INVERCARCILL AND THE AUCKLAND SYNOD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 333, 21 October 1908, Page 10

INVERCARCILL AND THE AUCKLAND SYNOD.

Sir,—The.discussion of tho liquor question at. the ATiglipan Synod at Auckland, and tho carrying; of. a, resolution affirming tho principle of, No-Licseuso aniLurging Church, people to; Vote'.'for; it, have gladdened .the hearts of.-temperance reforriiers' all over tho country. Coming just,'on tho eve of: the .poll,: tho ver--diet "pit; this .■ and icautious., body seems, just calculated ■ to give: the coup '.do grace to the liquor demon which .the accumulated mafe of testimony, .from tho;>NoLicen'so:. districts bad .:• already . nearly smothered. .Those who have been praying that tho Ghurch of England in this country, woiild'.dp something .worthy of-, tho. gallant stand wfcichjts Bishops in tho Old Land ars making against ; tlm liquor 'traffic have .-not brcn disappointed.

From your oxcollent report of the debate, it is ; . clear ■ that : the. Synod arrived at., its decision, in' spite of - a serious - underestimate i' ' .

of what the reform has accomplished in Inyorcargill. Tho Rev. C. A. B. Watson, who inovod'.thq resolution, admitted that "there was an apparent increase of crime in Invercargill," and then went, on to deal with tho indisputable triumph- of No-Liccuso in Oamaru He did afterwards mention that the polico district and tho licensing district of Invercargill are not co- : extensive;—a pqint* which ;is frequently over--1 looked? by disputants*on both sides. At Ashburton, for instanco, no fewer than fivo public-houses in tho Selwyu electorate combine to Swell the' Police Court returns, and have their products coraplacotitly debit-eel to No-License by "Bung" and his paid agents. With regard to Invercargill in particular, the following points are also to bo borne in mind:— • (1) The increaeaV .of offences ' from 338 in tho. last year of License to 368 in the second-, year of Nff-Bibbise represents 9 per cent. The.increase,..of,,offences for the whole Dominion tetweW *1905' and 1907 was from ■20,249; t{* ; 23 j 2M,.0r ? 145 per cent-. In other wofas; the' ratio" of 'increase in Invercargill has been but little wore'tliau half that for the whole of New Zealand. . , ' (2) Drunkenness has decreased in Invorcargill froni..l4a..offeiices in 1905-6 to 86 in 1907-B—a ' d<k!'reasy"ijf' 40 per cent., whilo for .tha.,Dpniini.ofl ,a.t, Jarge tliero has been an increase' from 8707't0 10.203, or 17 per cent.,<-and -for--Wellington and suburbs the increase' lias"beeii : From 1809 to 2544, representing 40 per, cent. (3) In his report for 1906-7, Inspector Mitchell says-''that' v dnrin'g tho first nine months | of;NorLipense ."78, cases of drunkenness wero "before-tlio Invercargill Court, and in- all cases;;but : pn« .the ( supply ,of liquor was conclusively "traded ""'to sources outsido tho No-Iflcei)SGi- ! .aTea,"t. „This means that; the drunkenness produced within Invercargill itself has bcenn-educed*to vanishing-point, and if the cases arising from tho depots "and other licensed aboriiinations-outside tho district-are deducted Hho',total: offences, must be diminished by at least,.SQ s ,which would mean a reduction'of 14' percent. instead of an increase of 9. per .cent. (4); Prohibition orelets in Invercargill have declined" from "66 under License to 43 under No-License—a decreaso of 34 per cent; while for tho whole Dominion the number has in- . c;-casecLiiom,.-17QQ.-jib.-1904 t-o 2209 in 1906— an increaso of 30 per cent. Without it is already obvious '.tliat,-- (Inly analysed, tho Invercargill Court t returns s :,would form unaided a quite sufficient foundation for the timely resolution of 'the "Auckland Synod. Overhelming indeed mus£ be our case when-such a body can arrive at snch a resolution under tho belief, that those- returns told a different story from Oamaru.—l ain, etc., r A. R. ATKINSON^ October 16. *