PROHIBITION.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 199, 31 July 1896, Page 2

PROHIBITION.

A Parliamentary return to hand gives the consumption of articles in common use in the colony. In view of the prominence which Prohibition has assumed in the of the colony, the return, in so far as it deals with the consumption of alcoholic beverages, is very interesting. Advocates of Prohibition are very strong on the point that the liquor traffic cannot be regulated, and therefore nothing short of its annihilation will produce any effect in the matter of sobriety. What we should consider a very solid result of regulation would be a perceptible and steady decrease in consumption, as liquor of any description can do very little to dissipate wealth, ruin health, or produce crime—the vices attributed to it—so long as it remains unconsumed. Any one unacquainted with the colony, after hearing the ordinary temperance lecturer, would come to the conclusion that New Zealand was fast becoming one of the most besotted, criminal, and povertystruck countries on the face of the earth. No one in his senses would advocate drunkenness, but there is a very wide gap between what moderate men look upon as use as compared with abuse. It is an incontrovertible fact that drunkards are developed from moderate drinkers, and that if there were no moderate drinkers there would, as a matter of course, be no drunkards. Drunkenness is, however, not the only vice eating into the vitals of the nation, aud in order to have a pure aud moral nation it would be necessary to deprive man of all the senses by which he may offend or be led from the paths of virtue. One crime or vice does not condone another, but yet whilst every energy is put forward by a certain section of the community to put down the liquor traffic, other just as repellant vices go their way almost unchecked. * According to the return, which covers a period of eighteen years, the consumption of spirits has steadily decreased, per head of the male population, from 4-78 gallons in 1878 to 2*20 gallons in 1895, or more than one half, and the cash spent per head for the same time £2 16s 3d to £1 14s Si. Wine, from 0-70 gallons in 1878 to 0-21 gallons in 1895, per head of male and female population over 15 years of age, and in money value from 2s lOd to Is 2fd. Imported ale and beer from 1-75 gallons to 0*45 gallons, aud in money value from 2s Id to 9£d. New Zealand brewed beer from 15-8 gallons to 11-1 gallous, and in money value from 8s ll£d to 2s 9£d. In the face of such figures can any sane person deny that New Zealand is becoming a very temperate country. If it is the result of temperance agitation and regulation we consider it U a creditable record, but if the Prohibitionists claim that the curse of drunkenness cannot be regulated, and that they have not accomplished any noticeable improvement, then it clearly shows that the good sense of the people is coming to the front. If total prohibition is going to introduce an era of national prosperity such as claimed for it, then surely partial prohibition or increased temperance would produce a similar partial effect; but these lecturers tell us that the country is in a worse state now than ever it was itt before, which statement seems contrary to all reasonable argument.