well as tho peculiar circumstances permitted. He spoke of tho policy of the liquor advocates. "We aro fighting," said Mr. Isitt, "a campaign of lies and fraud. The figures and statements made by the liquor party aro the greatest concoction of talcs-and lies ever compiled." . Tho Rev. Leonard Isitt will address a series of four meetings in the Taranaki Street Church, commencing to-night. The subjoct for this ovening is entitled "Hiimpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall," and young People are specially invited. Throughout the series, an opportunity will bo given for the expression or hostilo views, and questions will be ■mswered-