LICENSES MANIFESTO.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 286, 9 December 1914, Page 8

LICENSES MANIFESTO.

[Published by .Arrangement.!

ARGUMENTS AGAINST PRO-

HIBITION

DEMOCRACY'S LIBERTIES

(Special Correspondent.)

... : . WELLINGTON, Dec. 8. 1 At its' meeting this afternoon the National Council of the Licensing Defence League resolved to issue the following manifesto :—"

1. The Council considers that the attempt to force Prohibition upon even a minority is fraught«? with danger to the democracy" and a menace to personal liberty. The aim of all enlightened democracies such as ours should be to extend, not to curtail, the liberties of the people. The prohibitionists have no more right to enforce their alleged total abstinence habit 'upon others than those who use ulcholic beverages habitually would have to impose their habit upon prohibitionists. As prohibition means the stoppage of the manufacture and sale and use. of alcoholic beverages, it is a distinct interference with ' personal liberty, and should be discountenanced and opposed by the .inhabitants of New Zealand. _ .

2. It is not necessary to refer to the evils out, of .no-licerise in "droppers," ; keg parties, and sly grog-sellers in dry areas; bat the Council notes that in " voluntary taxation through the liquor industry the people of the Dominion contribute annually £1,250,000. and as the proliibitionists who would abolish this have; made no provision to recoup the Treasury for this loss, the policy of prohibition is a leap in the dark, a dangerous experiment to take at a time when the sound financial position of the country is pre-eminently desirable. Nor has the re-employ-ment of the 12,000 adults employed in the liquor and allied trades, with 30,000 dependents, been considered or provided for by the prohibitionists. The Council therefore warns the ©lectors against throwing thousands out of work at a time when ma-ny other industries are threatened with distressful conditions, and everyone should remember that injury to .one industry means., in jury, to all ; 3. Prohibition means the destruction of barley-growing, which absorbs three-quarters of a million annually; hop-growing, which employs many, and earns some thousands of pounds; vine-growing, which succeeding Governments have done much to encourage; and wine-making, which is' bringing New Zealand favorably into prominence. In the interests of the country's industrial, commercial, and social well-being, prohibition ought not to be encouraged.

4. The Council also emphasises, the fact that in, ten out of twelve no-lioense areas the prohibitionists could not have carried no-license liad the proposal been an original one, and in several no-license districts substantial majorities of electors had favored a return to licensing. Thus, after a shorter or longer trial, the electors in ten dry areas have satisfied themselves as to the inefficiency and evils of no-licenser Then, ao.prohibition the greater includes no-license the; less, it is not supposed that the evils and inefficiency of no-license would be reduced if operating over a larger area. I

The conclusion is that prohibition should not be countenanced or encouraged by the electors, because it threatens te curtail personal liberty, destroy industrial concerns, create unemployment, embarrass the finances of the country, and coerce men and women into total abstinence when moderation and temperance have been their lifelong habit. The Council therefore hopes that at this crisis of the Empire's existence the electors will not impose the hardships of prohibition upon the Dominion.