WILFUL DECEPTION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12285, 3 November 1925, Page 11

WILFUL DECEPTION

UNSCRUPULOUS VOTE-CATCHING METHODS | A WAkNING TO RECTORS (By "Observer”) The N.Z. Alliance has lost casto in the eyes of the country. It lias stooped to methods which 'are all the more despic-. able because they have been practised by certain-men and women who claim to bo the moral of the community. In attempting to utilise certain ■religious bodies .and to' play on the emotional susceptibilities of the' nation, the N.Z. Alliance has forfeited the respect of 1 those 6ober-thinking New Zealanders who believe that the individual conscience is sacred and inviolate. The methods of the N.Z. Alliance have, however, had one great effect—they have indelibly stamped on the public consciousness the hollow pretence and illogical assumptions on which the Prohibition cause is based. THE COLONEL BARKER CASE. . The exposure of the N.Z. Alliance twist over the “ statement made by Colonel W. L. Barker, of the U.S. Salvation Army, that "Prohibition has so materially affected Society that we have girls in our rescue homes who are fourteen and fifteen years of age, whilst twenty years ago the youngest wae in the early twenties" Has nut the whole standing of the Prohibition Party in dbubt. M When iho Editor of "Cheerio" republished this indictment of • Prohibition the paragraph was referred to by the advocates of "Prohibition" as "A Scandalous Lie." The Continuance Party immediately published photographs and cablegrams which established the truth of the statement beyond all doubt and revealed that the N.Z. Alliance was guilty of falsehood. The professional prohibitionists immedi-. ; ately relapsed into silence; but the/ had not the common honesty to apologise. AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE. The "Alliance then attempted to conscript the New Zealand Educational Institute. They published statements that the teachers, of New Zealand were tunanimous in their demand for Prohibition. But the truth out. School teachers voiced an indignant protest (vide Auckland "Herald," October 27th). It was Established that in the face of the proof that Prohibition has been a curse to the youth of the 'United States, no member of the N.Z. Educational Institute could vote against Continuance, and still remain loyal to the platform of the Institute. ; A cause which resorts to misrepresentation is no fit cause for New Zealand. CONTINUANCE AND EMPLOYMENT. * Finding that their half-truths, published through the Press, were cutting 1 no ice, the N.Z. Alliance pursued the same doubtful tactics from the publio platform. Mrs Helen Barton, in the pay of the "uplifters," has been exposed ae the lady who swore in the witness box "she would let a child die" rather than give it brandy, oven if 1 such was prescribed by a doctor. ' Half a dozen other speakers have reiterated the falsehood that the Brewery Merger was responsible for a degree of unemployment. The figures quoted by the Alliance actually include, dates when, N.Z. Breweries, Ltd., was not in existence.

The Rev, Lionel Fletcher and other associates of Prohibition discovering that ke employed in defence of Jrronibition, content themselves by ghoutJ *)g kies, Lies"—but that form + so “ cl tation has no effect in this counts* t ?,, our advocate of ‘'temperance," a 6 9 ri 'y figure. In the benef that bathos is oratory he has strengthened the case for Continuance. Being unable to disprove the stirring recently delivered by the Rev. tf* 4 i* oll Bell, Mr Laidlaw sacrificed ins self-respect by charging this widely revered minister with 7, black blasphemy. Mr Laidlaw talked blithely of "tlio m ajority." He stated also that the present issue wag a contest between the license trade and "the people." li r forgot to mention that the 1922 Poll demonstrated that, by an overwhelming majority, the people of £ew Zealand are steadfastly opposed to Prohibition. Probably the speakers themselves arc not rto blame for the feebleness of their appeal; they are handicapped by having no logical facte to present. ATTEMPT TO "USE" MR COATES. The effort made by the professional prohibitionists to insinuate that the Prime Minister is an advocate of Prohibition failed as all fakes are bound to ?st: Mr Coates does not advocate Prohibition—and the Alliance knows it. It i? u£ r -T, significant that the Prohibition j üblicity Department decided at the eleventh 'hour— to withdraw a particular newspaper advertisement which prefeatured a distorted statement bbe Premier's attitude. Thev were afraid that their bluff would be called. . j every point the N.Z. Alliance has failed to prove its contentions. It lias failed to produce one shred of reliable evidence as to why this temperate and prosperous country should launch on the dangerous adventure of Prohibition It has destroyed what little confidence the People may have had in its status and has rendered it mom than ever certain that Continuance will be carried to-mor-row.

The whole position is summed up by Professor Stephen Leacock, who gives it as -his considered judgment that "Prohibition is based upon a lie, and canuot endure."—[Published by Arrangement.]