NO-LICENSE MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 120, 17 November 1902, Page 4

NO-LICENSE MEETING.

Though heavy rain lessened the audN ence the Opera. House was more than half filled last night wiien addresses were delivered by members of the Presbyterian Assembly dealing with the question of no-license. Mr. A. C. Begg, of Dunedin, occupied the chair, and said that he had been for forty years a total abstainer, had for as lpng a time been identified in business with the Clutha district, and knew beyond all question that no-licens© had been a great benefit to it. Bey. Blair, of Clinton, contrasted the past condition of the township with the present, said that there was possibly some small amount of sly-grog selling; still carried on in the township, but it so it was very little, and drunkenness was practically stamped out. The whole condition of the people was much more prosperous than in the days of license, whatever the cause might be; certainly no-license had proved the reverse of injurious, and the people of his district, a level-headed, sagacious lot, would poll more heavily than ever? for the existence of the present condition' of things. He referred to the faot that Mr. Quin had since unsaid a great deal of what he had previously said in regard to the failure of no-license. Rev. S. Currie spoke from seventeen years' knowledge of Balclutha, and emphatically declared that enormous bene* fits had resulted to the district from tho no-license policy, - although he did not assert or believe that there was no drink* selling or drunkenness. He had sees more drunkenness in Wellington during the few days he had been here than he had in twice as many years' residence in Balclutha under no-license, and tha language he heard in Lambton-quay was such as they did not hear in the sober Clutha. He quoted from a protest against the slanders printed concerning th 6 Ciutha by interested persons. Ha showed that the thirty persons who had signed that protest included the Mayor, Town Clerk, the two resident ministers, their two doctors, and their leading business meff. Several of those who signed were not total abstainers, and he was surprised to see them sign a document of the kind. It could only have been their indignation at the vile calumnies, gross misrepresentations, distortion of fact, and libellous charges brought against their community that had made them sign this document declaring that the finances of the 'district were sound, that commercial benefit had resulted from no-license, crime had been very largely reduced, and . there had been gross exaggeration in regard to the sly-grog celling. ' Drunkenness, said Mr. Currie, w»s practically extinguished, although a very occasional case of drunkenness might be witnessed. Rev. Jamieson, of Middlemarch, said that he was born, in the Clutha in that part of the district which' had carried no-license sixteen years ago. So far front that part of the district being damaged intellectually or physically, it had sent more young men to the> University than any, place of its size in the colony, and! its crickeji club had more than hekL ita own against places with, three times its population. He admitted that liquor might be bought in some parts of the Clutha, but declared that no respectablelooking person would be . served. Tha passport to a drink-seller's favour in Clutha was a nose of the right colour, and even then the utmost precautions were observed in supplying the applicant. The chief benefit of no-license was that it produced no new crop of drink victims. He did not know one of his owa schoolmates who had gone down. He asked the audience could they say that of their schoolmates. Bey. Fairmaid, of West Taieri, speak* ing from his experience of six years in Kaitangata, strongly emphasised tho truthfulness and freedom from all exaggeration of the statements made by the previous speakers, and added his testimony to theirs. The Alexander Mission Choir led the singing. In the course of the evening Mr, Isitt announced that- on the following Sunday ministers of all. the churches would speak in favour of and it was hoped the Alexander Mission Choir would be there* in full force. He also said that if the Executive of tha Alliance approved aa advertisement would be inserted in the Post showing, what Mr. Quin had said concerning the dufeba, and how far he had retracted, showing also how unjust the men were who circulated the first statement and said nothing about- the retraction.