Truth PROHIBITION PERTURBATON.

NZ Truth, Issue 222, 25 September 1909, Page 4

Truth

PROHIBITION PERTURBATON.

Published Every Saturday Morning at Luke's Lane (off MANNERSSTREET), WELTjINOTON, N.Z. Subscription (m advance), 13s. per annum.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1909.

Nothing succeeds like success ! Now that New Zealand is more "dry" than it has ever been before, and presuming on the temporary provincial popularity of Prohibition, that choice brand of fanatical fakirs comprising the New Zealand Alliance, who constitute themselves without any authority whatever, arc now moving m a matter that was rendered inoMitable by the last liquorquestion poll. On Monday evening last the anti-liquorit'es-at-any-price violently erupted at Dunedin, and this outburst, sane and sober citizens need hava every cause to fear, will be but the first of a series that will be maintained right, as it were, "up till the death knock," to use a current sporting phrase. In New Zealand we have become thoroughly accustomed to, and periodically disgup-ted with, the despicable and even dirty and devious dodges that these bounding alleged leaders of public opinion resort to. Their right to a free platform none denies, but there is a limit, and always will be a limit to unscrupulous tactics that mainly consist of lying, faking and false pretences. .Indeed, successful as has m the past been the cause of No-license, or Prohibition, the opinion more than once has tyeen advanced, and apparently with reason, that the fool-hardy, foolheaded agitators running the game have m reality retarded instead of promoted the so-caiied cause. However, as remarked, the agitating, irritating, crossgrained crew opened lire at Dunedin on Monday evening last, thc remarkable feature being thc absence of that pinpricking politician from Christchurch, Tommy E. Taylor, whose absence was accounted for m that the chief .worker m thc cause was ill. It is interesting, nevertheless, to note who the persons were who have set out "to own thc earth." They were Mr A. S. Adams, thc

Revs. L. M. Isitt and J. Dawson, Mrs K. L. Stevenson, Yung-Liang-Chang (Chinese Consul) and the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C., the latter thrown m, no doubt, to give thc gathering a political flavor, much m the same way as thc girl tbat was given away w_ith a pound ■of tea, as the comic song has it. Two motions were carried. The first and second more deeply concerns thc people of New Zealand, tlie third deserves hut a brief mention, not being of a national aspect. It referred to the granting of liquor licenses m the King Country, every section of the Christian Church, all press editors, poli/ticians, to whom the safety of the Maori race and the honor of the nation is dear, being exhorted to urge on the Government to annul at once the licenses granted, and to attend to the evil. The chief motions, however, were: This meeting of citizens of Dunedin . affirms — (1) that the time has now como when all questions at the licensing polls should be decided by a bare majority vote ; (2) a Dominion option I vote should be taken triennially m addition to the local option vote ; and urges upon the Government and Parliament its respectful demand for immediate legislation to secure these reforms. This means, of course, that the fanatics insist on the Government of the day enacting that a referendum shall, m addition to tee ordinary licensing poll, be taken of the people of tlie Dominion. Such audacity would not of course come from any other than a pack and parcel of faddists who,- imagining t__e_nsel>ves as; leading a large majority, want that brutal majority to over-rule and eGectually silence the alleged remnant of a minority. Majorities always are, and ever will be, tyrannical and brutal, hot m as far as Prohibition followers or voters are concerned, it isn't at all proved that Prohibitionists are m any degree the huge majority alleged, ot that it naturally follows that " because a province 'here and there, or a dbrtscicfcoi a province, tries the ■ experiment of Prohibition, that that district or province should have ,-. any say on what their fellow citizens of other provinces remote and far removed should, or should not, drink. A Referendum m New Zealand, under certain circumsbanpes, would be made an instrument of grave injustice.

Meanwhile, let us first of ail consider the sort of gentry comprising the "devoted little band" that wishes to enforce on New Zealand tho autocracy oi a hitter, bigoted, and alleged majority .rule.; Mr A. S. Adams , is, if "Truth*' mistakes not, a sort of A. ll. Atkinson, though. hardly so .übiquitous. He is a lawyer, lining on the law, principally the No-license law, which, when disputed and the subject of legal arbitration, m^ans big fat fees from the side he represents, which is, of. course, the cold tea* side 4 though, m the interests of the ci'dwd he champions, he strives to saddle the other side with costs. A lawyer, of course, can be consistent m advocating a cause, out of which he gets his beloved Costs. Mr Adams' professional probity is m no wise challenged. His advocacy of ' No-license and his professional capacity as a Costs operator is mentioned as a facj_, and not by way of comment: Of the Rev. L. M. lsitt let us for once remain siagularly silent. He has happily found his level. He has scented which pays the beat and against Liquor and Liquoritcs has gone bald-headed. The other Rev. gentleman (Mr Dawson) is a sort of . muzzled Methody, he is a Primitive— very much so— Mejthodist, . the brand of religion. <tr.at "cullud" h rudder champion pug. Jack (Lee.tle Artcr) Johnson professes and preaches when he finds the so-called" white champions side-stopping him. Mr Dawson might, when he learns this fact, feel flattered that his Primitive . Church'' claims as a Christian son tha t'hig übbny-hued "basher Yack Yobnsoh. However, Prohibition, etc.,, and not pugilism is' what we are dealing with,, though "Truth" isn't going entirely to : overlook thc pleasing fact that the Rev. Dawson wasn't one of the ranters who recently denounced boxing as . brutal. Now, "Mr Dawson is secretary of tlie Alliance. He is a Methody mouther that prefers drink denunciation as a profession to the precarious, pecuniary tray-trap-ping industry of iJible-banging j n a Primitive Methody bethel. Under such circumstances the enthusiasm of Dawson, whose clap-trap is' commonplace, is pardonable. He seems to have studied the Chapman-Alexander Evangelistic methods, and has become accordingly ass-like. As Secretary, of the Alliance he is expected to do something. If lie doesn't, another will soon be found who will. Heaven, however, save us from any imported pest, a sample of which we had Irom Australia m one individual who was willing to rat on the cause if, hated "Bung" made it worth his while. That little bit of secret history has yet to be told. Of "Mrs Stevenson ■ ahd the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C., "Truth" won't say much, excepting that the Hon. Paul will deserve to be watched, though it will be interesting to learn whether Mr Paul's presence and association with the v agitators is m thc interests of the Labor Party, with which Mr Paul is an alleged potent factor. As to the -Chinese Consul, "Truth" has this to say. Let him not meddle m State questions that do not concern him. He is respected, although the representative of a race that •m these portions of the ißrftrtaah' Empire is despised, yet feared. He is just now- travelling the length and breadth oi New Zealand, 'rounding up his . pig-tailed brethren against whom healthy public opinion has long been directed. The Chinese of New Zealand are paying every attention to the wise words of their Consul, who is passively' counselling them to continue m their cruel, keen competition with the White. It is had enough for New Zealanders to contend with a cultured Chinaman, a true specimen of the finest type pf . Chinaman, who, no. doubt m his own heart, despises the soum of the slums of Canton and other treaty ports. It is bad enough for that scum to be educated and taught that iin New Zealand they are on' thc level with the native-born, but when it comos to a Chinese Consul catechising a White people as to whether they shall or shall not take liquor it is about time that that Consul should be brought to his hearings. Taking the "agitators" by and large, they are a curious cosmopolitan and conglomerate crew. Their impudence knows no bounds, as their resolutions of Monday evening show. While "Truth" hastens to express its appreciation of any thoroughly conscientious man or woman who, from pure principle, will vote Prohibition as a remedy for the curse of abuse of alcohol, the illiberal-minded, thc spiteful and the fanatic must.be always fought with his own weapon. It has not been, it cannot te, proved that Prohibition has been, or will be, a success. On the contrary, New Zealand's experience is that, even if m scattered districts thc carryii* of Prohibition has marked a decrease m drunkenness, and though we find that Prohibition has here and there been carried by large majorities, we have not been told, and ou this fact the fanatics are silent, that thc consumption of beers, wines and spirits has increased. It is not to be imagined that Prohibition m one district means that In tlie adjoining "Continuance" electorate, the consumption of drink lias • increased. If a half "dry" New Zealand means more "booze" per head ot New Zealand, save us from a real "desert." However, let the Prohibitionist openly declare for "No Liquor," then let him ask for a triennial Referendum, and "Truth" and everybody will ' await with interest thc result. Tlie mooted idea of thc removal ,-6f the three-fifths majority and the D.ominion Option Vote is ho original thins,/ but the cry .for it is bound to become ' louder just because it so happenr. that jthc Prohibition Party, if ,j>ai"ty U can {.o he called, is stronger m Palliai meat than il ever was. Aud of such

material is that party made. A sample of it is to be found m R. A. Wright, who, by the unhappiest of circumstances, represents Wellington South. This representative of a Democratic constituency we were riot inclined to treat seriously, but we find him recently "buznackihg" about the Police Commission m Wellington m- the interests of the Nolicense advocates, and ait that Commis-. -| sion he made insinuations of corruption m j a iPolico Inspector vrtio happened to have a son employed m a humble but arduouscapacity at a local brewery.- Wright, with ,his dirty insinuations, retired from the fray discredited, and he is a sample of the legislator that is elected to make laws for the people of New Zealand, be. they drinker or iion-drinker, liberal or*! ilTiberal. With a Parliament of Wrights?' the NeAV Zealander might indeedv ask what* he had done to be so cursed.