THE PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 9 April 1919, Page 5

THE PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

LAST NIGHT'S MEETING

There was a large attendance at the Upera House last night, when representatives of the Efficiency League at Stratford and New Plymouth, and also a lady speaker, addressed the gathering. All the shakers received an attentive hearing The Mayor (Mr E. Dixon) presided. tTH firsfc -Pe.aker was Mr A H Johnstone, barrister and solicitor, New Plymouth who said that there were tew indeed who would urge that the liquor trad© had not a case to answer. i? c I^' which W6l>e the outcome of tile iLftioiency Board'® recommendations which he dealt with,wwe e different from previous polk in two important respects. Firstly, there was to be immediate prohibition; secondly there was to be compensation for the trade. H e .believed everyone agreed that some reform in the trade was necessary; even the Moderate League appeared to think so. But the only effective reform was for the people to vote no-hcense on April 10. (Applause.) The Efficiency Board's recommendations were unanimous an d were such that every right-thinking person must take account of when he fw S *t e pOIL H * was evinced that the huge sum spent annually in drink in New Zealand would be more profitably spent on education, railways, and in other productive avenues A country with a population of a miltion had no right, as a business proposition, to spend £5,000,000 on liquor, because there was nothing which relaxed the moral fibre of thf tTZ^y. m°re ? han did th ° %»»■ v™u\ i speaker quoted eminent English + and New Zealand Judges and magistrates showing that a great deal oL 01?w W + f dUe *° drink- H* P°int^ out that these statements took no acS? U?^ \ c mM3ery caused by ]lquor lv *c %? me- concerning suffering of the famiW of which t& public &ew practically nothing. Business men and shopkeepers would tell them that many Ins* ir v* 1 debts were from thos£ people who were addicted to drink. There was another aspect which- must not be iorgotten—the people owed foffowW g & nerati^ -Web was following the older generation. The great hope of the Dominion was in its young men, and the next generato° nw US haZt a far-greater bui^n ™a : 5f th? n J th c previous generation, and they had to see to. it that the men and women of the future were not impaired mentally and morally The 235? ft*^* i ength with tie «ociai custom, the liberty o f the subject, and the payment of compensation.' By voting prohibition the people would be assisting to maintain those principles of British liberty f Or which their Vol&f ndiv^ r for<^thers before them tought. With regard to compensation there was a precedent for it when the 'British Government paid twenty million pounds to the slave, owners. He I criticised the pamphlets issued by the trade warning the electors that they could obtain prohibition without comi pensation m December; this was only %£ hlte-eard trick. It would be very climcult to secure prohibition under the ' three issues. He admitted that there might be sly-grog shops under prohibi- " . tion—there were sly-grog shops to-day --and a certain amount of lawlessness 1 a ?° I pefon» was ever carried out effectively m a day; and he appealed to the electors to give prohibition a fair chance Finally, h e urged electors to give the issues their best consideration go to the poll, and carry national prohibition by a large majority. (ApMr R. Masters, chairman of the laranaki Education Board said ' he made no pretence t o oratory, but had come out to speak in the interests of the children ••who were under the guidance of his. Board. These children after spending1 a long time in moral training during their school days on. going into the world met serious temptatwne as th e result of the liquw tramc. He contrasted the largS amount (£5,000,000) spent in. drink with the one, and three-quarter millions spent on education, which he said, was a standing disgrace to' the Dominion, and a Mot on their boasted civilisation. The figures should be reversed. _ There was no doubt liquor wa« hampering educational reform. There was a- great shortage of money for education, an instance ol which was shown m the difficulty Hawera' had experienced. The country could not afford to spend so much in liquor be^ cause, with the huge debt now existing and the further large expenditure necessary, including the grant to soldiers, which no one would in the least grudge, the people must practise economy. He scathingly denounced the pamphlets circulated by the trade. He referred to the thirteen thousand convictions annually, and said that the parent who voted for liquor could not blame his boy if he went wrong. He briefly referred t o the good influence of the Hon. J. A. Hanan, a man who always had the interests of the children at heart; of Mr Milner, the respected principal of Waitaki Boys' School; of Bishop deary, who urged all, ■ in the interests of the children, to "mount the water waggon and stay, there"; and of Miss Butler, of the Auckland Grammar School, and contrasted them with the liquor, people, whose trade hampered educational systems, and made necessary industrial schools and schools for the feebleminded. He was, he added, much concerned at the unsatisfactory condition <tf the health of the children, and asked how it could be otherwise while only 3d per head per child was spent on the work of looking after them. Dealing briefly with the revenue, he said that a trade pamphlet averred that if prohibition were carried, tea would be 5s lOd per lb, sugar sjd, and tobacco 16s, while rents would go up 3e to ss. If the figures were examined, he stated that a tax of 3s 8d on tea, 2£d on sugar, 6s on tobacco, and 3s in rents, would bring in a revenue of £6,519,998, showing how careful people must be in reading trade pamphlets. If prohibition were carried all would share in paying the cost, whereas now only a section paid the drink bill. In conclusion he said he hoped that people would on polling day keep these facts in the back, of their minds arid think of the children of Taranaki when exercising their privilege of voting. Then he would have no fear of the result. Mr L. M. Moss, in a brief but vigorous address, said that never was there a clearer issue put to the electors. He referred to the awful effects of the liquor trade, as evidenced in wretched homes, miserable children, and wrecked careers and ideals, and pleaded for the cause of the men who went under through drink. He said that the Efficiency League dealt with the question along business lines, and that' they had always previously opposed compensation. After referring I to the handicaps under which prohibition had labored, he added that this | was the first and only time they had had a chance on even terms. The ■ trade, he said, told them that they did not want the £4,500,000, and when, he added, "the trade tells you j that, you must look out." They had j no quarrel with the publicans, but they j were out to get rid of the stuff they ' cold. The State hi supposed to so frame laws and customs that H wiUP

-* * develop the highest personality, and that all may not only live, but live well. ißeform would help their fellowmen, and now it was a question of Money v. lien, and the latter are going to win. ■in. conclusion, he made an appeal for true womanhood and true manhood, so I that they might make history and place 1 New Zealand in the forefront of the j progressive nations of the world. Dr Doris Gordon, of Stratford, outlined the abuses of alcohol she had noticed in the course of her experience as a member of the medical profession. At the outset she would state frankly that as a medicine alcohol had its distinct value —it could be used in extreme cases with very great satisfaction. It had a small food value, and would help a patient in extreme cases, and she had frequently ordered it in such .cases during the influenza epidemic. "But," she said with emphasis, "it is poison if taken in excessive amounts or taken in quantities over a considerable period." "When," the doctor added, "we want alcohol -put in its rightful place with other poisons, and sold over the chemist's counter, we are told that we are doing away with personal liberty." There was, in reality, no such thing as personal liberty. The 'whole of the laws to-day restricted liberty.. Dr Gordon proceeded to give some details of her experiences as a house surgeon in a large city hospital, and instanced, in particular, cases of delirium treinens brought in for treatment. "It may be amusing," she added after telling her story, "but it is tragic." Those poor souls were destined for something higher than the.asylum or the gaol. She remarked that she had seen a good many prohibition orders issued, but she had never seen one that was of any use. She, however, expected to see one on April 10 — it would he a national one. (Loud ap- ( plause.) The speaker, after putting in a strong appeal for prohibition on behalf of the babes, the future citizens of the Dominion, who had a right to be considered and protected, pointed out that the constant consuming of liquor weakened the system, and said it was well known that anyone addicted to alcohol would not take an anaesthetic .so well as a total abstainer. It had been stated by the other side that thousands had died in the influenza epidemic for want of alcohol; but she pointed out that when necessary .the i doctors ordered it. A good many people had died because of alcohol; a man who was addicted to alcohol could not put up the same fight as a total abstainer.. Drink was an economic waste many homes and children suffered because of it. She understood a vote ot air the doctors was taken on the question of the value of alcohol as a medicine, and also in regard to the prohibition question. The results of that poll had not yet been published. But she could not see how any doctor who had a true regard for his fellowmen, and who loved and cared for children and respected womanhood, could iail to vote for national prohibition. (Applause.)