LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17139, 19 April 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY IIERCUTIO.

New Zealand has had 60 many licensin polls that there has been ample time fo the growth of a spirit of toleration of th other man's opinion. Yet is is strange]' slow in corning. There are still man' continuance voters who dub all the pre hibitionists " wowsers' and many prohit itionisis who pretend that all their op ponents cast their votes for selfish reasons After likening to these people one woulc imagine that fifty per cent, of New Zea landeii were -hopelessly narrow in theii views arJthe other fifty per cent, hope lesslv .v.jsh in their instincts. Fortun ately i_e majority of voters on both side: make n. tuoh stupid pretence and realise that ore man can vote prohibition and his neighbour continuance and both be equal]} sincere and disinterested. An sample ol practical toleration has been related bj the parties immediately concerned. Husband and wife disagreed on the subject. The wife was a convinced prohibitionist, the husband was equally convinced that prohibition would be arbitary and wron either could persuade the other, but thev •creed to pair as members of Parliament do and the result- of the poll was not affected by both staying away from the booth. One J-'cs not look for humour in the detailed results of the polling which occupied seven,! columns of the Herald, but there if a general, as well as a particular, interest in the figures for some of the individual --oot-hs. For instance, at Rangitaiki, in the Bay of Plenty electorate, one person voied for continuance and one for prohibition. One wonders about the secrecy of the ballot at Rangitaiki. Also the result opens up possibilities of serious trouble in certain eventualities. Supposing one vote were to settle the issue, as is quite conceivable on a bare majority. The two electors meet, and, assuming that prohibition had carried the day, the continuance supporter would say: "Now see what you have done. Your vote has taken away mv right to have a drink if I want to. ' In the other case the prohibitionist may be imagined saying: " You are the miserable man that has frustrated all our efforts to introduce this great reform!" All this, of course, presupposes that, the two belong to different households—and the same sex. The possibilities in the other event are too dire to be dilated upon.

There was a pleasing unanimity in some townships. Thus Wairakei and Oruanui cast a block vote of 16 for continuance, to balance matters Atiamuri and Ruatoki both plumped for prohibition with one consent, mustering one six and the other two votes. At Waikokowai, in the Raglan electors,te, there was a 'dissenter: twelve persons voted for prohibition and one for continuance. There must have been soma awkward moments for that solitary voter ot Waikokowai when the twelve were discussing their victory.

As a rule, however, opinion appears to have been as nearly evenly divided in the small towns as in the whole Dominion. At Tauhei there were twenty people on each side and at Tuarua eleven,— enough to form cricket teams to have it out. In the Tauranga electorate there is a. place called Scotchman's Valley. Seven people m it voted for their' whiskv. but strange to say eleven voted to have no whisky. Was this the work of the Sassecich!

It has been said that solitude is nowhere more real than m a crowd— the friendless man in the crowded streets of London is the most lonely mortal on earth. But your true student of human nature, be he never so lonely, is never dull in a crowd; the psychology of man in the mass has always something to interest, something to attract. So it was with the crowd that watched in Wyndham Street the display of the results of the liquor referendum. The manner in which the varying fortunes of the two issues were received provided food for much speculation., Early in the evening returns showing a lead for continuance were greeted with "Hooray"—long drawn out. On the other hand, prohibition gains evolved a " hip-hip-ray" staccat". As the evening wore on, however, the distinctive note became less pronounced, until, when the prohibition lead -was well established, the supporters of that issue appropriated the relinquished cry of the other side.

The suggestioon that the male vote on the licensing i/sue was in the same proportion throughout the Dominion as the soldiers' votes opens an interesting line of investigation, upon which, unfortunately, no positive conclusion is possible. Presuming that men and women who went to the poll in New Zealand were equal in numbers, the inference from the Sydney Morning Herald's conclusion is that three persons out of every four who voted for continuance were men and three out of every four who voted for prohibition were women It is extremely doubtful whether general acceptance could be given to this view in New Zealand— only 60.000 men voted for prohibition and a similar number of women for continuance. At the 1914 poll, 55 per cent, of the voters were men. The nearer that proportion was approached at last week's poll, the smaller the number 0/ men who could have voted for prohibitionif it is true that three out of four opposed it. Great importance has always been attached to the enlistment of the women's support, but it has never previously been suggested that there were only 800 in each district who might be won over to the prohibition cause. Warnings have been given that influenza may again become epidemic in the Dominim. If the disease does unfortunately rearli a high incidence, the people will be largely fortified against it. The knowledge of its nature and its course gathered from long experience remained until last year hidden in dusty text-books and the mental attics of the older members of the medical profession. In the emergency, it has been restored to the light, and the public generally has a very fair comprehension of the dangers of the disease and of the precautions to be taken. _ The fantastic stories which circulated in November and December identifying it with all the horrors of the insanitary mediaeval time. s have now been generally dismissed, and being armed with knowledge, the community will fight the epidemic alone, its ally, panic, having been already destroyed. Although the medical profession is naturaJlv cautious in its opinions on the point, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the population of New Zealand will have gained a rertain degree of immunity from its previous suffering. The history of the disease indicates tßat it has never been entirelv extinguished—it is preserved in some part of the world by mild and infrequent cases through the years, until it finely, from causes unknown, revives in its most virulent form. Then follows a phase of periodical recrudescence, each " wave" becoming weaker, until it falls away to the mild condition, to which all but the unfortunate sufferers are indifferent. A correspondent asks if there is a short- ' age of halfr-en e in New Zealand, his ques- . tion being prompted by the persistence with whirh post olfi. es give stamps in- ; stead of halfpennies in change. Mercu- I tio cf'.es not know; hut it would not be ! surprising if there were. Any coin not commonly used tends to go out of circnla- ( tion, and* halfpence are little used excent | is post offices and drapers' shops. In < some parts of Canada, where the value of money is low, tho copper coinage has 1 practically disappeared, because it is in ) such small demard, and for all practical j purposes the niiiel—worth 2£d —is the j Cnia of lowest deaoxiiUiatu®. i