THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 249, 20 October 1908, Page 5

THE NO-LICENSE CAMPAIGN.

; [FROM OTJR CORRESPONDENT.] ! WELLINGTON, Monday. | A big nolicenso campaign is being inaugurated in Wellington by the Brothers Isitt, whose sturdy, and, I must admit, eloquent, championship of the causef was, on Saturday and yesterday, reinforced by that of Mr " Tommy " Taylor. I vent to .hear him the other night, and found him to be just the old incisive speaker he used to be. , Now "and then the pale, care-worn—so I thought-^face lit ,up with something approaching positive passion, and'the man's personal magnetism unmistakably made its effect upon the audience. I question very much, • however, whether these big nolicense, meetings,really do the "cause1 * much practical good. They are attended as a rule—Mr. Leonard Isitt himself admitted the'fact, yesterday— by men and women who. are already and have long been" prohibitionists, or at least supporters of no-license, and \ery few of the unregerierate "moderates" ever "find their way there. It is- quite true that, as Mr Taylor says, " the Trade" is actuated by money-making' principles, and it is equally true, though on >this subject Mr Taylor is, silent, tq'a&*-by voting "continuance" I shall be strengthening "the "Trade's" position and putting money in the pockets of men in whose financial welfare or otherwise I am hot' in the least interested. • . ' ;.«. All this is true,; but the fact remains that thfe; "moderate" vote cannot easily be wiped out in a city like Wellington, where, as so many citizens are .pleased to think, a certain number of wellr"conducted hotels area convenience'and almost a necessity. ;An "-erringi world—granting that to have a desire "for alcohol is a sin, which personally T am not prepared to admit--rcannot be set right in a day, a month, a year, or even several years. So long' as the hotelkeepers preserve a fair and reasonable respect for the existing licensing laws, so long, I think, will it be found very difficult to carry'" no-license " in one of the Mg' centres of population. ' '

In England ' licensing reform is coming and' coming rapidly. - Not; too, before it' was wanted, for, as everyone knows who' has visited the. Old Country during the last few years, the drink habit has got a frightful hold upon the people, upon all classes, and worst of all, upon the women. Thirty-five thousand "pubs" will be wiped out of existence should the Licensing Bill pass—and pass it will, eventually. A tremendous number this seems to the average New Zealander, but those who have been in the Old Country there is nothing astonishing in it. In some towns I visited now some five years ago I saw as many as eighteen to twenty public-houses, common, beerhouses, in streets not a quarter of a mile long. In Chester I counted four public-houses in a row of eleven houses. In Liverpool, Glasgow and Leeds it seemed to me that the public-houses were out of all proportion to the inhabitants, and as for London, there are certain quarters Adhere the facilities for obtaining drink—drink alone, mind you, no food, no lodging—were simply scandalous. Yes, reform must come in England, but wisely and properly, as he has always acted with regard to social legislation, John Bull is avoiding anything like a revolutionary change, such as my friends, Messrs Isitt and Taylor, would fain have introduced here in Wellington. John will reduce his " pubs " by degrees, and the owners of the closed " pubs" will be compensated—by the owners, of those that remain. But John has not got to the extreme solution—if solution there can ever' be—of the drink problem of " no4icense "—on a, bare majority. However, I give my "no-license" friends credit for both earnestness and sincerity. The final verdict will not be given by oldsters like myself, but by the young New Zealanders now approaching manhood. If the publicans are wise they will put in order the "house"—the public-house—sell good liquor, and provide clean, comfortable accommodation for the travelling public; absolutely cease selling liquor to young people, and show that their trade is worthy of the public tolerance and esteem, which it'naust possess if total prohibition is riot to cpmo.Vithin the next -'twenty years or so. :