The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1914. MUST DRINK BE TOLERATED FOR THE SAKE OF REVENUE?

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12392, 7 December 1914, Page 4

The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1914. MUST DRINK BE TOLERATED FOR THE SAKE OF REVENUE?

As tho -poll, approaches the liquor trade will do more and more to frighten .tlie electors "by false statements concerning the revenue produced by drink: - Our readers need have no fear. ■3? hie : most careful investigation will thoroughly satisfy them that the abolition of the drink traffic would -mean, • not a loss, but a decided gaiii, in the wealth and reof the country. Even 'if this were not true, every elector ought to ask himself this question: What are | the legitimate sources whence t:e | State should obtain its revenue? Is it : right that any country should derive [ revenue from that which saps the j vitality of both individual and nation, wrecks the homes, and results the i moral degradation of so many of its 1 citizens? One can easily imagine a \ number of unmentionable things which, ' by taxation, would bring large sums i into the coffers of the State, but would the establishment and existence of these things be justified merely because 'they were-revenue-producing? Every sane man and woman sees at once the utter folly of such a position. One i might- just as well argue that a father j ought to encourage his boys to lie and I 'steal, because by suclv practices these | boys might be able to bring much money home. Apart, however, from the humanitarian aspect, which, by i the way', ought always to have chief ?lace, there is also the economic aspect, 'here is not a vestige of truth in the -statement that the country would lose wealth through the abolition of the liquor traffic. On the other hand, the weight of evidence supports : the theory that prohibition would, in %Tfe end, result in decreased taxation. ! .The. position, • briefly put, is this: In ' 'round figures the revenue from drink amounts to £1,000,000 per year. The ! cost of keeping up our police,- prisons, ; asylums, and kindred institutions also ! amounts to £1,000,000. Now, on a j very.conservative estimate, fully half 'of the crime, lunacy, etc., may be : directly, traced to indulgence in alj coholic" liquor. This means, then, that (of the £1,000.000 revenue produced by i drink we have to spend at least ! £500,000 in cleaning up or attempting I to mitigate the pollution that drink ; has caused. -This leaves only £500,000 j which has any right to be called re- | venue. Let us now take a step fu'r- ; ther: If national prohibition were ! carried what would become of the ! £4,000,000 now spent yearly in drink ? ' When we remember that the bulk of | this money' is spent by persons who i ought ? 'fo use it for Other tilings, it ■ needs ho stretch of the imagination to ! see that a v'erv large portion-, : if not ! all, of this £4,000,000 would be divert[ed into other channels of trade. In i order to be' safe we shall take only 1 £3,000,000' of this sum, but £3,000,000 I spent annually in apparel, boots and I shoes, woollens, silks, and other everyday articles would'produce, according t-o" the -Customs returns, at least £700,000. What, then, is the position? If out- of; the £1.000,000 revenue produced by drink fully half has to be used to stem the ravages of drink, and consequently onlv £500,000 is left as real revenue," and if £3,000,000 formerly wasted on alcohol, but, on its abolition, spent on dutiable goods of utility yields £700,000 revenue, anv schoolboy can see that the country would be £200,000 in pocket. We might proceed to show the;--: terrible loss to the country's wealtlirgroducing power through the excess and wastefulness of effort of the IOyOQO persons who are annually convicted of drunkenness, but it is notnecessary. ■ That farrseeing (statesman, William" Ewart Gladstone, said, whou approached on the revenue question by j a deputation of brewers: "Gentlemen, give ine a sober people not wasting their money on strong drink and I. shall know how to provide my revenue." If drink is an exceptionally beneficial source from which to derive revenue through Customs excise, let us iihpOrt enough to pay off our national debt- in a year antf to ever afterwards defray the cost of Government and railways and. roads everywhere. We Could-not drink so much, but wo. could dOcbetter than ..that—wo.could turn- it into'other channels.

I v THE OMARAMA RUNS. i sThe/Otago Daily Times, in-its en- • deayor; to disprove the charges of; Mr Bodkin,. Liberal ■ candidate lor Otago Central,' concerning the maladministra- . tipri' of the'.Minister for Lands in connection with the cutting up of the Ohiarama runs, published on Saturdav ' what it claimed to bo "the facts of the.'.case." -We thought that they wel-e'the facts that Mr Lee placed before his meeting, on Friday night; yet the"-two statements differ so materially tjiat'it is difficult, to believe that both parties refer-to the saihe matter. ; Mr Lee-had access to the files in the Land Board's office, and we do riot car©: to insinuate that he withheld anythingdu making liis statement, but the Otago Daily Times, arriong its facts, includes many of - which-'Mr Leo told-tis nothing. Both agree that the Otago: Land Bb.lird-s-first resolution on - the subject was: passed iu February, 1914, but "Mr Lee;tells us that the Board passedv» motion in favor of small grazing runs, while our. southern contemporary claims that pastoral runs were recpnimended. The Tillies says that iu April the Surveyor-General and the Commissioner for Grown Lands visited Omarftma, and as a result recommended that the runs be partitioned into navcn pastoral runs. On this phase of the question Mr Lee was wholly silent. In J.une, according to Mr Lee, the Minister received the first recommendation from the Land Board on the subject of Omarania; that the runs be divided into small grazing runs, and the Commissioner suggested that an extension of the lease be granted. 'The Otago Daily Times has it that in June tho Board considered a proposal that the runs be cut up into two pastoral runs and eight small grazing runs, but. it was decided to recommend to the Min- ' ister a division into small grazing runs only. It will be noticed that while Mr Leo did not mention the proposal to subdivide into pastoral runs, the Times is silent on the Commissioner's recommendation for'an-extension. Then, in • explaining the delay in the granting of ■ the Minister's approval, MrTLee places the-blame on a departmental officer in •WeltfaglMU 'i -fisi l sjkies-'tfiatu-tiia- Mjjais.

ter endorsed the- board's recommendation for" suiaTl grazing runs and the Commissioner's suggestion for an extension of the lease (despite the fact tjiat the whoje defence of the Reformers is that .the Minister did not grant an extension). But if the Minister did give his approval to the small grazing run system, how. does it happen thaithe Board's recommendation is being set aside, and, as stated by Mr Massey at Knroff, the runs are to be divided into three pastoral leases and nine grazing runs, leaving 1400 acres for ■closer.'settlement. Mr Massey appointed- Mr■ Munro to the Laud Board,'according to Mr Lee. because it was desirable to have on the Board someone able to advise on matters pertaining to high country, and in this respect the appointment was a. good one, for Mr 'Munro may be accepted as an authority . on this sunject. t There are other mem:bers.'ofcthe Board also with a practical (knowledge of high runs, and-we may "take "it- that the Board's? Classification Committee, when they decided on recommending small -grazing "runs, did so . m the light of. life-long experience: Yet for some altogether unexplained ; ".i-easph, departing from.:,the customary 'irVd proper course in setting aside the recommendations, of competent advisers the : announced quite a different, partition of the estate, and one : ttiat would; hand back to each of the "'tenants, if "he:'.cared to avail himself oT-the-bpoprturiity, a handsome block i,of .sheep'country. But'the Daily Times rdoe's not explain-the delay by placing the: blame : oil .the shoulders of a de-"p;ai':tme*nt-ar official, r and -it entirely ignores: tthe endorsed recommendation ;showri : .tb Mr. Livingstone in July. It Mays" thait after the June meeting the Department desired more information aboutthe runs,: their survey, and their subdivision. Then snow supervened, " occasioning further delay, <so that it was not until November 7 that the Minister gave his approval to a scheme .that differed entirely from the reeom • menda'tions "of the Board.

POLITICS & POLITICAL ISSUES.

(Specially Written for the Mail by , Dr. Rutherford Waddell, M.A.)

What is the final purpose of politics? To make men. All; political theories must be ultimately .tried by this test. Tlie. wealth of a State is not in its mines, or in its. manufactories. It ;s its men and .women. . The country- that produces these in quality and numbers is the richest. As "Buskin says: "Among national manufactories that of souls of a good quality may turn out at last to be the quite leadingly lucrative ones." All political platforms then, must be judged by their relation to men and women. And since in men and women tlie moral is supreme, they must be tested.by their influence on the moral character of the citizens of the State. All becoming questions are rapidly becoming social questions and all social questions are rapidly becoming moral questions. • Morals are related to politics as steam to a train. They are the dynamic: forco 'without, which the machinery, however effective, cannot move or-will move only to ruin.

I "Now, in the present political contest, great issues are coming up for judgment. They all affect fundamentally the manhood and the womanhood or the State. More than any others, or all others put- together, they have to do with tlie moral side of human nature. They are therefore, of primary importance. The first of these is the State's relation to the liquor traffic. What sort of manufactory of men anu> women is this business? It is not too much to .say that it is entirely destructive of human well-being. thirtv-two months of the Boer War, the deaths of the British from wounds and disease were 21,042. During the same period drink was responsible in the British dominions for the killing of 320,000. W r c have just despatched 10,000 oi" the flower of the young manhood of this Dominion to the great war. What a sorrow it would be A not one of these returned alive. And yet, even since the power was put in the hands of the people of this Dominion to end this traffic, it has slain double the number that we have sent to the front. Every year, there are upwards of 7000 convictions for drunkenness for the first time and upwards of 11.000 altogether. Arid thousands of homes and hearts, without public knowledge, are broken up bv it annnaliv. Into the devouring maw'of this traffic we poured £4,000,000 last year. And the only return we got from' this insane expenditure is to be found in the asylums, gaols, benevolent institutions, and graveyards of the Colonv. And yet, Parliament continues to foster the 'traffic by making 40 per cent, of liquor votes equal to 60 per cent, of temperance votes. That is a most, iniquitous handicap. And any candidate for parliamentary honors who refuses to allow' equality of votes on this tremendous evil, should be turned down and sent into retirement to reflect upon his stupidity. It is an evil this, that requires rapid and radical cautery. To talk of the liberty of the individual 'in the face of this I'll destroyer of it, is solemn trifling. To deal with it by Moderate League's is as wise as to apply a porridge poultice to cure a volcano. We do not expect Moderate Leagues to understand the situation, for no camel ever sees its own hump, and these leagues are too closely associated with the traffic they would gulato to appreciate its infamies. Most people can neuetrate their disguises, and will deaf with them as with some other moderate; things —say a moderately fresh egg. " There is a second great issue affecting the moral welfare of the citizensgambling. It is.difficult to say whether this is not as great an evil as the liquor traffic. It may hot produce such brutal and. crimson tragedies, but no other vice so hardens the nature and ossifies the human heart. It is an utterly selfish pleasure. Its principle is to enrich oneself at the expense of others. When that- is done by the pickpocket or the burglar, we put him behind the prison bars. But'when it is done-on the racecourse or in the clubs or hotels we smile at it, and the elite of the land are found playing the game with perfect immunity. Last year this Dominion, with a- population of scarcely a million contrived to find £2,000,000 to invest on the totalisator. while the direct cost of racing amounts to probably another £1,000,000. The gambling passion fostered by the totalisator is a menace to the whole community. This is no pulpit platitude. We heed only call the witness of the judicial bench to assure us of this. Thus,-Mr Justice Buinside, of Western Australia, seu-tencirig-a young inan, for stealing from his employer to gamble on the racecourse said: "You frequented the racecourses. Tlie gates of hell open in front of'voii on--a racecourse, and you will ■ find yourself in a 'hell on earth. if you follow that line." Yet, our. Parliament; not only legalises the totalisator, which .opens wider - the mouth of this hell',-.but last session increased the numjSer'otVdays on which gambling could bo carried oil upon-the racecourse. Any candidate-who approves of this-should be a-elegated to privacy and advised to take.a.-course of study on elementary ethics, before he again appears' to woo-the electors.

There as;another issue that is vital to-a progressive peoples-its land law;. The land.question'like the other two is '.ultimately a moral question. "We cannot aIL own land, but we must all live from'it. : It is a .factor that concerns the city equally with the. dweller in -the -country'. :• We cannot eat money ; or.'turn'fabrics into food:. The farmer j must feed us,all. , And the State niust ] s'efe'/.t6': it that- there are not larii i monopolies. - The land ought to be" as j free.\to 'all as the aii;, and no man has j the; rigfft to accumulate -it to the detri- ; ment'Of the people as a whole. And no j government- should ,be allowed todis- | pose of this • universal patrimony, so •' that it can be fenced off by individuals , or corporations, and" become their pri- i vatc property. It is a crime against ] the, r present and future of the nation.to j allow land to be sold. This: private f property in laud is what has wrung the life-blood out of the heart of Britain.: and Ireland. And we are perpetrating ; the same evils here; solving the wind lo ! soon or later reap the whirlwind. 1 We ought to have .had'- warnings ; enough of the evils of drink, arid gamb- j ling and land monopoly from our ■ experience of older civilisations. , But we are dull pupils. It is ; said that Caesar's passage across ; the Alps was, seriously delayed by the ; number of axses accompanying the - troops. It is had enough to have stupidity among the rank and file, but ■ when our would-be leaders greet us ; with long-eared hallelujahs about the : libertv of the.subject- and that Blessed : phrase "free secular and compulsory'' ; it-is.time, to- say with.Cromwell "get-j ye gone.and make way.for better nien.''' j .\¥>'are"h.ere' ja-.a hey laud/

The : . rudiments of Empire here Are plastic yet, and warm; The outlines of a mighty world Are rounding into form."

Let- us seek to make this island of the Southern Ocean what nature dictated and destiny designed it should be—first flower or" the earth', and first .gem;.of 'the sea. And this can only be" when .wo wipe out tlie.se vices that I have indicated, moralise our politics, and demand from those who seek our suffrages, that not money but man shall be "the guiding principle of ail our legislation. POLITICAL POINTS. With truly "Reform" superiority, Mr Leo urged his audience the' other night "not- to be led away by rash statements in the papers or from the platform as to facts concerning Omarania.- Mr Macpherson has complained at the .outset of his reference, to the affair that he was not reappointed to the Land Board. He was a marl witha" grievance." This distortion* of Mr' Maephcrson's designs in order to make them appear contemptible excited indignation in various parts of the hall, and no wonder. The truth is that Mr Macpherson's. only reference to his being supplemented by another on the Board was made in connection with the statement that several months had transpired before- his successor was appointed. He sought to show that the Minister for Lands had failed to make the appointment within a reasonable period after' lie had been notified by tlie Commissioner of the vacancy through effluxion of time, and emphasised the now 'well-known fact that the Minister's conduct in regard to Omara'ma. had been tortuous. Mr Lee would do well to practise that honesty of purpose and courtesy which ho professes lias marked the contest, but which he himself apparently only holds in theory, after the manner of his kind.

There would be no significance in clearing out Liberal nominees no matter how useful they may have been were it not that .the substitutes have been devotees of Masseyism. _ "Reform" has introduced the "spoils', to the victors" system into this country. Liberal Administration'!; have neither restricted their appointment's to their frieuds, nor turned -out their enemies' appointees on assuming office. With them capacity has been the principal qualification. Moralising seems hypocritical in men who sanction the bar--tering of a seat in the Legislative Couu'cil in order that Mr Massey might secure a seat for a friendly candidate in the House of Representatives.

The answer to Mr Lee's involved and contradictory excuses for the Huntly disaster is that the Government disregarded continual warnings that the conditions' in the mine were such that an accident might, happen at any time, and that the Prime -Minister, showed more consideration' for the mine proprietors than he did for the men when he permitted them :to influence him against his duty and better judgment, so that highly necessary legislation was delayed. It is childish to excuse the Prime Minister by. saying that others had neglected to pass perfect mining laws. The mining laws which were passed by the Liberals were not got through Parliament without difficulty, and perfection .in legislation, as in everything else, is evolutionary. Nor will the people be pacified by the too obviously absurd excuse that even if the law had been passed to insist upon greater care the accident would have occurred all the same.

j Mr Lee's eulogies of the autocratic Civil Service system appears to have been learned by heart from a.- close study of its beauties under the eye of Mr Herdman. Mr Lee, as in duty ! bound, and as a very pliant disciple ; of "Reform," calls the present system ! "a new, clean system." We have heard ' something about this - new clean sys- ; tern. What do our readers think of this description of it?—"lf a servant ' appeals in regard to promotion or salary, the Commissioner has the right to see the whole case of the appellant and to collect evidence against it with- : out the appellant's knowledge. The j Appeal Board examines the appellant's application for a hearing, but frequently decides against him without hearing his verbal evidence, or hearing ; his view upon the points put forward by i the Commissioners (which he never ; even sees). A return "Shows that 499 ' appeals have been lodged by Post and i Telegraph employees; that only. 43 i employees have been called and given i an opportunity of stating their case; ; and that tlie Commissioner Board has i disallowed 187 ' appeals without refer- : ence to the appellants, and simply on • documentary testimony.

i Under Sir Joseph Ward's Railway i appeal system a railway complainant . merely sends an application "to the ■General Manager asking for leave to • appeal against dismissal, promotion : .withheld, or other supposed injustice, ' and there is no obligation to state his j case beforehand. The General ManI ager must submit a case to the Appeal ! Board, which is c-o constituted. as to ■ prevent injustice, and which will not ' decide on written evidence, such as de- ■ partmental files, but hears witnesses, I and thus provides an appellant, or his J advocate with an opportunity of crossi examining witnesses who give evidence ; against him. There are civil servants ; to-day who are smarting under a sense i of injustice, but who must silently bow !to autocratic, and, perhaps, unjust I treatment. There is supposed to be no : Ministerial interference with the Com- ! missioners. If a Minister is not. to be I trusted to control the offices of his own j department, neither is a Commissioner, ■ who is responsible to nobody, except, by I a pleasant fiction to Parliament. If he | does not please the Minister —that is to ! say—lu mav lie removed by Ministerial I action in Parliament., and the Com- | inissioner mav himself fall a victim to j that theoretical spotless purity which | is created, by Act of Parliament," in a) ' set of men." who certainly were not I wrong in deciding that they needed | some chesk. How many Royd GarI lick appointments would there have I been if Ministers had not interposed a j Commission between them and appointi ments to the Civil Service?

Air James Allen, speaking at Timaru on Saturday night, is reported to have said that when he came into office he had to face commitments and liabilities of .£1.500.000, and that the only funds available to .meet them were £684,000. This "matter was referred to in a few minute's' conversation between Sir Joseph 'Ward and several of his friends at the railwav station to-day. Sir Joseph stated that Mr Allen, in'his Budget delivered on August 6th, 1913, showed that on 30th June the funds available were £1,396,688, and the total commitments-'arid .liabilities £1,344 ; 803, and that the balance available over and above the amount' of the commitments was £51.835. Either Mr Allen stated at Timaru what : is absolutely contrary to •fact, or his Budget is all wrong. "As a. matter of fact," concluded Sir Josepn, "the Budget is right."