THE NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14381, 26 November 1908, Page 4

THE NO-LICENSE MOVEMENT.

Sir,-The no-license leaders have certainly reasons for congratulations. _ The ma-rvel-loua forward movement of this last poll is aji eye-opener to friends and foe.3 alike. Nothing can stop its onward 1 march until King Alcohol is dethroned and the AngloSaxon raco becomes a sober people. Notwithstanding the causes for joy, .there are \ also reasons for reflection., We might ' lmve done much better if the interest had been mora general. This reform is a oommon cause. It knows neither oreed, colour, nor boundary line'; and yet appearances may seem to contradict that. For instance, in our owji city comparatively few of our ■ capable men were brought into requisition. The whole Anglican Church was practically untouched, although it includos the Revs. Curzon-Siggers—foromost in every good work,—Snow, King, Gould, and; othora. The same can be said of the Presbyterian. Church. Dunedin has many scholarly, elo-' . quent, earnest men, and the country at large is full of them. This ia true also of Congregational pastors as well The Roman Catholics, too, are not indinprent to this reform,.- They seo as keenly as anyone the j liavoc drink is making of their flock, and/ that they would get pounds where they only get shillings now if the bars were closed; and yet not a rev. father in our - city—or, so far as I know, in the whole country—was brought on the platform or . into prominence during the campaign. , What is.needed, Sir, is the common re- : cognition of interest—a wider horizon, a broader outlook. We were thrilled by the' earnest eloquence of the Rev. Mr Hammond, and others would be equally thrillled hy scholarly eloquence of tho Rev. Mr Curzon-Siggers and many others. Then again, instead of being hampered with a resolution not to engage speakers from abroad, the United Temperance Reforir Council should look cut for the most talented and capable from anywhere. \Ver« not thousands, captivated and hundreds convinced by the clear reasoning and logical deductions of Pastor Edmonds, from Amorica? Pastor , Edmonds should har« been employed for the last three months in no-license missions' all over the country; and, to judge \from the returns, no place needed him Svoree than Ohristchurch. Pastoi' Edmonds should bo engaged as organiser and missioner from now on till next poll, with the ocean .as his boundary, but with a special mission to enlist the earnest talent of all in the next great fight. Mr' Adams has sacrificed and done mucli for the cause, but ,hc has his business; the Rev. Mr Slade is a thorn m the flash of the liquor-dealers, and Mr Davis should have been heard oftcner; and Mr Aicholls, who perhaps received tho least credit, 13 entitled to much.' But there are others.. There is neither orced nor sex in this great reform,' and wher we have conquered in this fair land there is still room and placo in other lands. We must help the Motherland, ami perhaps cross tho Atlantic npcl goover and show the Americans how it is done.—l am, etc, Huuo.