A LIVELY MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 106, 31 October 1908, Page 9

A LIVELY MEETING.

ADDRESS AGAINST NO-LICENSE A WARM RECEPTION. Mr. Carey Fitzgerald, speaking against No-License in the Oddfellows' Hall at Petone last evening, before a. very large audience, had a warm reception. Interjections ran through every stage- of his address, and at the end a motion was carried, thanking him for his sceeeh. and expressing confidence in the No-License cayse. Mr Fitzgerald had, as his chairman, Mr. J W. M'Ewan, Mayor of Petone. The chairman stated, amid loud applause, that "A" man convinced against his will is of ifee same opinion still." He was not afraid or ashamed to take the chair for a person who held views opposed to his own. (Loud applause.) It would, however, be unwise to allow questions at the meeting. ("No, no!" and loud dissent.) He would ask for a fair and impartial hearing for Mr. Fitzger* aid. (Applause.) ' CAN DRINK BE TAKEN AWAY? Mr. Fitzgerald mentioned at the ou£set he would have to give the names o£ local residents in dealing with the NoLicense question. In the first place, there was Mr. Thomas Townsend—(ap-plause)—-advocate and secretary of the .Hutt Valley No-License League. He would refer to the No-License meetings recently held, and the pictures of. the drmk traffic, the ghoulish pictures of the drink traffic therein drawn. (A voice : "Rats'") They might takeaway, people from the drink trade, but could they take away drink from the people Ti (A voice : "Prove it.) The result of carrying No-License would be the destraclion of individual liberty. It would mean, in the case of the Lowen Hutt and Petone, that people would go to Wellington and there spend thei* money in buying clothes and boots.' and * A voice : "Furniture." Continuing, the speaker eaid the money spent in well-conducted hotels— (laughter)—would go to Wellington. A voice : What if Wellington carried 1 No-License ? Mr. Fitzgerald : "What if you became Primate of New Zealai>d?" (AppiaaiseJ A voice : Then we'll shut them all up. A QUESTION OF EVIDENCE. Mr. Fitzgerald quoted Mr. T. NL, Smith, and contended that the evidence of the License party was more reliable than that of the No-License people. (Voice: "What rot.") He referred to figures from Oamaru and Invercargill, and was asked what he had to say about' Clutha. When he mentioned AsshbtKton, he was questioned as to "The Roy's Mother. " He did not enter into tb» question. He contended that the estabi hshment of No-License discouraged capital and brought abont a state of stagnm tion. There was no denying these facts. People thought <feoo much by proxy, not for themselves. (Hear, hear, and applause.) , . , There was at this stage an interjection : j "We're going to carry No-Lic-ense," followed by applause, drowning the speaker's words. "It's no use, ladies and gentlemen," retorted the speaker, "you can't intimidate me." The chairman put in a word for Mr. Fitzgerald. "If you don't agree with his opinions, bear with him," he said. Mr. George Harnetfcls opinions on NoLicense in Inveraargill were quoted, but met with small favour from the audience. Somebody suggested that Mr. Harnett's grievance was purely personal, and called for Inspector Mitchell's report. Mr. Fitzgerald did not comply, but read some remarks by the Commissioner of Police on sly grog-selling. The story of "the boy's mother" in Ashburton was again mentioned by ono of the audience with ridicule. The speaker paused and poured out a glass of water. "Water! water!" came a voice, "he's drinking water." Mr. Fitzgerald -read an epitaph in rhyme : — "Beneath this sod our baby lies, It neither cries nor hollers, It lived for 12 or 13 days And cost -us 20 dollars." Loud applause greeted the outburst. LOCAL STATEMENTS CRITICISED. The speaker then entered local nolicense affairs, and criticised some alleged misrepresentations attributed to the Rev. Wilson in the press. (Voice-: The Rev. Wilson was in America, when that appeared.) (Loud and "continued applause). The amount of liquor introduced into no-license districts was given, but the speaker was asked to prove his figures. He then attacked some statements of Mr. Piper's, and that gentleman, who was listening, got up and defended himself. "If the official' figures are right," said Mr. Fitzgerald, "then Mi*. Piper mast be wrong." "I am not," replied Mr. Piper amid applause. Mr. Fitzgerald's next reference 'to the "three handsome constables of Petone" was received with tumultuous applause and laughter. He contrasted the gallant trio with Ashburton's quintet for a. population less than half that of Petone. He referred again to business men leaving Ashburton to start elsewhere. ("Give us the Clutha," came a voice). The_ speaker concluded by declaring that No-License could uot prevent drinking, and simply made the conditions of drinking degrading. It was an instrument of tyranny, it undermined social happiness. (Applause and jeers.) Immediately on the conclusion of the speech the Rev. Metson got up and moved that the speaker be thanked for his address, but that the meeting should affirm its faith in the No-License cause. (Applause. ) CLOSING SCENES. Another speaker said he thought they ought to close the meeting simply \v ; th a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding. Other persons rose to their feet, but there was a chorus of hoots and jeers, that drowned all their remarks. An amendment was eventually offered that a vote of thanks be accorded Mr. Fitzgerald. The chairman himself seemed to favour this procedure, but the motion was put first and carried by a large majority on a show of hands, and thus a lively meeting closed amid cheers for No-License. An advertisement elsewhere in this iseue announces that Mr. Townsend • will reply to Mr. Fitzgerald in the Oddfellows' Hall, to-night. It is Mr. -Tov/nsend's intention to challenge Mr. FiEzgerald to a public debate.

Mr. Byron Brown told the Maranui flaxmillers on Thursday night that tho shopkeepers of the Dominion were tha great unpaid tax gatherers of the State. They were the most useful and faithful civil servants of all the service, and 1 had last year collected for the Public Treasury nearly 3i millions, a larg« proportion of which had been wrung from the hard earnings of labour in the form of a tax on almost everything they ate or drank, or had any need for. If (alleged Mr. Brown) the shopkeepers collected the tax as a separate charge, instead of adding it to the cost of the goods, the people would either shoot him or burn his shop down or start a revolution in the country ; but acting on the principle of "what the eye don't see tho heart don't grieve for," the people paid this enormous sum and J tried to look pleasaat.