NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 121, 25 May 1933, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE

NEED FOE EDUCATION

POLICY OFFERED FOR 1933

The annual meeting of the New Zealand Alliance was held today in Wellington, delegates being present from all parts o£ the Dominion. In the course of his presidential address, the Rev. J. 11. Blanchard said the drink problem in New Zealand today was what it always had been,•the problem of emancipating the community from a social custom that was physically injurious, economically unsound,, .morally destructive, the cause of untold misery to many innocent people, and scientifically indefensible. It was the problem of a-conflict between vested interests exploiting ignorance, and the moral forces battling for a higher and nobler. national life: The remedy was twofold; the education of all sections of the community in regard to the nature of alcohol and the effects o£ the alcohol drinking habit, and the creation of a conscience in regard to the facts which education discloses. For over twelve years the teaching of the scientific truth about alcohol had been incorporated in the educational syllabus, and voluntary agencies, such as Bauds of Hope, supplemented this teaching and had made good progress, but there was room for expansion. The misleading advertisements put out by the sellers of liquor made it imperative that youth should be forewarned and forearmed. The ignorance of many adults, who have grown up under the influence of age-old illusions about aclohol, demanded persistent educative effort among adults. The cause called for persistent and intensive educational eJl'ort. "New Zealand ■is suffering from a depressed conscience in regard to this social evil and needs to be stabbed wkle awuiff;. Surely it is a reflection on the moral purpose of a .people that while some £90,000 is spent a week on unemployment relief, some £112,500 is spent a week on liquor. As a fruit of that liquor expenditure the community is called upon to pay heavy sums for dealing with poverty, crime, and disease resulting from the drink habit." Economic conditions had reduced the expenditure on liquor, but drunkenness still represented 36 per cent, of the total convictions in the Courts. Motor accidents, muVdcrs, manslaughter, suicide, and thefts still occurred as the undeniable result of alcoholic indulgence. The national conscience needed to be stirred into repentance and amendmeut, A POLICY STATEMENT. The following statement of policy was submitted to the meeting", and was referred •to a' committee for further consideration:— "The New Zealand Alliance reaffirms its unalterable conviction that there can be no final solution of the liquor problem so long as the traffic in alcoholic liquor for beverage purposes is legalised in any way. It reaffirms its conviction that abolition of the liquor traffic through the will of the people is a sound major step towards solution. -To that end it will continue to strive to educate the people in regard to the truth concerning' the nature and effects of alcohol when used as a. beverage. "The Alliance was founded as a result of the great evils arising from the presence of the liquor traffic in New Zealand, the fight against those evils has been continued because of what has' happened in New Zealand, and it will be continued for the. same reason. Developments in other countries- provide encouragement or discouragement from time to time, but they do not affect the New Zealand position. It is for the people of New Zealand to achieve their own emancipation by settling this matter in the interests of the community as a whole. "The Alliance recognises that the popular vote of recent years has been adverse to immediate abolition, and accepts this as a challenge to increased intensity of educative effort, particularly in the direction of gaining adherents to total abstinence,' especially amongst the young. It is likewise, anxious .to curb still further the evils inherent in and arising from the the traffic while legalised. During over fifty; years .of struggle in New Zealand, the temperance forces have achieved some excellent results, .as, for instance, twelve no-license electorates, the abolition of the employment of barmaids, "stoppage of further increase in retail licences, six o'clock closing, and the national polls on the question of abolition, or continuance. "It is freely admitted that the recurring polls have been of great value, not only for testing public opinion, but as a salutary check upon a trade prone to abuses. The. liquor interests are ever seeking to undo what has been done and to gain further facilities for profit at the expense of national welfare. The Alliance therefore earnestly urges all interested in social and moral reform to renew their interest in and support of a movement which, welcoming those of all parties and all creeds, seeks to retain the results already achieved, to develop a new and widespread educative effort, and to accomplish a reform rich in potentialities of benefit for the entire community."