WELLINGTON PROHIBITION RALLY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 84, 9 April 1919, Page 5

WELLINGTON PROHIBITION RALLY

MEDICAL PROFESSION AND'* liquor: ; •' x ! WELLINGTON, April 8. Great interest was evinced at a final' Prohibition raifly in the Towit* Hall,. Wellington, to-night, when the speakers were Messrs W. D. Hunt ahd'the RfeSr.; 'E. S. Gray. The _ most notable event‘of ‘a notable meetihg was / tlje trenchant of T a -recint which occurred at a mating of slj® British, Medical/ JAijf&atyiatoL in Wel-lngt-on. The substance of the occurrence was as follows* - Tim LIQUOR. TRADE AND THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, (1( At it ft annual meeting in Wellington on March 4th the British Medical Association received a deputation from the National Efficiency League and the New 'Zealand Alliance. . (2) The deputation asked the association ’ ti> publicly express its opinion, upon the influence of the liquor traffic in the general, health of the community. ;(5) The Medical Association, after a lengthy discussion, decided to submit the ’fol’/owing questions, -‘to the indb vidual members, aud answers wCr© re r ; quested not later than March 22nd. (a) Do you approve of alcohol as a medicine?

1 ’ (b) Do you believe that the efficiency of the community will' be increased by the total suppression of alcohol On April 3rd the chairman of .the Council of the Medical Associatidil w# requested by the New Zealand Alliance to publish the result of the referendum/ Efficiency League' and the Alliance To the form of the question, and it was suggested that jjae following should -be substituted:— .;

Question. “Are you of opinioiiMthat from a general health point of view it would be advantageous bo ihe community»if the use of alcohol' were prohibited except for rdedicaJ, sacramental, and industrial purc poses’’’ v - '■ V : '

The general questions, had, however, been sent out. Ho replied that the result could not be published owing .to > technical breach of the constitution:' 1 The following letter was then sent ’to him:—

Wellington, , April Sth, 1919. Dr Giresen, ~ f. Chairman of the Council of the Medical! A^sociataohi, Dear Sir, — )'-i We have youra of the hth inst. -stating that owing to a technical fault via procedure the association is able to publish the result ofthbreSfcrendam tantil 'the * - to which the question has been referred have discussed the matter, - An the matter ia of vital public • importance we ‘ desire to * know whether it is not a fact (1} That the decision of’the division- «. cannot possibly be obtained-' in Jime to be published before polling- day. April lOtfa, (2) That some hundreds of replies have , been received, ■.?►»-. (3) That the meeting at which.it,vra# decided not to publish the result Of the referendum was called at ~the instigation of members personally interested in the liquor-trade;,’ (4) That the meeting was presided oVe’c by Dr. Fyfe. "AN (5} /That he not only cast his deliberative vote in favour of holdtSg?op the publication of the result of -4he but also ids 'Casting vote, so that the matter was i- de* cided upon the votes of Dr. Fyffer(6), That one of the divisions bas’’ mated to the Council that-if ijthb result' of the referendum ia Hot published by Monday it will On that- date make public the ’ needier' tion which it sent 'as a r ' remit the annual meeting, and that'thi* resolution was -strongly favduiv , able to prohibition. 1 ‘ ■

In view of the urgency'of the matter, we shall be glad to ha vs an immediate reply. 3}quh9 faithfully, ; W. J>. HUNT, * • > (President National Efficiency League,) , -- R.S. GR-AY, f . (President N.Z. Alliance;) -■ - ■ ’ "- - _ i> ' r ; r % The chairmaal of the Council replied : as follows: • T 200 Willis Street, Wellington rGentlemen,— In reply .to your letter of April sth, 1919, I have, to state that tj» seven questions raised l in that letter are substantially correct . Yours 'faithfully,(Signed) ELI GIESEN, (Chairman of Council, ,8.-SLA.) W. D. Hunt, Esq, \ Rev. R. & Gray • ■ The liquor trade's unclean influence in politics and commerce i§knowii, but few people would have lioved that it could hold up the Medical Association mi p. great tioAal issue gravely affecting the of the people. 1 . . J The Medical Association will probably deal with thigMn its way, but electors are asked’ whethermit is hot time that this “trade” -was baasished from tfte national- life.*,., . —.— ■■■■—* : -;:1