PROBIBITION CAMPAIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17337, 8 December 1919, Page 9

PROBIBITION CAMPAIGN.

DUTY Of THE CHURCH. CRITICISM OF " THE TRADE." ADDRESS BY REV. R. S. GRAY. (Published by Arrangement.) The fundamental reasons for prohibition were adv\nced 'by the Rev. R. S. Gray, national organise r of the prohibition camuaign, before a large audience in the Strand Theatre U*st evening. The Hon. G. Fowlds, who presided, said they were reaching the culmination of a great fight ths\t bnd been raging for fifty v mi's. The workers in this great cause were like the British soldiers, they never knew when they were beat-en. They is new the liquor traffic demoralised men rind women and the {government of the country. Last- April the poll settled definitely the. question cd! compensation. The vote was more against compensation than in favour of liquor. 'They had reason to be thankful that, they had not created a precedent which must have injured the of temperance reform in other j part- of the Empire ami of the world. Mr. Gray, who was received with applause. declared (hat, he had a profound conviction that until th*> Church showed site possessed the power she claimed to possess, the power of Almighty God. not only by attempting to overthrow but by actually overthrowing all the evils which made for the bondage of the people, the ( hurch would ne\er win the teal respect of the people. An , Accusation. In speaking about the organised evil of the liquor traffic, he would not do what the "trade did. He would speak the truth. The " trade " was actually advertising in a certain paperso lost was its sense of decency and so abandoned , was its regard for the truth —that " The voter must strike out the two bottom lines " (leaving his vote one for national continuance) " otherwise the vote is invalid." He knew the ••trade" to be " dirty "; he knew it to be exceedingly tricky, but here it was telling a barefaced and shameless lie. (Applause.) Somebody ought to be prosecuted for that, and he now publicly called the attention of the police authorities or of the electoral authorities to the statement in the paper. (Applause.) He demanded that if any process of the law could be set in force' against the people printing it, then in the name of decency the process of the law be set in force. (Applause.) He would see that the matter was submitted to the highest authorities in Wellington. If the liquor trade had fought fair in the prohibition fight there would have been no liquor trade tc fight to-day. But there were no disreputable tactics it would not take. "No Sense oi Honour." "I say deliberately," continued Mr. Gray "they have no sense of honour; I sa] deliberately they do not seem to knov what# British fairplay is. Wherever yoi touch them you find them dishonourable.' By way of illustration he referred to ; "trade - ' advertisement in newspapers it the Southand he asked the press to put lish the fact— which a quotation, iron the Dominion newspaper about freedom c speech at public meetings had been mis used so as to convey the impression t-ha the Dominion, which, so far as he knew had never said a word in favour of .liquor was telling people if they wished to retail their liberty they must vote against prohibi tion. He could not understand how an; decent man or woman could ever vote fa the "trade." He explained how, if they -wanted t< vote for prohibition, the voting paper ought to be tilled up— one line, th bottom one, supporting prohibition, to b left in—the two top lines being struck out Those who previously voted for contim ance. he thought., would have uneasy coi sciences. There had been quite a numbs of murders, suicides, attempted suicide assaults, rapes, thefts, forgeries ac divorces, which the Criminal Courts state definitely- were due to the liquor trad Men had been fatalty burned in Dunedin while under the influence of drink, and a ■ little girl in Petone had had her life blasted by a drink-befuddled sexual fiend, who would have had control of himself but. for the stuff for which Christians voted. . > The Church's Last Chance. Last April they lost by 10,000 votes. Were there not 10,000 Christian men and Women in Auckland alone who could have altered that position ? He wanted to !>ring home to them their responsibility, if they dared vote for continuance, fqr all the I rimes which followed in the wake of this thing. He asked them to realise that they professed "to belong to One Who was a man and Who was the Son of God "with power. Why did the Church not show the power iihe said she possessed? The thing eating like a canker at her heart and paralysing her efforts was that the members did not do what thev said they believed. They made the Church aby word. The Church was being brought face to face with the opportunity of smiting that thing to death, not only that it might beremoved out of the way "of the Kingdom of God, but that the Church might come to a new realisation of her mission and her power for that mission. (Applause.) He believed if th* Church failed now —and by "the Church" he meant the men and women in !t she may go out into the wilderness and lose her way and her place and influence. The drink trade was dehumanised it was of the. devil; it was out of Hell. It J had "the mark of the beast" on it- It j had no pitv for men, women, or children. ! It, had no patriotism ; it admitted it had no politics—no interest in the country. He could not talk strongly enoughno man could. No man who knew the attitude of the "trade," when the country » as in danger from the "Hun," could talk too strongly of its dangers. It held tip our boats, stopped our munition work-, kept a fleet carrying grain only to be destroyed, when we were actually in d.inji r of" starvation. Was there anything to do with it, save send it where it belonged, where it came from—the n't '' No decent man or woman, with any :-•• n?e of obligations to fellow-creatures, would dare vote for continuance. State Control Means Payment, Mr. C.-ay emphasised the. fact that thev could no! get Stat-, control without, State purchase, ".ioiii ',(• said would mean an. expenditure of at |.-ast, £15,000.000. money to hi; paid to the brewers and publicans mho had fattened and battened on the •vi.es and miseries of our people. p aT money to them ! They ought to be 1 treated an outcasts- Applause If any man engaged for profit m a tiade whi'h he knew war* damning his fellowmen. was robbing "omen of their husbands, and little children of their fathers, and Wreaking ami blasting some, of the h.'.-t of our young Vie, that, man ought, to be out' ast from h1 de, en*, society. Put him in Parliament ' He hoped the day was dawning v. lid no In ewer or publican or wine and titer' bant would date to show his, fa- ~ in public and demand the. suffrage <-.f the people while lie remained in a trade Ik. that He hoped the day would '-"me . <:<■■ there would be a clear cut between In,-ii-. ...s men Standing for righteousness! i."i) ii..,-. standing for the liquor traffic. L.i.-' tunc the 'trade" said the country c.■- 1 1 1 get pi oh i it. Km next time without I. . • .!.g i;4., ! >(1'.'.'.-lH). They thought, the pubw uid torget. but the people were, saying ' Right ! W"t' want prohibition for nut I ug. and " e a re. going to get it." He. ..'-ki -1 the clc tors t<> give prohibition a, i i,i I for three years, and if it did not :-, dure ,-tinie and drunkenness and increase .-1 -. irigs and general .-..intort, they could 1.1 - ,ii vote it /-nit again. I .veryie wanted New Zealand to lie v ii.it I ;..d meant it to be. T.he greatest.and bc-t nation on earth, and he asked them -■■ rd i t'gly to \..u- for national prohibition. If they did not cany pi oh i bit ion. ! i r-y could 1! 11 11 k of this fact, that the d'inkers of ?0 year- heme \\pic lyi:ig isk-ep in their cradles thiit night.