Temperance Convention.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 166, 23 July 1896, Page 2

Temperance Convention.

— . » — The annual Convention of Temperance bodies in the district opened at the Gori Temperance Hall yesterday. . The morning was occupied principally with Executive business, election of officers, etc. Mr T. Ayson (president) presided al the fore part of the meeting. The following officers were elected for the year :— President, Mr J. McLellan; vicepresidents, Revs. A. H. Wallace (Gore), G. Miller (Waikaka Valley), J. Johnston (Fortrose), Messrs G. Dawson (Woodlands), S. Miller (Tokonui), J. Scott (Knapdale), T. Ayson (Wyndham), J. Law.-ion (Oteramika), J. Lowden (Mataura), J. Liudsay (Pukerau), R. Hamilton (Riversdale), and J. dimming (Arthurton) — the above to form sub-commit-tees for their respective districts. Executive, Revs. J. G. Ellis and J. A. Asher, Messrs J. Mac Gibbon, J. Baker, E. D. Bust, H. Copeland (Croydon), and Anderson (Charlton). The regular business of the Convention commenced in the afternoon, Mr J. McLellan presiding. Besides fully 60 delegates from the different societies and churches interested in Temperance reform, there was a, large attendance of tho general public. After the usual devotional exercises, The Chairman read a paper on " Organisation." He pointed to the fact that strength as well as skill was needed to win % Temperance victory at the coming elections. Nol only should every individual be urged to vote for Temperance members of Parliament and Prohibition for the licensing districts, but every Society in any sympathy witb Lhese reforms should be invited to make it a common cause, and to destroy the liquoi traffic. In . the first place it would be incumbent upon all-Temperance Societies, oi whatever name,' to sink all differences, and rise to a vigorous effort on common lines. Co-operation in the work was of pre-eminenl importance— combination aud organisation .vere the soul of success. Guerilla warfare, was no longer suitable to the' coudition ol the community, and to hazard the attack while their ranks were disorganised would be simply to invite failure. - All Temperance Societies — such as Good Templars, Sons and Daughters of Temperance, Ruchabites, Bands of Hope, Prohibition Leagues or N.Z Alliance, Christian Endeavor Societies, and W.C.T. Unions — might be expected to combine from a common sense of the fitness oi things, and the influence they would com mand would be great. Beyond Temperanci Societies, they might now reckon' ou tht Salvation Army and many of the churches falling in with them in their work of moral reform. The women of the colony wen now voters, and had a deep interest in the question. Women had suffered in greater proportion than men from the evils of the traffic. In many places the women had organised themselves for political purposes. If invited to join their combination to return good, honost Prohibition members to the House, and to work against the combination of the drink traffic, their influence would heft mighty power in their favor. All over thtcolony there were organisations of working men's societies, among whom this question had become one of settled principle. Among them would be found bands of pure and devoted men, ready to fall in with theii efforts to remove from the country the worsl foe of work and wages that now operated against their interests. — (Applause.) Mr Ayson next read a paper — " Effect of Prohibition on the Revenue." The speakei considered the matter one of importance, iv that it dealt with the economic spending ol their earnings to the tune *of nearly half a million every year. That liquor consumershad everything to gain and nothing to lose bjProhibition was certain, as at present the} uot only paid the whole of the L500,001> derived from the sale of intoxicating drink, but also another L 1,500,000 for a commodity which did not benefit them financially or otherwise one penny.' Even taking the most extreme view of the matter possible, xnd let it be assumed that through Prohibition it was found necessary to raise the whok deficiency caused thereby in their revenut by the most direct and objectionablt! of all systems — the poll tax — and even were if made so unjust as to apply only to the pre sent liquor consumers, exempting all others, they would still gain by the chaugi financially to the extent of L 1,500,000 pei aunum, as they would only have to find L 500.000, whereas at present they had t<provide annually paid cash to the extent ol L 2,000,000 to pay their liquor bill. It would be readily seen that so far as the consume! was concerned, no possible financial lost could ensue from the suppression of the drink traffic, and it only remained for him (the speaker) to show that it would not press unduly heavy on the other class, viz., th( non-consumers — not more so at any rate than could be compensated for by the advantage secured to them by the change which would be beneficial to the country as t- whole. Thi revenue being raised for the purpose of allowing the Government to promote the moral, social, and financial welfare of the people, tc make life and property safer, and in every way possible to make a happy aud prosperouspeople, it^behoved the Government to bt careful in raising revenue, that they do nol draw it from some source that tended in tht opposite direction. This ho contended wasthe case in a marked degree with regard to .the drink traffic. It was therefore clear thai it was wrong and suicidal to raise revenui from such a source. While the eyil effects of the liquor traffic would exist for some time after it was wiped out, still he believed tht immediate beneficial effect of Prohibition would be considerable, aud justified him iv concluding that the immediate saving of expenditure under this head would be large, and as time went on and the cruel effects ol the traffic declined, prosperity would increase accordingly, leaving all other consideration out of the question. A system under which they spent L 2,000,000 to raise L 500.000, was both criminal and idiotic. If the drink traffic were stopped it would release enough capital to increase our workers? by 25,000— representing at least 100,000 souls — on full pay. It wonld mean work foi all, and money to pay for it. The unemployed question would be a thing of the past, and the country would advance by leaps and bounds towards prosperity. The Charitable Aid rate at present levied, beiug mainly caused by the drink traffic, would undei Prohibition bo considerably reduced, if not abolished altogether. The advent of Prohibition would probably cause some little disturbance in the taxation machinery : that would aot be of a serious or lasting nature, and the great ultimate gain would far more than compensate for any slight inconvenience and trouble the colony might be put to through the change. — (Applause.) The Rev. A. H. Wallace spoke on the economic aspect of the Prohibition question. There were, he said, 1-500 hotels in the colony, and was he exaggerating if he said each one of these wasresponsible for the death of one individual annually ? — (Voices : "No !") In Dunedin recently they had asked the house surgeon oi the hospital haw many deaths had occurred during the year in the institution that were the direct effects of drink. They had received a reply that there had not been one, and yet he (the speaker) knew of a case in which a member of his own congregation had been killed by drink. They had been told that a man had been drowned in the floocU near Lumsden the other day. He could tell them that that man was intoxicated and fell from his horse— drink killed him. They spent £2,000,000 annually in drink, and received £500,000 in revenue, and out of thi? they had to find charitable aid, police, gaols, asylums, and if they deducted £200,000 for these it was reckoning it very low, consequently £1,700,000 per year was lost, and worse than lost. Looking at the Mataura electorate. In the Southland County they received in licenses £655 10s, while charitable aid cost £2357 8s lid ; licensing expenses, £11 6s ; and poll, £46 13s 4d,to place against that. In Gore they got £245 for licenses, charilablo aid cost £98 10s 3d, licensing expenses absorbed £32 63 9d ; so that for the whole Mataura electorate they received £900 from the liquor traffic, and paid away £2346 15s in charitable aid expenses. Some people charged drink with having caused 80 per cent, of the poverty, but he would state it for argument's sake at 33J per cent., and upon this basis the traffic in this district was responsible for £848 18s 5d for hospitals and charitable aid alone. Two authorities — in the Government service — one in the North and the other in the South, stated that drink was responsible for 80 per cent, of the criminals in the colony's gaols, and £200 would not be too much to lay to the charge of the traffic in this district . under that head. The Government in the early days had paid £25 each for the emigrants they brought to the colony, and each hotel being responsible for killing one person, was £25 too much to put down for each person slain?— (The Rev. Mr Ellis : £25,000.) Thus the 22 hotels in the Mataura district were responsible for a dead loss of £550 per year under that heading. On revenue

grounds alone it were better had' they not received one penny from tho drink traffic. The Rev. J. G. Ellis said that McDougall, jf Manchester, gave it that 52 per cent, of the poverty in England was traceable to the drink traffic, and the conditions of life being so different, he (tho speaker) considered that SO por cent, was not too much to charge the liquor traffic in Nuw Zealand with. Mr J. M.ieGibbon, referring to the Mataura liceusing district, said it cost them £200 to get in £240 of revenue. There was just one publican's license to the good, but they had in addition all the misery and degradation attendant upon the traffic. The Rev. J. Hinton (Dunedin) and Mr J. S. Baxter also spoke. Mr Whitefiold (Tapanui) said that when Prohibition cume into force in the Ciutha the Tapanui Council thought it would be impossible to wipe off their overdraft, and an extra 3d in the £ was imposed. An effort had been made in the Council to revert to the old rate — Is — instead of Is 3d, but without effect, but the result had been that at thn out! of March last they had wiped out tht overdraft aud had £80 iv hand. He scouted the idea that the Temperance party would <oud " one-idea " meu to Parliament, and ■said that their present member was not much of an honor to a Prohibition electorate, but he had the good sense to retire before he got the sack. ' Mr J. Baker spoke ou tho revenue question. He thought most of the speakers had been too charitable iv their views on the liquor question — they were too intemperate in their temperance. He contended that the traffic uever had created, or would oreate,.a single penny of revenue or wealth. On the motion of the Rev. A. H. Wallace, Mr Ayson was heartily thanked for his paper. Mrs Jones (Invercargill) gave an interesting aud instructive- address on tho work, aims aud objects of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and expressed a hope that a branch of the Union would be established at Gore in the near future. - HESOIiCTIONS. The followiag resolutions were passed •jnanimously : — Proposed by the Rev. : W. Woollass, ■seconded by Mr Whitefield — "That this ; Convention strongly protests against the action of the Hon. the Premier in making use of his official position, as Minister . of Defence, to assist in procuring a publican's license for a man named Lawless, who, iccording to the ' Otago Daily Time 3,' appears to have been dismissed from the policL iorco for disgraceful conduct. That a copy of tbis resolution be forwarded to the Premier, the member for the district, aud ;he press." Proposed by the Rev. J. Hinton, seconded by Capt. Locke (Salvation Army)—"Thatthis Convention, believing that gambling is on the increase, -heartily supports the measure introduced into the House of Legislature for the abolition of the totalizator and .he restriction of betting, aud is of opiuiou ihat the time has come when all billiard ■laloons should' be placed under police supervision, and should be compelled by law to close at the hour of 10 p.m. each evening." Proposed by Mr- T. Ayson, seconded by Mr Bu3t— -" That this Convention expresses its astonishment at the fact that, in spite of the recent Supreme Court decision re ' bottle licenses,' the provision in the Premier's bill vow before the House referring to this <übject appears to confer a right of the renewal of these licenses for three years from 1897, and calls upon Parliament to amend the bill so as to abolish all bottle licenses ifter 30th June, 1897." Proposed by Mr J. S. Baxter, seconded by Mr J. MacGibbon — "That this Convention is of opinion that any bill dealing with tht iiquor traffic should provide that a Colonial vote for Prohibition by a bare majority be taken, and that all clubs be placed in the ame position as. the hotels." Proposed by the Rev. J. G. Ellis, seconded by the Rev. A. H. Wallace— (l) " That this Convention wishes to express its admiration jf the good work done throughout the colony ■jy the 'Prohibitionist,' and to convey to the tble editors of that fearltss journal their ippreciation of their worth, and they recommend the paper to their friends for their support." (2) " That this Convcntisn rejoices to know that the Rev. L. M. Isitt has returned from his trip to England and America greatly strengthened in body, enlarged in experience, and more vigorous in his denunciation of the drink traffic, and hopes -hat he may be blessed in the crusade he has .e-entered upon." (3) '• That this Convention learns with deep regret that the health )f the Roy. F. W. Isitt has, through continuous worry and overwork, produced mainly through his active interest in the cause of Prohibition, completely broken down, so as to necessitate his resting for dix months, and begs to assure him of its uearty appreciation of his labors, and sympathy with him in his affliction." It was resolved to forward copies of the resolutions— excepting the last — to the members for the district and the Premier. On the motion, of Mr H. Copeland, the' Executive was recommended to consider the advisability of forming a district Band oi Hope Union having its headquarters at Gore. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the business.