PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Evening Star, Issue 18139, 1 December 1922, Page 8

PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

ADDRESSES BY BUSINESS MEN., HO-LIOENSE SUCCESSFUL IN ' OAMARU. Addresses by leading business men in support of the Prohibition campaign were given at the King's Theatre evening. Thore was an attendance of abo ' lt, u hundred, but many others were probably deterred from venturing outside by tuo wet weather. Mr Malcolm Stevenson presided, and in tlio course of bis opening remarks said it was pleasing to see business men coming forward to assist tu e fight against the liquor traffic. ine •peatera of Hie evening would be Mr R. Milligan (of Oamaru), Mr J. B. Waters, Mr J, B. Shaddock, and Mr Charles Todd. OAMARUS PROSPERITY. Mr R. Milligan said ho ought to know his subject, because of ibe ct that ho had lived in Camara all his life. Oamarn, including its suburbs, badi a population of from 7,000 to 7,500. No-licenso was first carried in 1905. and they bad retained it ever since. “We are just as sensible in Oamaru as vou people in Dunedin, . declared Mr Milligan; “and if it had not been a success, don’t you think we would have scrapped it at succeeding elections i What were the dire calamities winch were predicted in Oamaru if No-licenso were carried? It had been said Ko-hconse would be a bad thing for business in general in tho town. Some said the town would be ruined commercially. Further predictions were that neighboring farmers, instead of going into Oamaru, would go to other towns to transact their business. It was said that there would also bo an increase in the municipal rates as a result of the closing of the hotel bars. N®" on© of these prophecies has been fulfilled 1 , said Mr Milligan. "No-license has in no vray checked tho prosperity of the town. Re would go further and say that it had accelerated it. To what extent ho-licouso had accelerated prosperity it was impossible to sav; but aa a business man he could say that it had done so to a very largo extent. He was personally concerned 1 not only with a wholesale business but also with a largo retail business. Oamaru was the centre of a largo rural district, and in such a place there was usually a largo amount of cash on tho books of firms. The proportion of cash on his own books for the year ending June last was 66 per coat. “ That is a fair gang©,” commented the speaker. “of the general prosperity of the people in the town.'* It was true that in his business he had den.o something to encourage the payment of cash. There had been a large increase in the number _of business places in Oamaru since Nolicenso was carried. At present only one shop was empty, and buildings had been going up at a satisfactory rate. Altogether there had been a substantial increase in tho number of commercial shops of the town. Tho increase in dwellings had been was very remarkable. If the budding rate in Oamaru was exceeded in other towns, then those towns would have every reason to be proud of tho progress made in that direction.. During the end of last year and this year ho had himself let contracts for five houses. The year after No-license came into force in Oamaru tho municipal rates were reduced by 3d in the £. Before tho coming of No-license the Mayor of Oamarn had frequently said that it would mean an increase of rates. That prediction had been absolutely falsified. In spite of statements to the contrary, tho accommodation of tho hotels in Oamaiu under No-hoonse was better than it had been before. (Applause.) Mr Milligan quoted figures to show that the rate- - able values of hotels had l considerably increased since No-licanso had boon carried. On the rite of on© hotel which had been pulled down a large drapery establishment had been erected. While six people were employed in the hotel, the drapery establishment was employing forty-three. (Applause.) No-licenso bad not caused unemployment. As a result of the savings of people there had been a considerable increase in retail business. For its size Oamaru had drapery establishments better than any other towns in the country. In one hotel which formerly employed six people there were various businesses which now employed fourteen people. Tho valuation of the hotel was formerly £208; today tho valuation of the building was £229. The rateable value of another hotel was £420, as compared with £258 before No-lioense. Not one of the dire predictions of the opponents of No-licenso had been fulfilled; all had been absolutely falsified. The total valuation of the borough under License was ’£38,192, and under No-licenso it had risen to £77,186 — an increase of 102 per cent. Had the closing of the bare interfered! with the prosperity of Oamaru ? It certainly had not. It had been ©aid that No-license would' bo folio-wed bj on increase in the number of bankruptcies, but what did the figures show? In 1919 and 1920 there were no bankruptcies in Oamaru, and only one last year. Could any licensed district in New Zealand show a record like that? Ho did not think bo. During the last year of License in Oamaru (1906) there were 156 cases of drunkenness, but last year there were only twenty. These were taken from the court figures. In license days the drunkenness was 680 per cent, greater than it was today. (Applause.) Did that not strike them as being worlh whilef It was a ridiculous statement that there was more drunkenness in No-licenso days than in license days. While a certain amount of liquor was sold in Oamaru—and ho would say that the law was not enforced as it should be-—tho difference was most marked. No-license in Oamaru bad been a tremendous success. They could rest assured that the carrying of "the larger reform—National Prohibition —would be a far greater success than No-license. (Applause.) Another fact which showed the prosperity of Oamaru was that it was tho most heavily insured place per capita in New Zealand. There was practically no unemployment in Oamarn, and it was one of the soundest towns in the dominion commercially. The Liquor Party stated that under Prohibition there would) bo a loss of revenue and taxes would be increased enormously. He referred to his challenge, which, he said, had been brought under the notice of Dunedin people not by himself, but by the "trade.” The "trade” had advertised everywhere that the loss of revenue to tho country through Prohibition would be two and a-hal{ millions per year. ’ He read a paragraph from an official publication of the “trade” which said: "It would mean a loss of over £2,500,000 of revenue now received from liquor taxation.” That statement was rather general, but it was made plainer on another page, where it was stated: “ Duties on liquor provide £2,500,000 per annum, sufficient to pay_ for the cost of all the above national service.” That was a deliberate falsehood- (Applause.) It was made for the purpose of frightening electors into voting Continuance. _ The who!© financial arguments of the liquor trade were based upon a lie, and everything that came from these promises was incorrect because it was based upon a lie. The facte ■were that the return from the Controller of Customs laid on the table of the House showed that the liquor revenue in 1921 was £1,236,000, and last year it was £1,359,856. What did they think of a trade that would so misrepresent the position from Auckland to the Bluff? He challenged the "trade” in Timaru and got no response. He increased the i amount to £I,OOO In Oama.ru, and was quite willing to make it £2,000 if tho ‘‘trade” 1 iked—(qpplause)—if they were able to prove that their statement was correct. He had done the fair thing and challenged them on a clear-cut issue. They had not accepted the challenge, and were shuffling all the time. (Applause.) No-license in. Oamaru had been a great success. in spite of the limitations in regard to it. National Prohibition would yield even greater results tlian No-license in Oamaru, and they would be perfectly justified in voting for it. (Applause.) THE ECONOMIC SIDE. Mr J. B. Waters said that he intended to enter upon the discussion solely from the economic side. The business men had a perfect right to be heard on such a great public question as Prohibition, just as they were being heard on everv other important •übjcct which affected the welfare of the country. He represented those men who jupporied prohibition on economic grounds.

He himself wqs not a teetotaller, but he knew the effects of liquor on the country. What affected oho section of the community affected tho other. Tho bad affected tho good, and tho good affected the bad. The expenditure on alcohol was wasteful in that it affected the efficiency of tho individual, and every employer could speak from experience on the subject. Alcohol wqs never helpful in business. The expenditure on liquor was the greatest national waste. It would practically pay our interest bill or the education and pensions bill combined. Every year Mr Massey had to go to London and borrow money, and here we were wasting seven and a-half million®. There was great need for capital throughout the whole nf New Zaleand to develop industries. There would bo no end to tho prosperity of the country if they couM turn that seven and a-half millions into development. If there was one trade in this country that was a fruitful source of unemployment it was the liquor trade. Capital tiecj up in the liqutft - business employed less labor than if it was invested in any other trade. Yot advocates of the liquor trade had the audacity to say that if the country was to do away with that seven and a-half millions it would create unemployment. Drink had been practically "cut out” in business, as it was found that to drink and do business could not be combined. That was the reason why he, as a business man, supported Prohibition. This country cqnld not afford to spend seven and a-half millions on drink, and every business man recognised that fact. FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE PEOPLE. Mr J. B. Shaddock said that business done in towns under No-1 icons© compared very favorably with that done in any other towns of the same size. Other business men could give the same testimony. In the borough in which ho commenced his municipal life redaction in the number of hotels made no difference to the finances of the. borough. It would be the same if No-license was carried. The advent of Prohibition would be for the prosperity of tho people. Those who spent their money on drink would spend l it on something else, and so the money wyuld circulate more. Ho believed tho world was getting better, and the carrying cf Prohibition would be another step up the ladder of progress. There had always been opposition to progress; but Prohibition was coming, not. withstanding anything that their opponents did to stop it. They must be a sober and decent peopTe before they could be trusted with the forces of Nature. In voting for Prohibition they were voting for the prosperity of the people and tho prosperity of tho dominion. (Applause.) MR TODD OPTIMISTIC.

Mr Chas. Todd said ho had addressed over sixty meetings throughout the country, and had found that all the workers were confident that Prohibition would bo carried. Some of them, indeed, had told him they would carry Prohibition) by from 20,000 to 50,000 votes. Ho referred to the “dope-faked cables” which came from America regarding the position under Prohibition. The breweries of the country could soon ho converted into other places of business. If the largest brewery in Dunedin were converted, say, into a woollen mill, all the people engaged in making beer in New Zealand could be employed in the one building. The "trade” produced no wealth at all in the wide world. It merely robbed 1 the people of £12,000,000, taking it from those who could ill afford it. He was prepared to add a couple of thousand pounds himself to Mr Milligan’s challenge. (Applause.) Any person who could 1 read figures was satisfied that the “trade’s” tale of £2,600,000 was a fake. It was not true. Farmers sometimes complained when he charged 2\ per cent, commission, but tho “trade” charged 700 per cent., for it took £12,000,000, and returned only £1,350,000. If it were not for tho number of shareholders who were brewers—(“ Hoar, hear ”) —and whose relations had shares in some newspapers they would get a truer statement in regard to Prohibition. (Loud applause.) Money talked, and tho great leading dailies of this country were not free from that taint. We were law-abiding people in Now Zealand, and there was a better dhanoe of giving Prohibition a trial here than in any other country in tho world. It waa worth a triah In regard to tho statement that under Prohibition It would not be possible to get as good hotel acooimnodation aa under license, he had not found that to be the case. On tho other hand, ho found that for tho tariff better accommodation was obtainable in Nolicense towns. There was too much drinking among the women to-day. He was not referring to the women of tho working class, but to the women of tho upper class. Ho appealed to those present to vote Prohibition, and work for it to save the younger people who were caught in the grip of Hie liquor traffic ©very year. There were thousands of people in this country, comparatively sober though it was, praying God that the voters would help them next Thursday by taking tins curse out of their homes and leaving them a little happiness and sunshine. (Loud applause.) On the motion of Mr H. S. Adame the speakers were accorded a hearty vote of thanks by acclamation. —Extended report by arrangement.