THE LICENSING QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 13

THE LICENSING QUESTION.

Sir.—Your correspondent, A. A. Lissaman, is in error in stating that- the prohibit ionists have been overtaken with a crushing disaster. The- real truth of the late vote is that the matured judgment of the great majority of the electors who went to the poll is that a drastic change is required in the present licensing system. Of that majority, by far the largest number voted prohibition. Your cartoonist has also missed the point in depicting the final result. What really happened was that a beaten horse was dragged past the finishing p. st by tho donkey representing State control. G. "A. Buttle.

Sir.—Very little has been said bv the recognised leaders of the prohibition paity since the poll. They have followed the tactics of the political leaders, but they will speak to the point, at the right time. In the meantime, lessei lights have been airir>_g their views along with State controllers and would-be ro. formers of the trade. The R<?v. Fielden Taylor, of Wellington, says that he will no longer fight for prohibition, as it is * clear that the people do not want, it, but whoever heard of Mr. Taylor as a valiant fighter for prohibition? * The attitude oi State controllers and other reformers is quite in keeping with newspaper correspondence after each poll when the liquor trade has had another escape. We have watched this camouflage develop after every poll and we have learned its true value. These people have never contributed anything toward temperance, prohibition or reform. The lli-R.u.n is continually reminding its readers that, the Massey Party is the dominant party in politics and that the present and' the immediate future politically rests with it. We prohibitionists claim to be tho dominant party in relation to the licensed liquor trade. The great prohibitionist body, of over 290,000 voters, is the dominant party. No political party has ever received in this country such a vote. We are more solid than ever and we know where our goal lies. We have wisdom and strength enough to see to it that neither the few State controllers nor talkers of reform, which never materialises shall turn us aside from our sreai. Tho civilised world has turned against t-he liquor trade, and there can be no stoppage of this world movement though there might be a slight halt on the way; there is but one future awaiting the trade—its abolition. The huge army of 290,000 odd is an inspiring spectacle and it- will grow larger. So we take fresh heart. J. A. Lochobe. Epsom, December 15, 1922. |