STARTLING STATISTICS.

NZ Truth, Issue 327, 30 September 1911, Page 4

STARTLING STATISTICS.

PROHIBITION AT GORE.

A Word to %the Moderates.

When the loud blatant shriek of the wowsering platitudinous Prohibitionist is rending the atmosphere these dull daj's with palpable misstatements and gratuitous lies, the principal fairy tale they lean heavily on is the wonderful success, moral ami linnnoial, at No-li cense m the districts which have be e n gulled into adopting it. Blatant, brazen so-called orators tell silly audiences how crime has decreased m the Nolicense districts, and frenzied fanatics, write yards of the veriest piffle to their cold-tea "rags," quoting miles of statistics which are as unreliable as they are dry. Amongst the various places held up as noble examples of the success of Cold Tea, is. the SLEEPY LITTLE TOWN OF GORE. According to the Prohibs drunks' are as extinct there as the moa, and serious crime couldn't be found there by Sherlock Holmes. That" is the tale which the confidence-man-like Cold Tea party is trying to unload on to the "Moderates" m this countryFor the benefit of the "Moderates," and to show them what Gore really is, and what truthful people the pious Prohibs are," "Truth" will give the Prohibs a dose of their own medicine m the shape of some statistics from the S.M.s Court at Gore, showing clearly that crime is on the increase m that pious "dry" township. The period taken is for the three months ending June 30, 1910 and 1913. It makes beautiful reading and is a noble tribute to the teaching o£ the New Zealand A-lie-ance. Here it i's : — 1910 1911 Forgery and uttering 2 1 Theft 0 1 Illegitimacy 0 1 Indecent language ° x Drunkenness ... 6 19 Prohibition orders 3 6 Sly-grog selling, etc 0 5 Procuring' liquor while prohibited 1 0 Truancy 1 16 Total ... 13 49 Lovely isn't it, Mr Isitt ? To be fair 'Truth" will strikeout the truancy cases, which can scarcely be regarded as criminal, although wowsers say that little boys who "'play the wag" generally come to a bad end. Taking the* amended totals as 12 and 3^, the startling fact appears that CRIME NEARLY TRBBLEP ITSELF m the corresponding periods of 1910 and 1.911. How do the Prohibs explain this fact ? "Truth!" passes on to a consideration of the nature of the offences. Wiljh one exception they are • all offences which are peculiar to Prohibition towns, existing there m greater proportion than m other places. Indecent language, drunkenness, breach of prohibition orders SLY-GROG SELLING, of which latter there are no less than' five cases, seem to abound m dry towns* Sly-grog selling with its five cases seems to be an effective answer, to "Truth's" mind, to the old, old wail, "Does Prohibition Prohibit ?" and the loud derisive answer is "NO ! " If Prohibition prohibited then it would be unnecessary for these unfortunate six who fractured their prohibition orders to >. have ever gone m for the questionable luxury of an order. Analysing further disrespectfully draws the attention of the Cold Tea propagandists to the item of Drunkenness 6 (1910), 19 (i 911), an increase of 300 per cent. Once more, "Does Prohibition Prohibit ?" is the question, and the answer is m the Negative. Every ofi'ence on this little list can, according to the wowser's own arguments', be attributable to the "cur-r-sed der-r-ink," but the writer of this article, speaking from the knowledge of the sly-grog shops of lnvercargill, and the vile spirit sold therein as whisky, puts them clown to that cause, the existence of said sly-grog shops with which the pious prohibs., with their windy rnouthings, have cursed the community, and are slowly poisoning the youth and age of the country. As regards the .illegitimacy charge, by no stretch of the fertile imagination of ev«n Berrard Nicholl-s, can it be attributed to the "eur-r-sed der-r-ink." Still the blame for that must also- be laid at the doors of the wowsers, who induced a weakkneed Government to abolish the CD. Act and kept it a dead letter on our Statute Book for years. "Truth" recommends tiie "moderates" to paste these few facts m their 6£ hats. It doesn't dream of recommending anything to the pious prohibs. unless a single ticket to Maine m Wooden Hamland, which dry (?) state evidently badly needs a few Isitts, Dawaons, £.269 Adamses and Nichollses to keep the emblem of No-license nonsense, lies, hypocrisy, and cant flying.