BEFORE AND AFTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 90, 15 April 1908, Page 5

BEFORE AND AFTER.

A NO-LICENSE COMPARISON

THE STORY OF INVERCARGILL

The Town Hall was well filled last night to hear the address delivered by Mr J. J. Wesney on the state of Invercargili before and after nc-license. His "Worship the Mayor (Mr A. McCaiium) presided and briefly introduced the lecturer. The Revs. W. O. Robb. Chas Penney, Mr E. H. Penny and Mr L. A. Browne also had seats on the platform. , \ Mr - Wesney commenced by saying tha/tlie was not in Blenheim primarily to give a lecture on no-license. The main' object of his visit was on business connected with the Rechabites Lodge, an order which he strongly advised young people to join. But while he was in Blenheim he was approached by several gentlemen who desired that he should say Something on the question of no-license and its working in Invercargill. Thfr 'attitude of the license party towards them was very like that of the man who went out shootiijg and returned home to the camp with a lion chasing him. He called out that he was the game home behind him. That was an exact parallel, the liquor party' had been acting on the offensive and defensive and had stirred the others up. Mr Wesney then quoted some figures to show how the no-license party and vote had grown. - N N<tw, he said, one half the territory and.one-third of the people of the United States were living under no-license. The strength of the party had so grown there, and the peopd'e had . becbine so much in favour of no-license since its first trial that about double the territory had been added under which no-license obtained. But perhaps people would say that they did not want to hear anything, of so far away • a place as America, and on that account he was pleased to be able to give them a record of the workings of no-license in a near electorate. Before he began to say anything of that, however, he would like to say something of the condition at. Invercargill before nolbense. There were: then 34 hotels, two breweries, one licensed." club, and other wholesale dealers in liquor. But under the Act of 1893 the no-license party began, to realise the power that was given them by , reduction. The first time that reduction was carried in Invercargill seven hotels were shut up. The second time it was again carried and 16 bars were closed. Not only did this give the party more power themselves, but it weakened the lighting line of the ppposite party. They reckoned it this, way : The publican had a .vote, so had his wife, father, brothers ■ and other relations, so that every, time they closed a hotel they reckoned they weakened the other side to the tune of. six ; at least. The way they got the final vote for no-license was tnis : They conceived the idea of holding a mass

meeting in Invercargill, and inviting the prominent men of the town to-come and give, their views on the question. They would easily understand the difficulties in the Way. The various men were at; first diffident <about coming forward, and openly expressing their views on the matter, but after some little trouble,, they managed to get a big meeting together1 "and. His Worship the Mayor of Invercargill and other prominent citizens came forward and freely expressed their views. At that meeting, which was a huge success, two letters from prominent men were read setting forth their opinions of no-license. The first letter, which was from a well-known lawyer, contained this passage : "I believe that no-license is the..best thing for the people,, and I will -vote forjit." .The second letter, which was. from a noted criminal lawyer,, contained a ? statement to the effect that most of. the criminals whom he was called upon' to defend before the Supreme Court of Invercargiil were in their/ position through drink. And the result of that meeting was.so satisfactory that -when the vote was taken no-license was carried by a large majority. The people of Blenheinr> could do the same if they only went the right way about i,t. To show how j:he vote had grown he (the speaker) mentioned that the firsttinv a no-license vote was taken they polled 1100 votes, the second it was 1824, then it went up to 2300 and 3072, and the last time no fewer than 3906 votes were recorded in

favour of no-license, giving them a majority of 1331 over the liquor party. That was a record vote, and it showed how public opinion had veered in their favour. The result of this was that .many, people joined their ranks who previous to zha success ct the cause had been too timid to stand to their 'opinions. Dealing with the arguments used by the oppoinents of no-license against the 'cause Mr Wesney said that they had., literally ; 'turned them inside out.',' . One of the arguments which had been used was this : "If you carry no-license in this electorate, you will lower the price of land, and the value of property will go down." This argument had been proved to be utterly false, and it was shown that in the Government valuation of property in 1905-6 as compared with that of 1906-7 for a period of, three months after no-license had been carried the figures showed an increase in value to the tune of £139,904. The next year a further increase in value took place to the extent of £41,420. The speaker at this stage gave several instances of persons who had bought properties (chiefly hotels) before nolicense and how the value of these particular properties had greatly increased since. Another argument often used was that if they took away the license from hotel bars the value of property would go down, and the rates would be increased. This also had been proved to be a fallacy. The year after the bars were closed the Mayor was able to announce that the buoyancy of the finances was such that the Council was able to remit the rates 3-16ths of a penny in the pound; the honorarium of His Worship was increased by £50; the salaries ©f the Council's staff were raised, and two new hands were added. The gas revenue increased by £560 and the water rates by £513. Another argument was that sly grog-shops would spring up. As a mater of fact nolicense had been in operation in Invei'cargill for 22 months, and they had only had five cases, all of which had been during the first six months. Of these five three were fined £50, the fourth was fined £40, and the fifth was sent to gaol for three months. Another argument which he would assure them had no foundation, was to the effect that if the bars were closed people would not be able to get a decent night's lodging, as temperance hotels were never up to the mark. The greatest bogy of all, however, was the statement that if no-license was carried the town would go to the dogs, and the tourist traffic, which meant so much, would fall off. This prophecy had not come to pass ; large numbers

of tourists came and went through Invercargill, and the tourist traffic was as good now as ever it was. The general prosperity of the town too was equal to that of any other. The best way to measure the prosperity of any place was to get one's finger on to the financial pulse of the The year after no-license was carried the Southland Building Society had its record year, the business done amounting to £145,081, an increase of £41,----000 on the next best time. The .A.M.P. Insurance Society's business had increased to the tune of £21,841, and in the Debts Courts a falling off of £6000 was recorded in the amount sued for. The speaker then explainod the difference between no-license and prohibition, and stated that nolicense did not forbid a man to have liquor in his own home, provided he got if openly. In regard to the decrease of drunkenness; in the year immediately preceding no-license there were 209 convictions for drunkenness, and in the year followig no-license there were 149, but all but four of these came from the surrouding electorates where no-license was not in force.' In concluding his address Mr Wesney stated that he could bring' testimony to show that Invercargill had profited by the introduction of no-license. Statements by medical men, leading lawyers, editors and proprietors of newspapers, and business men were all to that effect. He said if he had the time he could say a great deal more but if there was anything people would like to know he would be pleased to tell them. He invited questions from anybody. n answer to questions asked by the Mayor and one or two other gentle^ men the speaker gave further information on the subject. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to the speaker for his interesting address, on the motion of Rev. Chas. Penney, seconded by Rev. W. 0. Robb. .

A vote of thanks to the Mayorl for presiding, proposed by Mr E. H. Penny, brought; the proceedings to a close.